The Peerage of France () was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 during the Middle Ages.
The prestigious title and position of Peer of France () was held by the greatest, highest-ranking members of the French nobility. French peerage thus differed from British peerage (to whom the term "baronage", also employed as the title of the lowest noble rank, was applied in its generic sense), for the vast majority of French nobles, from baron to duke, were not peers. The title of Peer of France was an extraordinary honour granted only to a small number of dukes, counts, and princes of the Roman Catholic Church. It was analogous to the rank of Grandee of Spain in this respect.
The distinction was abolished in 1789 during the French Revolution, but it reappeared in 1814 at the time of the Bourbon Restoration, which followed the fall of the First French Empire, when the Chamber of Peers was given a constitutional function somewhat along British lines which lasted until the Revolution of 1848. On 10 October 1831, by a vote of 324 against 26 of the Chamber of Deputies, hereditary peerages were abolished, but peerages for the life of the holder continued to exist until the chamber and rank were definitively abolished in 1848.
Following the Seven Years' War shortly before the French Revolution, some Canadian titles in the peerage of France came under the control of the British crown. All but one of these have either become extinct, or fallen into abeyance as their holders remained loyal to the French crown. The Baron de Longueuil holds the only French title of nobility that still exists today, as continued under the monarchy of Canada.
The words and
The French word is equivalent to the English "peerage". The individual title, in French and "peer" in English, derives from the Latin , "equal".
The main uses of the word refer to two historical traditions in the French kingdom, before and after the First French Empire of Napoleon I. The word also exists to describe an institution in the Crusader states.
Some etymologists posit that the French (and English) word baron, taken from the Latin , also derives from the Latin . Such a derivation would fit the early sense of "baron", as used for the whole peerage and not simply as a noble rank below the comital rank.
Under the Monarchy: feudal period and
Medieval French kings conferred the dignity of a peerage on some of their pre-eminent vassals, both clerical and lay. Some historians consider Louis VII (1137–1180) to have created the French system of peers.
A peerage was attached to a specific territorial jurisdiction, either an episcopal see for episcopal peerages or a fief for secular ones. Peerages attached to fiefs were transmissible or inheritable with the fief, and these fiefs are often designated as (for duchies) or (for counties).
The original number of peers in the Middle Ages was twelve: Archbishop-Duke of Reims, premier peer Bishop-Duke of Laon Bishop-Duke of Langres Bishop-Count of Beauvais Bishop-Count of Châlons Bishop-Count of Noyon Duke of Normandy Duke of Aquitaine, also called Duke of Guyenne Duke of Burgundy Count of Flanders Count of Champagne Count of Toulouse
According to Matthew Paris, the Duke of Normandy and Duke of Aquitaine ranked above the Duke of Burgundy. However, given that the first two were absorbed into the crown early in the recorded history of the peerage, the Duke of Burgundy has become the premier lay peer. In their heyday, the Dukes of Normandy were undoubtedly the mightiest vassals of the French crown.
The constitution of the peerage first became important in 1202, for the court that would try King John of England in his capacity as vassal of the French crown. Based on the principle of trial by peers, a court wishing to acquire jurisdiction over John had to include persons deemed to be of equal rank to him in his capacity as either Duke of Aquitaine or Normandy. None of the peers had been specified, but since John's trial required the presence of the peers of France, it can be said that the first two peerages identifiable in the documents would be the duchies of Aquitaine and Normandy.