About House Valentione...

[Anonymoose]

It's possible that the Count we've seen is not the Lord Dzemael, but merely a lord Dzemael.

My knowledge of feudalism and bastard feudalism extends naught beyond high school history and Game of Thrones, so I might as well give you the clearest line I can find if you're willing to brainstorm it, eh?

A hearty hail to you, adventurer. I am Dyrstweitz, son of Dyrstweitz. I serve House Dzemael, as did my father and his father before him. Like them, I have sworn a solemn oath to protect the count's lands and holdings from any and all that would do them harm. Originally designed to provide protection against air and land attacks from the Wyrmking's horde, construction on the Darkhold began several generations ago when Count Dzemael, fifty-third of his line and lord of House Dzemael - greatest of the four high houses of Ishgard - discovered a hidden network of caves while foxing near the Nail.

And the Duke for good measure

As he does once every moon, Ishgardian noble Duke Brett V will soon be arriving in Limsa Lominsa to conduct a routine inspection of the many export and import warehouses he maintains in the thalassocracy.

Also, Inspector Briardien is rumoured to be a baron, and Ishgard's See contains at least an Archbishop, Bishops, and Cardinals.

[Shadygrove]

Now that it's Valentione's Day, I'd like to know a bit more concerning their house.
Clearly House Valentione is not one of the 4 High Houses that make up the Ishgard's flag, which begs the question(s)...

Are they even recognized as a proper noble house?

If they are, does that mean that there are many more noble houses/families than the ones on Ishgard's flag?

What kind of political power/influence can they hold compared to the major 4 ones (as well as their standing with the Holy See)?

As others have said, noble not high noble.

Little power compared to the high noble houses. Nor do they seem interested in it.

.... Isn't Duke higher than Count?

House Durendaire calls its banners to retake the Stone Vigil, and Cailean refers to himself as a bannerman of House Haillenarte, whose master is his liege lord. The big question is whether the High House's bannermen are carrying that house's banners or the banners of houses that are sworn to the high houses....

Yes.

IRL a banner was a lesser noble, fedually sworn to serve, and his contingent of household troops, squires, grooms, cooks, and his knights with their own contingent. Who are his banners.

In the English system of peerage it is.

Actually there are no dukes in England. They have earls instead. But the wife of an earl is a duchess.

Despite having a degree in this stuff I have never been able to figure that one out.

[Chewy2nd]

Actually there are no dukes in England. They have earls instead. But the wife of an earl is a duchess.

Despite having a degree in this stuff I have never been able to figure that one out.

There is Dukes, Prince Phillip himself is the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Andrew is the Duke of York, Prince Richard is the Duke of Gloucester, and Prince Edward is the Duke of Kent. The next in line, Prince Charles is the Duke of both Cornwall and Rothesay, Queen Elizabeth II herself is the Duke of Lancaster. Though to be fair, I only know about the Princes having second titles due to being British myself, lol.

[Celvantis]

Monarchy and nobility is kinda my thing, but everything been answered already.

yes, Duke is the highest form of nobility. (Monarchs being royal rather then noble, theocracy aside).
Dukes report directly to the sovereign in return for management of a area for the sovereign and under them is a complex tree of nobles who run even smaller patches of land for them.

Normally lesser nobles report to the one above in the structure, being the bannerman as stated.

The counts we have met thus far -may- well be bannerman to dukes in the city who control the house, and land (which most seemed to of lost anyway....) who would be bannermen to the Archbishop.

For house Valentione, means they could be anywhere in what is a large and complex system that may well have a hundred noble houses of various ranks, but as a lesser noble (being lower then a count, and even counts are sneered at on a sovereign level) they have only the power of that rank, which is this case is near jack all.

This does change from country to country, but the basic structure remains similar.
Under the duke is a Marquess (which not all countries have, england doesn't but france did.) Under a Marquess, is a count or in England that being the equal rank of a Earl (which has no female form and thus is a countess.), Then Viscount and right at the very bottom of the stucture is a Baron. Normally a baron doesn't have any clout to meet with anyone of any real importance.

Historically Knight had been linked to being a form of lower nobility under the normal structure, but has been linked more recently with being a chivalric order which seems to be the case with Ishgard.

[FJerome]

There is Dukes, Prince Phillip himself is the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Andrew is the Duke of York, Prince Richard is the Duke of Gloucester, and Prince Edward is the Duke of Kent. The next in line, Prince Charles is the Duke of both Cornwall and Rothesay, Queen Elizabeth II herself is the Duke of Lancaster. Though to be fair, I only know about the Princes having second titles due to being British myself, lol.

