Princes [Furstenamt]
Koenig | King |
Furst | Prince |
Erzherzog | Archduke |
Herzog | Duke |
Landgraf | Landgrave | Count Palatine |
Margraf | Margrave |
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Finally, in the 13th century, seven of the most powerful of these separated themselves into a college which obtained the sole right of electing the emperor. These were called "prince electors" (Kurfürsten), and formed the highest rank of the German princes. The formal designation of " prince " (Furst) was, however, extremely rare in Germany in the middle ages. Examples are the princes of Mecklenburg (Prilislav I., prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1170) and Rügen, the latter title now belonging to the kings of Prussia. In the i?th century some half-dozen more principalities were created, of which that of SchwarzburgSondershausen (1697) survives as a sovereign house. The 18th century increased their number, and of the princely houses of this period those of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1710), Waldeck (1712) and Reuss, elder branch (1778), preserved their sovereignty. Of the other sovereign "princes" in Germany, Reuss, cadet branch, obtained the title in 1806, Schaumburg-Lippe in 1807. Outside the German Empire the prince of Liechtenstein, whose title dates from 1608, remained sovereign.
Thus, in Germany, with the decay of the empire the title "prince" received a sovereign connotation, though it ranked, as in France, below that of "duke." There were, however, in the countries formerly embraced in the Holy Roman Empire other classes of "princes." Some of these inherit titles, sovereign under the old empire, but " mediatized " during the years of its collapse at the beginning of the loth century, e.g. Thurn and Taxis (1605), Hohenlohe (1764), Lciningen (1779); others received the title of " prince " immediately before or after the end of the empire as "compensation for ceded territories, e.g. Metternich-Winneburg (1803). Besides these mediatized princes, who transmit their titles and their privilege of "royal" blood to all their legitimate descendants, there were also in Austria and Germany "princes," created by the various German sovereigns, and some dating from the period of the old empire, who took a lower rank, as not being "princes of the Holy Roman Empire" nor entitled to any royal privileges.
Some of these titles were bestowed to give a recognized rank to the morganatic wives and children of royal princes, e.g., the princes of Battenberg, or the title of " princess " of Hohenberg borne by the consort of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand d'Esté; others as a reward for distinguished service, e.g. Hardenberg, Blücher, Bismarck. In this latter case the rule of primogeniture has been usual, the younger sons taking the title of "count " (Graf). These non-royal princes are ranked in the Almanack de Gotha with British and French dukes and Italian princes. All these various classes of princes are styled Fürst and have the predicate "Serene Highness " (Durchlaucht).
The word Prinz, actually synonymous with Fürst, is reserved as the title of the non-reigning members of sovereign houses and, with certain exceptions (e.g. Bavaria), for the cadets of mediatized ducal and princely families. The heir to a throne is "crown prince " (Kronprinz), "hereditary grand duke" (Erbgrossherzog) or "hereditary prince" (Erbprinz]. The heir to the crown of Prussia, when not the son of the monarch had the title of "prince of Prussia " (Prinz ??? Preussen).
Though many German families of the rank of Princes [Furstenamt] had lost their sovereignty, yet the act of the German confederation conceded to them the highest rank of nobility, equal to that of the sovereign houses. There was still a strict distinction, in Germany, between the ancient princes, who had risen to this dignity before 1580, and those of a more recent date. The more, however, the. power of the German principalities increased, the more the importance of the nobility decreased.
The ancient nobility of race (Stammesadel), often confined to a few families, was the foundation of the dynastic or princely nobility of the middle ages (Hoher Adel, Herreiiadel, Standes-herren). The position of the Princes [Furstenamt], the highest secular class, was closely connected with the constitution of the Empire. The families whose heads had risen to the highest rank of independence and sovereignty were counted hochfrei, sendbarfrei, semperfrei. From the end of the twelfth century, only those secular lords counted as princes of the Empire who held at least a Countship in fief from the king, and were not vassals of any other temporal lord. But only the heads of these princely families were regarded as properly lords (Herren). The status was dormant in the case of the other members of the family: they were only companions (Genossen) of the princes and lords.
It was customary, if a Prince or Count had several sons, for each of them not only to have his share of the patrimony, but to inherit his father's title; as the titles of the Dukes, Counts Palatine, Margraves, Landgraves, and Counts, continued to all the family. The original quality of the titles annexed to the Dutchies, or other Principalities and Counties, which implied merely an office of command, was foon forgotten.
