The grandeza is a ‘treatment’ which was formalised in the reign of Charles V whereby the titled nobles who were…
A peer is an equal, and fundamentally an equal in a legal context. From this developed peers of the realm…
Gentry is strictly the same as Adel or noblesse, although most often used as an equivalent to untitled nobility. In…
Baronet is an hereditary title descending by primogeniture introduced in England in 1611 and shortly afterwards in Scotland and Ireland.…
Knights (chevaliers, milites) were originally warriors who served on horseback. However, the status of knighthood was formally conferred from the…
A predicate is an honorific form of address, or an honorific description. For example, Royal Highness, Serene Highness (German, Durchlaucht)…
Primogeniture is a rule of inheritance whereby the eldest child, and normally the eldest male child, is the heir. It…
Fundamentally, nobility is a quality which descends to all the family. Many noble families are untitled, and where there is…
Families of great lords began using hereditary heraldic devices centred on the shield in the twelfth century, and their use…
Only in Belgium and the United Kingdom. Titles of nobility, but not untitled nobility, can still be granted in Spain.
