Victory title

A victory title is an honorific title adopted by a successful military commander to commemorate his defeat of an enemy nation. This is a chiefly Roman practice, although other groups have made fairly systematical use of this practice, as well as modern empires, mainly Napoleonic.

Roman victory titles

Victory titles were treated as Latin cognomina and were usually the name of the enemy defeated by the commander. Hence, names like Africanus ("the African"), Numidicus ("the Numidian"), Isauricus ("the Isaurian"), Creticus ("the Cretan"), Gothicus ("the Goth"), Germanicus ("the German") and Parthicus ("the Parthian"), seemingly out of place for ardently patriotic Romans, are in fact expressions of Roman superiority over these peoples. Literally, this would be akin to calling Erwin Rommel, George S. Patton, Jr., and H. Norman Schwarzkopf "Rommel the African", "Patton the German", and "Schwarzkopf the Iraqi", respectively. However, the correct sense is better expressed as "Rommel of African fame", "Patton of German fame", "Schwarzkopf of Iraqi fame", and so forth. Some victory titles were treated as hereditary, while others were not.

The practice of awarding victory titles was well-established within the Roman Republic. The most famous grantee of Republican victory title was of course Publius Cornelius Scipio, who for his great victories in the Second Punic War was awarded by the Roman Senate the title "Africanus" and is thus known to history as "Scipio Africanus" (his adopted grandson Scipio Aemilianus Africanus was awarded the same title after the Third Punic War and is known as "Scipio Africanus the Younger"). Other notable holders of such victory titles include Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, who was replaced by Gaius Marius in command-in-chief of the Jugurthine War, Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus, who commanded Roman anti-pirate operations in the eastern Mediterranean and was father of Julius Caesar's colleague in his second consulate (Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus in 48 BC), and Marcus Antonius Creticus, another anti-piratical commander and father of Caesar's master of the horse, Mark Antony (of Egyptian fame).

The practice continued in the Roman Empire, although it was subsequently amended by some Roman Emperors who desired to emphasise the totality of their victories by adding Maximus ("the Greatest") to the victory title (e.g., Parthicus Maximus, "the Greatest Parthian"). This taste grew to be rather vulgar by modern standards, with increasingly grandiose accumulations of partially fictitious victory titles.

In a broader sense, the term victory title is sometimes used to describe the repeatable awarding of the invariable, style of Imperator (Greek equivalent Autokrator; see those articles), which is the highest military qualification (as modern states have awarded a non-operational highest rank, sometimes instituted for a particular general), but even when it marks the recipient out for one or more memorable victories (and the other use, as a permanent military command for the ruler, became in fact the more significant one), it does not actually specify one.

Medieval victory titles

After the fall of Rome, the practice continued in modified form, notably with

the first Carolingian emperor of the Franks, Charlemagne, styling himself Dominator Saxonorum ("Dominator of the Saxons") after subdueing by force the last major pagan people in the empire, henceforward transformed into a stem duchy
Basil II called Bulgaroktonos ("the Bulgar Slayer").

Modern victory titles

Later, the term would again be applied to titles awarded in commemoration of a major military victory, but now in the guise of a feudal aristocratic title, often hereditary, but only in appearance: an actual fief was not required, indeed they often were granted in chief of a battlefield where the awarding Monarch simply had no constitutional authority to grant anything validly under local law.

This new form also was even more specific than the Roman practice. Instead of naming the enemy -which could well need to be repeated- it linked the name of a battle, which was almost always unique. A further level of protection was available by naming a nearby place, such as 'Austerlitz' which Napoleon declared sounded better than the alternative.

Napoleonic

First Empire

As Napoleon I Bonaparte, the founder of the dynasty and only ruler (be it twice, interrupted by his Elba period, still with the protocollary rank of Emperor) of France as premier Empire, owed his success, both his personal rise and the growth of his empire, above all to his military excellence, it is hardly surprising that he bestowed most gratified honours on his generals, mainly the impressive number that got raised to the supreme army rank of maréchal (marshal).

The revival of the original victory title, created for a specific victory, was an ideal form, and all incumbents were victorious marshals (or posthumously, in chief of the widow).

The highest of these titles were four nominal Principalities, in most cases awarded as a 'promotion' to holders of ducal victory titles:

Eckmühl for maréchal Davout in 1809, extinct 1853 (also duc d'Auerstaedt)
Essling for maréchal Masséna (1810) - see also below Rivoli
La Moskowa (from Bataille de la Moskowa, the French name for the Battle of Borodino) for maréchal Ney in 1813, extinct 1969 (also duc d'Elchingen)
Wagram for maréchal Berthier in 1809, extinct 1918

Next in rank were eleven Dukedoms:

Elchingen for maréchal Ney in 1808, extinct 1969 (later prince de la Moscowa)
Dantzig (then still a city republic, Prussian Danzig after Napoleon's defeat, now Gdańsk in Poland) for maréchal Lefebvre on 28 May 1807, extinct 1820
Abrantès for maréchal Junot in 1808, extinct 1859 but extended in female line in 1869, again extinct 1985
Auerstaedt for maréchal Davout in 1808; extinct 1853, extended to collaterals (also prince d'Eckmühl)
Castiglione for maréchal Augereau in 1808, extinct 1915
Montebello for maréchal Lannes in 1808
Raguse (present-day Dubrownik, on the Croatian coast; conquered as part of Napoleon's own Italian kingdom, soon part of France's imperial exclave the Illyrian province) for maréchal Marmont in 1808; extinct 1852
Rivoli for maréchal Masséna in 1808
Valmy for maréchal Kellermann in 1808, extinct 1868
Albufera for maréchal Suchet in 1813.

