DUKE ( Fr. due, It. (lacer, Sp., Port. (Inane, :11Gk. aoq, from Lat. flux, from duccrr, to lead). A title given among the Romans to a gen eral commanding a single military expedition. and holding no other power than that which he exer cised over his soldiers. The designation first arose in I he early part of the second century, and entered into the official hierarchy of Rome very soon after. l'pon the separation of the civil and military functions in the fourth century the duke beeame commander of all the troops eantoned in a single province. In an imperial almanac edited about the year 400, twenty-live dukes are men tioned in the whole extent of the Empire, thir teen in the east and twelve in the west. The prerogatives of the dukes at this time were ex tensive. At first they were judges in all mili tary trials within their jurisdiction, but. in Italy at least. they ended by centralizing in their own hands all the civil and military powers. The Byzantine duke was chief of the provincial soldiers, named the civil and military officers of the lower grade, and heard appeals from their judgments. Ile held the civil and criminal juris diction and even sat with the bishop to hear ecclesiastical cases. He protected the Church and had important functions in its administra tion. Finally, lie took a part in managing the financial affairs of the province. Set. Exicacn.
In France, under the ..\lerovingian rule, the dukes were the highest officers in the provincial administration. At first they were only mili tary chiefs, but about the seventh century they gained the same military and judicial powers as the counts (q.v.). The latter, however, governed but a single city, while the duke's administration extended over several cities, each with its count. When the King appointed a duke, it was for the purpose of preventing or repressing a revolt of the counts, or for the defense of the frontier. There was a ducal tribunal. but it Was not su perior to that of the count. Apparently the tribunal was held in special eases, by the order of the King. The possibility of conflicting powers caused frequent strife between the dukes and counts. The Carolingian dukes did not differ greatly from the Merovingian: but as the central power grew weaker in this period, the power of the dukes increased. The (hikes acquired regal rights, and by the end of the tenth century had made their tenure hereditary. They had ac quired independence and were no longer held to the central power except by the weak bond of homage. In general, the duke assumed all the rights which the King could not retain for him self. Toward the close of the twelfth century loyalty strove to regain the rights of which it had been robbed. The dukes, however, re tained their powers longer than the lesser digni taries. Some duchies were reunited to the crown, hut new ones were created, so that the number increased as their size decreased. Grad ually, however, the powerful ducal sovereignties were extinguished, and by the early part of the sixteenth century the King had no rival to fear. The duchies granted after the thirteenth cen tury, as a general thing. enjoyed none of the ancient privileges of independent sovereignty. The dukes were only the first subjects of the realm. Titles of nobility in France were
abolished by the Constituent Assembly dur ing the Revolution, hut were restored by Napoleon, and the ducal title was conferred on his marshals. Several ducal peers were created by Louis NVIII. and Charles N. In Germany the dukedom passed through phases similar to those which it had exhibited in the earlier history of France. What is peculiar to the position of the nobility of Cernially will he found Under C:RAF.
Dukes, in the older European sense, do not appear ever to have existed in England. The title seems not to have been known earlier than the reign of Edward and from the first it was a mena honorary distinction. The Black Prince, who was created Duke of Cornwall in 1337, was the first English duke. In 1351 Henry, the King's cousin, was created Duke of Lancaster. and when upon his death his daugh ter was married to John of Gaunt, the King's fourth son. the title was transferred to him, his elder brother Lionel being made Duke of Clarence. In the succeeding reign—t ha t of Riehard 11.—the two younger sons of Edward III. were created. the one Duke of York, and the other Duke of Gloucester. The dignity was thus, in the first instance, confined to the royal house. But the families of Holland a.n1 )lowbray very soon received the same title, and one of the Beau forts, an illegitimate son of John of Gaunt, was raised to the peerage with the title of Duke of Exeter. In the reign of Henry VI. the title was granted more w idely. and there were at one time ten duchesses in his Court. The StatIo•ds, Beauchamp,. and de la Poles belonged to this period. King Henry V111. created only two dukes—one. his illegitimate son. whom he made Duke of Richmond; and the other, Charles Brandon. who married his sister Mary. and was made Duke of Suffolk. Queen Elizabeth found only one duke when she came to the throne— Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk—attainder or failure of male issue having extinguished the test of them. After the attainder nod execu tion of the Duke of Norfolk, there was no duke in England. except the King's sons. till Ludovic Stuart, a relative of the King, was made Duke of Richmond in 1623. In 1623, also. Villiers was made Duke of Buckingham. On the Restoration. Charles 11. raised the Seymours to the rank of Dukes of Somerset, and created Monk Duke of _Albemarle. But the custom of conferring this dignity on the illegitimate sons of the monarch was still adhered to. as in the ease of the Duke of Monmouth, who was the illegitimate son of Charles II_ and the Duke of Berwick. son of Janes II. Of the existing dukes, besides the descendants of Charles IL. there are only three families whose titles (late from before the Revo lution of IfiSS. the Dukes of Norfolk. Somerset. and Beaufort. William and Anne, by advancing a very considerable number of the first families of peers to the rank of duke. altogether changed the character of that dignity. In on] there were twenty-nine dukes in the United Kingdom. excluding dukes of the royal blood. The ducal coronet, as now wort has eight golden leaves of conventional type. set erect upon a circlet of gold. The stalks of Me leaves are so connected as to form them into a wreath.