A marquess is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those
of some of their former colonies.
The term is also used to translate equivalent Asian styles, as in imperial China and Japan.
In Great Britain and Ireland the correct spelling of the aristocratic title of this rank is
marquess.
In Great Britain and Ireland the title ranks below a duke and above an earl.
A woman with the rank of a marquess, or the wife of a marquess, is a marchioness in Great
Britain and Ireland or a marquise elsewhere in Europe.
The dignity, rank or position of the title is referred to as a marquisate or marquessate.
The theoretical distinction between a marquess and other titles has, since the Middle Ages,
faded into obscurity.
In times past, the distinction between a count and a marquess was that a marquess's land,
called a march, was on the border of the country, while a count's land, called a county, often
wasn't.
Because of this, a marquess was trusted to defend and fortify against potentially hostile
neighbors and was thus more important and ranked higher than a count.
The title is ranked below duke, which was often restricted to the royal family and those
that were held in high enough esteem to be granted such a title.
In the German lands, a Margrave was a ruler of an immediate Imperial territory, not simply
a noble like marquesses/marquises in Western and Southern Europe.
German rulers did not confer the title of marquis; holders of marquisates in Central
Europe were largely associated with the Italian and Spanish crowns.
Etymology The word entered the English language from
the Old French marchis in the late 13th or early 14th century.
The French word was derived from marche, itself descended from the Middle Latin marca, from
which the modern English words "march" and "mark" also descend.
The distinction between governors of frontier territories and interior territories was made
as early as the founding of the Roman Empire when some provinces were set aside for administration
by the senate and more unpacified or vulnerable provinces were administered by the emperor.
The titles "duke" and "count" were similarly distinguished as ranks in the late empire,
with dux being used for a provincial military governor and the rank of comes given to the
leader of an active army along the frontier.
Title in the United Kingdom In Great Britain and Ireland the correct spelling
for an English aristocrat of this rank is marquess.
The word "marquess" is unusual in English, ending in "-ess" but referring to a male and
not a female.
A woman with the rank of a marquess, or the wife of a marquess, is a marchioness in Great
Britain and Ireland, or a marquise elsewhere in Europe.
The dignity, rank or position of the title is referred to as a marquisate or marquessate.
Marquess was a relatively late introduction to the British peerage: no marcher lords had
the rank of marquess, though some were earls.
On the evening of the Coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838, the Prime Minister Lord
Melbourne explained to her why:
"I spoke to Ld M. about the numbers of Peers present at the Coronation, & he said it was
quite unprecedented.
I observed that there were very few Viscounts, to which he replied "There are very few Viscounts,"
that they were an old sort of title & not really English; that they came from Vice-Comites;
that Dukes & Barons were the only real English titles; — that Marquises were likewise not
English, & that people were mere made Marquises, when it was not wished that they should be
made Dukes".
Marquesal titles in other European languages The following list may still be incomplete.
Feminine forms follow after a slash; many languages have two words, one for the "modern"
marquess and one for the original margrave.
In Italy the equivalent modern rank is that of marchese, the wife of whom is a marchesa,
a good example of how several languages adopted a new word derived from marquis for the modern
style, thus distinguishing it from the old "military" margraves.
Even where neither title was ever used domestically, such duplication to describe foreign titles
can exist.
Baltic languages Latvian: Marķīzs / Marķīze
Lithuanian: Markizas / Markizė Finno-Ugric languages
Estonian: Markii/Markiis or Markkrahv / Markkrahvinna Finnish: Rajakreivi / Rajakreivitär or simply
Markiisi / Markiisitar Hungarian: Őrgróf / Őrgrófnő / Őrgrófné
Germanic languages Afrikaans: Markies, Markgraaf / Markiesin,
Markgravin Danish: Markis, Markgreve / Markise, Markgrevinde
Dutch: Markgraaf, Markies / Markgravin, Markiezin Faroese: Markgreivi / Markgreivakona
German: Markgraf, Marquis / Markgräfin, Marquise Icelandic: Markgreifi / Markgreifynja
Norwegian: Markis / Markise Scots: Marquis / Marchioness
Swedish: Markis, Markgreve / Markisinna, Markgrevinna Romance languages
Catalan: Marquès, Marcgravi / Marquesa French: Marquis, Margrave / Marquise, Margravine
Italian: Margravio, Marchese / Marchesa Latin: Marchio
Monegasque: Marchise / Marchisa Portuguese: Marquês / Marquesa, Margrave
/ Margravina Rhaeto-Romanic: Marchis / Marchesa
Romanian: Marchiz / Marchiză Spanish: Marqués / Marquesa
Slavic languages Belarusian: Markiz / Markiza
Bosnian: Markiz / Markiza Bulgarian: Маркиз / Маркиза
Croatian: Markiz, Markgrof / Markiza, Markgrofica Czech: markýz / markýza
Macedonian: Markiz(Маркиз) / Markiza(Маркиза) Polish: Margrabia, Markiz / Margrabina, Markiza
Russian: Маркиз / Маркиза Serbian: Markiz / Markiza
Slovak: Markíz / Markíza Slovene: Markiz, Mejni grof / Markiza, Mejna
Grofica Ukrainian: Markiz / Markiza
Other languages
Albanian: Markiz / Markizë Georgian: Markizi
Greek: Μαρκήσιος, Markēsios or Μαργράβος, Margravos / Μαρκησία, Markēsía
Hebrew: מרקיז Irish: Marcas
Maltese: Markiż / Markiża Turkish: Markiz
Welsh: Ardalydd / Ardalyddes Equivalent non-Western titles
Like other major Western noble titles, marquess or marquis is sometimes used to render certain
titles in non-Western languages with their own traditions, even though they are, as a
rule, historically unrelated and thus hard to compare.
However, they are considered "equivalent" in relative rank.
This is the case with: In ancient China, 侯 was the second of five
noble ranks created by King Wu of Zhou and is generally translated as marquess or marquis.
In imperial China, 侯 is generally, but not always, a middle-to-high ranking hereditary
nobility title.
Its exact rank varies greatly from dynasty to dynasty, and even within a dynasty.
It is often created with different sub-ranks.
In Meiji Japan, 侯爵, a hereditary peerage rank, was introduced in 1884, granting a hereditary
seat in the upper house of the imperial diet just as a British peerage did, with the ranks
usually rendered as baron, viscount, count, marquis and duke.
In Korea, the title of 현후, of which the meaning is "marquess of district", existed
for the hereditary nobility in the Goryeo dynasty.
It was equivalent to the upper fifth rank of nine bureaucratic orders, and was in the
third rank of six nobility orders.
In the Joseon dynasty, there was no title equivalent to marquess.
In Vietnam's Annamite realm / empire, hau was a senior title of hereditary nobility,
equivalent to marquis, for male members of the imperial clan, ranking under vuong, quoc-cong,
quan-cong and cong, and above ba, tu, nam and vinh phong.
In the Thai royal and noble title Phraya which ranks below Chao Phraya and above Phranai
See also Marquesses in the United Kingdom
List of marquesses in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
List of marquessates in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
List of French marquisates List of marquises in Norway
List of marquises in Portugal Mark
"My Lord Marquis", part of the second act of the comic operetta Die Fledermaus composed
by Johann Strauss II Marques
Notes