Margrave

Margrave was the medieval title for the hereditary nobleman with military responsibility for one of the border provinces of a kingdom. The greater exposure of a border province to military invasion mandated that the margrave be provided with military forces and autonomy of action (political, strategic, tactical) greater than was accorded other lords of the realm, thus the title came to indicate a superior noble rank. As a military governor, the margrave often extended over a territory greater than the province proper, because of border expansion subsequent to royal wars.

As territorial borders stabilised with the political progress achieved by the late middle ages (AD 1300–1500) and the early modern era (AD 1500), the margraves' politico-military role and superior authority gradually diminished, leaving them as substantially independent rulers of states under the nominal jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Emperor, like other dukes, landgraves, counts palatine and fürsten (princes).

A few nobles in southern Austria and northern Italy, whose suzerain was the Emperor, received from him the title of margrave, sometimes translated in Italian as Marquis (Marchese): those who reigned as virtual sovereigns (Marquis of Mantua, Marquis of Montferrat, Marquis of Saluzzo) exercised authority closer to the dynastic jurisdiction associated with the margrave, while nobles of less jurisdiction (e.g., Pallavicini) retained use of the margravial title but held the non-sovereign status of a marquis.