I suspect that on Safehold the titles depend on how much territory/population the title-holder controls instead of who the title-holder is sworn to.
IE the Safehold Church defined a "Duke" as having so much territory/population.
A "Grand Duke" would control more territory/population than a "Duke".
A "Prince" would control even more and so forth.
The above likely applies to "independent" rulers. IE only answering to the Church not to another ruler.
hanuman wrote:AirTech wrote:Generally Grand Duke is a notch above Prince and is generally the ruler of a territory physically isolated from the royal house to which he owes nominal direct fealty. The fall of the original royal house casts these adrift as this is not a national link but a feudal relationship (i.e. personal not national relation to the crown).
Luxemburg is a typical example with fealty originally owed to the Holy Roman Empire and the Netherlands.
I'll not argue your point re the relative ranking of the two titles, but a Principality such as Liechtenstein originally had the same kind of direct personal relationship with the crown as Grand Duchies did. There were no level of fealty between the ruler of a Principality and the monarch, unlike lesser titles.