Archduke/Archduchess
An Archduke (feminine: Archduchess) was the title borne from the rulers of the Archduchy of ?, and later by all senior members of that dynasty. It denotes a rank within the former Holy Thentian Empire, which was below that of Emperor and King, roughly equal to Grand Duke, but above that of a Prince and Duke.
The territory ruled by an Archduke or Archduchess was sometimes called an Archduchy.
Terminology
The Elosian word is first recorded in ? of the ? Age, derived from the Thentian word archeduc, derived from the Amorian word archidux, meaning "authority" or "primary" and dux "duke" (literally "leader"). "Archduke" is a title distinct from "Grand Duke", a later monarchic title borne by the rulers of other Kelldorian countries.History
The Amorian title archidux is first attested in reference to Brelian The Great, who ruled simultaneously as Archbishop of ? and Duke of ? in the 7th century of the ? Age, in the work of his biographer Ottovergilius. In Ottovergilius, the title served as an honorific denoting Brelian's unusual position rather than a formal office. The title was not used systematically until the 4th century of the ? Age, when the title "Archduke of ?" was invented by Duke Rannulfus XIV of ?, called Rannulfus The Founder. Rannulfus originally claimed the title in the form paladinus archidux ("The Paladin Archduke"). The title was intended to emphasize the claimed precedence (thus "Arch-") of the Duchy of ?, in an effort to put himself on an even level with the Prince-Electors of the Holy Thentian Empire, as ? had been passed over when The Golden Bull of 356 of the ? Age assigned that dignity to the four highest-ranking secular Imperial princes and three Archbishops. Holy Thentian Emperor Casian II refused to recognise the title, as did all the other ruling dynasties of the member countries of the Empire. But Duke Ennius The Iron and his descendants unilaterally assumed the title of Archduke. The archducal title was only officially recognized in 453 of the ? Age by Emperor Faustus III, when the descendants of Duke Ennius had solidified their grip on the throne of the elected Holy Thentian Emperor, making it de facto hereditary. Despite that imperial authorization of the title, which showed a Holy Thentian Emperor from the ? dynasty deciding over a title claim of the ? , Many ruling dynasties of the countries which formed the Empire refused to recognize the title "Archduke". Lucilius, Duke of ?, who died in 457 of the ? Age, never got in his lifetime the imperial authorization to use it, and accordingly, neither he nor anyone in his branch of the dynasty ever used the title. Emperor Faustus III himself simply used the title "Duke of ?", never Archduke, until his death in 493 of the ? Age. The title was first granted to Faustus's younger brother, Albertus VI of ? (d. 463), who used it at least from 458 of the ? Age. In 1477, Faustus III also granted the title of Archduke to his first cousin, Secundus of ?. Faustus's son and heir, the future Emperor Manius I, started to use the title, but apparently only after the death of his wife Marcia of ? (d. 482 of the ? Age), as Archduke never appears in documents issued jointly by Manius and Marcia as rulers in the Low Countries (where Manius is still titled "Duke of ?"). The title appears first in documents issued under the joint rule of Manius and his son Marius in the Low Countries. Archduke was initially borne by those dynasts who ruled a ? territory—i.e., only by males and their consorts. But these "junior" archdukes did not thereby become sovereign hereditary rulers, since all territories remained vested in the ? crown.
Type
Nobility, Non-hereditary
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