Hochgeboren


Hochgeboren ) is a form of address for the titled members of the German and Austrian nobility, ranking just below the sovereign and mediatised dynasties.
The actual address is "Euer" Hochgeboren. It is the proper form of address for counts that are neither heirs to mediatised families of the Holy Roman Empire nor families who have been bequeathed higher predicate by the Emperor. By courtesy, barons belonging to old houses of the Uradel are also addressed in the same way.
The correct term for immediate counts is Erlaucht, while the proper form of address for princes and dukes is Durchlaucht.
In The Netherlands and Belgium, Hooggeboren is used to address Dukes, Margraves, Counts or Viscounts.

Lower form of address

The title should not be confused with Hochwohlgeboren, which ranks lower, and is the correct form of address for German barons and knights ; or Wohlgeboren, which ranks lower than Hochwohlgeboren, and is the address for a Vogt or Büttel.