ARISTOCRACY 

 ARISTOCRAT
        1. Member of an aristocracy, a noble
        2. Person who has tastes, manners of an aristocracy
 ARISTOCRATIC
        1. Pertaining to government by an aristocracy
        2. Characteristic of an aristocrat; having the manners, values, or qualities.
 ARISTOCRACY
        1. Class of people holding rank and privileges, especially the hereditary nobility.
        2. Government/state ruled by an aristocracy, elite, or privileged upper class.
        3. Government by those considered to be the best or most able people in the state.
        4. Governing body composed of those considered best in the state.
        5. Class of people considered superior from education, wealth, or social prestige.
 PATRICIAN
        1. Person of noble or high rank; aristocrat.
        2. Member of the original senatorial aristocracy in ancient Rome. under the later Roman
            and Byzantine empires, a title or dignity conferred by the emperor.
            Belonging to a patrician family of ancient Rome.
         3. Member of a hereditary ruling class in certain medieval German, Swiss, and Italian free cities.
 PEER
          1. A nobleman.
          2. Member of any of the five ranks of the nobility in Great Britain and Ireland; Duke, Marquis, Earl, 
              Viscount, Baron.
          3. In Archaic language, it meant companion.
           GENTLE/Gentile Folk
            Persons of good family and breeding.
          GENTRY
          1. In England a class below the nobility.
          2. Upper or ruling class; aristocracy.
          3. Not members of nobility but entitled to a COA by owning land. 
GENTILITY
KNIGHT/Knight of the Manor/Seigneur    ruler of a small fief
          LADY wife of a knight
          ESQUIRE originally derived from Esquire or attendant/apprentice of a knight ranked below a
                          knight but above a gentleman
DAME
LORD and LADY
MASTER and MYSTRESS


                                                         RANK  & ADDRESSAGE

 EMPEROR   Latin ‘imperitor later caesar’  OF ‘empereor’, ME ‘emperour’  meaning sword of power, 
                    and  a king of kings.
         1. A male ruler of an empire beginning with Rome.  The title was lost after Rome fell,
             But was eventually accepted by the German nobility who claimed it as well as rule    of the church. 
         2. Later France’s king Charlemagne had it bestowed on him by the sovereign hand of  the Holy
             Roman Pope, who restricted to just one holding the title.

 KING  Gothic ‘reiks‘  Late German ‘konig; IE sacred kingship ‘Sanskrit raja‘  ‘OE and Anglo-Saxon
 ‘cynin’,  Latin 'rex' , OG ’kin’ or leader of a tribe or people.
 Kings were also known as Princes in Latin ‘preceps’  first and foremost’, later came to mean an
 independent sovereign.
 King in Medieval times had three fundaments War Leader, Judge, Priest.
 A man of noble birth invested with supreme authority over a country and its people.
     ADDRESSAGE  your majesty,  your royal majesty, your royal grace
     CROWN   various types of headgear worn by a monarch as a symbol of sovereignty.
     EPITHET   name/phrase describing a quality of one such as ‘The Lion-Hearted’ 
     LORD PARAMOUNT   a Sovereign or King
     MONARCH   derived from Greek ‘Monos Archein’ meaning one ruler
     RULING TERRITORY   kingdom
     KINGDOM   area or state ruled by a king or queen as its head
     REGANT   to reign, one who reigned
     SIRE  Latin for senior, a familiar/respectful title used for a king by close confidants.
KINGHOOD/Kingship  Middle English 'kingscrip'
      1. State, office, or dignity of a king
        2. To rule as a king; monarchy
        3. Aptitude for kingly duties
        4. ‘Majesty’ title used in referring to a king preceded by ‘His or Your‘
KINGLET  a king who rules over a small country or territory
KINGLY stately or splendid, resembling or befitting a king
KING MAKER    person of power and influence who aids, places or puts a ruler on the throne
KING of KINGS  a king who has other kings subjects beneath him, such as Ireland
HIGH KING    one who rules over lesser kings
KINGS and QUEENS
     BENCH  court for criminal cases
     BOUNTY  grant given by a royal to a mother of triplets(happy to have more subjects)
     CHAMPION   hereditary officer at coronations whose responsibility is to challenge     
       anyone to  mortal combat who would dispute the right of the new sovereign to rule.
      COUNCIL    a  king or queen's council of judgment
     CYNEDOM   the royal dignity
     ENGLISH  speech of England, called for which sovereign’s in power
     EVIDENCE   prosecution evidence of one taking part in crime exchanged for leniency
     EVIL/Scrofula     belief an illness can be cured by the kings touch
     SPEECH  opening Britain’s Parliament 
     WEATHER   British   reference is ‘weather fit for a King or Queen
KING'S FOLLOWING
      EQUERRY   military personal attendant of the king
      SERGEANT-at-ARMS   member of a royal bodyguard, even the Herald, Scribe etc.

