The word ''margrave'' () is the English and French form (recorded since 1551) of the German title ''Markgraf'' (from ''Mark'', "march" and ''Graf'', "count"). The word, if not the formal title, was also in use in most other European languages including Spanish, Polish and Scandinavian languages. In English, the term Marcher Lord is etymologically closely related and semantically very similar to margrave.
Most marks, and consequently their margraves, had their base on the Eastern border of the Carolingian and later Holy Roman Empire. The Breton Mark on the Atlantic and the border of peninsular Brittany, and the Spanish Mark on the Muslim frontier, including what is now Catalonia, are notable exceptions. The Spanish Mark was to have a considerable importance in the early stages of the Reconquista, with ambitious margraves originally based in the Pyrenees taking advantage of Muslim Al-Andalus' disarray in the 11th century to extend their territory southwards, eventually leading to the creation of Christian Kingdoms that would become Spain.
In the modern Holy Roman Empire, two original marches developed into the two most powerful states in Central Europe: the ''Mark Brandenburg'' (the nucleus of the later Kingdom of Prussia) and Austria (which became heir to various, mainly 'Hungarian' and 'Burgundian' principalities). Austria was originally called ''Marchia Orientalis'' in Latin, the "eastern borderland", as (originally roughly the present Lower -) Austria formed the eastern outpost of the Holy Roman Empire, on the border with the Magyars and the Slavs. During the 19th and 20th centuries the term was sometimes translated as ''Ostmark'' by some Germanophones, but medieval documents attest only the vernacular name ''Ostarrîchi''. Another Mark in the south-east, Styria, still appears as ''Steiermark'' in German today.
In the late Middle Ages, as marches lost their military importance, margraviates developed into hereditary monarchies, comparable in all but name to duchies. A unique case was the Golden Bull of 1356 (issued by Charles IV, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia), recognizing the Margrave of Brandenburg as an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, membership of the highest college within the Imperial diet carrying the politically significant privilege of being the sole electors of the non-hereditary Emperor, which was previously de facto restricted to dukes and three prince-archbishops (Cologne, Mainz and Trier); other non-ducal lay members would be the King of Bohemia and the Palatine of the Rhenish Electoral Palatinate. The King of Bohemia himself ruled over the Margravate of Moravia or appointed a Margrave to that post.
As the title of margrave lost its military connotation, it became more and more used as a mere 'peerage' rank, higher than Graf (count) and its associated compound titles such as Landgraf, Gefürsteter Graf and Reichsgraf, but lower than ''Herzog'' (duke). At the end of the monarchies in Germany, Italy and Austria, not a single margraviate remained, since they all had been raised to higher titles.The etymological heir of the margrave, also introduced in countries that never had any margraviates, the marquess (see that article; their languages may use one or two words, e.g. French ''margrave'' and ''marquis''), still ranks in the British peerage between duke and earl (equivalent to a continental count).
The wife of a margrave is called a ''margravine'' (German ''Markgräfin'').
Language !! Equivalent of margrave !! Equivalent of margravine | ||
Afrikaans | ''Markgraaf''/''Markies'' | ''Markgraafin''/''Markiezin'' |
Catalan language | Catalan | ''Marcgravi''/''Marquès'' |
Croatian language | Croatian | ''Markgrof'' |
Czech language | Czech | ''Markrabě''/''Markýz'' |
Danish language | Danish | ''Markgreve'' |
Dutch language | Dutch | ''Markgraaf''/''Markies'' |
Estonian language | Estonian | ''Markkrahv'' |
Finnish language | Finnish | ''Rajakreivi''/''Markiisi'' |
French language | French | ''Margrave''/''Marquis'' |
German language | German | ''Markgraf'' |
Greek language | Greek | ''Μαρκήσιος''/''Μαργράβος'' |
Icelandic language | Icelandic | ''Markgreifi'' |
Italian language | Italian | ''Margravio''/''Marchese'' |
Japanese language | Japanese | 辺境 |
Korean language | Korean | 변경백 |
Latin | ''Marchio'' | |
Latvian language | Latvian | ''Markgrāfs'' |
Lithuanian language | Lithuanian | ''Markgrafas'' |
Hungarian language | Magyar | ''őrgróf''/''Márki'') |
Norwegian language | Norwegian | ''Markgreve'' |
Persian language | Persian | ''Marzban'' |
Polish language | Polish | ''Margrabia'' |
Portuguese language | Portuguese | ''Margrave'' |
Romanian language | Romanian | ''Margraf'' |
Spanish language | Spanish | ''Margrave'' |
Swedish language | Swedish | ''Markgreve'' |
Category:German noble titles Category:Noble titles Category:Titles of national or ethnic leadership Category:Holy Roman Empire Category:Men's social titles
af:Markgraaf als:Markgraf be:Маркграф bg:Маркграф ca:Marcgravi cs:Markrabě da:Markgreve de:Markgraf el:Μαγράβος es:Margrave eo:Margrafo eu:Margrave fa:مارگراف fr:Margrave ko:변경백 hr:Markgrof it:Margravio lt:Markgrafas nl:Markgraaf ja:辺境伯 pt:Margrave ro:Margraf ru:Маркграф simple:Margrave sk:Markgróf sr:Маркгроф sh:Markgrof fi:Rajakreivi th:มาร์กราฟ uk:Маркграф vls:MarkgroafThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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