Freiherr
Sign in to savethumb|Typical ' coronet with seven pearls, as used on a [[coat of arms]] (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in its various successor states, including Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, etc. Traditionally, it denotes the titled rank within the nobility above ' (knight) and ' (nobility without a specific title) and below ' (count or earl). The title superseded the earlier me
Article
14 sectionsContents
- ''{{lang|de|Freiherr}}'' in the feudal system
- ''Freiherr'' vs. ''Baron''
- Function
- Prior to abolition of nobility
- Since abolition of nobility
- In Austria
- In Germany
- Parallel titles
- Swedish and Danish–Norwegian title
- Finnish title
- See also
- Notes
- References
- External links
thumb|Typical ' coronet with seven pearls, as used on a [[coat of arms]] (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in its various successor states, including Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, etc. Traditionally, it denotes the titled rank within the nobility above ' (knight) and ' (nobility without a specific title) and below ' (count or earl). The title superseded the earlier medieval form, '''''.
It corresponds approximately to the English baron' in rank. The Duden orthography of the German language references the French nobility title of Baron, deriving from the Latin-Germanic combination liber baro (which also means "free lord"), as corresponding to the German "Freiherr"; and that Baron is a corresponding salutation for a Freiherr.