Count

Ignatiev, Nikolai Pavlovich, Count, 1832-1908, Russian diplomat. He was sent to China as an envoy in 1859. There he played the Chinese against the British and French and secured the Ussuri region for Russia through the Treaty of Beijing (1860). As ambassador to Constantinople (1864-1877), he promoted nationalist and Pan-Slav (see Pan-Slavism) aspirations in the Balkans and helped instigate the anti-Turkish rebellion in Bulgaria. His diplomacy led to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, at the close of which he negotiated the Treaty of San Stefano, which greatly expanded Russian influence in the Balkans. Shortly afterward, his influence waned and he retired. He served briefly as minister of the interior (1881-82).

Jellachich de Buzim, Joseph, Count, 1801-59, Austrian general, a Croatian nobleman. He was governor of Croatia when the revolution of 1848 broke out in Hungary, and he commanded an army against the revolutionists. His purpose was to separate Croatia from Hungary, and he was backed by the Austrian government. After the fall (1849) of the Hungarian revolutionary government of Kossuth, Jellachich was again governor of Croatia, which remained a part of Hungary.

Griffenfeld, Peder Schumacher, Count, 1635-99, Danish politician. The son of a merchant, he became (1665) secretary to Frederick III. In 1665 Griffenfeld drew up the Kongelov [king's law], which established an absolute monarchy in Denmark. He delivered (1670) the document, which had been kept secret until Frederick's death, to Christian V. From 1671 to 1676, Griffenfeld dominated the government. In 1673 he was created count. He encouraged trade and industry and centralized the administration. His bourgeois origins and his support of absolutism antagonized the nobles, and his policy of peace, by which he hoped to restore Danish prestige, alienated the army. Denmark was drawn into war with Sweden (1675), and Griffenfeld's plans were overruled. On trivial evidence he was tried for treason and sentenced to death, but Christian commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.

Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Aleksey Petrovich, Count, 1693-1766, Russian statesman. With the accession (1741) of Czarina Elizabeth, he was appointed vice chancellor and (1744) grand chancellor. Directing Russian foreign policy, he attempted to unite Russia, Austria, Great Britain, and Saxony against France and Prussia, which he viewed as Russia's natural enemies. Alliances were sealed with Great Britain (1742, 1747) and Austria (1746). The Anglo-Prussian alliance of Jan., 1756, and the outbreak of the Seven Years War that summer virtually nullified Bestuzhev-Ryumin's efforts. Over his strenuous objections, Russia joined (1757) a counteralliance with France and Austria. Removed (1758) from office and banished to his estate, he was recalled (1762) by Catherine II, who made him a field marshal.

Nesselrode, Karl Robert, Count, 1780-1862, Russian statesman of German descent, b. Lisbon. He entered diplomatic service under Czar Alexander I, became state secretary in 1814, and attended the Congress of Vienna (1814-15). In 1816, he became Russian foreign minister, sharing influence with Count Capo d'Istria until the latter's retirement in 1822. Guiding Russian policy for 40 years, Nesselrode, a leading conservative statesman, favored the Holy Alliance and in 1849 dispatched Russian troops to help Austria crush the Hungarian revolt led by Louis Kossuth. His efforts to expand Russian influence in the E Mediterranean at the expense of the Ottoman Empire and his miscalculations of British and French tolerance of this policy contributed decisively to the outbreak of the Crimean War. Nesselrode also served as chancellor from 1845 to 1856. His autobiography was published in 1866.

Capo d'Istria, Giovanni Antonio, Count, Gr. Joannes Antonios Capodistrias or Kapodistrias, 1776-1831, Greek and Russian statesman, b. Corfu. After administrative work in the Ionian Islands he entered (1809) Russian service and was until 1822 a close adviser in foreign affairs to Czar Alexander I; he represented Russia at the Congress of Vienna. After his resignation and retirement to Switzerland in 1822, he actively elicited support for Greek independence. In 1827 the Greek national assembly elected him president of Greece. He was a dedicated reformer, and by both his military and diplomatic policies between 1828 and 1831 he helped Greece secure larger boundaries than it otherwise would have. However, his excessively ambitious modernization programs as well as his autocratic methods, nepotism, factionalism, and Russian affiliations aroused opposition and led to his assassination.

Basie, Count (William Basie), 1904-84, American jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer, b. Red Bank, N.J. After working in dance halls and vaudeville in New York City, Basie moved to Kansas City, a major jazz center. There he joined Walter Page's Blue Devils in 1927, moving to Bennie Morton's band in 1929. He formed his own band in 1935, and for 40 years it has produced a distinctive sound marked by a powerful yet relaxed attack. Basie's provocative piano style is characterized by a predominant right hand. Among the many pieces he has composed for his band is "One O'Clock Jump."

