Aristocratic title conferred on Spanish nobility
Grandee
(
;
Spanish
:
Grande de Espana
,
Spanish:
[???ande]
) is an official
aristocratic title
conferred on some
Spanish nobility
.
[1]
Holders of this dignity enjoyed similar privileges to those of the
peerage of France
during the
Ancien Regime
, though in neither country did they have the significant constitutional political role the
House of Lords
gave to the
Peerage of England
, of
Great Britain
and of the
United Kingdom
. A "Grandee of Spain" nonetheless enjoyed greater social privileges than those of other similar European dignities.
[2]
With the exception of
Fernandina
,
[3]
all Spanish dukedoms
are automatically attached to a Grandeeship, yet only a few
marquessates
,
countships
,
viscountcies
,
baronies
and
lordships
have the distinction. A single person can be a Grandee of Spain multiple times, as Grandeeships are attached, except in a few cases, to a title and not an individual. Such Grandees with more than one title notably include the current
Duchess of Medinaceli
and the
Duke of Alba
, who are Grandees ten and nine times respectively. All sons and daughters of
Infantes
are also Grandees.
[4]
According to the
1876 Constitution
, fully in force until 1923, Grandees of Spain could also be
senators
por derecho propio
("in their own right"), alongside archbishops and top military ranks.
[5]
As of 2018, Grandeeships totalled 417 out of the 2,942 extant titles in Spain (approximately 14%) of which there were 153 Dukedoms, 142 Marquessates, 108 Countships, 2 Viscountcies, 2 Baronies, 3 Lordships and 7 hereditary Grandees with no title attached to the Grandeeship.
[6]
Despite losing their last legal privilege in 1984, when the right to possess
diplomatic passports
and
immunity
was revoked for all Grandees of Spain, they still enjoy certain ceremonial privileges.
[7]
All Grandees are entitled to remain covered in the presence of the
King of Spain
, as well as being addressed by him as
primo
(cousin), a privilege that originated in the 16th century, when most Grandees were
close relatives
of the monarch.
[8]
Outside Spain, the term can refer to other people of a somewhat comparable, exalted position, roughly synonymous with
magnate
; formerly a rank of high
nobility
(especially when it carried the right to a
parliamentary seat
). By extension, the term can refer informally to any important person of
high status
, particularly
wealthy
,
landed
long-time residents in a region. In the United Kingdom the term is currently and informally used of influential and long-standing
members
of the
Conservative Party
,
Labour Party
and
Liberal Democrats
,
[9]
[10]
and has had more specific meanings in the past.
Origins and privileges
[
edit
]
Most Spanish noble titles are granted as
titulos del Reino
(
Peer of the realm
), many of which predate the modern Spanish monarchy. The
Kings of Spain
re-established in 1520 the ancient dignity of Grande to confer as an additional rank of
honour
. The
Post-nominals
of Grandees of Spain is
GE
.
[11]
[12]
The dignity of Grandee (
Grand noble
) began to be assumed by
Spain
's leading noblemen in the Middle Ages to distinguish them as a
Grand senor
('
Lord
of the realm'), from lesser
ricoshombres
(
Nobles de naturaleza
), whose rank evolved into that of
hidalgo
. It was, as
John Selden
the 17th-century English jurist pointed out, not a general term denoting a
class
, but "an additional individual dignity not only to all Dukes but to some Marquesses and Counts also".
[13]
[14]
Noble titles
, including and above the
rank
of
Count
, were seldom created in heredity by the Kings of
Castile
and
Aragon
until the late
Middle Ages
?in contrast to
France
and elsewhere in Europe (where
feudalism
evolved more quickly)?being largely associated with
royal officers
until the 14th century. The conferral of grandeeships initially conveyed only ceremonial privileges, such as remaining covered or seated in the presence of
royalty
. Over time grandees received more substantial rights: for example freedom from taxation and immunity from arrest, save at the King's command;
[14]
they were usually the senior judicial officers of their region. These rights later became open to abuse with some Grandees renouncing their allegiance to the monarchy to wage war on the King.
In the late 1470s,
King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I
were the first to clamp down on grandee powers assumed by the medieval territorial nobles. In the 16th century, limitations on the number of grandees were introduced by
King Charles I
(who later became
Holy Roman Emperor
as Charles V), who decreed that the
Spanish Crown
had the sole right to confer the dignity of a grandee.
