Baltic Duchies (Courland, Livonia, Pomerania etc)

[CissyAnn]

I wanted to ask if the following are real Royal Houses, etc?

The Duchy of Carniola

The Grand Dukedom of Pomerania and Lavonia?

Thank you.

 

[magnik]

Here you go
(not the best source btw)

Duchy of Carniola
Duchy of Carniola - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Pomerania (Pomorze)
was a Duchy from XII to XVII c.,
with rulers like Eric Gryfita or Greifen, Duke of Pomerania
and later King of Norway, Denmark, Sweden. Now it's a part of Poland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Pomerania


Livonia or Inflanty
it belong to Livonian Brothers of the Sword.
After years it was firstly part/territory of Grand Duchy of Lithuania
and later Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Present on Livonian teritorium we have Estonia and Latvia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Livonia

 

[CissyAnn]

Magnik

Thank you very much, I really appreciate that.

Are they considered, today, real Royal Houses though? Would they have the same standing as say ousted, non-reigning Royal Houses?

Just a bit confused here?

 

[magnik]

About Pomerania,
last male member of the Ducal House of Greifen - Bogusław XIV Duke of Pomerania died in 1637.
His lands go to Brandenburg and Sweden.
Last female member died as I good remeber in 1660.
After centuries of wars Pomeranian lands belong to Poland and Germany.


Among few titles of the Polish Kings until 1795 was Duke of Livonia.
Title Duke of Livonia was only a title.
For some short part of time it was a Dukedom whos rulers were Polish kings.
But when the Dukedom extint in 1621 there stay only a title.

 

[Marsel]

They weren’t Royal Houses: since those were Dukedoms, they can only be Ducal Houses. They were once real Dukedoms / Ducal Houses, however all 3 of them ceased to exist (as Dukedoms) centuries ago.

The Duchy of Carniola was an administrative unit of the Holy Roman Empire (part of the Kingdom of Illyria with Ljubljana as its capital). After the Kingdom of Illyria was disestablished, the Duchy of Carniola became part of the Habsburg Monarchy and was administered by locals (as per imperial patent of 1861). The duchy ceased to exist in 1918 and its territory was annexed into the newly found State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Currently, the Duchy of Carniola doesn’t exist: it’s parts remain annexed within Serbia and Croatia, with a smaller part included in Italy.

The Duchy of Pomerania was a duchy on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. It was ruled by the House of Griffins. After the last of Griffin dukes died in 1637 (during the Thirty Years' War), the Duchy ceased to exist and was divided between Sweden and Prussia (Brandenburg-Prussia). Although years later an attempt was made to re-establish the Duchy (by Bogislaw XIV Griffin, the last Duke of Pomerania), it was again divided between Prussia and Sweden (the border was settled in the Treaty of Stettin in 1653). Nearly two centuries later (in 1815) the entire territory of the former Duchy was merged into Prussian province of Pomerania. It remained part of Prussia and later Germany until the end of World War II, when it was occupied by Soviet troops and later divided between Poland and Germany. After the collapse of the GDR (in 1990), the German part of Pomerania was included in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern land. In 1995, the Pomerania Euroregion was set up on the territory of both Polish and German Pomeranias (Euroregions are usually set up to connect historically united regions divided between states of the European Union). Most of the historical Pomerania is included in this new Euroregion (including the territories in Poland, Sweden and Germany).

Duchy of Livonia existed for 60 years only, from 1561 to 1621, with the exception of the time between 1570 to 1578, when the short-lived Kingdom of Livonia was established (during the time of the Kingdom of Livonia, the territory was invaded by Ivan the Terrible). During the times of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Livonia became a joint domain administered by the King and Grand Duke (of Poland and Lithuania) jointly. The next important phase in the history of Livonia was from 1639 to 1721, when Sweden was given the approximately the same area s the former Duchy of Livonia following the 1626-1629 Polish-Swedish War. The territory was henceforth known as Swedish Livonia and became an important part of Sweden (Livonia's historical capital, Riga, became the second largest Swedish city and one of the economical centres of the Kingdom). Sweden's rule over Livonia lasted only 100 years: according to the Treaty of Nystad (1721), Sweden lost Swedish Livonia, Swedish Estonia and Ingria to Russia. The territory of the Livonia (now known as Liflyandskaya gubernya - the Governorate of Livonia) remained within the territory of the Russian Empire until the end of World War I, when it was split between the newly founded states of Estonia and Latvia. The 1918 division was the final one and few changes happened to Livonia ever since.