Rostopchin, Feodor Vasilyevich, Count, 1763-1826, Russian general and statesman. He rose rapidly under Czar Paul I, serving as foreign minister from 1798-1800. He was made a count in 1799. In 1812, Czar Alexander I appointed him governor-general of Moscow. He was later held responsible for the burning of Moscow, which occurred when French forces entered the city in Sept., 1812. He was dismissed from office in 1814 and went into exile. Rostopchin denied the accusation in his pamphlet The Truth concerning the Fire of Moscow (in French, 1823); the cause of the conflagration is still in doubt.

Rumford, Benjamin Thompson, Count, 1753-1814, American-British scientist and administrator, b. Woburn, Mass. In 1776 he went to England, where he served (1780-81) as undersecretary of the colonies, conducting significant experiments with gunpowder in his spare time. Later he entered the service of the elector of Bavaria as an administrator. He was knighted in 1784 and in 1791 was created count of the Holy Roman Empire. He chose his title from the name of the town Rumford (later Concord), N.H., where his wife was born. Returning to England (1795), he introduced improved methods of heating and cooking, and developed a more accurate theory of heat. In contrast to the prevalent belief that heat was a substance, he presented, in a paper (1798) to the Royal Society, the theory that heat was produced by the motion of particles. He founded the Royal Institution in England, established the Rumford medal of the Royal Society, and founded the Rumford professorship of chemistry at Harvard.

Andrássy, Julius, Count, 1823-90, Hungarian politician. One of the leading figures in the 1848-49 Hungarian revolution, he supported the liberal program of Louis Kossuth and after the Hungarian defeat he went into exile, mostly in Paris and London, until 1858. With Francis Deak he then rose to prominence in the negotiations leading to the Ausgleich [compromise] of 1867, which created the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Andrássy was (1867-71) the first constitutional premier of Hungary. He opposed Austrian interference, attained the creation of a separate Hungarian defense force, put down the opposition led by Kossuth's partisans, and established Magyar supremacy at the expense of Slavic and other minorities of the kingdom. In 1870 his influence was largely responsible for keeping Austria-Hungary neutral in the Franco-Prussian War. As foreign minister of the Dual Monarchy (1871-79) he reversed the anti-Prussian policy of his predecessor, Beust, held Austria-Hungary to the Three Emperors' League, and signed (1879) the Dual Alliance with Germany (see Triple Alliance and Triple Entente). His chief program was to limit Russian expansion in the Balkans and to maintain the status quo among the Slavic peoples. At the Congress of Berlin (see Berlin, Congress of) in 1878, he obtained for the Dual Monarchy the right to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina. This step provoked much opposition in Hungary because it further increased the Slavic element in the empire, and Andrássy resigned.

Andrássy, Julius, Count, 1860-1929, Hungarian politician; son of the elder Count Andrássy. He occupied several cabinet posts before becoming (1900) minister of the interior of Hungary in the coalition cabinet under Wekerle. He opposed the Austrian diplomacy of 1914, and as foreign minister (late in 1918) he severed all connections with Germany in the hope of obtaining a separate peace for Austria-Hungary. In 1921 he was involved in the second attempt of King Charles IV (Emperor Charles I) to regain the Hungarian throne, and he later led the royalist opposition to Admiral Horthy and Count Stephen Bethlen. He wrote a number of political and historical studies, notably, in German.

Tolstoy, Leo, Count, Rus. Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoi (lyĕf), 1828-1910, Russian novelist and philosopher, considered one of the world's greatest writers.

Early Life

Of a noble family, Tolstoy was born at Yasnaya Polyana, his parents' estate near Tula. Orphaned at nine, he was brought up by his aunts and privately tutored. At 16 he was sent to the Univ. of Kazan, where he studied languages and law. His classes bored him, and he left without a degree. He returned to his estate in 1849 and made several abortive attempts to aid and educate the serfs there. Tolstoy then began a profligate life in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Early Works

In 1851 Tolstoy followed his brother into army service in the Caucasus, where he wrote Childhood (1852). This became the first part of an autobiographical trilogy, which includes Boyhood (1854) and Youth (1857). In 1854 he took part in the defense of Sevastopol, descriptions of which were published in Nekrasov's journal The Contemporary, attracting considerable attention for their unvarnished picture of war. He left army service in 1855 and for several years divided his time between his estate and the literary circles of St. Petersburg. His diary of the period reveals his intense dissatisfaction with his libertine existence. He set up a school for peasant children on his estate, emphasizing a spontaneous approach to learning. When his school proved impractical, he visited Western Europe and there began to question the bases of modern civilization.

In 1862 Tolstoy married Sophia Andreyevna Bers, a young, well-educated woman who bore him 13 children. His candor concerning his infidelities and his harsh conception of her wifely duties contributed to the instability of their marriage. During this time he wrote The Cossacks (1863) and his masterpieces War and Peace (1862-69) and Anna Karenina (1873-76). War and Peace is a vast prose epic of the Napoleonic invasion of 1812. It illustrates Tolstoy's view of history as proceeding inexorably to its own ends, a view in which mankind appears as an accidental instrument. This thesis is conveyed by a stream of brilliantly conceived characters and incidents. Anna Karenina, his most popular work, concerns the tragedy of a woman's faith in romantic love.

