Prince

Although the definition above is the one that is most commonly understood, there are also different systems: depending on country, epoch and translation other meanings of Prince are possible: over the centuries foreign-language titles such as Italian principe, French prince, German Fürst, Russian kniaz, etc., are often rendered as prince in English.

Princes in other systems of nobility

Countries of Western Europe

Examples: Princess de Polignac (France); Prince Bismarck (Germany, translation of Fürst Bismarck)

Russia

In the Russian system, "knyaz" (translated as "prince"), is the highest degree of nobility, and sometimes, represents a mediatization of an older native dynasty which became subject to the Russian imperial dynasty. Rurikid branches used the knyaz title also after they were succeeded by the Romanovs as the Russian imperial dynasty.

Examples: Prince Potemkin

China

In ancient China, the title of prince developed from being the highest title of nobility (synonymous with duke) in the Zhou Dynasty, to five grades of princes (not counting the sons and grandsons of the emperor) by the time of the fall of the Qing Dynasty.

Japan

In Japan,the title of prince (kôshaku 公爵) was used as the highest title of kazoku(華族Japanese modern nobility) and Chôsen kizoku(朝鮮貴族Korean nobility) before the present constitution.

Prince is also used as the translation of shinnô (親王(literally king of the blood) femail;naishinnô(内親王(literally queen(by herself) of the blood) and shinnôhi親王妃(literally consort of king of the blood)) or ô (王(literaly king) femail;nyoô(女王(literaly queen (by herself)) and ôhi(王妃(literally consort of king)). The former is the higher title of a mail member of the Imperial family and the latter is the lower.

Princes as monarchs

The term prince has also been used to describe the head of a feudal state; for example, it has been used as a synonym for duke at times.
:Example from the early Renaissance: the title of Niccolò Machiavelli's book Il Principe (The Prince) refers to such type of prince.

In the same tradition/vein many micronation "monarchs" establish themselves as prince
:Example: Prince Roy of Sealand

Princes of the Church

First clergymen could own land and rule over it, as "monarch" type of princes. In modern times only the Roman pope is still (literally) such a "prince of the church", be it in a limited manner (Vatican City as the territory of the Holy See) - for all other clergymen "prince"-like worldly power is considered as conflicting with the prescriptions of the church, but that has not been always so:
:Example: for a period of time the bishop of Liège was a prince (the "prince-bishop" of Liège) ruling a vast part of what later would become Belgium.

Secondly, in the hierarchic structure of the Catholic church, the higher echelons of power are in recent times still occasionally named as "princes of the church", in which case this "title" can sometimes be intended more or less ironical by the speaker.

See also