Graf

(feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is "countess").

The German nobility was gradually divided into high and low nobility. The high nobility included those counts who ruled immediate imperial territories of "princely size and importance" for which they had a seat and vote in the Imperial Diet.

Etymology and origin

The word derives from gmh, grave, italics=yes, which is usually derived from la, graphio, italics=yes. is in turn thought to come from the Byzantine title , which ultimately derives from the Greek verb () 'to write'. Other explanations have been put forward, however; Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, while still noting the potential of a Greek derivation, suggested a connection to got, gagrêfts, italics=yes, meaning 'decision, decree'. However, the Grimms preferred a solution that allows a connection to ang, gerēfa ' reeve', in which the ''ge-'' is a prefix, and which the Grimms derive from Proto-Germanic ' 'number'.

History

The comital title of is common to various European territories where German was or is the official or vernacular tongue, including Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Alsace, the Baltic states and other former Habsburg crown lands. In Germany, all legal privileges of the nobility have been officially abolished since August 1919, and , like any other hereditary title, is treated as part of the legal surname. In Austria, its use is banned by law, as with all hereditary titles and nobiliary particles. In Switzerland, the title is not acknowledged in law. In the monarchies of Belgium, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, where German is one of the official languages, the title continues to be recognised, used and, occasionally, granted by the national , the reigning monarch.

From the Middle Ages, a usually ruled a territory known as a ('county'). In the Holy Roman Empire, many Imperial counts () retained near-sovereign authority in their lands until the Congress of Vienna subordinated them to larger, neighboring monarchs through the German mediatisation process of 1815, preserving their precedence, allocating familial representation in local legislatures, some jurisdictional immunities and the prestigious privilege of . In regions of Europe where nobles did not actually exercise over the populace, the long retained specific feudal privileges over the land and in the villages in his county, such as rights to peasant service, to periodic fees for use of common infrastructure such as timber, mills, wells and pastures.

These rights gradually eroded and were largely eliminated before or during the 19th century, leaving the with few legal privileges beyond land ownership, although comital estates in German-speaking lands were often substantial. Nonetheless, various rulers in German-speaking lands granted the hereditary title of to their subjects, particularly after the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Although lacking the prestige and powers of the former Imperial counts, they remained legal members of the local nobility, entitled to whatever minor privileges were recognised at the ruler's court. The title, translated as "count", was generally accepted and used in other countries by custom.

Many Continental counts in Germany and Austria were titled without any additional qualification. Except in the Kingdom of Prussia from the 19th century, the title of was not restricted by primogeniture: it was inherited by all legitimate descendants in the male line of the original titleholder, the males also inheriting an approximately equal share of the family's wealth and estates. Usually a hyphenated suffix indicated which of the familial lands a particular line of counts held, e.g. .

In the medieval Holy Roman Empire, some counts took or were granted unique variations of the title, often relating to a specific domain or jurisdiction of responsibility, e.g. , , (Count Palatine), , , , , , etc. Although as a title ranked, officially, below those of (duke) and (prince), the Holy Roman Emperor could and did recognise unique concessions of authority or rank to some of these nobles, raising them to the status of or "princely count". But a title with such a prefix did not always signify a higher than comital rank or membership in the . Only the more important of these titles, historically associated with degrees of sovereignty, remained in use by the 19th century, specifically and .

Nobiliary titles containing the term

Some are approximately of comital rank, some higher, some lower. The more important ones are treated in separate articles (follow the links); a few minor, rarer ones only in sections below.

A was a

nobleman whose title of ''count'' was conferred or confirmed by the Holy Roman Emperor, and meant "Imperial Count", i.e., a count of the Holy Roman Empire. Since the feudal era, any count whose territory lay within the Empire and was under the immediate jurisdiction of the Emperor with a shared vote in the came to be considered a member of the "upper nobility" () in Germany, along with princes (), dukes (), electors, and the emperor himself. A count who was not a was likely to possess only a mesne fief () — he was subject to an immediate prince of the empire, such as a duke or prince elector.

However, the Holy Roman Emperors also occasionally granted the title of to subjects and foreigners who did not possess and were not granted immediate territories — or, sometimes, any territory at all. Such titles were purely honorific.

In English, is usually translated simply as ''count'' and is combined with a territorial suffix (e.g., Count of Holland, Count Reuss) or a surname ( Count Fugger, Count von Browne). Even after the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the retained precedence above other counts in Germany. Those who had been quasi-sovereign until German mediatisat