Some of these Duchies, like Glaspyth or Didreksburg, are literal snake pits.
"Space Viking"
Henry Beam Piper
Fifty years ago, and before that, when Germany was divided up into scores of small States and Duchies, the mass of its people had no practical interest in politics.
"The Healing of Nations and the Hidden Sources of Their Strife"
Edward Carpenter
The feudal principalities and Duchies war and struggle among themselves; they are united by marriage or by conquest, and presently some stronger ruler brings a great territory under his power, and we have what is called a kingdom; a society still larger, still more complex in its organization, and still more rigid in its class distinctions.
"The Book of Life: Vol. I Mind and Body; Vol. II Love and Society"
Upton Sinclair