From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search





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 not in charge of a roving warband, but settled in a locality, known as a county; his main rival for power was the bishop, whose diocese was sometimes coterminous with the county.



Land attached to title[edit]



Comital titles in different European languages[edit]


Etymological derivations from the Latin comes[edit]

Language Male title Female title / Spouse Territory
Albanian Kont Konteshë Konte
Armenian Կոմս (Koms) Կոմսուհի (Komsuhi)
Bulgarian 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)
Catalan Comte Comtessa Comtat
English 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 (County persists in English-speaking countries as a sub-national administrative division)
French Comte Comtesse Comté
Hungarian Vikomt Vikomtessz Actually meaning viscount. These forms are now archaic or literary; Gróf is used instead.
Irish Cunta Cuntaois Honorary title only.
Italian Conte Contessa Contea, Contado
Greek Κόμης (Kómēs) Κόμησσα (Kómēssa) Κομητεία (Komēteía); in the Ionian Islands the respective Italianate terms κόντες kóntes, κοντέσσα kontéssa were used instead
Latin (feudal jargon, not classical) Comes Comitissa Comitatus
Maltese Konti Kontessa
Monegasque Conte Contessa
Portuguese Conde Condessa Condado
Romanian Conte Contesă Comitat
Romansh Cont Contessa
Spanish Conde Condesa Condado
Turkish Kont Kontes Kontluk

Etymological parallels with the German Graf (some approximate)[edit]

Language Male title Female title / Spouse Territory
Afrikaans Graaf Gravin Graafskap
Belarusian Граф (Hraf) Графiня (Hrafinia) Графствa (Hrafstva)
Bulgarian Граф (Graf) Графиня (Grafinya) Графство (Grafstvo)
Croatian Grof Grofica Grofovija
Czech Hrabě Hraběnka Hrabství
Danish Greve Grevinde (Count's wife)
Komtesse (Unmarried daughter of a count.)
Dutch Graaf Gravin Graafschap
English Grave (for example Landgrave, Margrave) Gravine Graviate
Estonian Krahv Krahvinna Krahvkond
Finnish Kreivi Kreivitär Kreivikunta
German Graf Gräfin Grafschaft
Greek Γράβος
Georgian გრაფი/თავადი (Grafi/Tavadi) გრაფინია/კნეინა (Grafinya/Kneina) საგრაფო/სათავადო (Sagrafo /Satavado)
Hungarian Gróf Grófnő, Grófné Grófság
Icelandic Greifi Greifynja Greifadæmi
Latvian Grāfs Grāfiene Grāfiste
Lithuanian Grafas Grafienė Grafystė
Luxembourgish Grof Gréifin
Macedonian Гроф (Grof) Грофица (Grofica) Грофовија (Grofovija)
Norwegian Greve Grevinne Grevskap
Polish Hrabia, Margrabia
(non-native titles)
Hrabina, Margrabina
(non-native titles)
Hrabstwo (translation of foreign term "county")
Romanian Grof (also Conte, see above)
Russian Граф (Graf) Графиня (Grafinya) Графство (Grafstvo)
Serbian Гроф (Grof) Грофица (Grofica) Грофовија (Grofovija)
Slovak Gróf Grófka Grófstvo
Slovene Grof Grofica Grofija
Swedish Greve Grevinna Grevskap
Ukrainian Граф (Hraf) Графиня (Hrafynya) Графство (Hrafstvo)

Compound and related titles[edit]

Apart from all these, a few unusual titles have been of comital rank, not necessarily to remain there.

  • Dauphin (English: Dolphin; Spanish: Delfín; Italian: Delfino; Portuguese: Delfim; Latin: Delphinus) was a multiple (though rare) comital title in southern France, used by the Dauphins of Vienne and Auvergne, before 1349 when it became the title of the heir to the French throne. The Dauphin was the lord 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, 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 as he would when simply concatenating both titles.
  • Conde-Barão 'Count-Baron' is a rare title used in Portugal, notably by Dom 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
    • at least one Count of Burgundy (i.e. Freigraf of Franche-Comté)
  • In German kingdoms, the title Graf was combined with the word for the jurisdiction or domain the nobleman was holding as a fief or as a conferred or inherited jurisdiction, such as Markgraf (see also Marquess), Landgraf, Freigraf ("free count"), Burggraf, where Burg signifies castle; see also Viscount, Pfalzgraf (translated both as "Count Palatine" and, historically, as "Palsgrave"), Raugraf ("Raugrave", see "Graf", and Waldgraf (comes nemoris), where Wald signifies a large forest).
  • The German Graf and Dutch graaf (Latin: grafio) stems from the Byzantine-Greek γραφεύς grapheus meaning "he who calls a meeting [i.e. the court] together").[citation needed]
  • The Ottoman military title of Serdar was used in Montenegro and Serbia as a lesser noble title with the equivalent rank of a Count.
  • These titles are not to be confused with various minor administrative titles containing the word -graf in various offices which are not linked to feudal nobility, 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 through dykes, ditches, controls etc.; also in German Deichgraf, synonymous with Deichhauptmann, "dike captain"). this is count to wear.