By the side of the secular princes (Dukes, Margraves, and Counts-palatine), and sometimes taking precedence of them, stood the ecclesiastical princes of the Empire, carrying their sceptre. The former office had become hereditary, and was, as a rule, only bestowed on descendants of the higher nobility. The latter was not exclusively confined to princely houses: frequently clergy of knightly birth, or even learned citizens, were elected to it, and in rare cases even peasants' sons were raised to the episcopal throne.
The office of Count (Grafewmt), which also became a hereditary and territorial rule. After the fall of the powerful tribal dukes (Stammesherzoge), and the partition of their territories among different princes, these dynasties of counts increased in dignity. Formally their position depended on the grant of the royal ban (Konigsbanii) by the king; in fact, it was a hereditary territorial lordship.
Besides these there were a number of great allodial lordships, whose lords, by the grant of immunities and of seignorial rights, had obtained a sovereignty and jurisdiction like that of the counts-these were the Barons (freie Herren). The families of the old tribal nobility, which had no position in the Empire, could not long remain members of the imperial nobility, and were merged in the other classes, mainly in that of the knights.
This nobility of the Empire (Reichaadel) was mainly distinguished by two political rights: (1) Territorial sovereignty (Landeshoheit). (2) A seat in the imperial estates (Reichsstandschaft). It was thus a ruling class in the fullest sense of the word, being sole ruler on its own domains, joint ruler in the Empire. This tendency to sovereignty was characteristic and powerful, and had a disastrous effect on the Empire. It led the most eminent families to sacrifice the majesty of the Empire to the claims of the Papacy, to weaken and cripple the German monarchy, completely break up the national unity, and make German territory subject to foreigners. This crime against their country was not compensated by the brilliance of their courts and palaces, nor by the ennobling works of art which flourished under their protection.
Their territorial lordship acquired in time the semblance of sovereignty, without real strength or security for the future. Only some of the great territorial princes were able to maintain some measure of separate political existence; most of them were too weak in resources and ability. Their power as an imperial estate was rarely exercised for the furtherance of German interests, the development of public rights, or the support of popular freedom: it was generally used to evade national duties, and extend the special powers of the members of the Empire.
The tendency to family exclusiveness was specially strong. This appears in the rigid requirement of equality of birth, in the prohibition of mesalliance (Mixsheiratz), and in the extension of equal privileges to all children. The only form of marriage which was quite unexceptionable was where both parties were descended from hochfrei families. Even the marriage of a hochfrei man with a mitteifrei wife was regarded in many families as a mesalliance, compromising the equal birth of the children and the princely rights of the sons. The king could indeed remove the defect by raising the wife to a higher rank; or a family, in virtue of its autonomy, might adopt higher principles, or give its consent to a particular case of unequal marriage.
No German dynasty could keep quite pure, according to the strictest principles of equal birth. But in many cases morganatic marriages were concluded, with the express condition that the children should not inherit their father's rank: the same result followed in cases of undoubted mesalliance, especially where the wife came from the lower citizen or peasant, or even the s.erf class; when, according to the later electoral capitulations, even kings could not wipe out the stain.
Early in the thirteenth century Eike of Repgow made a collection of the laws in use in Saxony, calling it the 'Mirror of the Saxons' (Sachsenffieffel]. At the time of the "Mirrors" the title of prince, count, and baron was only given to those who actually exercised the functions of prince or count, or occupied a barony. But in time all sons of princes and counts bore and transmitted the title of their father. This multiplication of unreal titles, apparently with a view to the honor of families, only served to lower their dignity among the people, and to weaken them before the great territorial princes. In the same way the rigid maintenance of the principle of equality in marriage dried up the sources which should have renewed the nobility, and cut it off from the attachment of the people.
In Germany, Austria and other countries formerly embraced m the Holy Roman Empire the title of "prince" has had a somewhat different history from other parts of Europe. During the first period of the empire, the " princes " were the whole body of the optimates who took rank next to the emperor. In the nth century, with the growth of feudalism, all feudatories holding m chief of the Crown ranked as " princes," from dukes to simple counts, together with archbishops, bishops and the abbots of monasteries held directly of the emperor. Towards the end of tbc 12th century, however, the order of princes (Furstenstand) was narrowed to the more important spiritual and temporal feudatories who had a right to a seat in the diet of the empire in the "college of princes" (Fürstenbank).
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