ROYAL AND NOBLE RANKS
Traditional rank amongst European royalty, peers, and nobility is rooted in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Although they vary over time and between geographic regions, for example, one region's prince might be equal to another grand duke.
Nobility titles
The European nobility, the highest ranking citizens of a country besides the royal family, consisted of anyone who had been summoned to Parliament. Usually they were the owners of a vassalage, land given to them for their allegiance and services to the ruling monarch. Although titles were given different names in different countries, the system of ranking the nobility is pretty much the same throughout Europe.
Several ranks were widely used, for more than a thousand years in Europe alone, for both sovereign rulers and non-sovereigns. Additional knowledge about the territory (and period in history) is required to know whether the rank holder was a sovereign or non-sovereign. However joint precedence among rank holders often greatly depended on whether a rank holder was sovereign, whether of the same rank or not. This situation was most widely exemplified by the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) in Europe
Almost all of the following ranks were commonly both sovereign and non-sovereign within the HRE. Outside of the HRE the most common sovereign rank of these below was that of Prince. Within the HRE those holding the following ranks who were also sovereigns had (enjoyed) what was known as an immediate relationship with the Emperor. Those holding non-sovereign ranks held only a mediate relationship (meaning that the civil hierarchy upwards was mediated by one or more intermediaries between the rank holder and the Emperor).
Grand Prince, ruling a grand principality; a title primarily used in the medieval Russian principalities; it was also used by the Romanovs of the Russian Empire for members of the imperial family
Archduke, ruling an archduchy; was generally only a sovereign rank when used by the rulers of Austria; it was also used by the Habsburgs of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire for members of the imperial family; it was also used for those ruling some Habsburg territories such as those that became the modern BeNeLux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) nations
Duke, rules a duchy, also for junior members of ducal and some grand ducal families
Prince, Prinz in German; junior members of a royal, ducal or princely family (the title of Fürst for heads of princely families and sometimes all members, e.g. Wrede)
In particular Crown Prince, Kronprinz in German, was reserved for the heir apparent of an emperor or king
Infante, title of the cadet members of the royal families of Portugal and Spain
Elector, Kurfürst in German, a rank for those who voted for the Holy Roman Emperor, usually sovereign of a state (e.g. the Margrave of Brandenburg, an elector, called the Elector of Brandenburg)
Marquess, Margrave, or Marquis was the ruler of a marquessate, margraviate, or march
Landgrave, a German title, ruler of a landgraviate
Count, theoretically the ruler of a county; known as an Earl in modern Britain
Viscount (vice-count), theoretically the ruler of a viscounty or viscountcy
Freiherr, holder of an allodial barony – these are "higher" level of barons[citation needed]
Baron, theoretically the ruler of a barony – some barons in some countries may have been "free barons" (liber baro) and as such, regarded (themselves) as higher barons.
The degrees of the nobility all have different coronets. In practice coronets are rarely worn today except at coronations. They are, however, depicted on the majority of noble coats-of-arms.
Более подробно о благородных титулах в неоконченном СЛОВАРЕ-ЭНЦИКЛОПЕДИИ Часть Первая. Титулы. Автор
Владимир Багаев.
