How do the powers of a duke compare with that of a king or emperor?

Good points. There were both legal issues of the exact extent of de jure power, and the realities of medieval life where social relationships (who you knew, who your siblings and kids were married to, who you invited and didn’t invite to parties, etc.) largely defined what sort of de facto powers you had and what de jure powers you could actually get away with exercising without winning a complimentary decapitation.

Witness European politics today, where monarchs retain a large amount of de jure power but defer to the elected officials (who are, by law, simply advisors) on everything and don’t think of themselves at all.

I think the correct answer is the one I gave before. A duke has NO powers that are inherent in holding a ducal title.

From the top down, there was a mnemonic we learned in (grade?) school:

Do Men Ever Visit Boston

What the peerage had to do with a trip to New England, and why I remember it, is a mystery to me.

A certain historical Duke of Normandy would beg to differ. The Norman invasion was supported by plenty of foreign troops allied to the Duke of Normandy.

“It depends” is really the best answer you’re going to get for the OP’s question. For a long (long) time, French dukes (for example) were pretty much free to ignore the king, they didn’t pay taxes, and they only fought in the king’s wars if they felt like it. Really, how much power a king had over a duke was directly proportional to how much he could enforce, which very frequently was “almost none.”

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The land, troops, money, and fortresses/castles a feudal lord possessed had more to do with his power to defy the king than any title. A strong personality could also be a factor.

The Lords of Coucy were not Dukes – technically they were “sub-comital,” meaning “not even Counts,” but the economic and military strength of their fief, its strategic position, and especially its superb fortress, gave them enormous influence. The strong personality and cool judgment of the last Sire de Coucy, Enguerrand VII, won him an Earldom from the King of England and the hand of the King’s favorite daughter – without losing the respect of the French King. He even recused himself from some of the conflicts between the two kings, and he was personally so admired he did not incur any dishonor.

Long before that, the might and pride of the Coucy family was reflected in their famous motto:

The Duke/Duchess of Luxembourg has pretty much always held more power & land than the Prince of Monaco. :smiley:

Another cool title was “Captal.” An old title from the latin for Chief, or Prime, there were only four of them: the Captals of Trene, Puychagut, Épernon and Buch. The Captal de Buch in particular was very powerful. The term was very old, predating most other medieval terms for nobility. That just screams “Old Money.”

So captals had plenty of capital, until they were kaput? Capital!

Hence the phrase “Put up your Dukes”

Not quite.

Based solely on British titles, the wives of the following men also share the status of being married to two dukes:

The Prince of Wales. He holds two separate dukedoms: Cornwall (1337 in the peerage of England) and Rothesay (1398 in the peerage of Scotland). His wife: the Duchess of Cornwall (formerly Camilla Parker-Bowles).

The Duke of Richmond. He holds *three *separate dukedoms: Richmond (1675 in the peerage of England), Lennox (1675 in the peerage of Scotland) and Gordon (1876 in the peerage of the United Kingdom). His wife: Susan Monica Grenville-Grey, the current Duchess of Richmond.

The Duke of Argyll. He holds two separate dukedoms, of the same name: Argyll (1701 in the peerage of Scotland) and Argyll (1892 in the peerage of the United Kingdom). His wife: Eleanor Cadbury, Duchess of Argyll.

The Duke of Buccleuch. He holds two separate dukedoms: Buccleuch (1663 in the peerage of Scotland) and Queensberry (1863 in the peerage of Scotland). His wife: Lady Elizabeth Marian Frances Kerr, Duchess of Buccleuch.

The Duke of Hamilton. He holds two separate dukedoms: Hamilton (1643 in the peerage of Scotland) and Brandon (1711 in the peerage of Great Britain). His wife: Sophie Ann Rutherford, Duchess of Hamilton.

And there are probably more if you start counting non-British titles. The Duke of Wellington, for example, holds a Spanish dukedom.

But Edinburgh is the only British person who holds the status of (a) having a duchy of his own, plus (b) being married to a person holding two duchies.

But I think, strictly speaking, Giles is wrong to say that Edinbugh is married to “two dukes”. There may be two duchies involved, but they are both led by the same person and, however many ways you count her, she’s still just one person. There is only one duke, holding two duchies.

And, to pick even more nits, it’s debatable, to put it no higher, whether she is the Duke of Normandy at all. Henry III renounced the title by the Treaty of Paris in 1259, since when the English (and, later, British) monarchs have never claimed or used it. In the Channel Island this is popularly ignored and the Queen is often referred to (or toasted) as “the Duke” but, formally, she is “the Queen in right of Jersey” (or Guernsey, or Sark, as the case may be), and that is how she is referred to, e.g, in the legislation of the Channel Islands.

It’s even more debatable whether she’s the Duke of Lancaster. She’s quite capable of holding a French peerage, such as it is, but the monarch can’t actually be a peer of her own realm. It would be like having a drivers license or a passport!

This is popularly ignored as well, and IIRC the Queen personally consented to a version of the loyal toast that calls her the Duke of Lancaster.

Darn it. I was hoping the Compte de Paris would buy a summer home in the Channel Islands, just to make the tabloids go berserk.

‘Duke’ was originally a military title. it comes from Latin ‘dux’, related IIRC to ‘ducere’, to lead (as in, to lead soldiers).

The Byzantines had an official called the ‘Grand Duke’ (=‘Megas Doux’) who was in charge of the imperial navy rather than having a territory of his own.

Yes, but Prince Phillip is the only MAN to be married to two dukes! :wink:

How long that record stays held, we can only wait and see.

Megaduke would be an awesome title. So would Supercount or Obergraf.

Nah. It lends itself far too well to alteration by disgruntled underlings. Not even threats of beheadings could prevent “Megadouche” from spreading far and wide in the ranks.

When I read “Megadouche” it’s in the voice of The Monarch.