A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

, territory,

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

, or domain ruled by a

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are r ...

or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between "sovereign dukes" and dukes who were ordinary noblemen throughout Europe. Some historic duchies were sovereign in areas that would become part of nation-states only during the modern era, such as happened in Germany (once a federal empire) and Italy (previously a unified kingdom). In contrast, others were subordinate districts of those kingdoms that had unified either partially or completely during the medieval era, such as France, Spain, Sicily, Naples, and the Papal States.

Examples

In France, several duchies existed in the medieval period, including

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, Burgundy,

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

, and Aquitaine. The medieval German stem duchies (german: Stammesherzogtum, literally "tribal duchy," the official title of its ruler being ''

Herzog ''Herzog'' (female ''Herzogin'') is a German hereditary title held by one who rules a territorial duchy, exercises feudal authority over an estate called a duchy, or possesses a right by law or tradition to be referred to by the ducal title. ...

'' or "duke") were associated with the Frankish Kingdom and corresponded with the areas of settlement of the major Germanic

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

s. They formed the nuclei of the major feudal states that comprised the early era of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation (961-1806; in German: ''Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation''). These were ''Schwaben'' (Swabia, mainly the present-day German state of Baden-Württemberg), ''Bayern'' (Bavaria), and ''Sachsen'' (Saxony) in pre-Carolingian times, to which ''Franken'' (Franconia, at present the northern part of the German state of Bavaria) and ''Lothringen'' (Lorraine, nowadays mostly part of France) were added in post-Carolingian times. As mentioned above, such a duke was styled ''Herzog'' (literally "the one who is leading he troops). In medieval England, duchies associated with the territories of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

and

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

were created, with certain powers and estates of land accruing to their dukes. The

Duchy of Lancaster The Duchy of Lancaster is the private estate of the British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster. The principal purpose of the estate is to provide a source of independent income to the sovereign. The estate consists of a portfolio of lands, properti ...

was created in 1351 but became merged with the Crown when, in 1399, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, ascended the throne of England as Henry IV. Nowadays, the Duchy of Lancaster always belongs to the sovereign and its revenue is the Privy Purse. The Duchy of Cornwall was created in 1337 and held successively by the Dukes of Cornwall, who were also heirs to the throne. Nowadays, the Duchy of Cornwall belongs to the sovereign's

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

, if there is one: it reverts to the Crown in the absence of an heir apparent and is automatically conferred to the heir apparent upon birth. These duchies today have mostly lost any non-ceremonial political role, but generate their holders' private income. During the Wars of the Roses, the Duke of York made a successful entry into the City of York, by merely claiming no harm and that it was his right to possess "his duchy of York." Any and all feudal duchies that made up the patchwork of England have since been absorbed within the Royal Family. Other than Cornwall and Lancaster, British royal dukedoms are titular and do not include landholdings. Non-royal dukedoms are associated with ducal property, but this is meant as the duke's private property, with no other feudal privileges attached. At present, all independent (i.e., sovereign) duchies have disappeared.

List of duchies

Baltic provinces and governorates

* Duchy of Courland and Semigallia * Duchy of Estonia (disambiguation) * Duchy of Livonia * United Baltic Duchy

Croatia

* Lower Pannonia * Duchy of Croatia * Pagania * Poljica duchy

Denmark

* Duchy of Schleswig * Duchy of Holstein (formally part of the Holy Roman Empire)

England

* Duchy of Cornwall *

France

* Duchy of Anjou *

Duchy of Aquitaine The Duchy of Aquitaine ( oc, Ducat d'Aquitània, ; french: Duché d'Aquitaine, ) was a historical fiefdom in western, central, and southern areas of present-day France to the south of the river Loire, although its extent, as well as its name, flu ...

Duchy of Berry Duke of Berry (french: Duc de Berry) or Duchess of Berry (french: Duchesse de Berry) was a title in the Peerage of France. The Duchy of Berry, centred on Bourges, was originally created as an appanage for junior members of the French royal fami ...

Duchy of Bourbon Duke of Bourbon (french: Duc de Bourbon) is a title in the peerage of France. It was created in the first half of the 14th century for the eldest son of Robert of France, Count of Clermont and Beatrice of Burgundy, heiress of the lordship of B ...

Duchy of Brittany The Duchy of Brittany ( br, Dugelezh Breizh, ; french: Duché de Bretagne) was a medieval feudal state that existed between approximately 939 and 1547. Its territory covered the northwestern peninsula of Europe, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean ...

* Duchy of Burgundy * Duchy of Gascony * Duchy of Guyenne * Duchy of Normandy *

Duchy of Orléans The Duchy of Orléanais () is a former royal duchy, which was created during reign of Hugh Capet by elevating the former County of Orléans. In 1498, as part of a centralisation of France under Louis XII, the duchy was dissolved and replaced by th ...

* Duchy of Lorraine

Georgia

* Duchy of Aragvi *

Duchy of Kldekari The Duchy of Kldekari ( ka, კლდეკარის საერისთავო, tr), sometimes also referred as County of Trialeti was a duchy (''saeristavo'') within the kingdom of Georgia from 876-1184. Ruled by a powerful dynasty of ...

* Duchy of Ksani * Duchy of Tskhumi * Duchy of Racha

Holy Roman Empire

Duchy of Alsace The Duchy of Alsace ( la, Ducatus Alsacensi, ''Ducatum Elisatium''; german: Herzogtum Elsaß) was a large political subdivision of the Frankish Empire during the last century and a half of Merovingian rule. It corresponded to the territory of Als ...

