The following is a list of historic dukedoms in Europe:
Austria The Austrian lands: the Duchies of Austria proper the Duchy of Carinthia (today in Austria, Italy and Slovenia) the Duchy of Styria (today in Austria and Slovenia) the Duchy of Carniola (today Slovenia).
The Habsburg dukes came to style themselves Archdukes.
ArmsTitleDate of creationCreating sovereignCurrent holderNotes Duchess of Hohenberg 4 October 1909 Franz Josef I of Austria created for Sophie, Princess of Hohenberg (for life, extinct in 1914) Duke of Hohenberg 31 August 1917 Karl I of Austria Nikolaus, Duke of Hohenberg created for Prince Max of Hohenberg (hereditary in the primogeniture)
Bohemia The Czech lands: the Duchy of Bohemia the Duchies of Silesia The Duchy of Bohemia became Kingdom of Bohemia in 1212.
France Royal dukes Non-royal dukes ArmsTitleDate of creationCreating sovereignCurrent holderNotes Dukes of Uzès February 1572 Charles IX Jacques de Crussol d'Uzès Duchy of Montbazon May 1588 Henry III Albert Marie de Rohan-Rochefort Duke of Rohan 7 August 1603 Henry IV Josselin de Rohan Duke of Brissac 13 April 1611 Louis XIII Charles-André de Cossé-Brissac, 14th Duke of Brissac Duke of Luynes 22 August 1619 Louis XIII Philippe d'Albert, 13th duc de Luynes Duke of ChevreuseDuke of Chaulnes 15451621 Francis ILouis XIII Jacques François Marie Raymond d'Albert de Luynes, 13th duc de Chaulnes Duke of La Force 3 August 1637 Louis XIII Henri Jacques Nompar de Caumont La Force Duke of Estrées 1663 Louis XIV Armand-Sosthènes de La Rochefoucauld-Doudeauville Duke of NoaillesDukes of Ayen 16631737 Louis XIVLouis XV Hélie Marie Auguste Jacques Bertrand Philippe de Noailles, 10th Duke of Noailles Duke of Broglie 11 June 1742 Louis XV Philippe-Maurice, 9th duc de Broglie Duke of Montebello 19 March 1808 Napoleon I Maurice Georges Antoine Marie Lannes, 7th Duke of Montebello Dukes of Magenta 5 June 1859 Napoleon III Maurice Marie Patrick Bacchus Humphrey de MacMahon, 5th Duc de Magenta
Germany Although the titled aristocracy of Germany no longer holds a legal rank, nearly all ducal families in Germany continued to be treated as dynastic (i.e., "royalty") for marital and genealogical purposes after 1918. Some maintain dynastic traditions that are reflected in roles they still play in high society networks, philanthropy and Germany's version of local "squirearchy" visibility.
At first, the highest nobles – de facto equal to kings and emperors – were the Dukes of the stem duchies: Duchy of Saxony (now Lower Saxony) Duchy of Franconia Duchy of Bavaria Duchy of Swabia Duchy of Lorraine (replacing Duchy of Thuringia)
Later, the precedence shifted to the prince-electors, the first order amongst the princes of the empire, regardless of the actual title attached to the fief. This college originally included only one Duke, the Duke of Saxony. The ducal title, however, was not limited by primogeniture in the post-medieval era. All descendants in the male line, including females, shared the original title, but each male added as a suffix the name of his inherited domain to distinguish his line from that of other branches. From the 19th century, some cadets of the kingly houses of Bavaria and Württemberg, and all those of the grand-ducal houses of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Oldenburg, took the ducal prefix as their primary style instead of that of Prince (Prinz).
