Talk: Principality

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• Before I begin any major edits to this page, I wanted to post the original stub text here for future reference. If I should fail to reincorporate specific information from this stub, by all means please don't hesitate to add it back in. --Gerald Farinas 19:56, 21 Jul 2004 (UTC)

A principality is a land ruled by a prince. It is distinguished from a kingdom, often by being of modest size, sometimes by lacking full sovereignty. The German term Fürstentum is usually rendered in English as principality. Liechtenstein, Andorra, and Monaco are European principalities and present-day states. By contrast, the principalities of Wales in the UK and Asturias in Spain, are not states today, although the independent mediaeval Welsh state was nonetheless referred to as the principality. In both cases, the heir to the country's throne is titular prince of the principality. Sometimes the notion of a land as a principality is due to historical reasons: Catalonia, for instances, even when it was a sovereign state extending from Barcelona to Athens, was known as a principality, although its ruler was titled king (of the Kingdom of Aragón extended as the Aragonese Empire). It was a curious case where the ruling power had a nominal inferior degree to that of the ruled territory. In the history of Russia the term "principality", and sometimes duchy, is used for render the Russian term knyazhestvo, a land ruled by a knyaz.

So what is to be done with the "Principality of Sealand"?

Hello Gerald. I see that you have avoided all mention of what I consider and what the UK and USA governments consider to be a load of rubbish, namely the claims that a sunken Royal Navy barge on Rough Sands is or ever could be a "principality". There is so much working against this absurd idea. Roy Bates got the idea in a pub. He has no legal authority and most of the time there is but a lone caretaker sitting on the superstructure of the barge. The UK has never given up claims to its barge which is still marked by UK Ministry of Defence buoys. The UK claims the sand under and around the barge. The only question is whether Bates gained squatter's rights to the barge itself under English law. That seems to be the consensus. However, that would make his barge subject to eminent domain and other laws if the UK wanted to rid itself of this sunken vessel. What it is not and never has been is a principality. But since you are writing about this topic perhaps you would care to wade in since the "Principality of Sealand" page is also linked to this one for explanation of the word "principality"! MPLX/MH 21:51, 14 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Portuguese Principalities

Anyone has some information about the Portuguese Principalities? Can't remember ever seen them mentioned in my history books, at least in continental Portugal.