page_title: Duke
section_title: Nordic countries
hierarchical_section_title: Duke / Royal dukes / Nordic countries
caption_attribution_description: English: A corbel head in Varnhem, identified as Birger jarl. Varnhem Monastery in Sweden. Svenska: Konsolhuvud i Varnhem, identifierad som Birger jarl.
context_page_description: A duke can either be a monarch ranked below the emperor, king, and grand duke ruling over a duchy or a member of royalty or nobility, historically of highest rank, below princes of nobility and grand dukes. The title comes from French duc, itself from the Latin dux, 'leader', a term used in republican Rome to refer to a military commander without an official rank, and later coming to mean the leading military commander of a province. In most countries, the word duchess is the female equivalent. However, in some countries, the term duke is used even for females, and the word duchess is reserved for those who marry dukes.
  Following the reforms of Constantine the Great which separated the civilian and military administration of the Roman provinces, a dux became the military commander in each province. The title dux, Hellenised to doux, survived in the Eastern Roman Empire where it continued in several contexts signifying a rank equivalent to a captain or general. Later on, in the 11th century, the title Megas Doux was introduced for the post of commander-in-chief of the entire navy.
  During the Middle Ages the title signified first among the Germanic monarchies.
context_section_description: The Northern European duchies of Halland, Jutland, Lolland, Osilia and Reval existed in the Middle Ages. The longest-surviving duchy was Schleswig, i.e., Sonderjylland (a portion of which later became part of Germany). Its southern neighbor, the duchy of Holstein, in personal union with the Danish crown, was nonetheless always a German principality. The two duchies jointly became a member of the German Bundesland as "Schleswig-Holstein" in the 19th century.
  In Sweden, medieval duchies of Finland, Södermanland, Skåne, and Halland were some appanages for princes of the reigning dynasty. In modern times almost every province in Sweden was used as the territorial designation for a royal prince's dukedom.
  Sweden had a history of making the sons of its kings ruling princes of vast duchies, but this ceased in 1622. Only one non-royal person was ever given a dukedom. In 1772, King Gustav III reinstated the appointment of dukes but as a non-hereditary title for his brothers. Since then, all Swedish princes have been created dukes of a province at birth. When the 1810 Act of Succession was amended to allow female succession to the throne, King Carl XVI Gustaf's eldest daughter Victoria became Crown Princess (displacing her younger brother Carl Philip) and received the title of Duchess of Västergötland. The practice of conferring ducal titles has since extended to Swedish princesses as well as princes. Currently, there are five dukes and four duchesses in their own right. The territorial designations of these dukedoms refer to ten of the Provinces of Sweden.
  Key parts of Finland were sometimes under a Duke of Finland during the Swedish reign. Some of the provinces are still considered duchies for the purposes of heraldry.
caption: In the 1260s Birger Jarl bore a ducal coronet and used the Latin title of Dux Sweorum which in English equals Duke of Sweden; the design of his coronet combined those used by continental European and English dukes.[4]
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