Belgian Nobility
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Belgian Nobility
The Belgian nobility comprises Belgian individuals or families recognized as noble with or without a title of nobility in the Kingdom of Belgium. The Belgian constitution states that no specific privileges are attached to the nobility. History Because most old families have resided in the current territory of Belgium for centuries and prior to the founding of the modern Belgian state, their members have been drawn from a variety of nations. Spanish nobles resided in Flanders in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the period under Dutch sovereignty, the nobility was an important factor in move towards independence. After independence, the Kingdom of the Netherlands lost an important segment of their nobles, as all of the highest born families lived in the south, and thus became part of the Belgian nobility. At court in the 19th century this new Belgian nobility played a major role. During the Austrian period, the high nobility participated in the government, both political and at t ...
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Kingdom Of Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest. It covers an area of and has a population of more than 11.5 million, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe, with a density of . Belgium is part of an area known as the Low Countries, historically a somewhat larger region than the Benelux group of states, as it also included parts of northern France. The capital and largest city is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège, Bruges, Namur, and Leuven. Belgium is a sovereign state and a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. Its institutional organization is complex and is structured on both regional and linguistic ...
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House Of Merode
The House of Merode is one of the most prominent families of the Belgian nobility. The House of Merode originates from the village of Merode (today in the municipality of Langerwehe, Germany). Over the last five centuries different branches bore noble titles and had estates on the territories of the modern states of Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Austria. Through marriage the house is connected with many prominent European noble families. The House of Merode played an important role in the history of the Southern Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium. The surname of the family and the name of the house is nowadays mostly written de Mérode (in French). The name is also spelled de Merode or van Merode in Dutch and von Merode in German. The Coat of Arms of the House of Merode is blazoned as: "Or, four pales gules, a border engrailed azure". The motto of the house is "Plus d'honneur que d'honneurs" in French and "Meer eer dan eerbetoon" in Dutch. Origin The ...
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Czechs
The Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, culture, history, and the Czech language. Ethnic Czechs were called Bohemians in English until the early 20th century, referring to the former name of their country, Bohemia, which in turn was adapted from the late Iron Age tribe of Celtic Boii. During the Migration Period, West Slavic tribes settled in the area, "assimilated the remaining Celtic and Germanic populations", and formed a principality in the 9th century, which was initially part of Great Moravia, in form of Duchy of Bohemia and later Kingdom of Bohemia, the predecessors of the modern republic. The Czech diaspora is found in notable numbers in the United States, Canada, Israel, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Ukraine, Switzerland, Italy, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Russ ...
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Lobkowicz
The House of Lobkowicz (''Lobkovicové'' in modern Czech, sg. ''z Lobkovic''; ''Lobkowitz'' in German) is a Czech noble family that dates back to the 14th century and is one of the oldest Bohemian noble families. The family also belong to the German, Austrian and Belgian nobility. The first Lobkowiczs were members of the gentry of north-eastern Bohemia in the late 14th century. The family's Imperial immediacy over Princely county of Störnstein was mediatized by Bavaria in 1807. As such, the House of Lobkowicz belong to the small group of families that constitute the ''Hochadel'' (). Princes of Lobkowicz * Zdenko Adalbert, 1st Prince 1624–1628 (1568–1628) ** Wenzel Eusebius, 2nd Prince 1628–1677 (1609–1677) *** Ferdinand August, 3rd Prince 1677–1715 (1655–1715) **** Philipp Hyazinth, 4th Prince 1715–1737 (1680–1737) ***** Wenzel Ferdinand, 5th Prince 1737–1739 (1723–1739) ***** Ferdinand, 6th Prince 1739–1784 (1724–1784) ****** Joseph Franz Maxi ...
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German Mediatisation
German mediatisation (; german: deutsche Mediatisierung) was the major territorial restructuring that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany and the surrounding region by means of the mass mediatisation and secularisation of a large number of Imperial Estates. Most ecclesiastical principalities, free imperial cities, secular principalities, and other minor self-ruling entities of the Holy Roman Empire lost their independent status and were absorbed into the remaining states. By the end of the mediatisation process, the number of German states had been reduced from almost 300 to just 39. In the strict sense of the word, mediatisation consists in the subsumption of an immediate () state into another state, thus becoming ''mediate'' (), while generally leaving the dispossessed ruler with his private estates and a number of privileges and feudal rights, such as low justice. For convenience, historians use the term ''mediatisation'' for the entire restructuring process that to ...
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Princes Of The Holy Roman Empire
Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Definition Originally, possessors of the princely title bore it as immediate vassals of the Emperor who held a fief (secular or ecclesiastical) that had no suzerain except the Emperor. However, by the time the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, there were a number of holders of Imperial princely titles who did not meet these criteria. Thus, there were two main types of princes: those who exercised '' Landeshoheit'' (sovereignty within one's territory while respecting the laws and traditions of the empire) as well as an individual or shared vote in the College of Princes, and those whose title was honorary (the possessor lacking an immediate Imperial fief and/or a vote in the Imperial Diet). The first came to be reckoned as "royalty" in the sense of being treated as ...
