Landgrave
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Landgrave (Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx; Template:Langx, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang) was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of Template:Lang, Template:Lang ("margrave"), and Template:Lang ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to Template:Lang ("duke"), and superior to Template:Lang ("count").
Etymology
The English word landgrave is the equivalent of the German Landgraf, from Land 'land' and Graf 'count'.
Description
A landgrave was originally a count who possessed imperial immediacy, that is, a feudal duty owed directly to the Holy Roman Emperor. His jurisdiction stretched over a sometimes quite considerable territory, which was not subservient to an intermediate power, such as a duke, a bishop or count palatine. The title originated within the Holy Roman Empire, and was first recorded in Lower Lotharingia in 1086: Henry III, Count of Louvain, landgrave of Brabant. By definition, a landgrave exercised sovereign rights. His decision-making power was comparable to that of a Duke.
Landgrave occasionally continued in use as the subsidiary title of such noblemen as the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who functioned as the Landgrave of Thuringia in the first decade of the 20th century, but the title fell into disuse after World War II.
The jurisdiction of a landgrave was a landgraviate (Template:Langx), and the wife of a landgrave or a female landgrave was known as a landgravine (from the German Template:Lang, Template:Lang being the feminine form of Template:Lang).
The term was also used in the Carolinas (what is now North and South Carolina in the United States) during British rule. A "landgrave" was "a county nobleman in the British, privately held North American colony Carolina, ranking just below the proprietary (chartered equivalent of a royal vassal)."<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Examples
Examples include:
- Landgraves of Thuringia
- Landgraves of Hesse<ref>Template:Citation</ref> and its subsequent divisions (Hesse-Kassel, -Darmstadt, -Rotenburg, -Philippsthal(-Barchfeld), -Rheinfels, -Homburg(-Bingenheim), -Marburg).
- Landgraves of Leuchtenberg, situated around a Bavarian castle (later raised into a duchy)
- Landgraves of Stühlingen
- Landgraves of Klettgau
- Fürstenberg-Weitra
- Fürstenberg-Taikowitz
- Landgraviate of Alsace
References
Further reading
- Mayer, Theodor, "Über Entstehung und Bedeutung der älteren deutschen Landgrafschaften", in Mitteralterliche Studien – Gesammelte Aufsätze, ed. F. Knapp (Sigmaringen 1958) 187–201. Also published in Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Germanische Abteilung 58 (1938) 210–288.
- Mayer, Theodor, 'Herzogtum und Landeshoheit', Fürsten und Staat. Studien zur Verfassungsgeschichte des deutschen Mittelalters (Weimar 1950) 276–301.
- Eichenberger, T., Patria: Studien zur Bedeutung des Wortes im Mittelalter (6.-12. Jahrhundert), Nationes – Historische und philologische Untersuchungen zur Entstehung der europäischen Nationen im Mittelalter 9 (Sigmaringen 1991).
- Van Droogenbroeck, Frans J., 'De betekenis van paltsgraaf Herman II (1064-1085) voor het graafschap Brabant', Eigen Schoon en De Brabander, 87 (2004), 1-166.
- Van Droogenbroeck, Frans J., Het landgraafschap Brabant (1085-1183) en zijn paltsgrafelijke voorgeschiedenis. De territoriale en institutionele aanloop tot het ontstaan van het hertogdom Brabant (2004)