Dukedom

Dukedom may refer to:

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Duchy

A duchy (spelled with capital D when it is part of a country's name or a title of a head of state) is a country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess. The term is used almost exclusively in Europe, where in present-day there is no sovereign Duchy (i.e. with the status of a nation state) left.

The term "Duke" (resp. "Duchy") should not be confounded with the title "Grand Duke" (resp. "Grand Duchy", such as the present-day Grand Duchy of Luxembourg), as there exists a significant difference of rank between the two.

In common European cultural heritage, a Grand Duke is the third highest monarchic rank, after Emperor and King. Its synonym in many eastern European languages (Russian, Lithuanian etc.) is Grand Prince, whereas most western European languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian etc.) use the expression Grand Duke. Unlike a duke, the sovereign Grand Duke is considered to be part of "Royalty" (i.e. royal nobility, in German: Königsadel). The correct form of address is His Royal Highness (HRH).

Duke

A duke (male) (British English: /djuːk/ or American English: /duːk/) or duchess (female) can either be a monarch ruling over a duchy or a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch. The title comes from French duc, itself from the Latin dux, 'leader', a term used in republican Rome to refer to a military commander without an official rank (particularly one of Germanic or Celtic origin), and later coming to mean the leading military commander of a province.

During the Middle Ages the title (as Herzog) signified first among the Germanic monarchies. Dukes were the rulers of the provinces and the superiors of the counts in the cities and later, in the feudal monarchies, the highest-ranking peers of the king. A duke may or may not be, ipso facto, a member of the nation's peerage: in the United Kingdom and Spain all dukes are/were also peers of the realm, in France some were and some were not, while the term is not applicable to dukedoms of other nations, even where an institution similar to the peerage (e.g., Grandeeship, Imperial Diet, Hungarian House of Magnates) existed.