Later Life and Works

About 1876 the doubts that had beset Tolstoy since youth, fed by his puritan temperament in conflict with his sensuality, gathered force. The result of his painful self-examination was his conversion to the doctrine of Christian love and acceptance of the principle of nonresistance to evil. The steps in his conversion are set forth in his Confession (1879). For the rest of his life Tolstoy dedicated himself to the practice and propagation of his new faith, which he expounded in a series of works, among them A Short Exposition of the Gospels (1881), What I Believe In (1882), What Then Must We Do? (1886), and The Law of Love and the Law of Violence (1908).

Tolstoy preached nonviolence and a Rousseauistic simplicity of life. He was an anarchist to the extent that he considered wrong all organizations based on the premise of force, including both the government and the church. A Tolstoy cult grew up in Russia and abroad, and his estate became a place of pilgrimage. Because of his prestige the government did not interfere with his activities, although the Russian Church excommunicated him in 1901.

Moral questions are central to Tolstoy's later works, which include the story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" (1884), the drama The Power of Darkness (1886), and the novel The Kreutzer Sonata (1889). To his last period belongs the essay What Is Art? (1897-98), in which he argued for the moral responsibility of the artist to make his work understandable to most people; he denounced acknowledged masterpieces, including his own earlier works. His last works also include the novels Hadji Murad (1896-1904) and Resurrection (1899-1900) and the drama The Living Corpse (pub. 1911).

Tolstoy's insistence on putting his beliefs into practice and abandoning all earthly goods led to a permanent breach between himself and his wife. His children, with the exception of the youngest daughter, Alexandra, sided with their mother. In 1910, at 83, Tolstoy left home with Alexandra without a specific destination. He caught a chill and died at the railroad stationmaster's house at Astapovo.

Shuvalov, Piotr Andreyevich, Count, 1827-89, Russian administrator and diplomat. An adviser to Czar Alexander II, he opposed the czar's reforms and headed (1866-73) the notorious third section, or political police, of the imperial chancellery. He also served as envoy (1873), then ambassador (1874-79), to Great Britain. In 1878, at the end of the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78), he negotiated to secure a treaty that would please Great Britain more than the Treaty of San Stefano, which had greatly enhanced Russian influence in SE Europe. His willingness to accommodate Great Britain led to the Congress of Berlin, which abrogated the territorial gains of the Treaty of San Stefano. The new territorial arrangements were unpopular in Russia, and Shuvalov was recalled.

Orlov, Aleksey Grigoryevich, Count, 1737-1808, Russian nobleman; brother of Grigori G. Orlov. He and his brother headed the conspiracy to put Catherine II on the throne of Russia. It is alleged that he was the actual murderer of Peter III. He distinguished himself in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-74.

Orlov, Grigori Grigoryevich, Count, 1734-83, Russian nobleman. One of the first lovers of Catherine II, he and his brother led the conspiracy that deposed Peter III and put her on the throne. Although the empress was deeply in love with him and owed her power to him more than to any other, he did not have a decisive voice in state affairs. He was later supplanted by other favorites, notably Potemkin. Catherine gave him high military posts but did not act on his plans for the emancipation of the serfs.

Osterman, Andrei Ivanovich, Count, 1686-1747, Russian statesman, b. Germany. His original name was Heinrich Johann Friedrich Ostermann. Under Czar Peter I he held various positions in the diplomatic service. He was made baron for his role in negotiating the Treaty of Nystad, which ended (1721) the Russo-Swedish Northern War. Under Czarina Catherine I, Osterman directed Russian foreign policy and was a member of the privy council. A master court intriguer, he was able to maintain his powerful position under the three rulers who followed Catherine. He shrewdly sided with Czarina Anna upon her accession in 1730 against the privy council's attempt to limit her powers. He negotiated an end to the War of the Polish Succession (1733-35) and the Russo-Turkish War of 1736-39. During the brief regency of Anna Leopoldovna, Osterman was the virtual ruler of Russia. After Elizabeth seized (1741) power, Osterman was sentenced to death but then was reprieved and exiled to Siberia.

Dahlberg, Erik Jönsson, Count, 1625-1703, Swedish military engineer, field marshal, and architect. In 1658 he conveyed the army of Charles X of Sweden across the frozen Little and Great Belt straits in a daring march on Copenhagen. As governor of Livonia, he held Riga through two sieges. His volume of architectural engravings is a valuable record of Sweden's monuments.

D'Orsay, Alfred Guillaume Gabriel, count: see Orsay, Alfred Guillaume Gabriel, count d'.

