of a count (Spanish Heraldry)]]
A count (male) or countess (female) is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is "comital". The British equivalent is an earl (whose wife is also a "countess", for lack of an Anglo-Saxon term). Alternative names for the "Count" rank in the nobility structure are used in other countries, such as Hakushaku during the Japanese Imperial era.
In the Western Roman Empire Count came to generically indicate a military commander, but was not a specific rank. In the Eastern Roman Empire, from about the seventh century, a count was a specific rank indicating the commander of two centuries (i.e. 200 men).
Military counts in the Late Empire and the Germanic successor kingdoms were often appointed by a dux and later by a king. From the start the count was in charge, not of a roving warband, but settled in a locality, a countship, his main rival for power being the bishop, whose diocese was often coterminous.
In many Germanic and Frankish kingdoms in the early Middle Ages, the count might also be a count palatine, whose authority derived directly from the royal household, the "palace" in its original sense of the seat of power and administration. This other kind of count had vague antecedents in Late Antiquity too: the father of Cassiodorus held positions of trust with Theodoric, as comes rerum privatarum, in charge of the imperial lands, then of comes sacrarum largitionum (concerned with the strictly monetary fiscal matters of the realm).
The position of comes was originally not hereditary. By holding large estates, many counts were able to make it a hereditary title—though not always. For instance, in Piast Poland, the position of komes was not hereditary, resembling the early Merovingian institution. The title had disappeared by the era of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the office replaced with other institutions. Only after the Partitions of Poland did the title of "count" re-surface in the German-derived title hrabia.
The title of Count was also often conferred by the monarch as an honorific title for special services rendered, without an actual feudal estate (countship, county), just a title, with or without a domain name attached to it. In the UK, the equivalent Earl is often a courtesy title for the eldest son of a duke. In the United Kingdom stringent rules apply, often a future heir has a lower ranking courtesy title; in Italy, by contrast, all the sons of certain counts are counts (contini). In Sweden there is a distinction between counts (Swedish: greve) introduced before 1809 and after. All children in countship families introduced before 1809 are called count/countess. In families introduced after 1809 only the head of the family is called count, the rest had a status similar to barons and were called Mr. and Ms./Mrs. (before the use of titles was abolished).
Language | Male title | Female title / Spouse | Territory |
! scope="row" | Kont | Konteshë | |
! scope="row" | Կոմս (Koms) | Կոմսուհի (Komsuhi) | |
! scope="row" | Кмет (Kmet), present meaning: mayor; medieval (9th-century) Комит (Komit): hereditary provincial ruler | Кметица (Kmetitsa), woman mayor / Кметша (Kmetsha), mayor's wife | Кметство (Kmetstvo); medieval Комитат (Komitat) |
! scope="row" | Comte | Comtessa | Comtat |
! scope="row" | Count (applies to title granted by monarchies other than the British where Earl applies) | Countess (even where Earl applies) | Earldom for an Earl; Countship or county for a count, but the last is also, and indeed rather, in English-Speaking countries an administrative district |
! scope="row" | Comte | Comtesse | Comté |
! scope="row" | Vikomt | Vikomtessz | These forms are now archaic and/or literary; Gróf is used instead. |
! scope="row" | Cunta; Iarla | Cuntaois, Baniarla | Honorary title only; iarla does not derive from Latin comes but rather from English "earl". |
! scope="row" | Conte | Contessa | Contea, Contado, Comitato |
! scope="row" | Κόμης (Kómēs) | Κόμησσα (Kómēssa) | |
Latin (feudal jargon, not classical) | Comes | Comitissa | Comitatus |
! scope="row" | Konti | Kontessa | |
! scope="row" | Conte | Contessa | |
! scope="row" | Komtesse, komtessa(Count's wife or unmarried daughter. Wife usually greivinna/grevinne, see below) | ||