There were many other duchies, some of them insignificant petty states (Kleinstaaterei): Duchy of Arenberg, an imperial estate (county) from 1549, raised to princely county in 1576 and duchy in 1644 Duchy of Bavaria, elector since 1623 Duchy of Bremen (1648–1806) Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, divided into various lines, one of which became the electorate of Hanover in 1692, another became the independent Duchy of Brunswick in 1815. Duchy of Franconia, the secular title of the Bishop of Würzburg Duchy of Holstein, in union with Schleswig, in personal union with the Danish crown. Duchy of Jülich and Berg Duchy of Lorraine Duchy of Magdeburg, the former prince-archbishopric after being acquired by Brandenburg-Prussia in 1680 Duchy of Mecklenburg, later divided into various lines Duchy of Pomerania Grand Duchy of Salzburg, the secularized prince-archbishopric 1803–1806 Duchies of Saxony, in Lower Saxony and Upper Saxony, the successor state(s) of the original (stem)duchy of Saxony after dismissal of Duke Henry the Lion by the Emperor, collateral lines of the electoral line (to wit: the Lower Saxon Saxe-Lauenburg and the Upper Saxon Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Saxe-Eisenach, Saxe-Eisenberg, Saxe-Gotha, Saxe-Hildburghausen, Saxe-Jena, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Römhild, Saxe-Saalfeld, Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Weissenfels, and Saxe-Wittenberg) Duchy of Silesia Duchy of Westphalia, a territory under the Archbishop of Cologne, either a successor-state of the original Duchy of Saxony, which was divided into Eastphalia (which later became Brunswick-Lüneburg), Engern and Westphalia Duchy of Württemberg, became an electorate in 1803 Duchy of Zweibrücken
Ruling Dukes (as of 1918) ArmsTitleDate of creationDucal HouseCurrent pretenderNotes Duke of Saxe-Meiningen 30 August 1680 House of Wettin Konrad, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen Duke of Brunswick 22 December 1813 House of Hanover Prince Ernst August of Hanover Duke of Saxe-Altenburg 12 November 1826 House of Wettin none extinct in 1991 Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 12 November 1826 House of Wettin Hubertus Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha Duke of Anhalt 30 August 1863 House of Ascania Eduard, Prince of Anhalt
Non-ruling Dukes ArmsTitleDate of creationDucal HouseCurrent holderNotes Duke of Leuchtenberg 14 November 1817 House of Beauharnais none extinct in 1974 Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg 6 July 1825 House of Glücksburg Friedrich Ferdinand, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein Duke of Ratibor 15 October 1840 House of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst Viktor Metternich-Sándor, 5th Duke of Ratibor and Prince of Corvey Duke of Ujest 18 October 1861 House of Hohenlohe-Oehringen Kraft, 5th Duke of Ujest and Prince of Hohenlohe-Oehringen Duke of Urach 28 March 1867 House of Urach Wilhelm Albert, 5th Duke of Urach Duke of Wörth-Donaustauf 8 May 1899 House of Thurn and Taxis Albert, 5th Duke of Wörth-Donaustauf and Prince Thurn and Taxis Duke of Trachenberg 1 January 1900 House of Hatzfeldt-Trachenberg Sebastian, 4th Duke of Trachenberg and Prince of Hatzfeldt Duke of Pless 20 December 1905 Peter von Hochberg-Pless
On the Baltic south coast The duchy of Pomerellen (Pomerelia; capital Danzig (Gdańsk), now in Poland) was part of the State of the Teutonic Order until its takeover by the Polish Crown in 1466. The duchy of Courland (now in Latvia) was a Polish vassal state and once a colonial power from its foundation in 1562 for the last Master of Livonian Order, Gotthard Kettler, until 1795. The Ordensstaat became the Duchy of Prussia in 1525, part of the dynastic home country of the later German (Hohenzollern) Emperor.