Lists of countships[edit]

Territory of today's France[edit]

Kingdom of the Western Franks[edit]



Other French countships of note included those of:

Parts of today's France long within other kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire[edit]

The Holy Roman Empire[edit]

See also above for parts of present France

In Germany[edit]


Northern Italian states[edit]




In Austria[edit]


In the Low Countries[edit]

Apart from various small ones, significant were :

  • in present Belgium :
    • Count of Flanders (Vlaanderen in 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 Hainaut
    • Count of Namur, later a margraviate
    • Count of Leuven (Louvain) soon became the Duke of Brabant
    • Count of Mechelen, though the Heerlijkheid Mechelen was given the title of "Graafschap" in 1490, the city was rarely referred to as a county and the title of Count has not been in practical use by or for anyone of the series of persons that became rightfully entitled to it; the flag and weapon of the municipality still has the corresponding heraldic crowned single-headed eagle of sabre on gold.[5][6]
  • in the present Netherlands:

In Switzerland[edit]

Comital ephemera: a Count's coronet and crest on a doily.

In other continental European countries[edit]

Holy See[edit]


In Poland[edit]


In Hungary[edit]


On the Iberian peninsula[edit]




Coronet of a count (Spanish heraldry)

In Spain, no countships of wider importance exist, except in the former Spanish march.[citation needed]

South Eastern Europe[edit]


In the First Bulgarian Empire, a komit was a hereditary provincial ruler under the tsar documented since the reign of Presian (836-852)[7] The Cometopouli dynasty was named after its founder, the komit of Sredets.

Montenegro and Serbia[edit]

The title of Count (Serdar) was used in the Principality of Montenegro and the Principality of Serbia as a lesser noble title below that of Vojvoda (Duke).

Crusader states[edit]


In Denmark and historically in Denmark-Norway the title of count (greve) is the highest rank of nobility used in the modern period. Some Danish/Dano-Norwegian countships were associated with fiefs, and these counts were known as "feudal counts" (lensgreve). They rank above ordinary (titular) counts, and their position in the Danish aristocracy as the highest-ranking noblemen is broadly comparable to that of Duke in other European countries.[8] The title of count is in modern times only granted to members of the Danish royal family, sometimes in addition to a princely title and sometimes instead of it.

In the Middle Ages the title of jarl (earl) was the highest title of nobility. The title was eventually replaced by the title of duke, but that title was abolished in Denmark and Norway already in the Middle Ages. Titles were only reintroduced with the introduction of absolute monarchy in 1660, with count as the highest title.

In Sweden the rank of count is the highest rank conferred upon nobles in the modern era. Unlike the rest of Scandinavia, the title of duke is still used in the country, but only by members of the royal family.



This is the case with:

  • the Chinese (伯), hereditary title of nobility ranking below Hóu (侯) and above (子)
  • the Japanese equivalent Hakushaku (伯爵), adapted during the Meiji restoration
  • the Korean equivalent Baekjak (백작) or Poguk
  • in Vietnam, it is rendered , 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), Quận-Công (Duke/Duke of a commandery) and Quốc-Công (Grand Duke/Duke of the Nation), all under Vương (King) and Hoàng Đế (Emperor).
  • the Indian Sardar, adopted by the Maratha Empire, additionally, Jagirdar and Deshmukh are close equivalents
  • the Arabic equivalent Sheikh
  • In traditional Sulu equivalent to Datu Sadja

In fiction[edit]


See also[edit]


  1. ^ Pine, L. G. Titles: How the King Became His Majesty. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1992. p. 73. OCLC 27827106.
  2. ^ "An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors". University of South Carolina. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2005-05-10. Retrieved 2005-06-21.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, C. W. Onions (Ed.), 1966, Oxford University Press
  5. ^ "Geschiedenis". Retrieved 2016-08-27.
  6. ^ Mechelen de oude hoofdstad van de Nederlanden, F.O. Van Hammée (not verified, referenced on a blog)
  7. ^ Лъв Граматик, Гръцки извори за българската история, т. V, стр. 156; Жеков, Ж. България и Византия VII-IX в. - военна администрация, Университетско издателство "Св. Климент Охридски", София, 2007, ISBN 978-954-07-2465-2, стр. 254
  8. ^ Ferdinand Christian Herman von Krogh: Den høiere danske Adel. En genealogisk Haandbog, C. Steen & søn, 1866


  • Labarre de Raillicourt: Les Comtes Romains
  • Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in German)

External links[edit]