Count palatine Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a count who exercised royal authority in his own domain

WordNet

Definitions
  1. . (a) Formerly, the proprietor of a county who possessed royal prerogatives within his county, as did the Earl of Chester, the Bishop of Durham, and the Duke of Lancaster. Eng. See County palatine, under County. (b) Originally, a high judicial officer of the German emperors; afterward, the holder of a fief, to whom was granted the right to exercise certain imperial powers within his own domains. Germany

Webster 1913