Krasiński, Zygmunt, Count, 1812-59, Polish romantic poet. An ardent patriot and Slavophile, he lived much of his life abroad. His majestic works, often set in classical antiquity, include The Undivine Comedy (1833, tr. 1875), an allegory of the tragic history of Poland entitled Iridion (1835, tr. 1927), Dawn (1843), and The Psalms of the Future (1845-48). His works transcend nationalist themes in their philosophical concern with the plight of modern humanity.

or earl

European h1 of nobility, ranking in modern times directly below a marquess or (in countries without marquesses) a duke. In England the h1 of earl is the equivalent of count and ranks above a viscount. The wife of a count or earl is a countess. The Roman comes (“count”) was originally a household companion of the emperor; under the Franks he was a local commander and judge. The counts were later incorporated into the feudal structure, some becoming subordinate to dukes, though a few countships were as great as duchies. As royal authority was reasserted over the feudatories, which took place at different times in the different kingdoms, the counts lost their political authority, though they retained their privileges as members of the nobility.

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(born Dec. 28, 1719, Dijon, France—died Feb. 13, 1787, Versailles) French statesman. As ambassador to Ottoman Turkey (1754–68), he ably defended French policies during the Seven Years' War. As Louis XVI's minister of foreign affairs (1774–87), he advocated French financial and military support for the colonists in the American Revolution, concluded an alliance with them (1778), and helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris (1783). He also worked to establish a stable balance of power in Europe by mediating the peace in the War of the Bavarian Succession.

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(born Sept. 5, 1817, St. Petersburg, Russia—died Oct. 10, 1875, Krasny Rog) Russian poet, novelist, and dramatist. A distant relative of Leo Tolstoy, he held various court posts. In the 1850s he began to publish comic verse, often satirizing government bureaucracy. Among his popular historical novels is Prince Serebrenni (1862). His dramatic trilogy about the 16th and 17th centuries—The Death of Ivan the Terrible (1866), Tsar Feodor Ioannovich (1868), and Tsar Boris (1870)—is written in blank verse and contains some of Russia's best historical dramatic writing. His lyric poetry includes many love and nature poems, as well as Ioann Damaskin (1859), a paraphrase of St. John of Damascus's prayer for the dead.

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(born Feb. 24, 1833, Vienna, Austria—died Nov. 29, 1895, Ellischau, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary) Austrian politician and prime minister (1868–70, 1879–93). A boyhood friend of the future emperor Francis Joseph, he entered the civil service in 1852 and rose rapidly, serving as governor of upper Austria, minister of the interior (1867, 1870–71, 1879), governor of Tirol (1871–79), and prime minister. In his second term as premier, he forged a conservative coalition that restored a degree of order among the Austrian Empire's quarreling nationalities by granting concessions to the Polish and Czech nationalists and bringing them into the Habsburg civil service.

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(born Sept. 25, 1873, Montignoso di Lunigiana, Italy—died Sept. 4, 1952, Rome) Italian diplomat. He entered the diplomatic service in 1896 and served in embassies worldwide. He served as minister for foreign affairs (1920–21) and as Italy's ambassador to France (1922), but he resigned after refusing to serve under Benito Mussolini. A strong antifascist, he lived in voluntary exile in Belgium until 1939 and in the U.S. (1940–43). He returned to Italy after World War II to serve in various government posts, including minister of foreign affairs (1947–51).

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(born Oct. 28, 1696, Goslar, Saxony—died Nov. 30, 1750, Chambord, France) German-born French general. The illegitimate son of Frederick Augustus I of Saxony, he served under Eugene of Savoy in Flanders and was made count of Saxony (Saxe) in 1711. He commanded a German regiment in the French service (1719) and made innovations in military training, especially in musketry. He served with distinction in the French army against his half brother Augustus III in the War of the Polish Succession and was made a general (1734). He successfully led French forces in the War of the Austrian Succession, capturing Prague (1741) and invading the Austrian Netherlands. There he won the Battle of Fontenoy (1745) and captured Brussels and Antwerp (1746). Appointed marshal general of France by Louis XV, Saxe led the successful invasion of Holland in 1747.

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(born April 30, 1803, Pleushagen, near Kolberg, Pomerania—died Feb. 23, 1879, Berlin, Ger.) Prussian army officer. He aided Prince William (later Emperor William I) in suppressing the insurrection in Baden (1848). As minister of war (1859–73), he improved the Prussian army by requiring universal military service and a permanent reserve. His reforms contributed to the army's decisive victories in the Seven Weeks' War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), which helped make Germany the leading power on the European continent.

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(born Feb. 24, 1463, Mirandola, duchy of Ferrara—died Nov. 17, 1494, Florence) Italian scholar, philosopher, and humanist. He settled in Florence in 1484 as a protégé of Lorenzo de' Medici and Marsilio Ficino. In 1486 he posted in Rome a list of 900 theses on logic, mathematics, physics, and other subjects that he proposed to defend against any opponent. His Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486), which accompanied the posting, epitomizes Renaissance humanism. Accused of heresy by the pope, he was later cleared, and he was later reconverted to orthodoxy by Girolamo Savonarola. Pico was the first Christian scholar to use Kabbalistic doctrine (see Kabbala) in support of Christian theology. His other works include Heptaplus (a seven-point exposition of the Book of Genesis) and a synoptic treatment of Plato and Aristotle, of which Of Being and Unity is a portion. He died at age 31.

