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Members of a formerly sovereign or mediatized house rank higher than the nobility. Among the nobility, those whose titles derive from the Holy Roman Empire rank higher than the holder of an equivalent title granted by one of the German monarchs after 1806. In Austria, nobility titles may no longer be used since 1918. [44]
As in other countries of post-medieval central Europe, hereditary titles were not attached to a particular land or estate but to the noble family itself, so that all patrilineal descendants shared a title of baron or count (cf. peerage). Neither nobility nor titles could be transmitted through women. [16]
German nobility was not simply distinguished by noble ranks and titles, but was also seen as a distinctive ethos. Title 9, §1 of the General State Laws for the Prussian States declared that the nobility's responsibility "as the first social class in the state" was "the defence of the country, as well as the supporting of the exterior dignity ...
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. [1] Especially in earlier medieval periods the term often implied not only a certain status, but also that the count had specific responsibilities or offices.
A noble house is an aristocratic family or kinship group, either currently or historically of national or international significance [clarification needed], and usually associated with one or more hereditary titles, the most senior of which will be held by the "Head of the House" or patriarch.
Part of a series on: Imperial, royal, noble, gentry and chivalric ranks in Europe; Emperor, Empress. dowager; Tsar, Tsarina; Kaiser; Great king, Great queen; High ...
Only those classified within the social class of royalty and upper nobility have a style of "Highness" attached before their titles. Reigning bearers of forms of Highness included grand princes, grand dukes, reigning princes, reigning dukes, and princely counts, their families, and the agnatic (of the male bloodline) descendants of emperors and kings.
The 1821 Nobility Law initiated a long-range abolition of the nobility as an official estate, a process in which current bearers were allowed to keep their status and possible titles as well as some privileges for the rest of their lifetime. The last legally noble Norwegians died in the early 20th century.