No titles of any lower nobiliary rank are reported.

Second Empire

Although Napoleon III never came close to his predecessor's military genius, is even rather remembered for defeats, he loved tying in to numerous aspects of the First Empire, so he not only revived many of its institutions and relegitimated titles Napoléon I had awarded, but did a good number of creations in kind.

Probably for lack of memorable military exploits, this included only two victory titles, both of ducal rank:

Malakoff (from the Crimea War) for maréchal Pélissier in 1856, extinct 1864
Magenta (from the Campaign of Italy; a newly invented dye was named for the same battle) for maréchal de MacMahon in 1859.

British Empire

Many victory titles have been created in the Peerages of Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Examples include:

Admiral Sir Adam Duncan, victor of the Battle of Camperdown, was created Viscount Duncan of Camperdown in 1797. (His son was later created Earl of Camperdown.)
Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley (later the 1st Duke of Wellington), victor of the Battle of Douro, was, as the subsidiary title granted to him with the Viscountcy of Wellington (see below), created Baron Douro in 1809. He was later, as the subsidiary title granted to him with the Dukedom of Wellington, created Marquess Douro in 1814.
General Sir Robert Napier, who commanded the Abyssinian Expedition of 1868 and captured the fortress of Magdàla, was created Baron Napier of Magdala in 1868.
Field Marshal Lord French, the first commander of the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War, was created Earl of Ypres in 1922.
Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, in honour of his 1942 victory in the Egyptian town of El Alamein against Rommel's Afrikakorps, was created Viscount Montgomery of Alamein in 1946.
Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, victor of the Battle of North Cape, was created Baron Fraser of North Cape in 1946.
Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, who oversaw the recapture of Burma from the Japanese, was created Viscount Mountbatten of Burma in 1946 and Earl Mountbatten of Burma in 1947.

Often the victory is commemorated in the territorial designation rather than the peerage itself. Examples include:

Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley (later the 1st Duke of Wellington), victor of the Battle of Talavera, was created Viscount Wellington, of Talavera and of Wellington in the County of Somerset, in 1809.
Major-General Sir Herbert Kitchener, in recognition of his victory in the Battle of Omdurman, was created Baron Kitchener, of Khartoum and of Aspall in the County of Suffolk (Khartoum being the less obscure but relatively near capital of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan), in 1898, and (by this time a full General) was further created Viscount Kitchener, of Khartoum and of the Vaal in the Colony of Transvaal and of Aspall in the County of Suffolk (having been Administrator of Transvaal and of the Orange River Colony in 1901), in 1902, and (by this time a Field Marshal) was further still created Earl Kitchener, of Khartoum and of Broome in the County of Kent, in 1914.
Field Marshal Sir John French, the first commander of the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War, was created Viscount French, of Ypres and of High Lake in the County of Roscommon, in 1916.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir David Beatty, the First Sea Lord and formerly Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet during the last years of the First World War, was, as one of the subsidiary titles granted to him with the Earldom of Beatty, created Earl Beatty, of the North Sea and of Brooksby in the County of Leicester, in 1919.
Field Marshal Sir Edmund Allenby, victor of the Battle of Megiddo, was created Viscount Allenby, of Megiddo and of Felixstowe in the County of Suffolk, in 1919.
Field Marshal Sir William Birdwood, best known as the commander of the ANZACs in the First World War, was created Baron Birdwood, of Anzac and of Totnes in the County of Devon, in 1938.
Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, a senior British general in the Second World War, was created Baron Wilson, of Libya and of Stowlangtoft in the County of Suffolk, in 1946.

Other monarchies

The Spanish crown has awarded similar titles, such as Duque de Ciudad Rodrigo (hereditary) for the English Viscount Wellington (later Duke of Wellington); in fact it even created similar titles for peace-time merits to the state, such as a well-negotiated peace treaty.
So did the Portuguese kingdom, as Duque de Torres Vedras for the same Duke of Wellington.
The Dutch crown, then of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, created the first Duke of Wellington Prince of Waterloo in 1815.
In Italy, reunited under the Savoy house of Piemonte-Sardinia: Cialdini, the Piedmontese general, received the victory title of Duke of Gaeta (ironic since this had been the chief of one of Napoleon's duchés grand-fiefs), which in 1860 it was the scene of the last stand of Bourbon king Francis II of the Two Sicilies against the forces of United Italy, whose 12,000 men in the fortress, after Garibaldi's occupation of Naples, stubbornly resisted, but 1861-02-13 capitulated after the withdrawal of the French fleet made bombardment from the sea possible, thus sealing the annexation of the Bourbon Kingdom of Naples to the Piedmontese Kingdom of Italy.

Sources and references

Heraldica.org-Napoleonic titles; also gives their coats of arms

Ancient Roman names | Ancient Roman titles | Monarchy | Noble titles | Roman awards and decorations

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