DUKE, the title given to those who are in the highest rank of nobility in England. The order is not older in Eng land than the reign of king Edward III. Previously to that reign those whom we now call the nobility consisted of the ba rons, a few of whom were earls. Neither baron nor earl was in those days, as now, merely a title of honour ; the barons were the great tenants in chief, and the earls important officers. It does not appear that in England there was ever any office or particular trust united with the other titles of nobility, viscount, marquis, and duke. They seem to have been from the beginning merely honorary distinctions. They were introduced into England in imitation of our neighbours on the Conti nent. Abroad however the titles of duke and marquis had been used to designate persons who had political power, and even independent sovereignty. The czar was duke of Russia or Muscovy. There were the dukes of Saxony, Burgundy, and Aquitaine : persons with whom the earls of this country would have ranked, had they been able to maintain as much independence on the king as did the dukes on the continent of the Germanic or Gallic confederacy.
The English word duke is from the French due, which originally was used to signify " a man of the sword (a soldier) and of merit, who led troops." The remote origin is the Latin dux, a "guide," or a "military commander." The word is used by the Latin writers to signify generally any one who has military com mand, but sometimes "dux," as an in ferior officer, is contrasted with " impera tor," commander in chief. Under the Lower Empire, dux was the title of a provincial general, who had a command in the provinces. In the time of Con stantine there were thirty-five of these military commanders stationed in differ ent parts of the empire, who were all duces or dukes, because they had mili tary command. Ten of these dukes were also honoured with the title of comtes [Courrrl or counts. (Gibbon, Decline rind .F14, &c., cap. 17.) The German word herzog, which cor responds to our duke, signifies "a leader of an army.'
The first person created a duke in Eng land was Edward, Prince of Wales, com monly called the Black Prince. He was created duke of Cornwall in parliament, in 1935, the eleventh year of king Ed ward III. In 1350, Henry, the king's cousin, was created duke of Lancaster, and when he died, in 1361, his daughter and heir having married John of Gaunt, the king's son, he was created duke of Lancaster, his elder brother Lionel being made at the same time duke of Clarence. The two younger sons of king Edward III. were not admitted to this high dig nity in the reign of their father: but in the reign of Richard II. their nephew Edmund was made duke of York and Thomas duke of Gloucester.
The dignity was thus at the beginning kept within the circle of those who were by blood very nearly allied to the king, and we know not whether the creation of the great favourite of king Richard II., Robert Vere, earl of Oxford, duke of Ire land, and marquis of Dublin, is to be re garded as an exception. Whether, pro perly speaking, an English dignity or an Irish, it had but a short endurance, the earl being so created in 1385 and attainted in 1388.
The persons who were next admitted to this high dignity were of the families of Holland and Mowbray. The former of these was half-brother to king Richard II. ; and the latter was the heir of Mar garet, the daughter and heir of Thomas de Brotherton, a younger son of king Ed. ward I., which Margaret was created duchess of Norfolk in 1858. This was the beginning of the dignity of duke of Norfolk, which still exists, though there have been several forfeitures and tempo rary extinctions. Next to them, not to mention sons or brothers of the reigning king, the title was conferred on one of the Beauforts, an illegitimate son of John of Gaunt, who was created by king Henry V. duke of Exeter. John Bean fort, another of this family, was made duke of Somerset by king Henry VI.