Nobility of Vanuku

The nobility of Vanuku goes back a long way into the history of Vanuku. In modern day Vanuku nobles only have their titles and estates, the political power of the Vanukuian nobility disappeared centuries ago. The origin of the nobility can be traced back to the early tribes in Vanuku, after the year 900 most of the chiefs had disappeared and had been replaced by lords. The center was no longer a tribe but a city, town or region. Some strong warriors declared themselves lord of that city, town or region and passed down that title to their heirs. This happened to two thirds of the independent cities and regions in Vanuku, the other one third where mostly independent 'republican' city states that was ruled by a council or an elected stadtholder. As the lords gained in power they started to give themselves titles to fit their might. Until the Artanian settlers arrived there where just dukes, counts and lords as titles for nobles. The cultural influence of the Artanian settlers added margraves, barons, knights and even kaiser to this list.

Noble Titles
The Vanukuian noble titles hold a certain hierarchy. The higher the name is on the list, the more influential or powerful it was. Many lower ranking titles where commonly the subjects to the higher ranking titles.

Titles with Land
The following titles are nobles that used to have their own region, city or piece of land that came with their title.
 * Duke/Duchess (Vanukeaans: Hertog/Hertogin)
 * Margrave/Margravin (Vanukeaans: Markies/Markiezin)
 * Count/Countess (Vanukeaans: Graaf/Gravin)
 * Baron/Baroness (Vanukeaans: Baron/Barones)

Landless Titles
The titles listed below are titles without land, the children of the nobles have the right to stylish themselves as "jonkheer" and "jonkvrouw". The "ridder" title is a honorary noble title given by dukes and margraves.
 * Young Lord/Young Lady (Vanukeaans: Jonkheer/Jonkvrouw)
 * Knight (Vanukeaans: Ridder)

Noble Families
Below is only a short list of the most influential noble families in the history of Vanuku.


 * van Zuyden tot Banstill (claimed ancestors of Merulf the Conqueror)
 * van Nachten
 * van Rachteren
 * Muijterdam
 * van der Spang
 * Sitters
 * van Wiel tot Wiel
 * Botzelaer
 * van Brander
 * Vahamas
 * van der Halma
 * de Graaff
 * Roodt