QUEEN  OE 'cwene or cwn', Germanic 'kwniz' wife or queen, woman ruling by right of birth
     ADDRESSAGE   your royal majesty, your majesty, your royal grace, 
     QUEENDOM  position, status or realm of a queen
     QUEENSHIP  rank and position of a queen
     QUEEN 'S CONSORT  OE ‘Cwen’ for ’woman’ ruler by right of birth, meaning her husband
     QUEEN DOWAGER    widow of a king
     QUEENHOOD/Queenship   dignity, position, or rank of a queen
     QUEENLY/Queenliness    relating to, or having the grace and dignity of a queen 
     QUEENLY/Queenly Grace    befitting a queen
     QUEEN MOTHER  a queen dowager who is mother of a reigning sovereign
     QUEEN REGENT  one who reigns on behalf of a child to young to take the throne
     QUEEN REGNANT/Regnare   one who actually reigns
     REGINA  Latin for queen
     WARRIOR QUEEN  wife of a king who takes up a husbands cause to continue fighting. There has
     been warrior queens or women of valor since 3500 bc until the 20th  century.  
     To discover them   http://www.lothene.demon.co.uk/others/women.html
 QUEEN’S FOLLOWING
     CHAMPION   chosen either personally or by contest to defend/protect her
     LADY-in-WAITING/Lady-of- the-bedchamber   one attending a queen/princess
     MAID-in-WAITING   unmarried woman attending a queen/ princess
     MAID of HONOR    unmarried noblewoman attending a queen/princess
     QUEEN'S ARMY   any guard designated as her own

CROWN/Soverign Prince Latin 'princeps'  meaning first and foremost, heir to the throne,
     ADDRESSAGE   your royal highness
     ATHELING/Aethling/Etheling   prince of royal blood, heir apparent, eldest son of a king
     CROWN PRINCE  heir to the throne, ranked in precedence over other kingdom Princes
     GRAND PRINCE  title for brother of a German Tscar, or male heir to the throne.  By adding the
                                     word Grand, itw as made for sovereign than a mere prince or duke.
            GRAND PRINCIPALITY  area a Grand Prince ruled.  Title was abolished with Napoleon in 1806.
     HEIR APPARENT  eldest son of a sovereign who will succeed to the throne
     HEREDITARY PRINCE  some European countries gave this title to the heir to the throne
     OF THE BLOOD   eldest son proven to be the kings own blood
     PRINCEDOM  territory, position, rank, dignity of a prince
     PRINCELIER/Princeliest   relating to or befitting a prince
     PRINCE REGENT son who rules in a monarch's place if ill or traveling
     PRINCE ROYAL   eldest son, first among all kingdom princes
     PRINCELY BLOOD  heir apparent, first born son of a king or queen
     PRINCELY SELF   one who is the crown prince
     PRINCESHIP   rank and position of a Prince
     PRIMOGENITURE   right of eldest son to inherit the throne
     RULING TERRITORY  princedom in Medieval times, later a principality 
     SOVERIGN PRINCE  child of a prince
     WHIPPING BOY   one educated with a prince but punished in his stead
 
 PRINCE  in ancient Heraldry belonged to Dukes, Marquises and Earls of Great Britain,
 With ordinary usage restricted to a male heir of a royal family.
     APANAGE  OF  below subsistence means, an estate or income given to younger children of a king
     HEIR PRESUMPTIVE   second son on to inherit the throne
     MERCHANT PRINCE   any outstanding male of a certain class or group
 PRINCEDOM   position, rank, or dignity of a prince, also territory of a prince; principality.
      Princedoms in Medieval Times later became principalities. In Medieval times became principalities.
 PRINCELING/Princekin/Princelet  minor prince of no importance, low rank, or no wealth
 PRINCELESS  territory lacking its prince, or lacking the  rank and dignity of one
 PRINCELY/Princeliness   of, befitting  or pertaining to a prince, royal or noble.
 SENIOR PRINCE   may be royal or not but ranked highest among the lands lower Prince’s  

CROWN PRINCESS/Royal Princess   ME 'princesse' eldest daughter of a reigning monarch
                                                             granddaughter of a king or queen's son, female principal heir.
     ADDRESSAGE   your royal highness
     CROWN HEIRESS  by bloodline and law the right to receive title, position, property etc.
     PRINCESS ROYAL  eldest daughter of a monarch, first among all princesses in the kingdom


