Princes

[David KUIJT <kuijt@umiacs.UMD.EDU>]

Poster: David KUIJT <kuijt@umiacs.umd.edu>



> Are there examples in the Period of Kingdoms that consisted entirely
> of Principalities?

For much (all?) of the middle ages, "prince" was often used as a loftier
version of "lord".  You could say of Henry VIII that he was "a mighty
prince".  "A prince among men" carried the same weight as "A lord among
men" or even "a king among men".  The Prince of Wales had essentially the
same weight of title as the Lord of the Isles in west Scotland -- Prince
meant ruler.  It would be perfectly acceptable to describe the Kings of
England, France, or Naples as "princes".

The idea of a Principality as a subunit of a Kingdom is not common in the
real middle ages.  Just about the only one I can think of is Wales, and it
was a conquered subunit.  Since it had a Prince before Longshanks finally
subdued it for (more-or-less) good, it was natural enough that Longshanks
established his claim to the title of ruler of the subunit (in this case,
through his son).

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia even now has _hundreds_ of Princes.  But no
principalities.

Just for the purposes of debate, it seems to me that SCA Principalities
are closer to Medieval Duchies than anything else.  And in some cases
(Burgundy in the 14th and 15th centuries) a Duchy could be a very vital
and powerful entity.

Dafydd

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