Content deleted Content added
Line 7:
In [[Brandenburg]] Junker was originally the members of the higher ''[[edelfrei]]'' ([[Imperial immediacy|immediate]]) nobility without or before the [[accolade]]. It evolved to a general denotation of a young or lesser noble, sometimes poor and politically insignificant , understood as "country [[squire]]".<ref>William W. Hagen, ''Ordinary Prussians: Brandenburg Junkers and Villagers, 1500-1840'' (2002).</ref>
[[Martin Luther]] disguised himself as "Junker Jörg" at the [[Wartburg]]; he would later mock King [[Henry VIII of England]] as "Juncker Heintz"<ref>Henry VIII: September 1540, 26-30', Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 16: 1540-1541 (1898), p. 51. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=76214 Date accessed: 10 June 2012</ref>
As part of the nobility, many Junker families only had prepositions such as ''[[von]]'' or ''[[Nobiliary particle|zu]]'' before their family names without further ranks. The abbreviation of Junker was Jkr., most often placed before the given name and titles, for example: Jkr. Heinrich von Hohenberg. The female equivalent ''Junkfrau'' (Jkfr.) was used only sporadically. In some cases, the [[honorific]] Jkr. was also used for ''[[Freiherr]]en'' (Barons) and ''[[Graf]]en'' (Counts).<ref>Rosenberg, 1943</ref>
| |||