Editing Grand duke (section)

==Western and Central European==
{{See also|Grand duchy}}

The term ''grand duke'' as a monarch reigning over an independent state was a later invention (in Western Europe at first in 1569 for the ruler of [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany|Tuscany]]) to denote either a particularly mighty duke or a monarchy playing an important political, military and/or economic role. It arose because the title of [[duke]] had gradually lost status and precedence during the [[Middle Ages]] by having been granted to rulers of relatively small [[fief]]s (feudal territories), instead of the [[Stem duchy|large tribal regions]] or even national territories to which the title was once attached.

One of the first examples occurred when Count [[Gonçalo I Mendes]] of [[County of Portugal|Portucale]] (in northwest Portugal and considered as that country's original nucleus) took, in 987, the personal title of {{lang|la|Magnus Dux Portucalensium}} ("Grand Duke of the Portuguese") and rebelled against his feudal lord, King [[Bermudo II of León]]. He was defeated by the royal armies but nevertheless obtained a remarkable autonomy as a {{lang|la|Magnus Dux}} (Grand Duke), leading ultimately to Portuguese independence from the Spanish kingdom of Castille-León.

Another example was the line of self-proclaimed grand dukes (legally dukes){{citation needed|date=October 2015}} of [[Duchy of Burgundy|Burgundy]] in the 15th century, when they ruled most of present-day northeastern France as well as almost the entire Low Countries. They tried—ultimately without success—to create from these territories under their control a new unified country between the Kingdom of France in the west and the Holy Roman Empire (mainly present-day Germany) in the east. [[Philip III, Duke of Burgundy]] (reigned 1419–67) assumed the subsidiary, legally void style and title of "Grand Duke of the West" in 1435, having previously brought the duchies of [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]] and [[Duchy of Limburg|Limburg]] as well as the counties of Holland, Zeeland, Friesland, Hainaut and Namur into his possession. His son and successor [[Charles the Bold]] (reigned 1467–77) continued to use the same style and title.

The title {{lang|la|magnus dux}} or grand duke ({{lang|lt|Kunigų kunigas}}, {{lang|lt|Didysis kunigaikštis}}in Lithuanian) has been used by the rulers of [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]], who after [[Jogaila]] also became kings of [[Kingdom of Poland|Poland]]. From 1573, both the Latin version and its Polish equivalent {{lang|pl|wielki książę}} (literally "grand prince"), the monarchic title of the rulers of Lithuania as well as of (western) Russia, Prussia, Mazovia, Samogithia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlachia, Livonia, Smolensk, Severia and Chernigov (including hollow claims nurtured by ambition), were used as part of their full official monarchic titles by the Kings ({{langx|pl|król|links=no}}) of Poland during the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]].

The first monarchs ever officially titled grand duke were the [[Medici]] sovereigns of [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany|Tuscany]], starting from the late 16th century. This official title was granted by [[Pope Pius V]] in 1569 to [[Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany|Cosimo I de' Medici]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-08 |title=Cosimo I {{!}} Duke of Florence & Tuscany, Grand Duke of Tuscany {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cosimo-I |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

[[Napoleon I]] awarded the title extensively: during his era, several of his allies (and ''[[de facto]]'' vassals) were allowed to assume the title of grand duke, usually at the same time as their inherited fiefs (or fiefs granted by Napoleon) were enlarged by annexed territories previously belonging to enemies defeated on the battlefield. After Napoleon's downfall, the victorious powers who met at the [[Congress of Vienna]], which dealt with the political aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, agreed to abolish the Grand Duchies created by Bonaparte and to create a group of monarchies of intermediate importance with that title. Thus the 19th century saw a new group of monarchs titled grand duke in central Europe, especially in present-day Germany. The title was also used for the part of Poland granted to [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] – the [[Grand Duchy of Posen]] – which was formally held in a [[personal union]] with Prussia (and so nominally separate) until [[Province of Posen|its incorporation]] in 1848.
[[File:StampFinland1860Scott5.jpg|thumb|1860 postage stamp of the Grand Duchy of Finland]]
In the same century, the purely ceremonial version of the title grand duke in Russia (in fact the western translation of the Russian title "grand prince" granted to the siblings of the [[tsar]]) expanded massively because of the large number of progeny of the ruling House of Romanov during those decades.

In the German and Dutch languages, which have separate words for a prince as the issue (child) of a monarch (respectively {{lang|de|Prinz}}, {{lang|nl|Prins}}) and for a sovereign prince ({{lang|de|Fürst}}, {{lang|nl|Vorst}}), there is also a clear linguistic difference between a sovereign grand duke reigning over a state of central and western Europe ({{lang|de|Großherzog}}, {{lang|nl|Groothertog}}) and a non-sovereign, purely ceremonial grand duke of either the Russian imperial family or other non-sovereign territories that are ''de facto'' dependencies of a major power ({{lang|de|Großfürst}}, {{lang|nl|Grootvorst}}).

In 1582, King [[John III of Sweden]] added "[[Grand Duke of Finland]]" to the subsidiary titles of the Swedish kings, but without any political consequences, as [[Swedish Finland|Finland]] was already a part of the Swedish realm.

After the Russian conquests, the title continued to be used by the Russian emperors in their role as rulers of both (''de facto'' non-sovereign) [[Russian Partition|Lithuania]] (1793–1917) and the (equally non-sovereign) [[Grand Duchy of Finland|autonomous Finland]] (1809–1917). The [[Habsburg monarchy]] also instituted the similarly non-sovereign {{lang|de|Großfürstentum Siebenbürgen}} ([[Principality of Transylvania (1711–1867)|Grand Principality of Transylvania]]) in 1765, and the (purely nominal) {{lang|de|Großherzogtum Krakau}} ([[Grand Duchy of Kraków]]) in 1846.