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(born May 22, 1622, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, France—died Nov. 28, 1698, Quebec, New France) French courtier and governor of New France (1672–82, 1689–98). Despite a record of misgovernment, he encouraged exploration that led to the expansion of the French empire in Canada. He established fur-trading posts that brought him into conflict with the Montreal fur traders and later expanded the posts west. He engaged in disputes with the officials and clergy of New France. The Iroquois Confederacy, which had remained on good terms with the French until 1675, turned against the French, and the colony was left defenseless. Louis XIV recalled Frontenac in 1682. Reappointed when the French and Indian War started (1689), he distinguished himself by repulsing British attacks on Quebec.

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orig. William Allen Basie

(born Aug. 21, 1904, Red Bank, N.J., U.S.—died April 26, 1984, Hollywood, Fla.) U.S. jazz pianist and bandleader. Basie was influenced by the Harlem pianists James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. In Kansas City in 1936 he formed his own band, which became known as the most refined exponent of swing. Its rhythm section was noted for its lightness, precision, and relaxation; on this foundation, the brass and reed sections developed a vocabulary of riffs and motifs. Their hit recordings included “One O'Clock Jump” and “Jumpin' at the Woodside.” Basie's piano style became increasingly spare and economical. His soloists included singer Jimmy Rushing, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry (“Sweets”) Edison, and saxophonist Lester Young. Basie's reorganized band of the 1950s placed greater emphasis on ensemble work and developed a more powerful style built from the riffs and buoyant rhythm of the earlier group. The band achieved renewed popularity for recordings featuring vocalist Joe Williams.

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(born Aug. 10, 1810, Turin, Piedmont, French Empire—died June 6, 1861, Turin, Italy) Italian statesman, leading figure of the Risorgimento. Influenced by revolutionary ideas from an early age, he traveled to Paris and London and in 1847 founded the liberal newspaper Il Risorgimento, and he helped persuade Charles Albert to grant a liberal constitution. Elected to Parliament in 1848, Cavour held several cabinet posts before becoming prime minister of Piedmont (1852–59, 1860–61). His exploitation of international rivalries and of revolutionary movements brought about the unification of Italy under the house of Savoy, with himself as the first prime minister of the new kingdom (1861).

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(born Feb. 24, 1831, Berlin-Charlottenburg, Prussia—died Feb. 6, 1899, near Crossen-an-der-Oder, Ger.) German soldier and politician. A distinguished soldier, he served as chief of the admiralty (1883–88). He succeeded Otto von Bismarck as Germany's imperial chancellor (1890–94) and Prussian minister president (1890–92). His achievements included an Anglo-German agreement concerning spheres of influence in Africa, commercial treaties with Austria, Romania, and other states, and the reorganization of the German army.

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orig. William Allen Basie

(born Aug. 21, 1904, Red Bank, N.J., U.S.—died April 26, 1984, Hollywood, Fla.) U.S. jazz pianist and bandleader. Basie was influenced by the Harlem pianists James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. In Kansas City in 1936 he formed his own band, which became known as the most refined exponent of swing. Its rhythm section was noted for its lightness, precision, and relaxation; on this foundation, the brass and reed sections developed a vocabulary of riffs and motifs. Their hit recordings included “One O'Clock Jump” and “Jumpin' at the Woodside.” Basie's piano style became increasingly spare and economical. His soloists included singer Jimmy Rushing, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry (“Sweets”) Edison, and saxophonist Lester Young. Basie's reorganized band of the 1950s placed greater emphasis on ensemble work and developed a more powerful style built from the riffs and buoyant rhythm of the earlier group. The band achieved renewed popularity for recordings featuring vocalist Joe Williams.

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(born Jan. 16, 1749, Asti, Piedmont—died Oct. 8, 1803, Florence) Italian tragic poet and playwright. Through his lyrics and dramas he helped revive the national spirit of Italy. After a period of travel in which he experienced English political liberty and read the works of Montesquieu and other French writers, he left the military and began writing. His tragedies almost always present the struggle between a champion of liberty and a tyrant. Of the 19 tragedies that he approved for publication in an edition of 1787–89, the best are Filippo, Antigone, Oreste, Mirra, and his masterpiece, Saul, often considered the most powerful drama in the Italian theatre. His autobiography (1804) is his chief prose work.

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A count is a nobleman in European countries; The word count comes from French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The British equivalent is an earl (whose wife is also a "countess", for lack of an Anglo-Saxon term). Alternative "Count" (Hakushaku) status are used in other countries with different names such as during the Empire of Japan. The adjective "comital" means "pertaining to a count".

Definition

In the late Roman Empire, the Latin title comes meaning (imperial) 'companion' denoted the high rank of various courtiers and provincial officials, either military or administrative: before Anthemius was made emperor in the West in 467, he was military comes charged with strengthening defenses on the Danube frontier.

Military counts in the Late Empire and the Germanic successor kingdoms were often appointed by a dux and later by a king. From the start the count was in charge, not of a roving warband, but settled in a locality, a countship, his main rival for power being the bishop, whose diocese was often coterminous.

