Marquess

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This article is about the title of nobility. For the band, see Marquess (band).
"Marchesa" redirects here. For the fashion label, see Marchesa (brand).
"Marchioness" redirects here. For the Thames boating disaster, see Marchioness disaster.
"Marquis" redirects here. For other uses, see Marquis (disambiguation).
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A 17th-century engraving of the robe used by a marquis during this creation ceremony.

A marquess (pronounced /ˈmɑrkwɨs/) or marquis (pronounced /mɑrˈkiː/) (from French "marquis") is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European monarchies and some of their colonies. The term is also used to render equivalent oriental styles as in imperial China and Japan. In the British peerage it ranks below a duke and above an earl (see Marquesses in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth). In Europe it is usually equivalent where a cognate title exists. A woman with the rank of marquess, or the wife of a marquess, is a marchioness (in British usage) (pronounced /ˌmɑrʃəˈnɛs/), or a marquise (in Europe, pronounced /mɑrˈkiːz/).

Contents

Marquesal titles in other European languages

The following list may still be incomplete. Feminine forms follow after a slash; many languages have two words, one for the "modern" marquess and one for the original margrave.

In Italy the equivalent modern rank (as opposed to margravio) is that of marchese, the wife of whom is a marchesa, a good example of how several languages adopted a new word derived from marquis for the modern style, thus distinguishing it from the old "military" margraves. Even where neither title was ever used domestically, such duplication to describe foreign titles can exist.

Germanic languages

  • Danish: Markis, Markgreve / Markise, Markgrevinde
  • Dutch: Markgraaf, Markies / Markgravin, Markiezin
  • Faroese: Markgreivi / Markgreivakona
  • German: Markgraf, Marquis / Markgräfin, Marquise or Reichsgraf / Reichsgräfin
  • Icelandic: Markgreifi / Markgreifynja
  • Norwegian: Markis / Markise
  • Scots: Marquis / Marchioness
  • Swedish: Markis, Markgreve / Markisinna, Markgrevinna

Romance languages

Slavonic and Baltic languages

Other languages

  • Albanian: Markiz / Markizë
  • Estonian: Markii/Markiis or Markkrahv / Markkrahvinna
  • Finnish: Rajakreivi / Rajakreivitär or simply Markiisi /Markiisitar
  • Georgian: Aznauri/Markizi
  • Greek: Μαρκήσιος, Markēsios / Μαρκησία, Markēsía
  • Hungarian: Őrgróf (Márki) / Őrgrófnő (Márkinő) / Őrgrófné (consort of an Őrgróf)
  • Maltese: Markiż / Markiża
  • Turkish: Markiz

Equivalent non-Western titles

Like other major Western noble titles, marquess or marquis 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. However, they are considered "equivalent" in relative rank.

This is the case with:

  • in ancient China, 侯 (hóu) was the second of five noble ranks created by King Wu of Zhou and is generally translated as marquess or marquis.
  • in imperial China, 侯 (hóu) is generally, but not always, a middle-to-high ranking hereditary nobility title. Its exact rank varies greatly from dynasty to dynasty, and even within a dynasty. It is often created with different sub-ranks.
  • in Meiji Japan, Kōshaku (侯爵), a hereditary peerage (Kazoku) rank, was introduced in 1884, granting a hereditary seat in the upper house of the imperial diet just as a British peerage did (until Tony Blair's House of Lords Act 1999), with the ranks usually rendered as baron, viscount, count, marquis and duke. The Japanese rendered these titles in Chinese (though there the titles devalue when a new generation succeeds), though the Western titles were used in translation.
  • in Korea, the title of Hyeonhu (현후, 縣侯), of which the meaning is "marquess of district", existed for the hereditary nobility in the Goryeo dynasty. It was equivalent to the upper fifth rank of nine bureaucratic orders, and was in the third rank of six nobility orders. In the Joseon dynasty, there was no title equivalent to marquess.
  • in Vietnam's Annamite realm / empire, hau (Hán tự: 侯) was a senior title of hereditary nobility, equivalent to marquis, for male members of the imperial clan, ranking under vuong (king), quoc-cong (grand duke), quan-cong (duke) and cong (prince, but here under duke, rather like a German Fürst), and above ba (count), tu (viscount), nam (baron) and vinh phong (no equivalent).

See also

Notes

^ Although the vast majority of marquessates are named after places, and hence their holders are known as the "Marquess of X", a very few of them are named after surnames (even if not the bearer's own), and hence their holders are known as the "Marquess X". In either case, he is still informally known as "Lord X", regardless whether there is an of in his title, and it is always safe to style him so.

Sources and references

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquess"

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