What is the origin of the European tradition of royalty?

Question

While there are many European Kings, several regions of Europe were titled "Duchy" or "Grand Duchy" such as Lithuania, Warsaw, or Finland while remaining sovereign. The late Roman Empire did divide their territory into regions entitled duchies, but some became kingdoms and some did not. What determined whether the head of a medieval state was entitled to the status of king/queen or duke/duchess?

Answer 1

The monarchies pretty much self-defined themselves by force of arms, not necessarily as a first resort, but when their claims to the monarchy through lineage or other means were challenged.

The control of resources to assert authority were largely what determined who was going to be subordinate to whom.  The duchies and earldoms just couldn't resist the force of the King.

Most political claims were made on the basis of reference to the Roman Emperor.  This is what Charlemagne did and then he contrived to make it appear as if the Pope sanctioned it.

What must be realized is that different regions had different perspectives on monarchy.  German opinion was very different from the Russian and the French opinion.  Italy had a strong tradition of independent republics, so monarchy was challenged to establish itself there.  In Switzerland it never was successful.

Spain was most like England and France or vice versa.  The English story is complicated by the fact that William was just a Duke and that he conquered a Kingdom.

His vassal relationship to the French Kings made England-France relations touchy for centuries.

Your question deserves a longer and more considered answer than this but off the top of my head, this is what I recall from history.

Answer 2

this is a very complex question as there was ceaseless fighting for power throughout the early mid-ages...One must assume the obvious; the most powerful and influential finally prevailed and established kingdoms...

Answer 3

The original Germanic conquerers of Europe generally styled themselves kings, for example, in Britain there was a King of Kent, a King of Wessex. As the various kingdoms consolidated themselves in larger units such as England or France, some of the former kingdoms became duchies ruled by dukes who pledged their fealty to the larger encompassing kingdom, thus the Kingdom of Brugundy became the Duchy of Burgundy. Finland is a special case as it was incorporated into Sweden as the result of a crusade, although a Duke of Finland was created and later a Grand Duke of Finland. After 1809 the Czar of Russia assumed that title. The status of Kingdom of Lithuania was conferred by the Pope but it soon reverted to paganism. It is not clear why it became styled as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but during the same period of history the predecessor of Russia was styled the Grand Duchy of Moscow, a status that seems to have been granted by the Khanate of the Golden Horde, the Mongols. The Duchy of Warsaw was created by Napoleon from conquered lands.

A large number of subsidiary reigns existed within the area of the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire seems to have retarded consolidation of the many hundreds of minor German states. There was an medieval Kingdom of Italy which together with German states made up the Holy Roman Empire. However, it gradually became a legal fiction while a strong tradition of republicanism long delayed consolidation of the republics and  principalities of Italy, the modern Kingdom of Italy coming into being only in 1861.

Wikipedia has a great deal of very interesting reading on this subject.