In many Germanic and Frankish kingdoms in the early Middle Ages, the count might also be a count palatine, whose authority derived directly from the royal household, the "palace" in its original sense of the seat of power and administration. This other kind of count had vague antecedents in Late Antiquity too: the father of Cassiodorus held positions of trust with Theodoric, as comes rerum privatarum, in charge of the imperial lands, then of comes sacrarum largitionum (concerned with the strictly monetary fiscal matters of the realm) ,

The position of comes was originally not hereditary. By holding large estates, many counts were able to make it a hereditary title—though not always. For instance, in Piast Poland, the position of komes was not hereditary, resembling the early Merovingian institution. The title had disappeared by the era of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the office replaced with other institutions. Only after the Partitions of Poland did the title of "count" re-surface in the German-derived title hrabia.

• The title of Count was also often conferred by the monarch as an honorific title for special services rendered, without an actual feudal estate (countship, county), just a title, with or without a domain name attached to it. In the UK, the equivalent Earl is often a courtesy title for the eldest son of a duke. In the United Kingdom stringent rules apply, often a future heir has a lower ranking courtesy title; in Italy, by contrast, all the sons of certain counts are counts (contini). In Sweden there is a distinction between counts (Swedish: greve) introduced before 1809 and after. All children in countship families introduced before 1809 are called count/countess. In families introduced after 1809 only the head of the family is called count, the rest had a status similar to barons and was called Mr. and Ms./Mrs. (before the use of titles was abolished).

Comital titles in different European languages

The following lists are originally based on a Glossary on Heraldica.org by Alexander Krischnig. The male form is followed by the female, and when available, by the territorial circonscription

Etymological derivations from the Latin comes

Language	Male title	Female title / Spouse	Territory
Albanian	Kont	Konteshë
Armenian	Կոմս (Koms)	Կոմսուհի (Komsuhi)
Catalan	Comte	Comtessa	Comtat
English	Count (applies to title granted by monarchies other than UK)	Countess (even where Earl applies)	Earldom for an Earl; Countship or county for a count, but the last is also, and indeed rather, in Anglo-Saxon countries an administrative district
French	Comte — cfr. the variation ?Comtor	Comtesse	Comté
Irish	Cunta; Iarla	Cuntaois, Baniarla	Honorary title only; iarla does not derive from Latin comes but rather from English "earl".
Italian	Conte	Contessa	Contea, Contado, Comitato
Greek	Κόμης (Kómēs)	Κόμησσα (Kómēssa)	Κομητεία (Komēteía); in the Ionian Islands the respective Italianate terms Kóntes, Kontéssa were used instead
Hebrew	Rozen (רוזן)	Rozenet (רוזנת)	Roznoot (רוזנות); these do not derive from Latin comes.
Latin (feudal jargon, not classical)	Comes	Comitissa	Comitatus
Maltese	Konti	Kontessa
Monegasque	Conte	Contessa
Old English	Hlaford	Hlǣfdiġe	These do not derive from Latin comes.
Portuguese	Conde	Condessa	Condado
Polish	Komes	Komesa	Comitates
Romanian	Conte	Contesă	Comitat
Romansh	Cont	Contessa
Scottish Gaelic	Iarla	Ban-iarla	Honorary title only; iarla does not derive from Latin comes, but rather English "earl".
Spanish	Conde	Condesa	Condado
Turkish	Kont	Kontes	Kontluk
Welsh	Iarll	Iarlles	Iarllaeth; iarll does not derive from Latin comes but rather English "earl".

Etymological parallels of the German Graf (some unclear)

Language	Male title	Female title / Spouse	Territory
Belarusian	Граф (Hraf)	Графiня (Hrafinia)	Графствa (Hrafstva)
Bulgarian	Граф (Graf)	Графиня (Grafinya)	Графство (Grafstvo)
Croatian	Grof	Grofica	Grofovija
Czech	Hrabě	Hraběnka	Hrabství
Danish	Greve	Grevinde	Grevskab
Dutch	Graaf	Gravin	Graafschap
English	Grave
Estonian	Krahv	Krahvinna	Krahvkond	Butl
Latvian	Grāfs	Grāfiene	Grāfiste
German	Graf	Gräfin	Grafschaft
Finnish	Kreivi	Kreivitär	Kreivikunta
Hungarian	Gróf	Grófnő, Grófné	Grófság
Icelandic	Greifi	Greifynja
Lithuanian	Grafas	Grafienė	Grafystė
Luxembourgish	Graf	Gräfin
Macedonian	Grof	Grofina
Polish	Hrabia	Hrabina	Hrabstwo
Norwegian	Greve	Grevinne	Grevskap
Romanian	Grof (also Conte, see above)
Russian	Граф (Graf)	Графиня (Grafinya)	Графство (Grafstvo)
Serbian	Grof	Grofica	Grofovija
Slovak	Gróf	Grófka	Grófstvo
Slovene	Grof	Grofica	Grofija
Swedish	Greve	Grevinna	Grevskap
Ukrainian	Ґраф (Graf)	Ґрафiня (Grafinya)

Compound and related titles

Apart from all these, a few unusual titles have been of comital rank, not necessarily to remain there.

