A German duke???

[BluWolf]

Anyone recall what you call a German Duke, historically speaking??

Burgermeister???

 

[melon-neko]

According to a free online translator, A german duke is 'Herzog'

Melon

 

[MonsterMash]

Burgomeister is a town mayor in Germany and a number of other european countries.

Herzog is a baron. This article may help as it covers all the ranks of nobility.

 

[Baragos]

Herzug is probably the best word, but others could be used as well...Graf (count or earl), Ritter (knight), Kreuzritter (Teutonic knight, literally "Cross Knight"), Baron or Freiherr (baron), Fürst (prince or lord), Kaiser (emperor, perhaps not what you are looking for ).

Burgermeister literally means "castle master" or "city master", so that may or may not work...

 

[BluWolf]

Thanks for the quick reply. I knew I would get a complete and speedy answer here.

 

[Paradigm]

In some cases, a title could be an artifact to an earlier time when it was appropriate. For example, a Markgraf should rule a border area (a march) but the title now is merely hereditary and the actual border is many miles away.

BTW, a Herzog is a Duke, not a Baron. Baron is German for Baron .

 

[Agback]

Baron is German for Baron .

Really? I thought freiherr was German for baron.

 

[Turjan]

Really? I thought freiherr was German for baron.

You can say both. The German nobility spoke French most of the time, anyway .

Depends a bit on the time when your game is set.

Edit: You have to keep in mind that, even if you find the right translation and think of the time factor, the German titles don't necessarily mean the same as in English.

 

[Agback]

Edit: You have to keep in mind that, even if you find the right translation and think of the time factor, the German titles don't necessarily mean the same as in English.

Good point. The German herzogen were the successors of national leaders whose peoples had been conquered by the Carolingian Franks. They retained practical rulership of their 'tribal' duchies. They often aspired to be elected king of Germany (and crowned Holy Roman Emperor). In that way, they are most nearly similar to English earls before the Norman Conquest, and nothing in England after 1069 or so is similar. By the time England got dukes (1337, if memory serves) they were more definitely subordinate to a more definitely hereditary monarchy than anything that corresponded in Germany.