PRINCESS  ME ‘princesse’  in Britain and former Prussia eldest princess granted title for life by a  sovereign, as well as daughter or granddaughter of a king or queen’s son.
    ADDRESSAGE  your highness, from second daughter on
    PRINCESS   in a few countries a European noblewoman ranking below a Duchess
    PRINCESS REGENT  one who is regent of a country

                                                                      NOBILITY

ARCHDUKE     archaic spelling Archeduke/Archeduc/Archiduc, attributed only to the sovereign princes of the former ruling house of Austria.
 Archdukedom
     1. An archduchy
     2. Office or rank of an archduke

GRAND DUKE  
     1. Titles from German areas of Kiev, Lituania, Valadimir
     2. Ruled a Grand Duchy

DUKE  MD 'duc', OF ‘duc, dus’,  ML ‘dux’ , hereditary ruler of a small state.  Title was in German states not reaching England until 1337 when Edward III bestowed it on his sons.
     1. In Continental Europe a male ruler of a duchy; the sovereign of a small state.
     2. British nobleman holding highest hereditary title outside the royal family, ranking below a   prince and     
         above marquis; a member of the highest rank of the British peerage. 
     3. Nobleman of corresponding rank in certain other countries.
    4. Old Roman title ‘Dux’  designating a governor of a special military district.
     DUKEDOM
         1. Duchy
         2. Office or rank of a duke
DUCHESS 14th c. OF 'duchesse', Latin 'ducissa' 
         1. A feminine form of dux or leader 
         2. High-ranking noblewoman 
         3. In the British Isles highest hereditary title of nobility.     
         4. Wife or widow of duke: the wife or widow of a duke

MARQUIS  ME ‘markis’, MF ‘marquis‘, ML ‘coms‘, originally meant 'commander of a March'
      1. Nobleman ranking below a duke but above an earl or count.
         MARQUISATE
            1. Territory ruled by a marquis
MARCHIONESS
      1. British wife or widow of a Marquis 
      2. Marquise in France.
      3. Marchinonissa in Latin
 
MARGRAVE/Margravine   Latin ‘marca’  German ‘mark or markgraf’ French ’marquis’ English ‘marquess’
      1. Equivelent of an Earl, Landgrace, or Count.
         These were the Count of a March or a Margrave.

EARL ME ‘erl ’,  OE ‘eorl ’,  OS ‘erl’ for man, ON ‘jarl’  meaning  chieftain
      1. British nobleman below Marquis above Viscount, a count after the Norman conquest.
          Wife of an earl is a countess.
      2. In Anglo-Saxon England a governor of one of the great divisions of England,  including   East Anglia, 
         Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex.
      3. Eorl was a warrior or nobleman.
      4. Wife of an Earl has always been a Countess.
         EARLDOM/Earlship  ME 'erldom'  territory or jurisdiction of an Earl.     
         EARL PALENTINE/Earls Palatine/Count Palatine.
        EARL/Ealdorman/Ealderman/Eorl    highest title in medieval England attainable by a  
         nobleman not royally born, or a vassal holding a fief, chief magistrate of a shire.  
         All Earls  are Tenants-in-Chief. 
         EARL THIRD PENNY  Earl's one-third share of fines in shire or hundred courts, often allocated
         afterwards to a particular manor or church as income
         JARL   name for Earl  in Scandinavian

COUNT Late ME ‘counte’ , OF ‘conte, comte’, Late Latin ‘comitem‘,  companion of ‘comes’.
 Origninally retainer of Late Roman Emperors, with European nobles equivalent in rank to
 an English earl.
     COUNTY   10th c. land divisions in France/England making a feudal lord ’count’.
     COURSE   feudal title of ‘count & compte’ ruling it became powerful nobles.
     COUNTY PALAETINE/Earl Palatine  territory under jurisdiction of a count palatine.
      PALATINE/Palaetine  meaning region
         1. Formerly in Germany, a count having jurisdiction in his fief or province.
             Historical English an earl or county proprietor exercising royal prerogatives in his county.
             Usually Earldoms, largest Palatinate is Lancaster established 1351, functioning as a kingdom 
             of its own with the King granting complete authority to run it while still under allegiance to his king. 
             Noble had absolute power to raise armies, grant land, bestow titles, knighthood, and  coin money.  
             A King granted it one of two ways, spiritually or temporally. 
COUNTESS  ME  'countesse'
 1. Wife/widow of a count in the nobility of Continental Europe
    In British peerage, an Earl
 2. Woman having the rank of a count or earl in her own right.

