Герман князьдігі атағы

German princely title
the German princely title

Fürst (, 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 [[King (king). 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. 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). 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:

rulers of the states that made up the Holy Roman Empire, below the ruling Kaiser (emperor) or König (king); 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. File:Princely Hat. svg|Mediatised Fürsten headpiece used in heraldry. File:Wappen Fuerst Putbus. jpg|[[House of Putbus, arms with a mantle and Fürsten crown. File:Staatswappen Liechtensteins. svg|[[Princely Family of Liechtenstein, arms with a mediatised Fürsten headpiece. File:Schwarzburg Solms Wildenfels Coat of arms 1. png|[[House of Schwarzburg, arms with a Fürsten crown. </gallery>

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 [[The Prince). 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 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 [[House of Bismarck, [[Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg, [[Karl August von 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 [[House of Hohenberg, [[Duke of Urach#Titles, but also descendants of a simple Fürst, like [[Karl Philipp von Wrede).

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.