A
count is a
nobleman in
European countries; his wife is a
countess. 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 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.
Definition
In the late
Roman Empire, the Latin title
comes meaning (imperial) 'companion' denoted the high rank of various courtiers and provincial officials, either military or administrative: before
Anthemius was made emperor in the West in 467, he was military
comes charged with strengthening defenses on the
Danube frontier.
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 was called Mr. and Ms./Mrs. (before the use of titles was abolished).
Comital titles in different European languages
The following lists are originally based on a Glossary on Heraldica.org by Alexander Krischnig. The male form is followed by the female, and when available, by the territorial circonscription
Etymological derivations from the Latin comes
Etymological parallels of the German Graf (some unclear)
Compound and related titles
Apart from all these, a few unusual titles have been of comital rank, not necessarily to remain there.
- Dauphin (anglicized Dolphin, possibly an etymological match; ) was a multiple (though rare) comital title in southern France before it became (informally) the courtesy title of the heir to the French royal crown, in chief of the province still known as the région Dauphiné
- Conde-Duque 'Count-Duke' is a rare title used in Spain, notably by Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, Count-Duke of Olivares who had inherited the title of count of Olivares, but being created Duke of Sanlucar la Mayor by King Philip IV of Spain begged permission to preserve his inherited title in combination with the new honour — according to a practice almost unique in Spanish history; logically the incumbent ranks as Duke (higher than Count) just a he would when simply juxtapositioning both titles.
- Conde-Barão 'Count-Baron' is a rare title used in Portugal, notably by D. Luís Lobo da Silveira, 7th Baron of Alvito, who received the title of Count of Oriola in 1653 from King John IV of Portugal. His palace in Lisbon still exists, located in a square named after him (Largo do Conde-Barão).
- Archcount is a very rare title, etymologically analogous to archduke, apparently never recognized officially, used by or for:
- *the count of Flanders (an original pairie of the French realm in present Belgium, very rich, once expected to be raised to the rank of kingdom); the informal, rather descriptive use on account of the countship's de facto importance is rather analogous to the unofficial epithet Grand Duc de l'Occident (before Grand duke became a formal title) for the even wealthier Duke of Burgundy
- In German kingdoms, the title Graf was combined with the word for the jurisdiction or domain the nobleman was holding as a fief and/or as a conferred or inherited jurisdiction, such as "Markgraf" (Margrave - see also Marquess), "Landgraf" ('landgrave'), "Freigraf" ('free count'), "Burggraf" ('Burgrave', where burg signifies castle; see also Viscount), Pfalzgraf (see (Count) Palatine), "Raugraf" (Raugrave, see 'graf'. Originally a unique title) and "Waldgraf" (waldgrave (comes nemoris), where wald signifies a large forest).
- The German Graf and Dutch graaf () stems from the Byzantine-Greek grapheus meaning "he who calls a meeting [i.e. the court] together").
- These titles are not to be confused with various minor administrative titles containing the word -graf in various offices which are not linked to nobility of feudality, such as the Dutch titles Pluimgraaf (a court sinecure, so usually held by noble courtiers, may even be rendered hereditary) and Dijkgraaf (to the present, in the Low Countries, a managing official in the local or regional administration of water household trough dykes, ditches, controls etcetera; also in German Deichgraf, synonymous with Deichhauptmann, 'dike captain').
Lists of countships
Territory of today's France
West-Francia proper
Since
Louis VII (1137–80), the highest precedence amongst the vassals (
Prince-bishops and secular nobility) of the French crown was enjoyed by those whose benefice or temporal fief was a
pairie, i.e. carried the exclusive rank of
pair; within the first (i.e. clerical) and second (noble) estates, the first three of the original twelve
anciennes pairies were ducal, the next three comital
comté-pairies:
- Bishop-counts of Noyon (in Picardy)
- Count of Flanders (Flandres in French), which is in the Low countries and was confiscated in 1299, though returned in 1303
Later other countships (and duchies, even baronies) have been raised to this French peerage, but mostly as
apanages (for members of the royal house) or for foreigners; after the 16th century all new peerages were always duchies and the medieval countship-peerages had died out, or were held by royal princes
Other French countships of note included those of:
Parts of today's France long within other kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire
See also above for parts of present FranceIn Germany
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 :
Roman (Papal) count
Count is one of the nobiliary titles granted by the
Pope as temporal
sovereign and the title's holder is thus often known as a
Roman count, confused with the hereditary
Roman nobility since the restoration of the papacy in 1815. The title of
Count Palatine of the Lateran Palace, which can be for life or hereditary, has been awarded by popes and
Holy Roman Emperors since the Middle Ages, in frequently before the 14th century, and the pope continued to grant purely honorary title even after 1870, when the ranks of the Roman nobility were otherwise frozen. By the Lateran Accord of 1929, the Italian government recognized and confirmed the pope's power to grant titles, and the titles granted by the Pope were considered equivalent to Italian titles. However, the title has not been generously granted since
Pope Pius XII,
John McCormack and
Rose Kennedy being among the last few to receive this honor. With
Paul VI, who responded to the formal Christmas message of the
patriciate by declaring that the papal nobility would no longer be a constituent body in the papal court, the custom essentially disappeared. Pope John Paul II did grant several nobiliary titles to compatriots at the beginning of his pontificate, but quietly and without their being published in the Acts of The Apostolic See.
In Austria
The principalities tended to start out as margraviate and/or (promoted to) duchy, and became nominal archduchies within the Habsburg dynasty; noteworthy are:
In Poland
Numerous small ones, particularly:
In Galicia (Central Europe)
particularly see:
In the Low Countries
Apart from various small ones, significant were :
- * Count of Flanders (Vlaanderen in local Dutch), but only the small part east of the river Schelde remained within the empire; the far larger west, an original French comté-pairie became part of the French realm
- * Count of Leuven (Louvain) soon became the Duke of Brabant
- in the present Dutch kingdom of the Netherlands:
In Switzerland
In other continental European countries
In Iberia
As opposed to the plethora of hollow 'gentry' counts, only a few countships ever were important in medieval
Iberia; most territory was firmly within the
Reconquista kingdoms before counts could become important. However, during the 19th century, the title, having lost its high rank (equivalent to that of
Duke), proliferated.
Portugal
Portugal itself started as a countship in 868, but became a
kingdom in 1139 (see:
County of Portugal). Throughout the
History of Portugal, especially during the
Constitutional Monarchy many other countships were created (see:
List of Countships in Portugal).
Spain
In Spain, no countships of wider importance exist, except in the former Spanish march.
In Bulgaria
In the
First Bulgarian Empire, a komit was a hereditary provincial ruler under the
tsar documented since the reign of
Presian (836-852) The
Cometopouli dynasty was named after its founder, the komit of
Sredets.
Crusader states
Equivalents
Like other major Western
noble titles, Count is sometimes used to render certain titles in non-western languages with their own traditions, even though they are as a rule historically unrelated and thus hard to compare, which are considered 'equivalent' in relative rank.
This is the case with:
- the Chinese Bó (伯), hereditary title of nobility ranking below Hóu (侯) and above Zĭ (子)
- the Korean equivalent Baekjak or Poguk
- in Vietnam, it is rendered Bá, one of the lower titles reserved for male members of the Imperial clan, above Tử (Viscount), Nam (Baron) and Vinh phong (lowest noble title), but lower than — in ascending order — Hầu (Marquis), Công (Prince), Quan-Cong (Duke) and Quốc-Công (Grand Duke), all under Vương (King).
See also
