Duke

Duke

Duke(from latin, dux; fr. duc,) is the highest title recognised in the British peerage. Whatever may have been the date of the introduction of the term in foreign countries, and however ancient the name, and whatever be its origin, the chief fact to be recorded is that the first dukedom created in England was that of Cornwall, which king Edward III. in the eleventh year of his reign, A.D. 1337, conferred upon the Black Prince his son, since which every eldest son of a sovereign has been duke of Cornwall from his birth. A special Coronet q.v. is assigned heraldically to the title.