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Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave [1] [2] (from German : Burggraf, [1] Latin : burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus ), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especially a royal or episcopal castle, and its territory called a Burgraviate or Burgravate (German Burggrafschaft also Burggrafthum, Latin praefectura). [1] [3] [4]
The burgrave was a "count" in rank (German Graf , Latin comes ) [2] equipped with judicial powers, [3] [4] under the direct authority of the emperor or king, or of a territorial imperial state—a prince-bishop or territorial lord. The responsibilities were administrative, military and jurisdictional.
A burgrave, who ruled over a substantially large territory, might also have possessed the regality of coinage, and could mint his own regional coins (see silver bracteates).
Etymologically, the word burgrave is the English and French form of the German noble title Burggraf (compounded from Burg: castle, fortress or equally fortified town and Graf : count [2] ) from Middle High German burcgrâve. [5] [6] The feminine form is burgravine, in German Burggräfin (from Middle High German burcgrâvin). [3] [5] [7]
From the early High Middle Ages, the German Burggraf (burgrave) was the military governor or commander of a castle, [4] similar to that of the Anglo-Norman French "castellain" and Middle English "castellan" (from Latin : castellanus). [8] [9]
In the mid-12th century, King Conrad III of Germany created a new quality for the title of burgrave during the German eastward colonization. They became protectors and administrators of extensive royal territories near major imperial castles, such as Meissen, Altenburg and Leisnig, and received "judicial lordship" (German: Gerichtsherrschaft [6] ). They also acted as colonizers and created their own dominions.
Under the reign of King Rudolf I of Germany, their dignity was considerably advanced. [2] Before his time, burgraves were ranked only as counts ( Graf ), below the princes ( Fürst ), but during his reign, they began to receive the same esteem as princes. [2]
In the Kingdom of Germany, owing to the distinct conditions of the Holy Roman Empire, the title, borne by feudal nobles having the status of Reichsfürst (princes of the Empire), obtained a quasi-royal significance. [10]
Like other officials of the feudal state, some burgraves became hereditary rulers. There were four hereditary burgraviates ranking as principalities within the Holy Roman Empire, plus the burgraviate of Meissen:
In the Crown of the Kingdom of Bohemia, the title of burgrave was given by the King of Bohemia to the chief officer, or the regal official whose command is equivalent to a viceroy's. [2] From the 14th century, the burgrave of Prague—the highest-ranking of all burgraves, seated at Prague castle, gradually became the state's highest-ranking official, who also acted as the king's deputy; [17] the office became known as the high or supreme burgrave of the Kingdom of Bohemia (Czech: Nejvyšší purkrabí ); the appointment was usually for life. After the reforms of Maria Theresa (reign 1740–1780) and her son Joseph II (reign 1780–1790), the title of highest burgrave gradually lost its de facto power. The title of highest burgrave was still granted, however, and its holder remained the first officer of the kingdom. It was abolished in 1848.
In the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, the burgrave (Polish: burgrabia , earlier also murgrabia) was also of senatorial rank (i.e. held a seat in the upper chamber of the Senate of Poland). Ranking first among them was the "Burgrave of Kraków" (Polish: Burgrabia krakowski ) of the former capital of Poland and Wawel Castle, who was appointed directly by the King of Poland. The royal office was originally created during the reign of Casimir III the Great. At that time, Kraków's burgrave was also chief judge of the supreme court of Magdeburg law (Polish: Sąd wyższy prawa niemieckiego ) erected in Kraków in lieu of Magdeburg. [18] The burgrave of Kraków also collected an income from the royal Wieliczka Salt Mine, run by the Royal Salt Mines company Żupy krakowskie since the 13th century.
In the Kingdom of Prussia, the burgrave was one of the four chief officers of a province, delegated by the King of Prussia. [2]
In Sweden, the burgrave (Swedish : burggreve, earlier spelling burggrefve) was the highest official in the cities of Gothenburg and Malmö during periods in the 17th and early 18th centuries. The title was first introduced by the king Gustavus Adolphus in the 1621 charter for Gothenburg, though it was not actually used until 1625. The burgrave of Gothenburg was to protect the "highness, reputation and regalia" of the monarch and was appointed by him or her from a group of six candidates proposed by the city board. In Gothenburg, the title ceased to be used in 1683 but was briefly reintroduced by Charles XII between 1716 and 1719. Now appointed among three candidates, the burgrave was the executive of the city, keeping the city keys and supervising the board. Following the Gothenburg model, the title was introduced in Malmö by Charles X Gustav after the city was ceded to Sweden in 1658, but was abolished 19 years later in 1677. [19]
In Anglo-French parlance, a burgrave was considered analogous to a viscount. [1] [20]
The House of Hohenzollern is a formerly royal German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. The family came from the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the late 11th century and took their name from Hohenzollern Castle. The first ancestors of the Hohenzollerns were mentioned in 1061.
