Morpheus506 started a thread about titles in the EU2 forum as a help to AAR writers. I think that was a great idea. It's not that it matters that much to the quality of an AAR, but it does add a bit of chrome. Of course, if you are W'urttemberg and is bother ed by Baden, it helps to know that you are a Duke and Baden just a lowly Margrave. You outrank him at all state-occassions everywhere. Rank decided for instance how many horses an ambassador could set before his carriage and what ambassador should be recieved first. In London in th 1670s the Spanish and French embassies actually literally fought out the issue of precence at the Court of St.James - which is how the British court is known in international diplomacy.
Before going to the subject of specific titles, where contributions are welcomed, I'll say something about the very confusing subject of Euroepan aristocratic titles, with the emphasis on practice in the Holy Roman Empire.
1. Aristocratic titles were personal and indicated individual rank. Since all agnates (brothers of the same father) held the same rank, all had the same title. In the HRE partible and equal inheritance in the male line was the rule; this alos applied to the rank 9indicated by the title. There could be any number of margraves of Brandenbiurg or dukes of Württemberg.
2. Since title indicated rank, dynasties could (and did) claim the title and rank of all positions any of its members had ever held. 2.1 One case is the Habsburg title King of Jerusalem. Anopther is that both Wittelsbach lines (or the Palatine and of Bavaria) as well as the Hohenzollern (of Brandenburg) and the Wetitin (of Electoral Saxony) claimed the title Duke in Kleve etc.
2.2. This also meant that members of a dynasty of a certain rank could use a title that did not come frim the territroy actually held. The counts of Ansbach (Hohenzollern) styled themselves Margraves of Ansbach because they were descended from the first Hohenzollern Margrave of Brandenburg.
Both of these practices were totally different from those of France, and England, where titles succeded by primogeniture; only the eldest son inherited the title and the rank.
For AAR purposes this means that if you are a German minor you can add titles as you expand. From Duke of Bavaria you can become Duke of Bavaria and Württemberg; Margrave of Baden; Landgrave of Hessen; Count of Tyrol etc. It also means that if you have to release a country to vassal status to reduce BB you will retain the title of say Margrave of Baden even if you no longer rule the country. Same goes for provinces given up in pece deals.
3.
Royal titles were treate din a totally different manner.
Historically there were only a limited number of Euroepan Crowns and the number was fixed by tradition by the 15th Century:
England,
Scotland,
France,
Navarra
Crown of Aragon*,
Crown of Castile-Leon**
Portugal***,
Burgundy¤ (Arelatus ie Arles),
Italy,
Sicily¤¤,
Norway,
Denmark,
Sweden,
Poland,
Bohemia,
Hungary,
Croatia¤¤¤
In addition there was a High King of all Ireland and the Bulgarian tsar(czar). The Serbian ruler was known as a Zupan, or tsar when his lands became extensive enough.
* The Crown of Aragon comprised the kingdoms of Aragon, Mallorca and Valencia as the counties of Catalonia and Rousillon
**The Crown of Castile comprised a number of former Moorish kingdoms, ie Andalucia, Murcia, Granada, in addition to the old core in the kingdoms of Galicia and Asturias.
***The Crown of Portugal comprised the kingdoms of Portugal and Algarve.
¤Kingdom of Arelate (after its 11th Century capital in Arles)
¤¤Divded into the kingdoms of Sicily and of Naples after 1282. Technically both "Sicilian, which is why the joint crown became known as the Kingdom of both Sicilies in the 17th and 18th century.
¤¤¤Historically in personal union with Hungary from the 11th century. Technically the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia.
Before going to the subject of specific titles, where contributions are welcomed, I'll say something about the very confusing subject of Euroepan aristocratic titles, with the emphasis on practice in the Holy Roman Empire.
1. Aristocratic titles were personal and indicated individual rank. Since all agnates (brothers of the same father) held the same rank, all had the same title. In the HRE partible and equal inheritance in the male line was the rule; this alos applied to the rank 9indicated by the title. There could be any number of margraves of Brandenbiurg or dukes of Württemberg.
2. Since title indicated rank, dynasties could (and did) claim the title and rank of all positions any of its members had ever held. 2.1 One case is the Habsburg title King of Jerusalem. Anopther is that both Wittelsbach lines (or the Palatine and of Bavaria) as well as the Hohenzollern (of Brandenburg) and the Wetitin (of Electoral Saxony) claimed the title Duke in Kleve etc.
2.2. This also meant that members of a dynasty of a certain rank could use a title that did not come frim the territroy actually held. The counts of Ansbach (Hohenzollern) styled themselves Margraves of Ansbach because they were descended from the first Hohenzollern Margrave of Brandenburg.
Both of these practices were totally different from those of France, and England, where titles succeded by primogeniture; only the eldest son inherited the title and the rank.
For AAR purposes this means that if you are a German minor you can add titles as you expand. From Duke of Bavaria you can become Duke of Bavaria and Württemberg; Margrave of Baden; Landgrave of Hessen; Count of Tyrol etc. It also means that if you have to release a country to vassal status to reduce BB you will retain the title of say Margrave of Baden even if you no longer rule the country. Same goes for provinces given up in pece deals.
3.
Royal titles were treate din a totally different manner.
Historically there were only a limited number of Euroepan Crowns and the number was fixed by tradition by the 15th Century:
England,
Scotland,
France,
Navarra
Crown of Aragon*,
Crown of Castile-Leon**
Portugal***,
Burgundy¤ (Arelatus ie Arles),
Italy,
Sicily¤¤,
Norway,
Denmark,
Sweden,
Poland,
Bohemia,
Hungary,
Croatia¤¤¤
In addition there was a High King of all Ireland and the Bulgarian tsar(czar). The Serbian ruler was known as a Zupan, or tsar when his lands became extensive enough.
* The Crown of Aragon comprised the kingdoms of Aragon, Mallorca and Valencia as the counties of Catalonia and Rousillon
**The Crown of Castile comprised a number of former Moorish kingdoms, ie Andalucia, Murcia, Granada, in addition to the old core in the kingdoms of Galicia and Asturias.
***The Crown of Portugal comprised the kingdoms of Portugal and Algarve.
¤Kingdom of Arelate (after its 11th Century capital in Arles)
¤¤Divded into the kingdoms of Sicily and of Naples after 1282. Technically both "Sicilian, which is why the joint crown became known as the Kingdom of both Sicilies in the 17th and 18th century.
¤¤¤Historically in personal union with Hungary from the 11th century. Technically the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia.
