DUKE

duke. 1. A sovereign prince; a ruler of a duchy. 2. The first order of nobility in Great Britain

below the royal family.

“But after the Norman conquest, which changed the  military policy of the  nation, the kings

themselves  continuing  for  many  generations  dukes  of  Normandy,  they  would  not  honour  any

subjects with  that  title,  till the  time  of  Edward  III;  who,  claiming  to  be  the  king  of  France,  and

thereby  losing  the  ducal  in  the  royal  dignity,  in  the  eleventh  year  of  his  reign  created  his  son,

Edward  the  black  prince,  duke  of  Cornwall:  and  many,  of  the  royal  family  especially,  were

afterwards raised to the honour. However, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, A.D. 1572, the whole

order became utterly extinct: but it was revived about fifty years afterwards by her successor, who

was  remarkably  prodigal  of  honours,  in  the  person  of  George  Villiers  duke  of  Buckingham.”  1

William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 385 (1765). [Blacks Law 8th]