• Dauphin (anglicized Dolphin, possibly an etymological match; Delphinus) was a multiple (though rare) comital title in southern France before it became (informally) the courtesy title of the heir to the French royal crown, in chief of the province still known as the région Dauphiné
• Conde-Duque 'Count-Duke' is a rare title used in Spain, notably by Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, Count-Duke of Olivares who had inherited the title of count of Olivares, but being created Duke of Sanlucar la Mayor by King Philip IV of Spain begged permission to preserve his inherited title in combination with the new honour — according to a practice almost unique in Spanish history; logically the incumbent ranks as Duke (higher than Count) just a he would when simply juxtapositioning both titles.
• Conde-Barão 'Count-Baron' is a rare title used in Portugal, notably by D. Luís Lobo da Silveira, 7th Baron of Alvito, who received the title of Count of Oriola in 1653 from King John IV of Portugal. His palace in Lisbon still exists, located in a square named after him (Largo do Conde-Barão).
• Archcount is a very rare title, etymologically analogous to archduke, apparently never recognized officially, used by or for:
• the count of Flanders (an original pairie of the French realm in present Belgium, very rich, once expected to be raised to the rank of kingdom); the informal, rather descriptive use on account of the countship's de facto importance is rather analogous to the unofficial epithet Grand Duc de l'Occident (before Grand duke became a formal title) for the even wealthier Duke of Burgundy
• at least one Count of Burgundy (i.e. Freigraf of Franche-Comté)
• In German kingdoms, the title Graf was combined with the word for the jurisdiction or domain the nobleman was holding as a fief and/or as a conferred or inherited jurisdiction, such as "Markgraf" (Margrave - see also Marquess), "Landgraf" ('landgrave'), "Freigraf" ('free count'), "Burggraf" ('Burgrave', where burg signifies castle; see also Viscount), Pfalzgraf (see (Count) Palatine), "Raugraf" (Raugrave, see 'graf'. Originally a unique title) and "Waldgraf" (waldgrave (comes nemoris), where wald signifies a large forest).
• The German Graf and Dutch graaf (Grafio) stems from the Byzantine-Greek grapheus or suggrapheus "he who calles a meeting [i.e. the court] together").
• These titles are not to be confused with various minor administrative titles containing the word -graf in various offices which are not linked to nobility of feudality, such as the Dutch titles Pluimgraaf (a court sinecure, so usually held by noble courtiers, may even be rendered hereditary) and Dijkgraaf (to the present, in the Low Countries, a managing official in the local or regional administration of water household trough dykes, ditches, controls etcetera; also in German Deichgraf, synonymous with Deichhauptmann, 'dike captain').

Lists of countships

Territory of today's France

West-Francia proper

Since Louis VII (1137–80), the highest precedence amongst the vassals (Prince-bishops and secular nobility) of the French crown was enjoyed by those whose benefice or temporal fief was a pairie, i.e. carried the exclusive rank of pair; within the first (i.e. clerical) and second (noble) estates, the first three of the original twelve anciennes pairies were ducal, the next three comital comté-pairies:

• Bishop-counts of Beauvais (in Picardy)
• Bishop-counts of Châlons (in Champagne)
• Bishop-counts of Noyon (in Picardy)
• Count of Toulouse, until united to the crown in 1271 by marriage
• Count of Flanders (Flandres in French), which is in the Low countries and was confiscated in 1299, though returned in 1303
• Count of Champagne, until united to the crown (in 1316 by marriage, conclusively in 1361)

Later other countships (and duchies, even baronies) have been raised to this French peerage, but mostly as apanages (for members of the royal house) or for foreigners; after the 16th century all new peerages were always duchies and the medieval countship-peerages had died out, or were held by royal princes

Other French countships of note included those of:

• Count of Angoulême, later Dukes
• Count of Anjou, later Dukes
• Count of Auvergne
• Count of Bar, later Dukes
• Count of Blois
• Count of Boulogne
• Count of Foix
• Count of Montpensier
• Count of Poitiers

Parts of today's France long within other kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire

• Freigraf ('free count') of Burgundy (i.e present Franche-Comté)
• Countess Michelle Casiraghi Henning Maranzano of Provence

The Holy Roman Empire

See also above for parts of present France

In Germany

See also Graf for various comital and related titles; especially those actually reigning over a principality that can be rendered as countship: Gefürsteter Graf, Landgraf, Reichsgraf; compare Markgraf, Pfalzgraf

