Editing Duke (section)

== Middle Ages ==
During the [[Middle Ages]], after Roman power in Western Europe collapsed, the title was still employed in the Germanic kingdoms, usually to refer to the rulers of old Roman provinces.

=== Albania ===
The Venetians installed a "Duke of Durazzo"  (today [[Durrës]]) during their [[Duchy of Durazzo (Republic of Venice)|brief rule]] over the city and its environs in 1205–1213.

In 1332, [[Robert of Taranto]] succeeded his father, [[Philip I of Taranto|Philip]]. Robert's uncle, [[John, Duke of Durazzo|John]], did not wish to do him homage for the [[Principality of Achaea]], so Robert received Achaea from John in exchange for 5,000&nbsp;ounces of gold and the rights to the diminished [[Kingdom of Albania (medieval)|Kingdom of Albania]]. John took the style of [[Duchy of Durazzo (Angevin)|Duke of Durazzo]].

In 1368, Durazzo fell to [[Karl Thopia]], who was recognized by [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] as ''Prince of Albania''.

=== Visigoths ===
The [[Visigoths]] retained the Roman divisions of their kingdom in the [[Iberian Peninsula]] and it seems that dukes ruled over these areas.{{citation needed|date=June 2008}} They were the most powerful landowners and, along with the bishops, elected the king, usually from their own midst. They were the military commanders and in this capacity often acted independently from the king, most notably in the latter period before the Muslim invasions.

The army was structured decimally with the highest unit, the [[thiufa]], probably corresponding to about 1,000 people from each ''civitas'' (city district). The cities were commanded by counts, who were in turn answerable to the dukes, who called up the ''thiufae'' when necessary.

=== Lombards ===
{{main|Duke (Lombard)}}
When the [[Lombards]] entered Italy, the Latin chroniclers called their war leaders ''duces'' in the old fashion. These leaders eventually became the provincial rulers, each with a recognized seat of government. Though nominally loyal to the king, the concept of kingship was new to the Lombards and the dukes were highly independent, especially in central and southern Italy, where the [[Duke of Spoleto]] and the [[Duke of Benevento]] were ''de facto'' sovereigns. In 575, when [[Cleph]] died, a period known as the [[Rule of the Dukes]], in which the dukes governed without a king, commenced. It lasted only a decade before the disunited magnates, to defend the kingdom from external attacks, elected a new king and even diminished their own duchies to provide him with a handsome royal [[demesne]].

The Lombard kings were usually drawn from the duke pool when the title was not hereditary. The dukes tried to make their own offices hereditary. Beneath them in the internal structure were the counts and [[gastald]]s, a uniquely Lombard title initially referring to judicial functions, similar to a count's, in provincial regions.

=== Franks ===
The Franks employed dukes as the governors of Roman provinces, though they also led military expeditions far from their duchies. The dukes were the highest-ranking officials in the realm, typically Frankish (whereas the counts were often Gallo-Roman), and formed the class from which the kings' generals were chosen in times of war. The dukes met with the king every May to discuss policy for the upcoming year, the so-called [[May field|Mayfield]].

In [[Duchy of Burgundy|Burgundy]] and [[Duchy of Provence|Provence]], the titles of [[Patrician (post-Roman Europe)|patrician]] and [[prefect]] were commonly employed instead of duke, probably for historical reasons relating to the greater Romanization of those provinces. But the titles were basically equivalent.

In late [[Merovingian]] Gaul, the [[mayors of the palace]] of the [[Arnulfing]] clan began to use the title [[Duke of the Franks|''dux et princeps Francorum'']]: 'duke and prince of the Franks'. In this title, ''duke'' implied supreme military control of the entire nation (''Francorum'', the Franks) and it was thus used until the end of the [[Carolingian]] dynasty in France in 987.

=== Holy Roman Empire ===

==== Stem duchies ====
The stem duchies were the constituent duchies of the kingdom of Germany at the time of the extinction of the Carolingian dynasty (the death of Louis the Child in 911) and the transitional period leading to the formation of the Holy Roman Empire later in the 10th century.
{{Further|Stem duchy}}

=== England ===
{{main|Dukes in the United Kingdom}}
{{Peerage |Ranks}}

==== Anglo-Saxon times ====
In Anglo-Saxon England, where the Roman political divisions were largely abandoned, the highest political rank beneath that of king was [[ealdorman]], and the first ealdormen were referred to as ''duces'' (the plural of the original Latin ''dux'') in the chronicles. The title ealdorman was replaced by the [[Danish language|Danish]] ''eorl'' (later [[earl]]) over time. After the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman conquest]], their power and regional jurisdiction was limited to that of the Norman [[count]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Normans: The History of a Dynasty|last=Crouch|first=David|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|year=2002|isbn=978-1852855956|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781852855956/page/108 108]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781852855956/page/108}}</ref>

==== Late medieval times ====
{{see also|Duke of Lancaster}}
[[Edward III of England]] created the first English dukedom by naming his eldest son [[Edward, the Black Prince]], as [[Duke of Cornwall]] in 1337. Upon the death of the Black Prince, the duchy of Cornwall passed to his nine-year-old son, who would eventually succeed his grandfather as [[Richard II of England|Richard II]].

The title of [[Duke of Lancaster]] was created by Edward III in 1351 for [[Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster|Henry of Grosmont]], but became extinct upon the duke's death in 1361. The following year, Edward III bestowed the title (2nd creation) on his fourth son, [[John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster|John of Gaunt]], who was also married to the first duke's daughter. On the same day Edward III also created his second son, [[Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence|Lionel of Antwerp]], as [[Duke of Clarence]].

All five of Edward III's surviving sons eventually became dukes. In 1385, ten years after their father's death, his heir Richard II created dukedoms for his last two uncles on the same day. [[Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester|Thomas of Woodstock]] was named [[Duke of Gloucester]] and [[Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York|Edmund of Langley]] became [[Duke of York]], thereby founding the [[House of York]], which later fought for the throne with John of Gaunt's [[House of Lancaster|Lancastrian]] descendants during the [[Wars of the Roses]].

By 1483, a total of 16 ducal titles had been created: Cornwall, Lancaster, Clarence, Gloucester, York, [[Duke of Ireland|Ireland]], [[Duke of Hereford|Hereford]], [[Duke of Aumale|Aumale]], [[Duke of Exeter|Exeter]], [[Duke of Surrey|Surrey]], [[Duke of Norfolk|Norfolk]], [[Duke of Bedford|Bedford]], [[Duke of Somerset|Somerset]], [[Duke of Buckingham|Buckingham]], [[Duke of Warwick|Warwick]] and [[Duke of Suffolk|Suffolk]]. Some became extinct, others had multiple creations, and some had merged with the crown upon the holder's accession to the throne. When the [[Plantagenet]] dynasty came to an end at the [[Battle of Bosworth Field]] on 22 August 1485, only four ducal titles remained extant, of which two were now permanently associated with the crown. [[John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk|John de la Pole]] was Duke of Suffolk and [[John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk|John Howard]] was Duke of Norfolk (2nd creation), while the duchy of Cornwall was reserved as a title and source of income for the eldest son of the sovereign, and the duchy of Lancaster was now held by the monarch.

Norfolk perished alongside [[Richard III of England|Richard III]] at Bosworth field, and the title was forfeit. It was restored to his son [[Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk|Thomas]] thirty years later by [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]], as one of a number of dukes created or recreated by the [[Tudor dynasty]] over the ensuing century. England's premier ducal title, Norfolk, remains in the Howard family to this day.