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 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, Burgundy, Brittany, and Aquitaine.
The medieval German stem duchies (German: Stammesherzogtum, literally “tribal duchy,” the official title of its ruler being Herzog or “duke”) were associated with the Frankish Kingdom and corresponded with the areas of settlement of the major Germanic tribes. 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 [the troops]”).
In medieval England, duchies associated with the territories of Lancashire and Cornwall were created, with certain powers and estates of land accruing to their dukes. The Duchy of Lancaster 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, 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.”[1] 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[edit]
- 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
- Duchy of Lancaster
France
- Duchy of Anjou
- Duchy of Aquitaine
- Duchy of Berry
- Duchy of Bourbon
- Duchy of Brittany
- Duchy of Burgundy
- Duchy of Gascony
- Duchy of Guyenne
- Duchy of Normandy
- Duchy of Orléans
- Duchy of Lorraine
Georgia
- Duchy of Aragvi
- Duchy of Kldekari
- Duchy of Ksani
- Duchy of Tskhumi
- Duchy of Racha
Holy Roman Empire
- Duchy of Alsace (in English also ‘Alsatia’)
- Duchy of Austria (later Archduchy of Austria, in German: Erzherzogtum Österreich)
- Duchy of Bavaria
- Duchy of Bohemia
- Duchy of Brabant
- Duchy of Bremen
- Duchy of Brunswick
- Duchy of Carinthia
- Duchy of Carniola
- Duchy of Franconia
- Duchy of Gelders
- 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
- Duchy of Savoy
- Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg
- Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
- Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen
- Duchy of Saxony
- Duchy of Styria
- Duchy of Swabia
- Duchy of Thuringia
- Duchy of Westphalia
- Duchy of Württemberg
The following duchies were part of the medieval Kingdom of Italy (not to be confused with the modern Kingdom of Italy (1860-1945)), which itself was part of the Holy Roman Empire:
- Duchy of Milan
- Duchy of Mantua
- Duchy of Sabbioneta
- Duchy of Montferrat
- Duchy of Guastalla
- Duchy of Modena and Reggio
- Duchy of Mirandola
- Duchy of Massa and Carrara
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
- Duchy of Warsaw
Slovakia
- Duchy of Nitra
Spain
- Dukedoms of Spain
Sweden
All provinces of Sweden 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 and Hälsingland combined
- Östergötland
- Gotland
- Ångermanland
- Skåne
- Södermanland
- Dalarna
- Blekinge
- Halland
Other current or historical duchies
- Duchy of the Franks
- Duchy of Lower Pannonia
- Duchy of Gascony
- Duchy of Limburg
- Duchy of Livonia
- Duchy of Saint Sava
- Duchy of Vasconia
- Duchy of Athens
- Duchy of Neopatras
- Duchy of Pakualaman
- Duchy of Mangkunegaran