Kniaz’,
knyaz or
knez is a Slavic title found in most
Slavic languages, denoting a
royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either
Prince or less commonly as
Duke.
In the Vatican, some Croatian knyazes were referred to as "Dux Croatorum".
Today the term
knez is still used as the most common translation of "prince" in Croatian and Serbian literature. Another translation is
kraljević ("little king" or "kingly"), such as
Kraljević Marko, though this term is used to refer to a prince or princess of royal birth, son or daughter of a king.
The female form transliterated from
Bulgarian,
Ukrainian and
Russian is
knyaginya (княгиня),
kneginja in
Croatian and
Serbian (
Serbian Cyrillic: кнегиња). In Russian, the daughter of a knyaz is
knyazhna (княжна), in Ukrainian is
kniazivna (князівна).
The title is pronounced and written similarly in different
European languages. In Croatian and
West Slavic languages, such as Polish, and Sorbian, the word has later come to denote "lord", and in Czech, Polish and Slovak also came to mean "priest" (kněz, ksiądz, kňaz) as well as "duke" (knez, kníže, książę, knieža).
["князь". "Vasmer's Etymological Dictionary" online ] Etymology
The etymology is ultimately a
cognate of the English
king, the German
König, and the Scandinavian
konung. The
proto-Slavic form was
kǔningǔ,
kъnędzь, Bulgarian
knyaz, East-Slavic
knyaz, Polish
ksiądz, Croatian and Slovene
knez, Czech
kníže etc, as it could be a very early borrowing from the already extinct
Proto-Germanic Kuningaz, a form also borrowed by
Finnish and
Estonian (
Kuningas).
Middle Ages
The meaning of the term changed over the course of history. Initially the term was used to denote the
chieftain of a tribe. Later, with the development of feudal statehood, it became the title of a ruler of a state: in Bulgaria,
Boris I adopted it in 864, and among East Slavs (княжество (
kniazhestvo), князівство (
kniazivstvo) traditionally translated as
duchy or
principality), for example, of
Kievan Rus'. In medieval Latin sources the title was rendered as either
rex or
dux.
In Bulgaria,
Simeon took the title of
tsar in 913. In Kievan Rus', as the degree of centralization grew, the ruler acquired the title
Velikii Kniaz (Великий Князь) (translated as
Grand Prince or
Grand duke, see
Russian Grand Dukes). He ruled a
Velikoe Knyazhestvo (Великое Княжество) (
Grand Duchy), while a ruler of its vassal constituent (
udel,
udelnoe kniazhestvo or
volost) was called
udelny kniaz or simply
kniaz.
When Kievan Rus' became fragmented in the 13th century, the title Kniaz continued to be used in
East Slavic states, including
Kyiv,
Chernihiv,
Novgorod,
Pereiaslav,
Vladimir-Suzdal',
Muscovy,
Tver,
Halych-Volynia, and in the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Russia
thumb|Kneaze Alexey Michailovitz, 1664 ([[Tsar Alexis I of Russia)]]
As
Muscovy gained dominion over much of former Kievan Rus', Velikii Kniaz
Ivan IV of Russia in 1547 was crowned as
Tsar. Since the mid-18th century, the title Velikii Kniaz has been revived to allude to sons and grandsons (through male lines) of the Russian Emperors. See
titles for Tsar's family for details.
Kniaz continued as a hereditary title of
Russian nobility patrilineally descended from
Rurik (e.g.,
Repnin,
Gorchakov) or
Gediminas (e.g.,
Galitzine,
Troubetzkoy). Members of
Rurikid or
Gedyminid families were called princes when they ruled tiny quasi-sovereign medieval principalities. After their demesnes were absorbed by Muscovy, they settled at the Moscow court and were authorised to continue with their princely titles.
Since the 18th century, the title was occasionally granted by the Tsar, for the first time by
Peter the Great to his associate
Alexander Menshikov, and then by
Catherine the Great to her lover
Grigory Potemkin. After 1801, with the incorporation of
Georgia into the
Russian Empire, various titles of numerous local nobles were controversially rendered in
Russian as "kniazes". Similarly, many petty Tatar nobles asserted their right to style themselves "kniazes" because they descended from
Genghis Khan.
See also "
Velikiy Knyaz" article for more details.
Finally, within the
Russian Empire of 1809-1917,
Finland was called
Grand Duchy of Finland (
Velikoe Kniazhestvo Finlyandskoe).
Balkans
In the 19th century, the Serbian term
knez (кнез) and the Bulgarian term
knyaz (княз) were revived to denote semi-independent rulers of those countries, such as
Alexander Karađorđević and
Alexander of Battenberg. Prior to Battenberg, only two Bulgarian rulers had born the title
knyaz:
Boris I and his son
Simeon I during the
First Bulgarian Empire (9th-10th century). At the height of his power, Simeon adopted the title of
tsar ("emperor"), as did the Bulgarian rulers after the country became officially independent in 1908.
As of Bulgaria's independence in 1908, Knyaz
Ferdinand became Tsar Ferdinand, and the words
knyaz/knyaginya began to be used instead for the tsar's children – the heir to the throne, for example, held the title
Knyaz Tarnovski ("Knyaz of
Tarnovo").
In parts of Serbia and western Bulgaria,
knez was the informal title of the elder or mayor of a village or
zadruga until around the 19th century. Those are officially called
gradonačelnik (Serbia) and
gradonachalnik or
kmet (Bulgaria).
See also
