Editing Graf (section)

== Burgrave/Viscount ==
{{main|Burgrave}}
A {{lang|de|Burggraf}}, or ''[[Burgrave]]'', was a 12th- and 13th-century military and civil judicial [[governor]] of a castle (compare [[castellan]], {{lang|la|[[custos rotulorum|custos]]}}, [[legal guardian|keeper]]) of the town it dominated and of its immediate surrounding countryside. His jurisdiction was a {{lang|de|Burggrafschaft}}, burgraviate.

Over time the office and domain to which it was attached tended to become hereditary by Imperial grant or retention over generations by members of the same family.

Examples: Burgrave of [[Nuremberg]], Burgrave of ({{lang|de|Burggraf zu}}) {{lang|de|Dohna-Schlobitten|italic=no}}, Burg grafschaft Colditz.

Initially ''burgrave'' suggested a similar function and history as other titles rendered in German by {{lang|de|Vizegraf}}, in Dutch as {{lang|nl|Burggraaf}} or in English as ''[[Viscount]]''{{Citation needed|date=June 2007}} ({{langx|la|Vicecomes}}); the deputy of a count charged with exercising the count's prerogatives in overseeing one or more of the count's strongholds or fiefs, as the burgrave dwelt usually in a castle or fortified town. Some became hereditary and by the modern era obtained rank just below a count, though above a {{lang|de|Freiherr}}' (baron) who might hold a fief as vassal of the original count.