Count

This page is about the Western style nobility; for the baseball term, see Count (baseball).

A count is a nobleman in most European countries, equivalent in rank to a British Earl, whose wife is still a "countess" (for lack of an Anglo-Saxon term). The word count comes from French comte, itself from Latin Comes- in its accusative comitem- meaning "companion, bound (by oath)", and later "bound to the emperor, delegate of the emperor".

Definition

Main article: Comes.
In the late Roman Empire. the Latin title Comes meaning (imperial) 'companion' denoted the high rank of various courtiers and provincial officials, either military or administrative: before Anthemius was made emperor in the West in 467, he was military comes charged with strengthening defenses on the Danube frontier .

Military counts in the Late Empire and the Germanic successor kingdoms were often appointed by a dux and later by a king. From the start the count was in military charge, not of a roving warband, but settled in a locality, a County, his main rival for power being the Bishop, whose Diocese was often coterminous.

In many Germanic and Frankish kingdoms in the early Middle Ages, the count might also be a count palatine, whose authority derived directly from the royal household, the "Palace" in its original sense of the seat of power and administration. This other kind of count had antecedents in Late Antiquity too: the father of Cassiodorus held positions of trust with Theodoric, as comes rerum privatarum, in charge of the imperial lands, then of comes sacrarum largitionum (concerned with the strictly monetary fiscal matters of the realm) ,

The position of comes was not originally a hereditary one, but by developing a local power base, a count was often able to make it a hereditary title-though not always. For instance, in Piast Poland, the position of komes was not hereditary, resembling the early Merovingian institution. The title had disappeared by the era of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the office replaced with other institutions. Only after the Partitions of Poland did the title of "count" resurface in the German-derived title hrabia.

The title of Count was often conferred by the monarch as an honorific title for special services rendered. In the UK a count or earl is often a Courtesy title for the eldest son of a duke. In the United Kingdom stringent rules apply, often a future heir has a lower ranking Courtesy title; in Italy, by contrast, all the sons of certain counts are counts (contini).

Comital Titles in different European languages

The following lists are originally based on a Glossary on Heraldica.org by Alexander Krischnig. The male form is followed by the female, and sometimes, after a second slash, by the territorial circonscription

-A- etymological derivations from the Latin Comes

LanguageMale TitleFemale Title/Spouseterritory
EnglishEarl conferred by a British monarch/ Count applying to all others monarchiesCountess (even where Earl applies)Earldom for an Earl/ County for a count, but also as an administrative district
Latin (feudal jargon, not classical)ComesComitessaComitatus
Albanian KontKonthesë
Irish Cuntas (alongside Iarla : Earl)/Cuntaois
FrenchComte - cfr. the variation ?ComtorComtesseComté
GreekΚόμης (Komes) Κόμισσα (Komissa)Κομητεία (Kometeia)
Maltese KontiKontessa
Monegasque ConteContessa
ItalianConteContessaContada
PortugueseCondeCondessaCondado
RomanianConteContesăComitat
Rhaeto-Romanic ContContessa
SpanishCondeCondesaCondado
Croatianknezkneginjaknežija

-B- etymological parallels of the German Graf (some unclear)

LanguageMale TitleFemale Title/Spouseterritory
EstonianKrahvKrahvinna
Belorussian GrafGrafinya
Bulgarian Graf Grafinya
Croatiangrofgroficagrofovija
Czechhraběhraběnkahrabství
DanishGreve GrevindeGrevskab
DutchGraaf GravinGraafschap
LatvianGrafsGrafiene
GermanGrafGräfinGrafschaft
Finnish Kreivi KreivitärKreivikunta
Hungarian (Magyar)grófgrófnőgrófság
Icelandic GreifiGreifynja
Lithuanian GrafasGrafiene
Luxemburgish GrofGräfin
Macedonian GrofGrofina
PolishHrabiaHrabinaHrabstwo
Norwegian Greve Grevinne
RussianGrafGrafinya
SerbianGrofGroficaGrofovija
Slovakgrófgrófkagrófstvo
SloveneGrof Grofica
SwedishGreveGrevinnaGrevskap
UkrainianGraf Grafinya

