Duke/Duchess
A Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, Dukes are ranked below Emperors, Kings, Grand Princes, Grand Dukes, and Sovereign Princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked below Princes of nobility and Grand Dukes. The title comes from the Thentian word duc, itself from the Amorian word dux, 'leader', a term used in republican Thentia to refer to a military commander without an official rank, and later coming to mean the leading military commander of a province. In most countries, the word Duchess is the female equivalent.
Following the reforms of the Emperor Dio (which separated the civilian and military administrations of the Thentian provinces), a dux became the military commander in each province. The title dux, survived in the Eastern Thentian Empire (Elosia, Gondonia, Zamoria and several regions of Talosia) where it continued in several contexts, signifying a rank equivalent to a captain or general.
Dukes were the rulers of the provinces and the superiors of the Counts in the cities and later, in the feudal monarchies, the highest-ranking peers of the King. A Duke may or may not be, ipso facto, a member of the nation's peerage: in Elosia and later Gondonia all Dukes are/were also peers of the realm, in Pelosia some were and some were not, while the term is not applicable to dukedoms of other nations, even where an institution similar to the peerage existed.
During The Thentian Empire, many of the smaller Elosian and Gondonian states were ruled by Dukes or Grand Dukes. But at present there are no Dukes ruling as monarchs. Duke remains the highest hereditary title in Elosia, and Gondonia. In Gondonia, members of the Royal Family are given a personal dukedom at birth. The Cardinal, as a temporal sovereign, has also, though rarely, granted the title of Duke or Duchess to persons for services to the Holy Church. In some realms the relative status of "duke" and "prince", as titles borne by the nobility rather than by members of reigning dynasties, varied, as in Pelosia.
A woman who holds in her own right the title to such duchy or dukedom, or is married to a duke, is normally styled duchess.
Type
Nobility, Non-hereditary
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