thumb|[[Heraldic crown of a landgrave]]

Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and superior to ' ("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 (), and the wife of a landgrave or a female landgrave was known as a landgravine (from the German , being the feminine form of ).

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)."

Examples

Examples include:

  • Landgraves of Thuringia
  • Landgraves of Hesse 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
  • Upper Alsace
  • Lower 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)