peerages
Aristocratic hereditary titles
Peerages are titles of nobility—duke, marquess, earl, viscount, baron—and the system that grants them.
In Britain, a peerage traditionally came with a seat in the House of Lords, though hereditary peers lost automatic membership in 1999.
The word also refers to books listing noble families: She consulted Burke's Peerage.
To receive a peerage is to be ennobled.
Ceremony conferring rank
- coronationCeremony installing a sovereign
- ennoblementConferring noble rank
- Letters PatentOpen royal grant document
- House of LordsBritain's senior parliamentary body
robes · ermine · coronet · oath · allegiance · creation · patent · proclamation
Highest-ranking nobleman
- duchessWoman of ducal rank
- earlBritish hereditary noble rank
- countessFeminine noble rank
- baronLow-ranking peer
baroness · viscount · marquess · lord · lady · baronet · dame · sir
Property and grounds
- manorLanded aristocratic residence
- landedCame to rest
- wealthAbundance of valuable resources
- influencePower to affect others
status · power · precedence · deference · entitlement · seat · tenure · feudal
Descent from progenitors
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- bloodlineAncestry through generations
- dynastySuccessive family rulers
- genealogyStudy of family descent
descent · inheritance · birthright · succession · primogeniture · family · pedigree · forebears
investiture
Ceremony conferring rank
- coronationCeremony installing a sovereign
- ennoblementConferring noble rank
- Letters PatentOpen royal grant document
House of Lords · robes · ermine · coronet · oath · allegiance · creation · patent · proclamation · pageantry
duke
Highest-ranking nobleman
baron · baroness · viscount · marquess · lord · lady · baronet · dame · sir · nobility
estate
Property and grounds
influence · status · power · precedence · deference · entitlement · seat · tenure · feudal · demesne
lineage
Descent from progenitors
genealogy · descent · inheritance · birthright · succession · primogeniture · family · pedigree · forebears · progenitors
- aristocracylord, titles, lady, heraldry, noble titles
- corruptioncorruption, graft, kickbacks, bribery, bribes
peeragescommonalty
Non-noble general population
peasantry · common people · the masses · serfdom · the proletariat
peeragesdemocracy
Rule by the people
egalitarianism · republicanism · meritocracy · popular sovereignty · classless society
peeragespeasantry
Rural working class
serfdom · commonality · yeomanry · bourgeoisie · working class
- British peerageAristocratic ranking system