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was a principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the senior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. The Swabian Hohenzollerns were elevated to princes in 1623. The small sovereign state with the capital city of Sigmaringen was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1850 following the abdication of its sovereign in the wake of the revolutions of 1848, then became part of the newly created Province of Hohenzollern.
A viscount or viscountess is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscountcy.
Graf is a historical title of the German nobility and later also of the Russian 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".
Châtelain was originally the French title for the keeper of a castle.
A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from castellanus. A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1194, Beatrice of Bourbourg inherited her father's castellany of Bourbourg upon the death of her brother, Roger. Similarly, Agnes became the castellan of Harlech Castle upon the death of her husband John de Bonvillars in 1287. The title of "governor" is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant of the medieval idea of the castellan as head of the local prison.
The Margravate or Margraviate of Meissen was a medieval principality in the area of the modern German state of Saxony. It originally was a frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire, created out of the vast Marca Geronis in 965. Under the rule of the Wettin dynasty, the margravate finally merged with the former Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg into the Saxon Electorate by 1423.
Frederick V of Nuremberg was a Burgrave (Burggraf) of Nuremberg, of the House of Hohenzollern.
The Burgraviate of Nuremberg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from the early 12th to the late 15th centuries. As a burgraviate, it was a county seated in the town of Nuremberg; almost two centuries passed before the burgraviate lost power over the city, which became independent from 1219. Eventually, the burgraviate was partitioned to form Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Bayreuth.
Czchów is a town in Brzesko County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,288 inhabitants as of December 2021. It lies on the Dunajec river, and along National Road Nr. 75. In the years 1928-2000, Czchów was a village.
Sommeregg is a medieval castle near Seeboden in the Austrian state of Carinthia, Austria. It is situated in the foothills of the Nock Mountains at an altitude of 749 m.
The Dohna Feud was a 14th-century dispute between the burgraves of Dohna, who resided in the Eastern Ore Mountains of Central Europe, on the one hand and Saxon nobleman, John of Körbitz and the Meißen Margrave William I on the other. The feud lasted from 1385 to 1402.
Henry IV of Plauen, was High Chancellor of the Kingdom of Bohemia, Burgrave of Meissen, Lord of Plauen, Gera, Greiz, Schleiz and Bad Lobenstein, Lord of Toužim, Hartenštejn Castle, Andělská Hora Castle and Žlutice. He also used the traditional title of Lord of Lázně Kynžvart and, apart from an intermezzo in 1547, he was Lord of Bečov nad Teplou as well.
Henry VI of Plauen was Burgrave of Meissen, Lord of Plauen and Lord of Schleiz and Lobenstein.
Dohna Castle on the once important medieval trade route from Saxony to Bohemia was the ancestral castle seat of the Burgraves of Dohna. Of the old, once imposing double castle only a few remnants of the walls remain. The ruins of the old castle are located on the hill of Schlossberg near the subsequent suburb of the town of the same name, Dohna, in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge in Saxony, Germany.
The Burgvogt was the administrator of a castle in the Holy Roman Empire.
The Burggraf von Rietenburg was a Middle High German lyric poet in the Minnesang tradition. He was probably the younger brother of the Burggraf von Regensburg. All seven of his surviving stanzas are concerned with courtly love.
The Burggraf von Regensburg was a Middle High German lyric poet who wrote Minnelieder. In his four surviving stanzas, love is not yet courtly love. In one, strongly contrary to later courtly convention, the woman serves the man. All his stanzas are preserved in two manuscripts, the 13th-century Kleine Heidelberger Liederhandschrift and the 14th-century Codex Manesse.
The Supreme Burgrave of the Kingdom of Bohemia, originally the Burgrave of Prague or the Burgrave of Prague Castle was the most important land official of the Kingdom of Bohemia. They were the head of the Bohemian Diet and the Bohemian land court, and commander of the Zemská hotovost.
viscount of antwerp.
The King's full official titles are King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Jonkheer van Amsberg, Count of Katzenelnbogen, Vianden, Diez, Spiegelberg, Buren, Leerdam and Culemborg, Marquis of Veere and Vlissingen, Baron of Breda, Diest, Beilstein, the town of Grave and the lands of Cuyk, IJsselstein, Cranendonk, Eindhoven and Liesveld, Hereditary Lord and Seigneur of Ameland, Lord of Borculo, Bredevoort, Lichtenvoorde, 't Loo, Geertruidenberg, Klundert, Zevenbergen, Hoge and Lage Zwaluwe, Naaldwijk, Polanen, St Maartensdijk, Soest, Baarn and Ter Eem, Willemstad, Steenbergen, Montfort, St Vith, Bütgenbach and Dasburg, Viscount of Antwerp.
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