 

[CissyAnn]

Thank you all very much.

 

[Lumutqueen]

How interesting. Your knowledge Marsel, never seizes to amaze me.

 

[CissyAnn]

The reason I was asking is because there are websites of both the entities that I inquired about that are selling Titles?

I also found another one with a British address?

 

[magnik]

Could you post links to them?

 

[CissyAnn]

The Duchy of Carniola - Become Royalty

Titles Catalog

Royal Titles: Become a Lord or Lady today.


These are the three that I found.

 

[magnik]

Ah, now I see

It's good to take some minor dukedoms about who not many hear and create fictional titles and sell them on e-bay.
I don't hear about this Duchess Elizabeth or Ludwig I of Pomerania.

It's always better ask someone for help or search infos on google.
http://www.heraldica.org/faqs/atrfaq.htm

 

[CissyAnn]

Thank you again, Magnik! You are more than generous and helpful.

 

[Twomoons1965]

Obtainig a Royal Title

So, can one purchase a royal title? Those mentioned as being fake are actually advertising on this site.

 

[spectra]

I know this topic is old but i hope someone reads this. I am a decendant of Pomerania.

Sophie of Pommerania Stettin
Abt 1458 - 26 Apr 1504 [16]

Erich II of Pomerania
1425 - 5 Jul 1474 [17]
X
Sophia of Pomerania
1435 - 1494 [17]

What is the heritage of this Prince Ludwig? Is he
a real descendant? And if not does he have the right to call himself this way? I can prove my descency and don't like the idea this man is selling titles so i want to know if i can claim this.

 

[MarcosFenn]

There was also the Duchy of Courland, in an area now part of Latvia.

At one time it possessed Tobago in the West Indies. However, since some of the Dukes of Courland were into the slave trade, the history of the Duchy makes sorry reading in some ways.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

One Duke of Courland and Semigallia did not have a long marriage.
Friedrich Wilhelm, who was the Duke from 1698 to 1711, married Anna, the daughter of Tsar Ivan V of Russia, in November of 1710.
On the way back from St. Petersburg, Friedrich Wilhelm died on January 21, 1711 in the postal station.
​

 

[supertigerCH]

House of Biron (Dukes of Courland)... descendants?

I have heard (and read) before that the Duchy of Courland ceased to exist in the mid 1790's... when the Duke of Courland (ruling family: Biron) agreed to turn the Duchy of Courland over to Russia... and accepted a giant cash payment from the rulers of Russia in exchange.

It seems that that line of the Biron family (of the ruling Dukes of Courland) fades into history at that point... with not much information available on what happened to them afterwards.

Does anyone know (or have a way of researching) if this Biron family has any descendants who are alive today? Does the House of Biron still exist in any form at all?

Maybe some one out there knows more than I do (or has more good sources that they could research) in order to find out.

 

[JR76]

I have heard (and read) before that the Duchy of Courland ceased to exist in the mid 1790's... when the Duke of Courland (ruling family: Biron) agreed to turn the Duchy of Courland over to Russia... and accepted a giant cash payment from the rulers of Russia in exchange.

It seems that that line of the Biron family (of the ruling Dukes of Courland) fades into history at that point... with not much information available on what happened to them afterwards.

Does anyone know (or have a way of researching) if this Biron family has any descendants who are alive today? Does the House of Biron still exist in any form at all?

Maybe some one out there knows more than I do (or has more good sources that they could research) in order to find out.

The House of Biron does exist today. One member married a Hohenzollern around the time of WWII if I recall correctly. A simple search on Google will give you all the information you want.

http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id268.html

 

[supertigerCH]

Hello JR76,

Thank you for sharing what you know about the House of Biron. When I search in google, there is a lot of information about the House of Biron in the past... however, there is not much information to be found about the family today. Does the modern House of Biron have a website (the same like some other noble houses) as an official point of contact & source of information? I am wondering where a reliable source of information can be found today, in the year 2018...

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Wartislaw I was Duke of Pomerania from 1417 to 1457.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartislaw_IX,_Duke_of_Pomerania#/media?File:WartislawIX.1776.JPG