We've got non-royal Dukes, too, the Duke of Bedford and such, but I think Shadygrove typoed and meant "Count". We have Earls instead of Counts in the English/Scottish/British peerage systems, though confusingly we do have Countesses.* (Ask me about suo jure Countesses, if you dare.)

As for Dzemael, he mentions that the Count existed several generations ago, which may be the solution to this - it could have been the highest title Dzemael held at the time and they've since been elevated to a Dukedom. That's not completely unusual in a peerage system, most of them feature some form of power-creep. Dukedoms did use to be only for members of the royal family here and the rank of Marquess took a couple of centuries to evolve after some of the Earls became Marcher Lords.

[Anonymoose]

As for Dzemael, he mentions that the Count existed several generations ago, which may be the solution to this - it could have been the highest title Dzemael held at the time and they've since been elevated to a Dukedom.

Interestingly, both the previous Count Dzemael and current Count Dzemael are referred to by various NPCs. In fact, the guard I quoted, whose father had the same name and also served the count? His son, same name again, currently works as a Culinarian at Costa del Sol and says:

<sigh> Sometimes I question if opening the Flying Shark was the right decision. But if I wasn't bowing and scraping to some pretentious Ul'dahn mechant, I reckon I'd be doing the same to Count Dzemael. That may have suited my father and grandfather, but I've aspirations for a better life.

What gets me is the lower-case instance; those sworn of House Dzemael have sworn to "protect the count's lands."

[Corvinoobus]

And the Duke for good measure

As he does once every moon, Ishgardian noble Duke Brett V will soon be arriving in Limsa Lominsa to conduct a routine inspection of the many export and import warehouses he maintains in the thalassocracy.

Also, Inspector Briardien is rumoured to be a baron, and Ishgard's See contains at least an Archbishop, Bishops, and Cardinals.

Before this speculation continues further, I must share with you certain developments regarding the man once known as "Duke Brett V."

The structure of Ishgardian nobility is not widely known, especially in lands so distant as Limsa Lominsa. Moreover, given the nature of Lominsan society, even well-to-do merchants may know little of such things. So it was that a lowborn Ishgardian, who through a series of events fortuitous and fantastic had built a profitable import and export concern, affected the trappings of nobility and convinced his peers in Limsa Lominsa that he was the esteemed "Duke Brett V."

Why he felt the need to adopt such a guise is anyone's guess, as his numerous eccentricities were met with widespread bemusement. Indeed, it was his penchant for ordering the same unusual dish every moon at the Bismarck that proved his undoing, as during one such visit he was confronted by traveling scholar, who declared with authority, "There's no such thing as an Ishgardian duke!"

The "Duke" has since grown rather reclusive, as one might expect, and his tale is now largely forgotten. Yet on occasion, in certain corners of Limsa Lominsa, in response to a dubious claim, some locals are heard to exclaim, "Hah! And I'm an Ishgardian duke!"

[Dynza]

Before this speculation continues further, I must share with you certain developments regarding the man once known as "Duke Brett V."

The structure of Ishgardian nobility is not widely known, especially in lands so distant as Limsa Lominsa. Moreover, given the nature of Lominsan society, even well-to-do merchants may know little of such things. So it was that a lowborn Ishgardian, who through a series of events fortuitous and fantastic had built a profitable import and export concern, affected the trappings of nobility and convinced his peers in Limsa Lominsa that he was the esteemed "Duke Brett V."

Why he felt the need to adopt such a guise is anyone's guess, as his numerous eccentricities were met with widespread bemusement. Indeed, it was his penchant for ordering the same unusual dish every moon at the Bismarck that proved his undoing, as during one such visit he was confronted by traveling scholar, who declared with authority, "There's no such thing as an Ishgardian duke!"

The "Duke" has since grown rather reclusive, as one might expect, and his tale is now largely forgotten. Yet on occasion, in certain corners of Limsa Lominsa, in response to a dubious claim, some locals are heard to exclaim, "Hah! And I'm an Ishgardian duke!"

Ah! But what of Archdukes hm?! Got you there!

And Earls?
And Magistrates?
And Executive Producers?

[WyrahFhurrst]

Ah! But what of Archdukes hm?! Got you there!

And Earls?
And Magistrates?
And Executive Producers?

Wait, what was that last one?

[Narctiss]

Snip

This reminds me a fair bit of Timothy Dexter, the man who came from practically nothing, and had no true sense of business, just luck, a will to become a lord and call himself such, and a lot of eccentricity.
Was the story of Duke Brett V perhaps inspired by this?