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The Well-born
Wohlgeboren (, "well-born") was a form of address for the lowest ranks of German nobility. The Latin version of this term is "''spectabilis''". German usage The actual address was ''(Euer) Wohlgeboren'', it is the proper form of address for a ''Vogt'' or ''Büttel'' Swedish usage "Välborne" for untitled Swedish nobility and "högvälborne" for counts and barons. Higher form of address The title should not be confused with the following, in order of increasing rank: :- ''(Euer) Hochwohlgeboren'' (lit. ''highly well-born''), the form of address for German barons (''Freiherren''), nobles (''Edle'') and knights (''Ritter'') ; :- ''(Euer) Hochgeboren'' (lit. ''high-born), the proper form of address for members of the titled German nobility, ranking just below the sovereign and mediatised dynasties; :- ''Erlaucht'' (''Illustrious Highness''), the correct address for those German immediate counts ('' Reichsgrafen'') who are heirs of mediatised families of the Holy Roman Empire; :- '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Nobility
The German nobility () and Royal family, royalty were status groups of the Estates of the realm, medieval society in Central Europe, which enjoyed certain Privilege (law), privileges relative to other people under the laws and customs in the German-speaking area, until the beginning of the 20th century. Historically, German entities that recognized or conferred nobility included the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806), the German Confederation (1814–1866), and the German Empire (1871–1918). Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in the German Empire had a policy of expanding his political base by ennobling nouveau riche industrialists and businessmen who had no noble ancestors. The nobility flourished during the dramatic industrialization and urbanization of Germany after 1850. Landowners modernized their estates, and oriented their business to an international market. Many younger sons were positioned in the rapidly growing national and regional civil service bureaucracies, as well as in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Mediatisation
German mediatisation (; ) was the major redistribution and reshaping of territorial holdings that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany by means of the subsumption and Secularization (church property), secularisation of a large number of Imperial Estates, prefiguring, precipitating, and continuing after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Most Hochstift, ecclesiastical principalities, free imperial cities, secular principalities, and other minor self-ruling entities of the Holy Roman Empire lost their independent status and were absorbed by the remaining states. By the end of the mediatisation process, the number of German states had been reduced from almost 300 to 39. In the strict sense of the word, mediatisation consists in the subsumption of an Imperial immediacy, immediate () state into another state, thus becoming ''mediate'' (), while generally leaving the dispossessed ruler with his private estates and a number of privileges and feudal rights, such as High, m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fürst
' (, female form ', plural '; from Old High German ', "the first", a translation of the Latin ') is a German language, German word for a ruler as well as a princely title. ' were, starting in the Middle Ages, members of the highest nobility who ruled over states of the Holy Roman Empire and later its former territories, below the ruling ' (emperor) or ' (king). A prince of the Holy Roman Empire was the sovereign ruler of an Imperial Estate, imperial estate that held imperial immediacy in the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire. The territory ruled is referred to in German as a ' (principality), the family dynasty referred to as a ' (princely house), and the (non-reigning) descendants of a ' are titled and referred to in German as ' (prince) or ' (princess). The English language uses the term "prince" for both concepts. Romance languages, Latin-based languages (French, Italian, Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese) also employ a single term, whereas Dutch language, Dutch as well as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durchlaucht
His/Her Serene Highness (abbreviation: HSH, second person address: Your Serene Highness) is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein, Monaco and Thailand. Until 1918, it was also associated with the princely titles of members of some German ruling and mediatised dynasties and with a few princely but non-ruling families. It was also the form of address used for cadet members of the dynasties of France, Italy, Russia and Ernestine Saxony, under their monarchies. Additionally, the treatment was granted for some, but not all, princely yet non-reigning families of Bohemia, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania and Russia by emperors or popes. In a handful of rare cases, it was employed by non-royal rulers in viceregal or even republican contexts. Belgium The following titleholders or families are authorised by the Crown to use the style ''Serene Highness'' (, ) *Dukes and princes of Arenberg *Dukes of Beaufort-Spontin *Dukes and princes of Croÿ *Princes of Habsb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. For most of its history the Empire comprised the entirety of the modern countries of Germany, Czechia, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Slovenia, and Luxembourg, most of north-central Italy, and large parts of modern-day east France and west Poland. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne Roman emperor, reviving the title more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476. The title lapsed in 924, but was revived in 962 when Otto I, OttoI was crowned emperor by Pope John XII, as Charlemagne's and the Carolingian Empire's successor. From 962 until the 12th century, the empire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Mediatisation
