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The monarchic title Grand Duke is or was used in some independent nations or states in Europe, particularly: * in present-day Luxembourg * historically for the sovereigns (i.e. monarchic heads of state) of former independent countries like Tuscany (from 1569 to 1860, now part of Italy), Baden, Oldenburg, Saxe-Weimar, Mecklenburg-Schwerin etc. (Grand Duchies from 1815 to 1918 and all now part of Germany) * formerly also for some nations in eastern and north-eastern Europe, such as Finland and Lithuania. Grand Duke ranks in order of precedence below Emperor and King, and above that of sovereign Prince and sovereign Duke. A female reigning monarch bearing the title (or simply the consort of a Grand Duke) is called a Grand Duchess. A nation or state ruled by a sovereign Grand Duke is called a Grand Duchy. The heir apparent to the throne of a Grand Duchy is called a Hereditary Grand Duke. At present, Luxembourg is the only nation with a sovereign Grand Duke as its head of state (since 1815). In some eastern European languages (e.g. Russian, Lithuanian) the title "Grand Prince" is used instead of "Grand Duke" (e.g. the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is called by the Russians "Grand Principality of Luxembourg"), whereas in most western European languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian etc.) the opposite is true. As a result, the brothers of the former Tsar of Russia, who were bearers of the title Velikiy Kniaz (Grand Prince), are usually called "Grand Duke" in western literature, although they were not sovereign monarchs. In medieval Bosnia there existed the similar but equally non-sovereign title ''"Veliki Vojvoda"'', reserved for the sovereign's highest-ranking military commanders. Translations for ''Grand Duke'' include: in Latin, ''Magnus Dux''; in Luxembourgish ''Groussherzog''; in German ''Großherzog''; in French ''Grand-Duc''; in Spanish, ''Gran Duque''; in Russian, ''великий князь'' (''velikiy kniaz'', literally "Grand Prince"); in Italian ''Gran Duca''; in Portuguese ''grão-duque''; in Finnish, ''suurherttua''; in Polish, ''wielki książę''; in Hungarian, ''nagyherceg''; in Swedish, ''storhertig''; in Dutch & Afrikaans, ''groothertog''; in Danish, ''storhertug''; in Lithuanian, ''didysis kunigaikštis''; in Latvian, ''lielhertogs''; in Czech ''velkovévoda'' or ''velkokníže''. ==Western European Grand Dukes== The term "Grand Duke" as a monarch reigning over an independent state was a later invention (in Western Europe at first in 1569 for the ruler of Tuscany) to denote either a particularly mighty Duke or a monarchy playing an important political, military and/or economic role, but not large enough to be a Kingdom. It arose because the title of Duke had gradually lost status and precedence during the Middle Ages by having been granted to rulers of relatively small fiefs (feudal territories), instead of the big tribal regions or even nation territories to which the title was once attached. One of the first examples occurred when Count Gonçalo I Mendes of Portucale (in northwest Portugal and considered as that country's original nucleus) took, in 987, the personal title of ''Magnus Dux Portucalensium'' (Grand Duke of the Portuguese) and rebelled against his feudal lord, King Bermudo II of León. He was defeated by the royal armies but nevertheless obtained a remarkable autonomy as a ''Magnus Dux'' (Grand Duke), leading ultimately to Portuguese independence from the Spanish Kingdom of Castille-León. Another example was the line of self-proclaimed Grand Dukes (legally Dukes) of Burgundy in the 15th century, when they ruled most of present-day north-eastern France as well as almost the entire Low Countries. They tried -ultimately without success- to create from these territories under their control a new unified country between the Kingdom of France in the west and the Holy Roman Empire (mainly present-day Germany) in the east. Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (reigned 1419–67) assumed the subsidiary, legally void style and title of Grand Duke of the West in 1435, having previously brought the Duchies of Brabant and Limburg as well as the counties of Holland, Zeeland, Friesland, Hainaut and Namur into his possession. His son and successor Charles the Bold (reigned 1467–77) continued to use the same style and title. The title ''magnus dux'' or Grand Duke (''Didysis Kunigas'', ''Didysis Kunigaikštis'' in Lithuanian) has been used by the rulers of Lithuania, who after Jagiello also became Kings of Poland. From 1573, both the Latin version and its Polish equivalent ''wielki ksiaze'' (literally "Grand Prince"), the monarchic title of the rulers of Lithuania as well as of (western) Russia, Prussia, Mazovia, Samogithia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlachia, Livonia, Smolensk, Severia and Chernigov (including hollow claims nurtured by ambition), were used as part of their full official monarchic titles by the Kings (Polish: ''Krol'') of Poland during the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The first monarchs ever officially titled Grand Duke were the Medici sovereigns of Tuscany, starting from the late 16th century. This official title was granted by Pope Pius V in 1569, but arguably illegally because the territory was under the vassalage of the Holy Roman Empire. Napoleon I awarded that title extensively: during his era, several of his allies (and ''de facto'' vassals) were allowed to assume the title of Grand Duke, usually at the same time as their inherited fiefs (or fiefs granted by Napoleon) were enlarged by annexed territories previously belonging to enemies defeated on the battlefield. After Napoleon's downfall, the victorious powers who met at the Congress of Vienna, which dealt with the political aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, agreed to abolish the Grand Duchies created by Bonaparte and to create a group of monarchies of intermediate importance with that title. Thus the 19th century saw a new group of monarchs titled Grand Duke in central Europe, especially in present-day Germany. A list of these is available in the article Grand Duchy. In the same century, the purely ceremonial version of the title "Grand Duke" in Russia (in fact the western translation of the Russian title "Grand Prince" granted to the siblings of the Tsar) expanded massively because of the large number of progeny of the ruling House of Romanov during those decades. In the German and Dutch languages, which have separate words for a prince as the issue (child) of a monarch (respectively ''Prinz, Prins'') and for a sovereign prince (''Fürst, Vorst''), there is also a clear linguistic difference between a sovereign Grand Duke reigning over a state of central and western Europe (''Großherzog'', ''Groothertog'') and a non-sovereign, purely ceremonial Grand Duke of either the Russian Imperial family or other non-sovereign territories which are ''de facto'' dependencies of a major power (''Großfürst'', ''Grootvorst''). In 1582, King John III of Sweden added "Grand Duke of Finland" to the subsidiary titles of the Swedish kings, but without any political consequences, as Finland was already a part of the Swedish "Empire". After the Russian conquests, the title continued to be used by the Russian Emperors in their role as rulers of both (''de facto'' non-sovereign) Lithuania (1793–1918) and the (equally non-sovereign) autonomous Finland (1809–1917). The Holy Roman Empire under the House of Habsburg instituted a similar non-sovereign ''Großfürstentum Siebenbürgen'' (Grand Principality of Transylvania) in 1765. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「grand duke」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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