In Italy

The title of Conte is very prolific on the peninsula, and modern counts occupy the position in rural society comparable to an English squire, members of rural gentry. In the eleventh century however, conti like the Count of Savoia or the Norman Count of Apulia, were virtually sovereign lords of broad territories. Even apparently "lower"-sounding titles, like Viscount, could describe powerful dynasts, such as the Visconti family who ruled a major city such as Milan. The essential title of a feudatory, introduced by the Normans, was signore, modelled on the French seigneur, used with the name of the fief. By the fourteenth century, conte and the Imperial title barone were virtually synonymous, but some titles of count, according to the particulars of the patent, might be inherited by the eldest son of a Count. Other younger brothers might be distinguished as "X dei conti di Y" ("X of the counts of Y"). However if there is no male to inherit the title and the count has a daughter, she can inherit the title: for example the Countess Luisa Gazelli di Rossana e di Sebastiano, mother of Queen Paola of Belgium. The Papacy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies might appoint counts palatine with no particular territorial fief. Until 1812 in some regions, the purchaser of land designated "feudal" was ennobled by the noble seat that he held and became a conte. This practice ceased with the formal abolition of feudalism in the various principalities of early-19th century Italy, last of all in the Papal States.

Many Italian counts left their mark on Italian history as individuals, yet only a few contadi (countships; the word contadini for its inhabitants remains the Italian word for "peasant") were politically significant principalities, notably :

• Norman Count of Apulia
• Count of Savoy, later Duke (also partly in France and in Switzerland)
• Count of Asti
• Count of Montferrat (Monferrato)
• Count of Montefeltro
• Count of Tusculum

Roman count

Count is one of the nobiliary titles granted by the Pope as temporal sovereign (of the Papal State), and is thus often known as Roman count, its holder signified as Cavaliere (Cav., literally Knight). The title, which can be for life or hereditary, has been awarded since the Middle Ages, mostly to foreigners, and the pope continued to grant titles even after 1870 and the loss of most of the Papal territory. By the Lateran Accord of 1929, the Italian government recognized and confirmed the pope's power to grant titles, and the titles granted by the Pope were considered equivalent to Italian titles, contrary to which it had never been abolished. However, the title has not been granted since Pope Pius XII, John McCormack being the last to receive this honor.

In Austria

The principalities tended to start out as margraviate and/or (promoted to) duchy, and became nominal archduchies within the Habsburg dynasty; noteworthy are:

• Count of Tyrol
• Count of Cilli
• Count of Schaumburg

In Poland

Numerous small ones, particularly:

• Counts of Galicia and Poland
• Count Zaleski

In Galicia (Central Europe)

particularly see:

• Counts of Galicia

In the Low Countries

Apart from various small ones, significant were :

• in present Belgium :
• Count of Flanders (Vlaanderen in local Dutch), but only the small part east of the river Schelde remained within the empire; the far larger west, an original French comté-pairie became part of the French realm
• Count of Hainaut
• Count of Namur, later a margraviate
• Count of Leuven (Louvain) soon became the Duke of Brabant
• in the present Dutch kingdom of the Netherlands:
• Count of Holland
• Count of Zeeland
• Count of Zutphen

In Switzerland

• Count of Neuenburg
• Count of Toggenburg
• Count of Kyburg
• Count de Salis-Soglio
• Count of Panzutti

In other continental European countries

In Iberia

As opposed to the plethora of hollow 'gentry' counts, only a few countships ever were important in medieval Iberia; most territory was firmly within the Reconquista kingdoms before counts could become important. However, during the 19th century, the title, having lost its high rank (equivalent to that of Duke), proliferated.

Portugal

Portugal itself started as a countship in 868, but became a kingdom in 1139 (see:County of Portugal). Throughout the History of Portugal, especially during the Constitutional Monarchy many other countships were created (see: List of Countships in Portugal).

Spain

In Spain, no countships of wider importance exist, except in the former Spanish march.

• Count of Barcelona - it became integrated in the kingdom of Aragon, which became one of the two main components of the Spanish realm
• Count of Aragon
• Count of Castile
• Count of Galicia
• Count of Lara
• Count Cassius, progenitor of the Banu Qasi
• Count of Urgel
• The other counts in Catalonia were much smaller and got absorbed into Barcelona/Aragon: Cerdanya, Ampurias, Conflans, Pallars, Roussillon (in present France)

Crusader states

• Count of Edessa
• Count of Tripoli (1102-1288)

Equivalents

Like other major Western noble titles, Count 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, which are considered 'equivalent' in relative rank.

This is the case with:

• the Chinese Bó (伯), hereditary title of nobility ranking below Hóu (侯) and above Zĭ (子)
• the Japanese equivalent Hakushaku (伯爵), adapted during the Meiji restoration
• the Korean equivalent Baekjak or Poguk
• in Vietnam, it is rendered Ba, one of the lower titles reserved for male members of the Imperial clan, above Tu (Viscount), Nam (Baron) and Vinh phong (lowest noble title), but lower than — in ascending order — Hau (Marquis), Cong (Prince), Quan-Cong (Duke) and Quoc-Cong (Grand Duke), all under Vuong (King).

See also

• County

References

Sources

• Labarre de Raillicourt: Les Comtes Romains
• Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in German)

External links

(incomplete)

• Heraldica.org - here the French peerage
• Italian Titles of Nobility
• Webster's 1828 Dictionary