The Low countries (Netherlands/Belgium/Luxembourg)
Duchy of Brabant Duchy of Guelders Duchy of Bouillon in the Ardenne Duchy of Luxembourg
ArmsTitleDate of creationDucal HouseCurrent holderNotes Duke of Brabant 1183 Belgian Royal Family(Crown Prince(ss) of Belgium) Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant Duke of ArenbergDuke of Aarschot 6 June 16441 April 1533 House of Arenberg Léopold, 13th Duke of Arenberg Duke of Beaufort-Spontin 2 December 1782 Beaufort-Spontin Friedrich Christian, 7th Duke of Beaufort-Spontin Duke of Croÿ 18 July 1598 House of Croÿ Rudolf, 15th Duke of Croÿ Duke of Looz-Corswarem 24 December 1734 Looz-Corswarem Thierry, 11th Duke of Looz-Corswarem Duke of Ursel 19 August 1716 House of Ursel Stéphane, 10th Duke d'Ursel
Greece ArmsTitleDate of creationDucal HouseCurrent pretenderNotes Duke of Sparta 29 September 1868 Greek Royal Family(Constantine I of Greece) none
Italy
Kingdom of the Lombards The Kingdom of the Lombards was divided in several duchies, as follows: Duchy of Friuli Duchy of Ceneda Duchy of Treviso Duchy of Vicenza Duchy of Verona Duchy of Trent Duchy of Parma Duchy of Reggio Duchy of Piacenza Duchy of Brescia Duchy of Bergamo Duchy of Milan Duchy of Pavia Duchy of San Giulio Duchy of Asti Duchy of Turin Duchy of Ivrea Duchy of Aosta Duchy of Tuscany Duchy of Spoleto Duchy of Benevento (787–873 under Frankish suzerainty, then again Byzantine; later a principality, since 1051 held from the Pope)
They have been suppressed or transformed in counties as consequence of the Frankish conquest of the Kingdom in 776. Only the two southern duchies of Spoleto and Benevento were spared and survived some centuries.
Exarchate of Ravenna In the same period (the Early Middle Ages) also many Italian territories under Byzantine suzerainty (in the Exarchate of Ravenna) were organized in duchies, and notably the following ones: Duchy of Amalfi Duchy of Sorrento Duchy of Naples Duchy of Gaeta Duchy of Rome Duchy of Venice The first four were Tyrrhenian port cities and survived as semi-autonomous states until the Norman conquest of Southern Italy in the 11th and 12th centuries. The Duchy of Rome was transformed in the Papal State as consequence of the Donation of Sutri in 728. The Duchy of Venice became the Republic of Venice and its head of state retained the title of doge, equivalent to that of duke.
In 1059 Robert Guiscard, head of the Norman House of Hauteville, was created by the Pope Duke of Apulia and Calabria. When the State was raised to Kingdom of Sicily in 1180, the title of Duke of Apulia and Calabria was used intermittently for the heir to throne.
Kingdom of Italy (medieval) Since 1395 the major Signorias of the Kingdom of Italy (which was part of the Holy Roman Empire) began to be raised to Dukedoms by the Emperor. By the centuries more and more Dukedoms were created in this way and they became de facto sovereign states. The Duchies created after 1395 were the following ones: Duchy of Milan Duchy of Mantua Duchy of Sabbioneta Duchy of Montferrat Duchy of Guastalla Duchy of Modena and Reggio Duchy of Mirandola Duchy of Massa and Carrara The Duchy of Savoy, though it was not an Italian state, had suzerainty on Piedmont.
Papal States Also the Pope created some sovereign duchy during the Renaissance, notably: Duchy of Ferrara Duchy of Urbino Duchy of Camerino Duchy of Castro Duchy of Parma
Kingdom of Naples In the Kingdom of Naples, the Duchy of SoraFederico Badoer, Relazione del ducato di Urbino letta nel Veneto senato 1547, Venezia 1856p. 35 was a semi-autonomous fiefdom.
See also Historical states of Italy
In the Papal states and in the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily the Pope and the king, respectively, granted the title of duke as the second rank of nobility, just inferior to that of prince. These dukes, however, always remained vassals.They include: Duchy of Acerenza, created by the Kings of Spain and Naples for the ancestors of the Prince Belmonte Duchy of San Donato, created by the Kings of Spain and Naples for the ancestors of the Prince Sanseverino Duke of Calabria was the primogeniture for the crown prince of the Neapolitan kingdom. Since 1081 the Duchies of Benevento and Pontecorvo had been two among the Papal states, and, in fact, no duke was appointed.
Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)