Fürst (German pronunciation: [ˈfʏʁst] , female form Fürstin, plural Fürsten; from Old High German furisto, "the first", a translation of the Latin princeps) is a German word for a ruler as well as a princely title. Fürsten were, starting in the Middle Ages, members of the highest nobility who ruled over states of the Holy Roman Empire and later its former territories, below the ruling Kaiser (emperor) or König (king).[1]
A prince of the Holy Roman Empire was the sovereign ruler of an imperial estate that held imperial immediacy in the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire.[1] The territory ruled is referred to in German as a Fürstentum (principality),[2] the family dynasty referred to as a Fürstenhaus (princely house), and the (non-reigning) descendants of a Fürst are titled and referred to in German as Prinz (prince) or Prinzessin (princess).[3]
The English language uses the term "prince" for both concepts. Latin-based languages (French, Italian, Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese) also employ a single term, whereas Dutch as well as the Scandinavian and some Slavic languages use separate terms similar to those used in German (see Knyaz for the latter).
An East-Asian parallel to the concept of "ruling prince" would be the Sino-Xenic word 王 (pronounced wáng in Mandarin, wong4 in Cantonese, ō in Japanese, wang in Korean, and vương in Vietnamese), which commonly refers to Korean and non-East-Asian "kings", but usually means non-imperial monarchs (who would go by 皇帝 ("emperor") instead) in ancient China, and therefore is frequently translated to "prince", especially for those who became rulers well after to the first adoption of the title 皇帝 by Qin Shi Huang. On the other hand, the son of a monarch would go by different titles, such as 皇子 ("imperial son") or 王子 ("royal son").
From the Middle Ages on, the German designation and title of Fürst referred to:
The title Fürst (female form Fürstin, female plural Fürstinnen) is used for the heads of princely houses of German origin (in German a Fürstenhaus). From the Late Middle Ages, it referred to any vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor ruling over an immediate estate. Unless he also holds a higher title, such as grand duke or king, he will be known either by the formula "Fürst von + [geographic origin of the dynasty]", or by the formula "Fürst zu + [name of the ruled territory]". These forms can be combined, as in "...von und zu Liechtenstein".
The rank of the title-holder is not determined by the title itself, but by his degree of sovereignty, the rank of his suzerain, or the age of the princely family (note the terms Uradel, Briefadel, altfürstliche, neufürstliche; and see German nobility). The Fürst (Prince) ranked below the Herzog (Duke) in the Holy Roman Empire's hierarchy, but princes did not necessarily rank below dukes in non-German parts of Europe. However, some German dukes who did not rule over an immediate duchy did not outrank reigning princes (e.g. Dukes of Gottschee, a title held by the Princes of Auersperg. Gottschee was not an Imperial state but a territory under the Dukes of Carniola. However, Princes of Auersperg held imperial immediacy for their state of Tengen). Likewise, the style usually associated with the title of Fürst in post-medieval Europe, Durchlaucht (translated as "Serene Highness"), was considered inferior to Hoheit ("Highness") in Germany, though not in France.
The present-day rulers of the sovereign principality of Liechtenstein bear the title of Fürst, and the title is also used in German when referring to the ruling princes of Monaco. The hereditary rulers of the one-time principalities of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania were also all referred to in German as Fürsten before they eventually assumed the title of "king" (König).
![Fürsten crown used in heraldry, borne above the coat of arms to indicate a principality ruled.[4] The Fürsten crown, sometimes placed together with a mantle, is not always found on a Fürstenhaus (princely house) coat of arms; these adornments were not part of formal armorial protocols, but simply heraldic grace.[4]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/T12_F%C3%BCrst.svg/1280px-T12_F%C3%BCrst.svg.png)
Fürst is used more generally in German to refer to any ruler, such as a king, a reigning duke, or a prince in the broad sense (compare Niccolò Machiavelli's Il Principe). Before the 12th century, counts were also included in this group, in accordance with its usage in the Holy Roman Empire, and in some historical or ceremonial contexts, the term Fürst can extend to any lord.
The descendants of a Fürst, when that title has not been restricted by patent or custom to male primogeniture, are distinguished from the head of the family by use of the title Prinz (prince, from Latin: princeps; female: Prinzessin).
A nobleman whose family is non-dynastic, i.e. has never reigned or been mediatised, may also be made a Fürst by a sovereign, in which case the grantee and his heirs are deemed titular or nominal princes, enjoying only honorary princely title without commensurate rank. In families thus elevated to princely title (usually as a reward for military or political services) in or after the 18th century, the cadets often hold only the title of Graf (Count), such as in the families of the princes of Bismarck, Eulenberg, Hardenberg and La Rochefoucauld-Montbel. However, in a few cases, the title of Fürst is available to all male-line descendants of the original grantee (mostly descendants of dukes, for example, the families of Hohenberg, Urach, but also descendants of a simple Fürst, like Wrede).
Several titles were derived from the term Fürst:
The word Fürst designates the head (the “first”) of a ruling house, or the head of a branch of such a house. The term “first” originates from ancient Germanic times, when the “first"” was the leader in battle.
Various cognates of the word Fürst exist in other European languages (see extensive list under Prince), sometimes only used for a princely ruler. A derivative of the Latin princeps (a Republican title in Roman law, which never formally recognized a monarchic style for the executive head of state but nominally maintained the Consuls as collegial Chief magistrates) is used for a genealogical prince in some languages (e.g., in Dutch and West Frisian, where a ruler is usually called vorst and foarst, respectively), but a prince of the blood is always styled prins. In Icelandic, fursti is a ruler, and a prince of the blood is prins (in these languages, no capital letters are used for writing titles, unless they occur as the first word of a sentence), while in other languages, only a princeps-derived word is used for both (e.g., English uses prince for both). In all cases, the original (German or otherwise) term may also be used.
The dictionary definition of Fürst at Wiktionary