Ranks aren't terribly
difficult. After the royal family, dukes are the highest rank, then
marquesses, then earls (count is the French equivalent), then viscounts,
then barons. The holders of those titles are members of the peerage
-- i.e., peers of the realm. The members of their families, however,
are not members of the peerage. Their families are members of the aristocracy,
but not members of the peerage.
Below barons, and not members of the peerage, are baronets
and knights. Baronetcies are inherited titles; knighthoods are granted
only to one person (and not inherited).
Titles are trickier. Titles are almost always connected
to a place -- the Duke of Somewhere, the Earl of Elsewhere, Baron
Smith of Nowhere. Dukes and duchesses are addressed as Your Grace (never
as Lord or Lady Somewhere). If the duke is John Smith, the Duke of Somewhere,
he is referred to as His Grace of Somewhere. Marquesses and earls are
Thomas Jones, Marquess (or Earl) of Elsewhere; they'd be called Lord
Elsewhere (not Lord Jones) and would refer to themselves as Thomas Elsewhere
(not Thomas Jones). Viscounts are William Brown, Viscount Thisplace (there's
no "of" in a viscount's title), and they'd be called Lord Thisplace.
Viscounts, however, do not use their title in lieu of their family name.
If a baron is James White of Nowhere, he's called Lord White (baron is
not used as a form of address). Peers' wives's titles and forms of address
are as their husbands', except they are Lady Wherever (or Her Grace of Wherever
for the duchesses).
A baronet, Sir Simon Smythe, is addressed (and referred
to) as Sir Simon, and his wife as Lady Smythe. A knight is also called
Sir Firstname. (A knight's wife does not have a title.)
The sometimes tricky part of titles is courtesy titles
-- the titles given to the children of the highest ranking members
of the peerage. The daughters of dukes, marquesses, and earls are
Lady Firstname. If John Smith, the Duke of Somewhere has two daughters,
Anne and Jane, they are Lady Anne Smith and Lady Jane Smith and are
called Lady Anne and Lady Jane.
The younger sons of dukes and marquesses are Lord Firstname
(like David Winterbrook in A Twist of Fate was Lord David).
The wives of the younger sons of dukes and marquesses are Lady Husband'sFirstname
(like Lynn became Lady David, and Aunt Caro was Lady Richard). Younger
sons of earls are mere misters.
The eldest sons of dukes, marquesses, and earls have
as their courtesy title their father's second highest title. John
Smith, the Duke of Somewhere, will almost certainly have a string
of lesser titles. His eldest son's courtesy title will be the highest
of those not associated with the same place. For example, if John
Smith, the Duke of Somewhere, is also Marquess of Midplace and Viscount
Vicinity, then John's eldest son, Timothy, will be Timothy Smith, Marquess
of Midplace (called Lord Midplace). But if the Marquess of Somewhere
is also Earl of Somewhere and Viscount Vicinity, then the marquess's eldest
son's title would be Viscount Vicinity. (Too confusing to have two Lord
Somewheres.) If Thomas Jones, the Earl of Elsewhere, does not have another
title, his eldest son will be called Lord Jones. The wife of the eldest
son will be Lady Whatever.
One more thing about titles . . .
Only the man with the highest title in the family (i.e.,
the peer) is "the" <rank> of Wherever.
Say there are two earls running around in a book: John
Smythe, the Earl of Thisplace, and Robert Jones, Earl of Thatplace.
John (the one with "the" in front of his title) is a peer; Robert
(the earl with no "the") is the heir of a marquess or duke.
Copyright © 2003 by Susan A. Lantz.
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