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Look up landgrave in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Coronet of Landgrave

Landgrave (Dutch landgraaf, German Landgraf; French landgrave; Latin comes magnus, comes patriae, comes provinciae, comes terrae, comes principalis, lantgravius) was a title used in the Holy Roman Empire and later on by its former territories.

Description[link]

The title refers to a count who had feudal duty directly to the Holy Roman Emperor. His jurisdiction stretched over a sometimes quite considerable territory, which was not subservient to an intermediate power like a Duke, a Bishop or Count Palatine. The title survived from the times of the Holy Roman Empire (first records in Lower Lotharingia from 1086 on: Henry III of Leuven as landgrave of Brabant). A landgrave by definition exercised sovereign rights. His decision-making power was comparable to that of a Duke.

Landgrave occasionally continued in use as the subsidiary title of such nobility as the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who functioned as the Landgrave of Thuringia in the first decade of the 20th century, but the title fell into disuse after World War I.

The jurisdiction of a landgrave was a landgraviate and the wife of a landgrave was a landgravine. Examples: Landgrave of Thuringia, Landgrave of Hesse, Princely (Gefürsteter) Landgrave of Leuchtenberg (around a Bavarian castle; later made a duchy).

Related terms[link]

Landgraviate refers to the rank, office, or territory held by a landgrave.

Landgravine (German: Landgräfin) refers to the wife of a Landgrave or one who exercises the office or holds the rank in her own right.

Literature[link]

• Mayer, Theodor, Über Entstehung und Bedeutung der älteren deutschen Landgrafschaften, in Mitteralterliche Studien – Gesammelte Aufsätze, ed. F. Knapp (Sigmaringen 1958) 187–201. Also published in Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Germanische Abteilung 58 (1938) 210–288.
• Mayer, T., 'Herzogtum und Landeshoheit', Fürsten und Staat. Studien zur Verfassungsgeschichte des deutschen Mittelalters (Weimar 1950) 276–301.
• Eichenberger, T., Patria: Studien zur Bedeutung des Wortes im Mittelalter (6.-12. Jahrhundert), Nationes – Historische und philologische Untersuchungen zur Entstehung der europäischen Nationen im Mittelalter 9 (Sigmaringen 1991).
• Van Droogenbroeck, F.J., De betekenis van paltsgraaf Herman II (1064–1085) voor het graafschap Brabant, in Eigen Schoon en De Brabander, 87 (Brussel 2004) 1–166.

Other meanings of Landgrave[link]

• Cassiques: for information on the use of the term in the colonial Province of Carolina

Willi Landgraf (b. August 29, 1968 in Mülheim an der Ruhr) is a retired German footballer, last playing for the amateurs of Schalke 04.

Career[link]

He is the record holder of games played in the Second Bundesliga with 508 games. He notably never played a single game in the Bundesliga. Most of Landgraf's games were for Rot-Weiß Essen and for Alemannia Aachen.^[1]

Landgraf was well known for his honest, blue-collar approach to soccer and was regarded as a great fan favourite even of fans who did not follow his teams.

At age 37, he seemed to finally achieve his dream of playing his first Bundesliga match, when his club Alemannia Aachen were promoted. However, Landgraf (who had been benched most of the season because his younger rival outplayed him) declined to hang on as a "mercy player" and went to the amateurs of Schalke 04, and intends to make his trainer's license.^[2]

Coaching career[link]

Langraf would be work as Assistant Coach by Alemannia Aachen II, the contract was cancelled and he will be working with his last club FC Schalke 04.^[3]

References[link]