The use of 'prince' and 'princess' in Russian novels is sometimes confusing to an English audience, who are accustomed to 'princesses' as the daughters of monarchs, or the wives of
sovereign princes. In Eastern Europe, the title
knyaz was anciently the chief of a
Slavic tribe or ruler of a state; in 19th-century Russia, where
War and Peace is set, the title
knyaz was similar to, or above, a Western
duke or a German
Fürst, and it is conventionally translated as 'prince' even though the holder may not be descended from any sovereign. Maria Bolkonskaya is a
kniazhna (daughter of a prince, viz. the
knyaz Nikolai Bolkonsky), which is conventionally translated as 'princess'. ==See also==