! scope="row" | Conde | Condessa | Condado |
! scope="row" | Conte | Contesă | Comitat |
! scope="row" | Cont | Contessa | |
! scope="row" | Conde | Condesa | Condado |
! scope="row" | Kont | Kontes | Kontluk |
Language | Male title | Female title / Spouse | Territory |
Afrikaans | Graaf | Gravin | Graafskap |
! scope="row" | Граф (Hraf) | Графiня (Hrafinia) | Графствa (Hrafstva) |
! scope="row" | Граф (Graf) | Графиня (Grafinya) | Графство (Grafstvo) |
! scope="row" | Grof | Grofica | Grofovija |
! scope="row" | Hrabě | Hraběnka | Hrabství |
! scope="row" | Greve | Grevinde | Grevskab |
! scope="row" | Graaf | Gravin | Graafschap |
! scope="row" | Grave | Gravine | Graviate |
! scope="row" | Krahv | Krahvinna | Krahvkond |
! scope="row" | Kreivi | Kreivitär | Kreivikunta |
! scope="row" | Graf | Gräfin | Grafschaft |
! scope="row" | Γράβος | ||
! scope="row" | Gróf | Grófnő, Grófné | Grófság |
! scope="row" | Greifi | Greifynja | |
! scope="row" | Grāfs | Grāfiene | Grāfiste |
! scope="row" | Grafas | Grafienė | Grafystė |
! scope="row" | Graf | Gräfin | |
! scope="row" | Гроф (Grof) | Грофица (Grofica) | |
! scope="row" | Greve/greive | Grevinne/greivinne | Grevskap/greivskap |
! scope="row" | Hrabia | Hrabina | Hrabstwo |
! scope="row" | Grof (also Conte, see above) | ||
! scope="row" | Граф (Graf) | Графиня (Grafinya) | Графство (Grafstvo) |
! scope="row" | Гроф | Грофица | Грофовија |
! scope="row" | Gróf | Grófka | Grófstvo |
! scope="row" | Grof | Grofica | Grofija |
! scope="row" | Greve | Grevinna | Grevskap |
! scope="row" | Граф (Hraf) | Графиня (Hrafynya) | Графство (Hrafstvo) |
Other French countships of note included those of:
====In Italy==== The title of Conte is very prolific on the peninsula, and modern counts occupy the position in rural society comparable to an English squire, members of rural gentry. In the eleventh century however, conti like the Count of Savoia or the Norman Count of Apulia, were virtually sovereign lords of broad territories. Even apparently "lower"-sounding titles, like Viscount, could describe powerful dynasts, such as the Visconti family who ruled a major city such as Milan. The essential title of a feudatory, introduced by the Normans, was signore, modelled on the French seigneur, used with the name of the fief. By the fourteenth century, conte and the Imperial title barone were virtually synonymous, but some titles of count, according to the particulars of the patent, might be inherited by the eldest son of a Count. Other younger brothers might be distinguished as "X dei conti di Y" ("X of the counts of Y"). However if there is no male to inherit the title and the count has a daughter, she can inherit the title: for example the Countess Luisa Gazelli di Rossana e di Sebastiano, mother of Queen Paola of Belgium. The Papacy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies might appoint counts palatine with no particular territorial fief. Until 1812 in some regions, the purchaser of land designated "feudal" was ennobled by the noble seat that he held and became a conte. This practice ceased with the formal abolition of feudalism in the various principalities of early-19th century Italy, last of all in the Papal States.
Many Italian counts left their mark on Italian history as individuals, yet only a few contadi (countships; the word contadini for its inhabitants remains the Italian word for "peasant") were politically significant principalities, notably :
This is the case with:
Category:Feudalism Category:Late Antiquity Category:Middle Ages Category:Noble titles Category:Titles Category:Men's social titles
ar:كونت an:Conte bg:Граф (титла) ca:Comte cs:Hrabě da:Greve (rang) de:Graf et:Krahv es:Conde eo:Grafo eu:Konde fa:کنت (لقب) fr:Comte fy:Greve ko:백작 hr:Grof io:Komto is:Greifi it:Conte he:רוזן ka:გრაფი la:Comes lv:Grāfs lt:Grafas (titulas) hu:Gróf ms:Count nl:Graaf (titel) ja:伯爵 no:Greve nn:Greve nds:Graaf pl:Hrabia pt:Conde ro:Conte ru:Граф (титул) simple:Count sk:Gróf sl:Grof sr:Гроф sh:Grof fi:Kreivi sv:Greve tl:Konde th:เคานท์ uk:Граф (титул) zh:伯爵This 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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