DUKE (Lat. dux), a sovereign prince, without the title or quality of king. Some sovereigns have the title of grand duke, as the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the Grand Duke of Muscovy. The title of grand duke belongs to the heir-apparent of Russia; and the title of archduke is given to all the sons of the house of Austria, and that of archduchess to all the daughters.
DUKE is also a title of honour or nobility, the next below that of prince.
The word dux is derived, a ducendo, from leading or commanding. The first Roman duces were the ductores exercituum, leaders or commanders of armies. Under the later emperors, the governors of provinces in time of war were entitled duces. The same denomination was afterwards also given to the governors of provinces in time of peace. The Goths and Vandals, upon their overrunning the provinces of the Western empire, abolished the Roman dignities wherever they settled; but the Franks, in order to humour the Gauls, who had long been used to that form of government, made it a point of policy not to make any change in these matters; and accordingly they divided all Gaul into duchies and counties, giving to the governors of these sometimes the names of dukes, and sometimes that of counts, or comites.
In England, during the Saxon times, Camden observes, the officers and commanders of armies were designated in the ancient Roman manner, without any addition; but after the Norman Conquest the title was disused. The order of duke in England is not of older date than the eleventh year (1335) of the reign of Edward III., who created his son Edward the Black Prince first Duke of Cornwall; a title which has ever since been the peculiar inheritance of the king's eldest son during the lifetime of his father, so that he is dux natus, non creatus. Subsequently several more dukes were created. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, however, that is, in 1572, the order became utterly extinct; but it was revived in 1627 by her successor in the person of George Villiers, duke of Buckingham.
Though the French retained the names and forms of the ducal government, yet under their second race of kings there was scarcely any such dignity as that of duke. All the great lords were called counts, peers, or barons; excepting, however, the Dukes of Burgundy and Aquitaine, and the Duke of France, which was a dignity held by Hugh Capet himself, and corresponded to the modern dignity of
Dakinfield maire du palais, or the king's lieutenant. By the weakness of the kings, the dukes or governors sometimes made themselves sovereigns of the provinces intrusted to their administration.
The title of duke is no longer given to the governors of provinces, but has become a mere title of dignity, annexed to a person and his heirs-male, without giving him any domain, territory, or jurisdiction over the place of which he is duke. All the advantages of the title now consist in the name, and in the precedence which it gives.
The dukes of our days retain nothing of their ancient splendour except the coronet on their escutcheon, which is the only mark of their departed sovereignty. They are created by patent, cincture of the sword, mantle of state, imposition of a cap and coronet of gold on the head, and a verge or rod of gold in their hand.
The eldest sons of dukes are by the courtesy of England styled marquises, though they are usually distinguished by their father's second title, whether it be that of marquis or earl; and the younger sons are lords, with the addition of their Christian name, as Lord James, Lord Thomas, Lord Charles; and they take precedence of viscounts, though not so privileged by the laws of the land.