(in English also ‘Alsatia’) * Duchy of Austria (later Archduchy of Austria, in German: ''Erzherzogtum Österreich'') *

Duchy of Bavaria The Duchy of Bavaria (German: ''Herzogtum Bayern'') was a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom from the sixth through the eighth century. It was settled by Bavarian tribes and ruled by dukes (''duces'') under ...

* Duchy of Bohemia *

Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant was a State of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries, part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1430 and of the Habsburg ...

Duchy of Bremen ), which is a public-law corporation established in 1865 succeeding the estates of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (established in 1397), now providing the local fire insurance in the shown area and supporting with its surplusses cultural effor ...

* Duchy of Brunswick *

Duchy of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (german: Herzogtum Kärnten; sl, Vojvodina Koroška) was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial Sta ...

* Duchy of Carniola * Duchy of Franconia *

Duchy of Gelders The Duchy of Guelders ( nl, Gelre, french: Gueldre, german: Geldern) is a historical duchy, previously county, of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries. Geography The duchy was named after the town of Geldern (''Gelder'') in p ...

* Duchy of Holstein * Duchy of Lauenburg * Duchy of Limburg * Duchy of Upper Lorraine * Duchy of Lower Lorraine * Duchy of Luxemburg (a Grand Duchy since 1815; see above) * Duchy of Magdeburg * Duchy of Mecklenburg * Duchy of Oldenburg * Duchy of Pomerania *

Duchy of Salzburg The Duchy of Salzburg () was a Cisleithanian crown land of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary from 1849 to 1918. Its capital was Salzburg, while other towns in the duchy included Zell am See and Gastein. Before becoming a crown land, Sal ...

* Duchy of Savoy * Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg *

Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha), or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, links=no ), was an Ernestine, Thuringian duchy ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present- ...

Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen Saxe-Meiningen (; german: Sachsen-Meiningen ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia. Established in 1681, by partition of the Ernesti ...

Duchy of Saxony The Duchy of Saxony ( nds, Hartogdom Sassen, german: Herzogtum Sachsen) was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the C ...

* Duchy of Styria * Duchy of Swabia * Duchy of Thuringia *

Duchy of Westphalia The Duchy of Westphalia (german: Herzogtum Westfalen) was a historic territory in the Holy Roman Empire, which existed from 1102 to 1803. It was located in the greater region of Westphalia, originally one of the three main regions in the Germ ...

Duchy of Württemberg The Duchy of Württemberg (german: Herzogtum Württemberg) was a duchy located in the south-western part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a member of the Holy Roman Empire from 1495 to 1806. The dukedom's long survival for over three centuries ...

The following duchies were part of the medieval Kingdom of Italy, which itself was part of the Holy Roman Empire: * Duchy of Milan * Duchy of Mantua *

Duchy of Sabbioneta A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a medieval country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference be ...

* Duchy of Montferrat * Duchy of Guastalla * Duchy of Modena and Reggio * Duchy of Mirandola *

Duchy of Massa and Carrara The Duchy of Massa and Principality of Carrara ( it, Ducato di Massa e Principato di Carrara) was a small state that controlled the towns of Massa and Carrara from 1473 until 1829. History Although the city of Massa had already known its maxi ...

Naples

* Duchy of Acerenza * Duchy of Apulia * Duchy of Sora

Papal States (Holy See)

* Duchy of Ferrara * Duchy of Urbino * Duchy of Camerino * Duchy of Castro * Duchy of Parma

Poland

* Duchy of Poland *

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the region of Prussia establish ...

* Duchy of Warsaw

Slovakia

Duchy of Nitra The Principality of Nitra ( sk, Nitrianske kniežatstvo, Nitriansko, Nitrava, lit=Duchy of Nitra, Nitravia, Nitrava; hu, Nyitrai Fejedelemség), also known as the Duchy of Nitra, was a West Slavic polity encompassing a group of settlements th ...

Spain

* Dukedoms of Spain

Sweden

All

provinces of Sweden The provinces of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges landskap) are historical, geographical and cultural regions. Sweden has 25 provinces; they have no administrative function (except for in some cases as sport districts), but remain historical legacies and ...

have the right to have a ducal coronet in their arms. The king gives princes and princesses ducal titles ''of'' them. The current such royal duchies are: * Västergötland * Värmland *

Gästrikland Gästrikland () is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Uppland, Västmanland, Dalarna, Hälsingland and the Gulf of Bothnia. Gästrikland is the southernmost of the Norrland provinces. Other f ...

and Hälsingland combined * Östergötland * Gotland *

Ångermanland Ångermanland ( or ) is a historical province (''landskap'') in the northern part of Sweden. It is bordered (clockwise from the north) by Swedish Lapland, Västerbotten, the Gulf of Bothnia, Medelpad and Jämtland. The name is derived from ...

* Skåne *

Södermanland Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västm ...

* Dalarna *

Blekinge Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's sec ...

* Halland * Uppland

Other current or historical duchies

* Duchy of the Franks * Duchy of Lower Pannonia * Duchy of Gascony * Duchy of Limburg * Duchy of Livonia * Duchy of Vasconia * Duchy of Athens * Duchy of Neopatras * Duchy of Pakualaman * Duchy of Mangkunegaran

References

External links

The Duchy of Cornwall official site
{{Authority control Monarchy Types of administrative division