Junker(Danish:Junker,German:Junker,Dutch:Jonkheer,English:Yunker,Norwegian:Junker,Swedish:Junker,Georgian:იუნკერი,Iunkeri) is a noblehonorific,derived fromMiddle High GermanJuncherre,meaning 'young nobleman'[1]or otherwise 'young lord' (derivation ofjungandHerr). The term is traditionally used throughout the German-speaking, Dutch-speaking and Scandinavian-speaking parts of Europe. It was also used in theRussian Empiredue toBaltic Germaninfluence, up until theRussian Revolution.The term is currently still in use by theGeorgian Defense Forcesfor student officers of theNational Defence Academy.
Honorific title
editInBrandenburg,theJunkerwas originally one of the members of the higherEdelfrei(immediate) nobility without or before theaccolade.It evolved to a general denotation of a young or lesser noble, sometimes politically insignificant, understood as "countrysquire".[2]
Martin Lutherdisguised himself as "Junker Jörg" at theWartburg;he would later mock KingHenry VIII of Englandas "Juncker Heintz".[3]
As part of the nobility, manyJunkerfamilies only had prepositions such asvonorzubefore their family names without further ranks. The abbreviation of the title wasJkr., most often placed before the given name and titles, for example: Jkr. Heinrich von Hohenberg. The female equivalentJunkfrau(Jkfr.) was used only sporadically. In some cases, thehonorificJkr.was also used forFreiherren(barons) andGrafen(counts).[4]
Junker(and its cognates) was traditionally used as a noble honorific throughout the German-speaking parts of Europe. The title today survives in its traditional meaning in the Netherlands and Belgium in the Dutch formJonkheer.
Germany
editIn modern Prussian history, the term became popularly used as a loosely definedsynecdochefor the landed nobility (particularly of so-calledEast Elbia) who controlled almost all of the land and government, or by extension, the Prussian estate owners regardless of noble status. With the formation of theGerman Empirein 1871, theJunkersdominated the central German government and the Prussian military. A leading representative was PrinceOtto von Bismarck.[5]"TheJunkers"of Prussia were often contrasted with the elites of the western and southern states in Germany, such as the city-republic of Hamburg (which had no nobility) or Catholic states like Bavaria, in which the"Junkerclass "of Prussia was often viewed with contempt.[6]After World War II, the junker class, which had formed much of the officer corps of theWehrmachtand whose prominent member President and former GeneralPaul von Hindenburghad appointed Hitler chancellor in 1933, was often blamed for Prussian militarism, the rise of the Nazis and World War II. As a consequence, aland reformin theSoviet Occupation Zonewhich had the goal ofcollectivizationalong Soviet lines was justified in propaganda as a strike against the Junker class with the slogan "Junkerland in Bauernhand" (junker lands in peasant hands).
It has also been used in military context in theGerman armed forces,such as rank ofFahnenjunker.
Scandinavia
editIn Denmark, the termJunkerconnotes a young lord, originally the son of a medieval duke or count, but is also a term for a member of the privileged landowner class, and can be considered the equivalent of thegentry.Before 1375 the honorific was also suitable for Danish royal sons. It was also used in the titleKammerjunkerwithin the royal household, the equivalent of the Frenchvalet de chambre,a position usually given to young noble men in the service of a princely rank person at the court. AKammerjunkerwas ranked below achamberlain,but above a chamberpage.
The title of junker is also used within military roles, most notably in theSwedish military,with the rank offanjunkareand its derivates (the equivalent of acolour sergeant).
Russia
editSee also
editReferences
edit- ^Duden;Meaning of Junker, in German.[1]
- ^William W. Hagen,Ordinary Prussians: Brandenburg Junkers and Villagers, 1500–1840(2002).
- ^Henry VIII: September 1540, 26–30', Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 16: 1540–1541 (1898), p. 51. URL:http:// british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=76214Date accessed: 10 June 2012
- ^Rosenberg, 1943
- ^Francis Ludwig Carsten,A history of the Prussian Junkers(1989).
- ^Percy Ernst Schramm:Gewinn und Verlust.Christians, Hamburg, 1969, p. 108.