Knyaz

"Knez" redirects here. For other uses, see Knez (disambiguation).

Until Boris I (852–889) the title of the Bulgarian monarchs was Knyaz (Кнѣзъ). His son, Simeon I (893–927) adopted the title Tsar (Emperor) which became the title of the subsequent Bulgarian rulers.

Knyaz or knez is a historical Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title, usually translated into English either as Prince or less commonly as Duke, and in Latin sources as comes or princeps, but the word was originally derived from the Proto-Germanic kuningaz (king).

The female form transliterated from Bulgarian and Russian is knyaginya (княгиня), kniahynia (княгиня) in Ukrainian, kneginja in Slovene, Croatian and Serbian (Serbian Cyrillic: кнегиња). In Russian, the daughter of a knyaz is knyazhna (княжна), in Ukrainian is kniazivna (князівна). In Russian, the son of a knyaz is knyazhich (княжич) (old form).

The title is pronounced and written similarly in different European languages. In Croatian, Bosnian and West Slavic languages, such as Polish, the word has later come to denote "lord", and in Czech, Polish and Slovak also came to mean "priest" (kněz, ksiądz, kňaz) as well as "duke" (knez, kníže, książę, knieža). In Sorbian it means simply "Mister". Today the term knez is still used as the most common translation of "prince" in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian literature. "Knez" is also found as a surname in former Yugoslavia.

Etymology

The title knez appeared in the early 12th-century Glagolitic Baška tablet inscription, found on the island of Krk, Croatia.

The etymology is ultimately a cognate of the English king, the German König, and the Swedish konung. The proto-Slavic form was кънѧѕь kŭnędzĭ, Old Church Slavonic: кънѧѕь kŭnędzĭ, Bulgarian: княз, Old East Slavic: князь knyazĭ, Polish: książe, Serbian: кнез, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and Slovene: knez, Czech: kníže etc., as it could be a very early borrowing from the already extinct Proto-Germanic Kuningaz, a form also borrowed by Finnish and Estonian (Kuningas).

In Finnish knyaz is translated more like the word ruhtinas ("Sovereign Prince"). Ruhtinas comes from Proto-Germanic word druhtinaz, what can be translated as "warlord". In Finland tsar was officially called as suuriruhtinas after the Grand Principality of Finland. Suuriruhtinas in English means "grand prince", in Russian velikiy knyaz.

Middle Ages

The meaning of the term changed over the course of history. Initially the term was used to denote the chieftain of a tribe. Later, with the development of feudal statehood, it became the title of a ruler of a state, and among East Slavs (Russian: княжество (kniazhestvo), Ukrainian: князівство (kniazivstvo) traditionally translated as duchy or principality), for example, of Kievan Rus'. In medieval Latin sources the title was rendered as either rex or dux.

In Bulgaria, Simeon took the title of tsar in 913. In Kievan Rus', as the degree of centralization grew, the ruler acquired the title Velikii Kniaz (Великий Князь) (translated as Grand Prince or Grand duke, see Russian Grand Dukes). He ruled a Velikoe Knyazhestvo (Великое Княжество) (Grand Duchy), while a ruler of its vassal constituent (udel, udelnoe kniazhestvo or volost) was called udelny kniaz or simply kniaz.

When Kievan Rus' became fragmented in the 13th century, the title Kniaz continued to be used in East Slavic states, including Kiev, Chernigov, Novgorod, Pereiaslav, Vladimir-Suzdal', Muscovy, Tver, Halych-Volynia, and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Russia

Kneaze Alexey Michailovitz, 1664 (Tsar Alexis I of Russia).

As the Tsardom of Russia gained dominion over much of former Kievan Rus', Velikii Kniaz (Great Kniaz) Ivan IV of Russia in 1547 was crowned as Tsar. From the mid-18th century onwards, the title Velikii Kniaz was revived to refer to (male-line) sons and grandsons of Russian Emperors. See titles for Tsar's family for details.

Kniaz (Russian: Кня́зь, IPA: [ˈknʲæsʲ]) continued as a hereditary title of Russian nobility patrilineally descended from Rurik (e.g., Belozersky, Belosselsky-Belozersky, Repnin, Gorchakov) or Gediminas (e.g., Galitzine, Troubetzkoy). Members of Rurikid or Gedyminid families were called princes when they ruled tiny quasi-sovereign medieval principalities. After their demesnes were absorbed by Muscovy, they settled at the Moscow court and were authorised to continue with their princely titles.

From the 18th century onwards, the title was occasionally granted by the Tsar, for the first time by Peter the Great to his associate Alexander Menshikov, and then by Catherine the Great to her lover Grigory Potemkin. After 1801, with the incorporation of Georgia into the Russian Empire, various titles of numerous local nobles were controversially rendered in Russian as "kniazes". Similarly, many petty Tatar nobles asserted their right to style themselves "kniazes" because they descended from Genghis Khan.

See also "Velikiy Knyaz" article for more details.

Finally, within the Russian Empire of 1809-1917, Finland was officially called Grand Principality of Finland (fi Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta, sv Storfurstendömet Finland, ru Velikoye Knyazhestvo Finlyandskoye).

Balkans

In the 19th century, the Serbian term knez (кнез) and the Bulgarian term knyaz (княз) were revived to denote semi-independent rulers of those countries, such as Alexander Karađorđević and Alexander of Battenberg. Prior to Battenberg, the title knyaz was born by Simeon I during the First Bulgarian Empire (9th-10th century). At the height of his power, Simeon adopted the title of tsar ("emperor"), as did the Bulgarian rulers after the country became officially independent in 1908.

As of Bulgaria's independence in 1908, Knyaz Ferdinand became Tsar Ferdinand, and the words knyaz/knyaginya began to be used instead for the tsar's children – the heir to the throne, for example, held the title Knyaz Tarnovski ("Knyaz of Tarnovo").

In parts of Serbia and western Bulgaria, knez was the informal title of the elder or mayor of a village or zadruga until around the 19th century. Those are officially called градоначелник (gradonačelnik) (Serbia) and градоначалник (gradonachalnik) or кмет (kmet) (Bulgaria).

Serbia

• knez (кнез) is a common term used in Serbian historiography for Serbian rulers in the Early Middle Ages, who were titled archon in Greek.
• knez (кнез) was a noble title used in the Middle Ages.
• knez (кнез) was a title borne by local Serbian chiefs under the Ottoman Empire.
• obor-knez (обор-кнез) was a title borne by elected local native Serbian chiefs of the nahiyah (district of a group of villages) in the Ottoman Sanjak of Smederevo (also known as the Belgrade Pashaluk). The obor-knez was senior chief and responsible for his district's people and was their spokesman (intermediary) in direct relations with the Pasha, though usually through the sipahi, and was in charge of the transfer of taxes levied on the villages.
• knez (кнез) was the monarchial title used by Miloš Obrenović in Serbia, translated as "Prince". Serbia (known as Kneževina Srbija) was de facto independent since 1817, becoming de jure independent with the 1869 constitution. The successors of Miloš used the title until 1882 when Serbia was elevated into a kingdom.

Montenegro

• knjaz (књаз) was a title borne by local Montenegrin chiefs under the Ottoman Empire.
• knjaz (књаз) was the monarchial title used by the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty in Montenegro, translated as "Prince".

See also

• Voivode
• Boyar
• Hospodar

Sources

• de Madariaga, I. (1997) "Tsar into emperor: the title of Peter the Great", in Hatton, R.M. et al Royal and Republican Sovereignty in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. ISBN 9780521026512.

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons