The Duke of Qi in "Knowing or Not", the Duke of Ningguo and the Duke of Rongguo in "Dream of the Red Chamber", there are many titles of "Duke of Guo" in the past, and many celebrities have been dukes, such as Li Yuan, the emperor of Tang Gaozu, who once served as the Duke of Tang.
In ancient times, the duke was not an official position, but a title, that is, there was no actual work content, but there was status, money and various special treatment, which was a very old title.
From the customary title of knight, to the official first class of knighthood From the pre-Qin era, the title system set by Zhou Tianzi had the title of duke, such as the Song state, one of the three prisons, and the Xu state in the Central Plains, whose monarch was the duke, that is, at this time, the title of duke appeared.
But this is only a title, because the real title at that time was duke, not what is the duke, the highest title of the Qin Dynasty was the marquis, and the Han Dynasty took the prince as the highest title, but there was still a duke title in the late Han Dynasty.
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao was once given the title of Duke of Wei and later became the King of Wei, but at this time, Cao Cao's title was still Duke rather than Duke, but when he was called, he could be honored as Duke of Guo.
Before the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the title of "Duke of Guo" was applicable to all dukes, including county dukes, county dukes, etc., just a general term, and in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the dukes became official titles, with the same status as the county kings, all from a pin, mainly given to meritorious foreign ministers.
There are many celebrities who have been dukes in ancient times, such as Yang Jian, the Sui Wen Emperor, who served as the Duke of Northern Zhou, while Emperor Gaozong of Tang initially inherited the family's Dukedom of Longxi County, and then promoted to the title of Duke of Tang.
Historically, dukes have been the highest rank in the title in addition to the king, foreign ministers can not easily be crowned kings, so being crowned dukes is even a top glory, and so many heroes naturally have to be distinguished, so they are called dukes, and different national names are added in front.
Just like when Zhou Tianzi was crowned as a prince of the world, there were many fiefdoms of the dukes, such as the Duke of Zhao, the Duke of Yan, the Duke of Qi, the Duke of Yue, the Duke of Korea, and so on, of course, this is only a title, and there is no actual fiefdom.
In the past, there were not many dynasties that implemented the sub-feudal system, and under the sub-feudal system, the princes were mainly given to the members of the clan, and although the state dukes had a high status, they were all foreign ministers after all, so their knighthoods were only honors, and there was no actual fiefdom, and the dukes were different from the kings.
In ancient times, knighthood was mainly divided into two major systems, on the one hand, it was specially given to their own family, that is, the descendants of the clan, and the other was sealed to those who had meritorious deeds, the clan was the highest of the various princes, and the foreign ministers were mainly the dukes.
From the birth of the Duke of Northern Zhou, a large number of meritorious men have received such titles, which is a kind of praise and preferential treatment, there are also status, or very glorious things, generally as a subsidiary title, but as far as the Duke itself is concerned, it is only a title, there is no real power.