After 1806 the title Grossherzog ( grand duke) was also used.
Herzog ( duke) was a title denoting sovereignty over a large territory such as Bavaria or Saxony. There was also the title of Pfalzgraf ( count palatine see Palatinate). A Landgraf (in English, landgrave) was a count whose territory included a number of fiefs. The creation of border territories (marches) gave rise to the title of Markgraf (in English, margrave) the corresponding French title is marquis, from which the English title marquess is derived.
The title Graf was taken over by the Holy Roman Empire from Carolingian and Merovingian terms for a noble appointed by the king and having military and legal authority over a certain territory. The title count comes from the Latin comes, a noble attached to a kingly court and serving as an adviser to the king. Most modern titles of nobility in the Western world descended from these (see the table entitled Hereditary Western European Titles of Nobility for masculine and feminine forms of equivalent titles in Western Europe). Under the Holy Roman Empire a complex nobility, not confined to the territories of the empire, developed titles were conferred upon many persons outside the imperial boundaries. Continental titles of nobility have evolved since the time of feudalism, when knights came to be regarded as noble and titles became hereditary.