Related titles

Apart from all these, a few unusual titles have been of comital rank, not necessarily to remain there.
  • Dauphin (anglicized Dolphin, possibly an etymological match; Latin Delphinus) was a multiple title in southern France before it became (informally) the courtesy title of the heir to the French royal crown in chief of the province still known as the Dauphiné
  • In German kingdoms, the title Graf was combined with the word for the jurisdiction or domain the nobleman was holding as a fief and/or as a conferred or inherited jurisdiction, such as "Markgraf" (Margrave - see also Marquess), "Landgraf" ('landgrave'), "Freigraf" ('free count'), "Burggraf" ('burgrave', where burg signifies castle - see also Viscount), Pfalzgraf (see (Count) Palatine).
  • These are not to be confused with various minor office titles also containing the word -graf (in German, -grave in French and English, -graaf in Dutch) rather in its original sense (its medieval Latin original, GRAFIO, stems from the Greek verb graphein, to draw or to write : a civil servant, as the Carolingian counts were before they gradually managed to obtain hereditary succession) in various offices and sinecures which are not intrinsically linked to nobility of feudality, such as the Dutch titles Pluimgraaf (a court sinecure, so usually held by nobles courtiers, may even be rendered hereditary) and Dijkgraaf (to the present, in the Low Countries, a managing official in the local or regional administration of water household trough ditches, controls etcetera).

Lists of counts

Territory of today's France - A - West- Francia proper

Territory of today's France - B - long within the German kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire

In Germany

In Italy

The title of Conte is very prolific on the peninsula, and modern counts occupy the position in rural society comparable to an English squire, members of rural Gentry. In the 11th century however, conti like the Count of Savoia or the Norman Count of Apulia, were virtually sovereign lords of broad territories. The essential title of a feudatory, introduced by the Normans, was signore, modelled on the French seigneur, with the name of the fief. By the 14th century, conte and the Imperial title barone were virtually synonymous, but some titles of count, according to the particulars of the patent, might be inherited, unlike other Italian titles, by all the male heirs. Other younger brothers might be distinguished as "X dei conti de Y" ("X of the counts of Y"). The Papacy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies might appoint counts palatine with no particular territorial fief. Until 1812 in some regions, the purchaser of land designated "feudal" was ennobled by the noble seat that he held and became a conte. This practice ceased with the formal abolition of feudalism in the various principalities of early-19th century Italy, last of all in the Papal States.

Many Italian counts left their mark on Italian history as individuals, yet only a few countships were politically significant domains, notably :

External link

  • Italian Titles of Nobility

In Austria

The principalities tended to start out as margraviate and/or (promoted to) duchy, and became nominal archduchies within the Habsburg dynasty; noteworthy are :
  • Count of Tirol
  • Count of Cilli
  • Count of Schaumburg

In the Low Countries

Apart from various small ones, significant were :

In Switzerland

In Iberia

As opposed to the plethora of hollow 'gentry' counts, only a few countships ever were important; most territory was firmly within the reconquista kingdoms before counts could become important:
  • Portugal itself started as a counsthip, but was promoted to kingdom
  • in Spain none of importance, except in the former Spanish march
    • Count of Barcelona - it became integrated in the kingdom of Aragon
    • the other counts in Catalonia were much smaller and got absorbed : Cerdagne, Conflans, Pallars, Rousillon (in present France)

In other continental European countries

Crusader states

Equivalents

The word Count is also used, somewhat conventionally, to render in English (as in other western languages) various ranks and officies in other cultures, such as that of Japan under the Shogunate.

See also

Burgrave   Index

This page is based on the Wikipedia article ''Count''. It is licensed under the GNU free documentation license.

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