VISCOUNT  ME ‘viscounte ’, Old French ‘visconte’,  Middle Latin ‘vice comes ’.
     1. Nobleman below an earl or count but above a baron
     2. Historically was a deputy of a count or earl
     3. In England--a sheriff
     4. Vicecomes or Vice-Count
     VISCOUNTCY/Viscountship
     Rank or station of a viscount
     VISCOUNTY
     Jurisdiction or territory of a viscount
VISCOUNTESS
 1. Wife or widow of a viscount
 2. Woman holding in her own right a rank equivalent to that of a viscount

BARON  OHG ‘baro’ AN 'barun', ME ‘barunage’ OF 'baron' ML ‘baro or baronis’  meaning man,
                warrior',Germanic and English 'bairn'.
     1. Member of Britain’s lowest rank of nobility
     2. A Feudal vassal holding lands under a direct grant from the king
     3.  Direct descendant of such a vassal or his equal in the nobility
     BARONAGE   ME ‘barunage, or barnage’
     1.   British peerage, including dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons.
     2.   Dignity or rank of a baron
    BARONIAL
      1. Pertaining to a baron or barony or to the order of barons
      2. Befitting a baron: living in baronial splendor
    BARONY  ME 'baronie’
      1. Domain of a baron
      2. Baronage.
     BARON COURT/MANORIAL  held court for free tenants
     BARON EXCHEQUER   heard accounts and judicial pleas
     BARON/GREATER Baron   ruler of a Barony
     BARON-LANDED  13th c. tenant-in-chief serving on king's great council became of this title
     BARONS by PATENT  English barons without land
     BARONS by TENURE/TENANT-in-CHIEFS  10th c. held English land directly from  king, 
     served on kings council, if land passed to another so did title & privileges
     BARON VAVASOR   inferior baron or vassal holding of a baron
BARONESS  ME ‘aronnesse, barnesse’
     1. Wife of a baron
     2. Woman holding a baronial title in her own right

BARONET/Baronetess    Member of British hereditary order of honor, ranks below barons made up of commoners,  designated by ‘Sir’ before name and ‘Baronet‘ abbreviate Bart. after, Sir John Smith, Bart
     BARONETAGE
       1. Baronets collectively
       2. Baronetcy
       BARONETCY  rank or dignity of a baronet
       BARONETIZE   To make a baronet; confer a baronetcy upon, especially in Britain

KNIGHT  a medieval soldier usually mounted
     DAME  a woman knighted, a medieval soldier

LORD  ME ’loverd’, original meaning 'loaf-kneader'
     1. Person of authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, or ruler.
     2. Person exercising authority over property rights; an owner of land, houses, etc.
     3. Person who is a leader or feudal superior or proprietor of a manor.
     4. Titled nobleman/peer whose ordinary appellation contains the courtesy of the title Lord.
     FEUDAL LORD  any landed lord over a vassal
         LIEGE  13th c. OF 'lige'  ML 'leticus'   one of nobility or sovereignty over a vassal
     LORDING  address for Lords,  sirs and gentlemen
     LORDLING   Minor, petty or unimportant lord
     LORD-in-WAITING   Nobleman in attendance on a British monarch or Prince
     LORDLESS   Manor, estate or land without a Lord
     LORD BOLD-GAETAL  a lords estate
     LORD LIEUTENANT
     1. British title of any high official of authority granted by a sovereign
     2. Formerly the Viceroy in Ireland
     LORD MAYOR  mainly in Britain the mayor or officer of certain boroughs
     LORD of MISRULE  In England a person chosen to direct the Christmas revels and sports
     LORD PROVOST  Chief magistrate of any large cities in Scotland
     LORDSHIP
     1. State or dignity of a Lord
     2. Term of respect used to speak of or to certain noblemen 
         Usually preceded by ‘his or your’
     3.  Nobility having certain responsibilities to a king in return for use of grants or fiefs.
LADY  ME ladi, sometimes with an 'e',  originally 'loaf-kneader' 
 1. In Britain proper title of a woman whose husband ranks higher than a baronet or knight  or the 
     daughter of a nobleman not lower than an earl
     2. Woman who holds proprietary rights or authority over a manor
     3. A female feudal superior
     4. Woman who is the object of chivalrous devotion
     LADYSHIP
     1. Rank of a Lady
     2. Form used to speak of or to a woman having the title of Lady
         Usually preceded by ‘her or your’
     
COMMONER/Comman Man  ordinary person of society who does not belong to nobility
PEASANT  15th c.  Anglo-Norman 'paisant', Latin 'pagus', one without title or land
REEVE   in Anglo-Saxon times steward of a feudal manor, later a deputy sheriff
SERF   Latin 'servius or slave'  bound to the land of a lord or land owner, bought and sold with the land
SQUIRE  attendant to a knight, or rural landowner in England
YEOMAN  commoner who held land in their own right, or servant in a noble or royal household