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HIGHNESS

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 456 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HIGHNESS , literally the quality of being lofty or high, a See also:

term used, as are so many abstractions, as a See also:title of dignity and See also:honour, to signify exalted See also:rank or station. These abstractions arose in See also:great profusion in the See also:Roman See also:empire, both of the See also:East and See also:West, and " highness " is to be directly traced to the altitudo and celsitudo of the Latin and the bi/it.iXor,7s of the See also:Greek emperors. Like other " exorbitant and swelling attributes " of the See also:time, they were conferred on ruling princes generally. In the See also:early See also:middle ages such titles, couched in the second or third See also:person, were " uncertain and much more arbitrary (according to the fancies of secretaries) than in the later times " (See also:Selden, Titles of Honour, pt. i. ch. vii. roo). In See also:English usage, " Highness " alternates with " See also:Grace " and " See also:Majesty," as the honorific title of the See also:king and See also:queen until the time of See also:James I. Thus in documents See also:relating to the reign of See also:Henry VIII. all three titles are used indiscriminately; an example is the king's See also:judgment against Dr See also:Edward See also:Crome (d. 1562), quoted, from the See also:lord See also:chamberlain's books, See also:ser. 1, p. 791, in Trans. See also:Roy. Hist. See also:Soc.

N.S. See also:

Rix. 299, where See also:article 15 begins with " Also the Kinges Highness " hath ordered, 16 with " Kinges Majestie," and 17 with " Kinges Grace." In the See also:Dedication of the Authorized Version of the See also:Bible of 1611 James I. is still styled " Majesty " and " Highness "; thus, in the first See also:paragraph, " the See also:appearance of Your Majesty, as of the See also:Sun in his strength, instantly dispelled those supposed and surmised mists . . . especially when we beheld the See also:government established in Your Highness and Your hopeful See also:Seed, by an undoubted title." It was, however, in James I.'s reign that " Majesty " became. the See also:official title. It may be noted that See also:Cromwell, as lord See also:protector, and his wife were styled " Highness." In See also:present usage the following members of the See also:British Royal See also:Family are addressed as " Royal Highness " (H.R.H.): all sons and daughters, See also:brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts of the reigning See also:sovereign, grandsons and granddaughters if See also:children of sons, and also great See also:grand-children (See also:decree of 31St of May 1898) if children of an eldest son of any See also:prince of See also:Wales. Nephews, nieces and See also:cousins and grandchildren, offspring of daughters, are styled " Highness " only. A See also:change of sovereign does not See also:entail the See also:forfeiture of the title " Royal Highness," once acquired, though the See also:father of the See also:bearer has become a See also:nephew and not a See also:grandson of the sovereign. The See also:principal feudatory princes of the See also:Indian empire are also styled " Highness." As a See also:general See also:rule the members of the See also:blood royal of an Imperial or Royal See also:house are addressed as " Imperial " or " Royal Highness " (Altesse Imperiale, Royale, Kaiserliche, Konigliche Hoheit) respectively. In See also:Germany the reigning heads of the Grand Duchies See also:bear the title of Royal or Grand Ducal Highness (Konigliche or See also:Gross-Herzogliche Hoheit), while the members of the family are addressed as Hoheit, Highness, simply. Hoheit is See also:borne by the reigning See also:dukes and the princes and princesses of their families. The title " Serene Highness " has also an antiquity equal to that of " highness," for yaXnvorns and i7µepor17s were titles borne by the See also:Byzantine rulers, and serenitas and serenissimus by the emperors See also:Honorius and See also:Arcadius. The See also:doge of See also:Venice was also styled Serenissimus.

Selden (op. cit. pt. ii. ch. x. 739) calls this title " one of the greatest that can be given to any Prince that hath not the See also:

superior title of King." In See also:modern times " Serene Highness " (Altesse Ser@nissime) is used as the See also:equivalent of the See also:German Durchlaucht, a stronger See also:form of Erlaucht, illustrious, represented in the Latin honorific superillustris. See also:Thackeray's See also:burlesque title " Transparency " in the See also:court at Pumpernickel very accurately gives the meaning. The title of Durchlaucht was granted in 1375 by the See also:emperor See also:Charles IV. to the electoral princes (Kurfursten). In the 17th See also:century it became the general title borne by the heads of the reigning princely states of the empire(reiclzstandische Fttrsten), as Erlaucht by those of the countly houses (reichstandische Grafen). In 1825 the German See also:Diet agreed to See also:grant the title Durchlaucht to the heads of the mediatized princely houses whether domiciled in Germany or See also:Austria, and it is now customary to use it of the members of those houses. Further, all those who are elevated to the rank of prince (See also:Furst) in the secondary meaning of that title (see PRINCE) are also styled Durchlaucht. In 1829 the title of Erlaucht, which had formerly been borne by the reigning See also:counts of the empire, was similarly granted to the mediatized countly families (see Almanach de See also:Gotha, 1909, 107).

End of Article: HIGHNESS

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