Subsequently, the
Grandes de Espana
(Grandees of Spain) were subdivided into three grades:
[14]
- those who spoke to the King and received his reply in full regalia;
- those who addressed the King uncovered, but by right wore their coronets to hear his answer;
- those who required permission from the King before wearing their coronets.
[14]
All grandees traditionally have been addressed by the king as
mi Primo
(my cousin), whereas ordinary nobles are formally styled as
mi Pariente
(my kinsman).
Grandezas
could also be bestowed upon foreigners, such as the memorialist
Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon
who took great pride in becoming a grandee after his successful posting as
French Ambassador to Madrid
, representing
King
Louis XIV
. The dignity was highly considered by foreign peers. For an extensive period of time, it was even deemed 'the pinnacle of nobiliary stratification'.
Foreign grandees were mostly French, although there was also a significant number of German,
Flemish
,
Walloon
, Italian, and
Novohispanic
/
Aztec
peers, as a result of the scope of the
Spanish Empire
in Europe and the Americas.
Some examples included the Dukes of
Wellington
,
Bavaria
,
Villars
,
Mouchy
,
Moctezuma de Tultengo
,
Doudeauville
,
Croy
, the
Princes of Sulmona
,
Ligne
, and the
Counts of Egmont
.
The dignity of grandee was abolished by the Napoleonic King
Joseph Bonaparte
, before being revived in 1834 by
Estatuto real
when grandees were given precedence in the
Chamber of Peers
of
Spain
.
Nowadays, all grandees are deemed to be "of the first class", and is an honorific dignity conferring neither power or legal privilege. A
Grandeza de Espana
(grandeeship) is a separate
legal entity
from a title of nobility, although
grandezas
are normally but not exclusively granted in conjunction with a
title
. Since the 20th century invariably the King of Spain has conferred a
Grandeza de Espana
upon any newly created
duke
.
A grandee of any noble rank is higher in
precedence
than a non-grandee (apart from members of the
Spanish Royal Family
), even if that non-grandee holds a
hereditary title
(
titulo
) of a higher grade than that of the said grandee. Thus, a
baron
-grandee would outrank a non-grandee
marquess
, thus rendering the dignity of
grandeza
an
hereditary rank of precedence
rather than a
title of nobility
. Since 1987, children of an
infante
of
Spain
are recognised as members of the Spanish royal family and are accorded the
rank
and
style
of a grandee by
courtesy
: they do not formally hold this dignity until such time as a
title
with
grandeza
is granted to them by the
sovereign
.
[18]
Some of the best known
Spanish grandees
are the
dukes of Arcos
,
of Alba
,
of Medinaceli
,
of Villahermosa
,
of Osuna
,
del Infantado
,
of Alburquerque
,
of Moctezuma
,
of Frias
and
of Medina-Sidonia
; well-known
marquesses
include those of Aguilar de Campoo, of
Astorga
, of Santillana, and of
los Velez
; the
counts
of Benavente,
of Lerin
, Olivares, Onate, and
Lemos
also hold grandeeships.
Grandees and their consorts are entitled to the
honorific
prefix
of '
the Most Excellent
Lord/Lady' or 'His/Her Most Excellency', and they can be addressed as
Primo
(cousin) by the King, although this tradition is in disuse today.
Portugal and Brazil
[
edit
]
Both
Portuguese
and
Brazilian nobility
adopted the term
Grande
("grandee") from the Spanish, to designate a higher rank of noblemen.
[19]
The Brazilian system automatically deemed
dukes
,
marquises
and
counts
(as well as
archbishops
and
bishops
)
Grandes do Imperio
("Grandees of the Empire", or literally translated as "Great Ones of the Empire"). Viscounts and barons could also be ennobled with or without
grandeza
("grandeeship", alternatively "greatness").
Viscounts ennobled with grandeeship displayed a Count's coronet on their coat of arms, and Barons ennobled with grandeeship bore a coat of arms surmounted by a Viscount's coronet.
The order of precedence in Brazilian nobility was as follows: after the members of the Imperial Family, dukes, marquises, counts, viscounts with grandeeship, viscounts without grandeeship, barons with grandeeship, barons without grandeeship. Brazilian grandeeships, like its nobility, were not hereditary titles.
