peerage
Ranks of nobles
Peerage is the rank or status of a peer—a member of the nobility holding titles like duke, marquess, earl, viscount, or baron.
The peerage also refers collectively to all such nobles: She was elevated to the peerage.
In Britain, peers historically held seats in the House of Lords.
A peerage can be hereditary or granted for life.
Positions in hierarchy
- precedenceSuperior rank or importance
- orderMethodical arrangement or request
- degreesUnits of measurement
- successionFollowing in order
seniority · feudalism · vassal · liege · fiefdom · manor · landed · estates
Highest-ranking nobleman
- marquessNobleman below duke
- earlBritish hereditary noble rank
- viscountMid-ranking British noble
- baronLow-ranking peer
baronet · duchess · marchioness · countess · viscountess · baroness · lord · lady
Exclusive right or benefit
- exclusivityState of being limited
- aristocracyRule by hereditary elite
- nobilityTitled ruling class
- noblessePersons of rank
blueblood · patrician · elite · highborn · wellborn · titled · landed · esteem
Family line of descent
- bloodlineAncestry through generations
- dynastySuccessive family rulers
- pedigreeRecord of descent
- descentDownward slope or lineage
genealogy · forebears · progenitors · family tree · inheritance · primogeniture · entailment · birthright
Britain's senior parliamentary body
- WestminsterLondon's political center
- Letters PatentOpen royal grant document
- creationMaking something exist
- dissolutionBreaking up completely
ranks
Positions in hierarchy
- precedenceSuperior rank or importance
- orderMethodical arrangement or request
- degreesUnits of measurement
succession · seniority · feudalism · vassal · liege · fiefdom · manor · landed · estates · House of Lords
duke
Highest-ranking nobleman
baron · baronet · duchess · marchioness · countess · viscountess · baroness · lord · lady · sir
privilege
Exclusive right or benefit
- exclusivityState of being limited
- aristocracyRule by hereditary elite
- nobilityTitled ruling class
noblesse · blueblood · patrician · elite · highborn · wellborn · titled · landed · esteem · distinction
ancestry
Family line of descent
descent · genealogy · forebears · progenitors · family tree · inheritance · primogeniture · entailment · birthright · succession
House of Lords
Britain's senior parliamentary body
- WestminsterLondon's political center
- Letters PatentOpen royal grant document
- creationMaking something exist
dissolution · reform · abolition · hereditary · crossbencher
- German Nobilityduke, duchess, count, countess, baron
- Meiji JapanEmperor Meiji, modernization, westernization, privy council, prefectures
- medievalknights, castles, cathedral, kings, queens
- royaltyking, queen, prince, princess, kings
- Royalty & Nobilityking, queen, prince, princess, duke
- British aristocracyduke, duchess, earl, countess, baron
peeragecommoners
Ordinary citizens, untitled
commonalty · common people · peasantry · plebeians · plebs
peeragethe public
People in general
citizenry · electorate · third estate · untitled · subjects
peeragethe masses
Common populace collectively
the public · hoi polloi · riffraff · rabble · mob
- British peerageAristocratic ranking system