German mediatisation (; ) was the major redistribution and reshaping of territorial holdings that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany by means of the subsumption and Secularization (church property), secularisation of a large number of Imperial Estates, prefiguring, precipitating, and continuing after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Most Hochstift, ecclesiastical principalities, free imperial cities, secular principalities, and other minor self-ruling entities of the Holy Roman Empire lost their independent status and were absorbed by the remaining states. By the end of the mediatisation process, the number of German states had been reduced from almost 300 to 39. In the strict sense of the word, mediatisation consists in the subsumption of an Imperial immediacy, immediate () state into another state, thus becoming ''mediate'' (), while generally leaving the dispossessed ruler with his private estates and a number of privileges and feudal rights, such as High, m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reichsgraf
Imperial Count (, ) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. During the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly (Imperial immediacy, immediately) from the emperor, rather than from a prince who was a vassal of the emperor or of another sovereign, such as a duke or prince-elector. These imperial counts sat on one of the four "benches" of ''Counts'', whereat each exercised a fractional vote in the Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire), Imperial Diet until 1806. Imperial counts rank above counts elevated by lesser sovereigns. In the post–Middle Ages era, anyone granted the title of ''Count'' by the emperor in his specific capacity as ruler of the Holy Roman Empire (rather than, e.g. as ruler of Archduchy of Austria, Austria, Kingdom of Bohemia, Bohemia, Kingdom of Hungary, Hungary, the Spanish Netherlands, etc.) became, ''ipso facto'', an "Imperial Count" (''Reichsgraf''), whether he reigned over an immediate coun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Count
Imperial Count (, ) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. During the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from a prince who was a vassal of the emperor or of another sovereign, such as a duke or prince-elector. These imperial counts sat on one of the four "benches" of ''Counts'', whereat each exercised a fractional vote in the Imperial Diet until 1806. Imperial counts rank above counts elevated by lesser sovereigns. In the post–Middle Ages era, anyone granted the title of ''Count'' by the emperor in his specific capacity as ruler of the Holy Roman Empire (rather than, e.g. as ruler of Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, the Spanish Netherlands, etc.) became, ''ipso facto'', an "Imperial Count" (''Reichsgraf''), whether he reigned over an immediate county or not. Origins In the Merovingian and Franconian Empire, a ''Graf'' ("Count") was an official who exerci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erlaucht
His/Her Illustrious Highness (abbreviation: H.Ill.H.) is the usual English-language translation of the German word , a style historically attributed to certain members of the European nobility. It is not a literal translation, as the German word for "Highness" is , a higher style that appertained to Herzog, sovereign dukes and some other royalty. Ancient "Illustrious Highness" is used to translate the Middle High German word () eventually borne by Imperial counts, similar to the later ("Serene Highness") which was reserved for the (Princes of the Holy Roman Empire). Modern From the early modern period, the style has been used by the members of those Graf, comital families () who, like the , held the status of Imperial immediacy. They retained it even after the German Mediatisation of 1802/03, confirmed by the of the German Confederation in 1828. The style was also adopted by the cadet members of some princely families like Colloredo-Mansfeld, Fugger, Khevenhüller, Di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hochgeboren
Hochgeboren (, "high-born"; ) is a form of address for the titled members of the German nobility, German and Austrian nobility, ranking just below the German mediatisation, sovereign and mediatised dynasties. The actual address is ''"Euer" Hochgeboren''. It is the proper form of address for counts (''Grafen'') that are neither heirs to German Mediatisation, mediatised families of the Holy Roman Empire (Imperial Count, counts of the Holy Roman Empire or ''Reichsgrafen'') nor families who have been bequeathed higher predicate by the Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor. By Courtesy title, courtesy, Baron, barons (''Freiherr'') belonging to old houses of the ''Uradel'' are also addressed in the same way. The correct term for Imperial count, immediate counts (''Reichsgrafen'') is ''Erlaucht'' ("Illustrious Highness"),"Scarcely inferior in dignity to the Austro-Hungarian princes or Fürst are the members of those Comital Houses or Grafen the chiefs of which, by a decision of the Austrian Emperor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the expansion of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. It has greatly influenced many languages, Latin influence in English, including English, having contributed List of Latin words with English derivatives, many words to the English lexicon, particularly after the Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England, Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest. Latin Root (linguistics), roots appear frequently in the technical vocabulary used by fields such as theology, List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names, the sciences, List of medical roots, suffixes and prefixes, medicine, and List of Latin legal terms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ritter
Ritter (German for "knight") is a designation used as a title of nobility in German-speaking areas. Traditionally it denotes the second-lowest rank within the nobility, standing above " Edler" and below "" (Baron). As with most titles and designations within the nobility in German-speaking areas, the rank was hereditary and generally was used with the nobiliary particle of von or zu before a family name. For its historical association with warfare and the landed gentry in the Middle Ages, the title of Ritter can be considered roughly equal to the titles of "Knight", but it is hereditary like the British title of "Baronet". The wife of a Ritter was called a "Frau" (in this sense "Lady") and not Ritterin. In heraldry, from the late 18th century, a Ritter was often indicated by the use of a coronet with five points, But not everyone who was a Ritter and displayed arms made use of such a coronet. In the Austrian Empire and in Austria-Hungary, the title of "Ritter von" was besto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