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Graf
(feminine: ) is a historical title of the German 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" (whose female version is "countess"). The German nobility was gradually divided into high and low nobility. The high nobility included those counts who ruled immediate imperial territories of "princely size and importance" for which they had a seat and vote in the Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire), Imperial Diet. Etymology and origin The word derives from gmh, grave, italics=yes, which is usually derived from la, graphio, italics=yes. is in turn thought to come from the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine title , which ultimately derives from the Greek verb () 'to write'. Other explanations have been put forward, however; Jacob Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, while still noting the potential of a Greek derivation, suggested a connection to got, gagrêfts, italics=yes, m ...
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House Of Ligne
The House of Ligne is one of the oldest Belgian noble families, dating back to the eleventh century.''Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser'' XIV. "Ligne". C.A. Starke Verlag, 1991, pp. 495-500. . The family's name comes from the village of where it originated, between Ath and Tournai in what is now the Hainaut province of Belgium. History Their progressive rise in the nobility began as barons in the twelfth century, counts of Fauquemberg and princes of Épinoy in the sixteenth century, then princes of Amblise in 1608. The family became Imperial counts on 18 December 1544, then Lamoral I received from Emperor Rudolf II the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire as ''Prince de Ligne'' on 20 March 1601, for all of his agnatic descendants, both male and female. Compensation for loss of the Imperial County of Ligne (Fagnolles, since that barony had become seat of the county in 1789) as a result of the Peace of Lunéville consisted of substitution of the secular ...
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Archduke Carl Christian Of Austria
Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria (born Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg on 17 February 1954) is the elder daughter and eldest child of Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium, and the wife of Archduke Carl Christian of Austria, grandson the last Austrian Emperor, Charles I of Austria, Karl I. Biography Princess Marie-Astrid was born on 17 February 1954, in Castle Betzdorf, Betzdorf, Luxembourg, Betzdorf, Luxembourg. She is the eldest child of Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Jean, then Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium. Her godparents were King Leopold III of Belgium (her maternal grandfather) and Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg (her paternal grandmother). The princess was named Marie-Astrid in honour of the Mary (mother of Jesus), Virgin Mary and her maternal grandmother the Queen of the Belgians born Astrid of Sweden who died tragically in 1935. She is the niece of the Kings Baudo ...
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House Of Habsburg-Lorraine
The House of Habsburg-Lorraine (german: Haus Habsburg-Lothringen) originated from the marriage in 1736 of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis III, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, and Maria Theresa, Maria Theresa of Austria, later successively List of Bohemian monarchs, Queen of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary, List of rulers of Croatia, Queen of Croatia and Archduchess of Austria. Its members are the legitimate surviving line of both the House of Habsburg and the House of Lorraine, inheriting their patrimonial possessions and Vocation#Senses, vocation to the Empire from their Matrilineality, female ancestress of the House of Habsburg and from the Patrilineality, male line of the House of Lorraine. The branch of Count of Vaudémont, Vaudemont and House of Guise, Guise from the House of Lorraine become the major branch after a brief interlude in 1453–1473, when the duchy passed in right of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, Charles de Bourbon's daughter to her husband John II, Duke o ...
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Czetwertyński Family
The House of Czetwertyński or Chetvertynsky (also ''Czetwertyński-Światopełk'' and ''Sviatopolk-Chetvertynsky'') is a Polish princely family of Ruthenian origin that was founded in modern-day Volhynia within the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, now Ukraine. The family takes its name from the village of Chetvertnia, Lutsk county, in modern-day Manevychi Raion, Volyn Oblast. History According to the family's legend, the progenitor of the family is the Grand Prince of Kyiv, Sviatopolk II. The first documented member of the family is Oleksander Chetvertynsky, who is mentioned in 1388. The family was accepted into the princely houses of Poland and Lithuania in 1569 and their Russian title of prince was confirmed in 1843.Enache, Nicolas. ''La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg''. ICC, Paris, 1996. pp. 107, 115. (French). In 1492, Prince Fedir Mykhailovych Chetvertynsky was the Lithuanian-Ruthenian ambassador to Wallachia. Over time, the family were Polonized and Catholiciz ...
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Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The female equivalent is a princess. The English word derives, via the French word ''prince'', from the Latin noun , from (first) and (head), meaning "the first, foremost, the chief, most distinguished, noble ruler, prince". Historical background The Latin word (older Latin *prīsmo-kaps, literally "the one who takes the first lace/position), became the usual title of the informal leader of the Roman senate some centuries before the transition to empire, the '' princeps senatus''. Emperor Augustus established the formal position of monarch on the basis of principate, not dominion. He also tasked his grandsons as summer rulers of the city when most of the government were on holiday in the country or attending religious rituals, and, ...
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