Grandees were allowed to keep their heads covered in the presence of the
king
or
emperor
until such time as the monarch may command otherwise; as elsewhere throughout Europe, these noble families displayed their
coats of arms
on their properties, carriages (or vehicles), and over their graves (see
hatchment
). The abolition of the monarchies in Portugal and Brazil extinguished the formal use of such titles, although their use continues among some of the Portuguese aristocracies.
New Model Army
[
edit
]
During the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
, senior military officers from the English
landed gentry
who served in the
New Model Army
, who were opposed to the more radical
Levellers
, came to be informally termed "Grandees".
[20]
After the defeat of
Charles I of England
in the
Second English Civil War
, there was a series of debates and confrontations between radical, elected representatives of New Model Army soldiers, known as the
Agitators
, and the Army's Grandees such as
Sir Thomas Fairfax
,
Oliver Cromwell
and
Henry Ireton
, who opposed the Agitators' more radical proposals. These disagreements were aired publicly at the
Putney Debates
, which started in late October 1647 and lasted for several weeks.
[21]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Encyclopedia Britannica: Grandee
- ^
Santa Cruz y Mallen, Francisco Javier:
Origen y transformacion de la Grandeza de Espana
(1946)
- ^
Salazar y Acha, Jaime de,
Los grandes de Espana (siglos XV-XXI)
, Ediciones Hidalguia (Madrid, 2012), p. 474
- ^
Boletin Oficial del Estado (BOE) - 12 November 1987
- ^
"Parlamentarios por Murcia: Dos siglos al servicio de una Region"
. Assembly of Murcia.
- ^
"Diputacion permanente y consejo de la grandeza de Espana: Title Guide"
.
If one inputs the value
grandeza de Espana
in the GRANDEZA section of the title guide, it will return 417 results. If one further inputs
Marques de
,
Conde de
,
Vizconde de
,
Baron de
and
Senor de
it will return 142, 108, 2, 2 and 3 respectively. Furthermore, if one inputs
Grande de Espana
in the TITLE section, it will return 7 results, that is, the 7 Grandees without titles.
- ^
Bayon, Felix (28 May 1984).
"Cardenales, ex ministros y grandes de Espana, privados del pasaporte diplomatico"
[Cardinals, ex-ministers and Grandees of Spain, deprived of Diplomatic Passports].
El Pais
(in Spanish).
- ^
Quintanilla Raso, Maria Concepcion (2006).
Titulos, grandes del reino y grandeza en la sociedad politica: Fundamentos en la Castilla medieval
[
Titles, Royal Grandees and Grandeeship in Political Society: Fundamentals in Medieval Castile
]. Silex Ediciones. p. 99.
ISBN
9788477371649
.
- ^
Hughes, David (12 August 2009).
"Another Tory grandee quits the Commons"
.
The Independent
.
- ^
"
'Young' Bercow mocks Tory grandee"
.
BBC News Online
. 22 June 2009.
- ^
Elenco de Grandezas y Titulos Nobiliarios Espanoles
. Real Asociacion de Hidalgos de Espana. pp. 1?5.
- ^
Soler Salcedo, Juan Miguel.
Nobleza espanola
. Editorial Vision Libros. p. 150.
ISBN
9788499834023
.
- ^
Titles of Honor, ed. 1672, p. 478
- ^
a
b
c
d
Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911).
"Grandee"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 349.
- ^
"Spanish Royal Decree 1368/1987: Regulation of Titles, Styles and Honors of the Royal Family"
.
Boletin Oficial del Estado
. Retrieved
14 August
2010
.
- ^
"Grandee definition and meaning"
.
Collins Dictionary
.
- ^
The
OED
first cites this specific usage as "1648?9 C. WALKER Relat. & Observ. 1 The said Leading men or Grandees (for that is now Parliament language) First divided themselves into two factions."
- ^
David Plant
The Levellers
on the website of the
British Civil Wars and Commonwealth
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- de Mestas, Alberto (1963). de Cadenas y Vicent, Vicente (ed.). "Las Grandezas de Espana otorgadas a franceses".
Hidalguia
.
11
(57). Instituto Salazar y Castro: 155?192.