Hochwohlgeboren


Hochwohlgeboren is an honorific and manner of address for members of the nobility in some parts of Europe.

German

This form of address originally had connections with the ability of a Freiherr to bequeath a family coat of arms and to hold landed property as allodial instead of a fief. The actual address is Euer Hochwohlgeboren and is the correct form of address not only German Freiherren but also Ritter and Edle.
The title should not be confused with Hochgeboren. This title ranks higher than Hochwohlgeboren and is the style of mediate Grafen and those Freiherren descending from the mediæval Uradel.
Another honorific title was Wohlgeboren which ranked lower than Hochwohlgeboren and was claimed by Bourgeois notables.
In the 19th century it became customary to address academic and other civil honoraries by this title, e.g., a number of letters to Sigmund Freud are addressed to "Hochwohlgeboren Prof. Dr. Sigmund Freud".
It is commonly abbreviated in correspondence as:
“I.I.H.H.” for married couples
“I.H.” for women.
“S.H.” for men.

Swedish

In Sweden Högvälboren is used to address barons and counts, Välboren is used to address untitled nobles.

Dutch

In The Netherlands Hoogwelgeboren is used to address a Baron, a Knight or a Jonkheer. Hooggeboren is used to address Dukes, Margraves, Counts or Viscounts.

Russian

In Imperial Russia, civil, military and court officials in the 6th to 8th grades according to the Table of Ranks were addressed with a style similar in meaning. Similarly the style Wohlgeboren was applied to officials in the 9th to 14th grades, while Hochgeboren was enjoyed by officials in the 5th grade. As such the honorific address was also implied by membership in some grades of the Russian dynastic orders of chivalry.

Hungarian

In Hungarian the equivalent word was "nagyságos" and literally comes from this term in Latin "magnificus".