Armory of Old Regime (pre-1789) French Peerage

See also general information on Old Regime peerages.

This page contains a list of all French peerages created until 1789, with the coats of arms of the holders (some arms are still missing: for princes of the blood, consult the French royal genealogy). The list is based on Père Anselme and Levantal (see the references). It should be accurate particularly for the 16th to 18th c. But mistakes surely remain.

  • Abbreviations and Symbols
  • Original Twelve Peerages
  • Creations of Peerages, 1259-1530
  • Creations of Peerages, 1528-1787
  • Other (non-Peer) Peerages
  • Foreign Duchies
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    Abbreviations and Symbols

    The entries are of the following form:
    <name> (<date>, <title> <type>): for <beneficary>. <mode of extinction> <date of extinction>.  The coat of arms is the one used by the original grantee (the arms may have been modified by successors). For knights of the Saint-Esprit (letters SE), the reference is Michel Popoff: Armorial de l'ordre du Saint-Esprit. Paris; 1996, le Léopard d'or, not a perfectly reliable source. Père Anselme gives the coats of arms of successive holders of each peerage, although I have not systematically collected that information; he is usually reliable, as he tried to use evidence from seals. The best way to ascertain the actual coat of arms is to use contemporary evidence, such as seals for the Medieval period, and for the Modern period book bindings (Olivier, Hermal and de Roton: Armorial du Bibliophile) or tokens (Cossé: Armorial du jetonophile). A few coats of arms given here are based on Cosse.

    Some of the arms are illustrated, courtey of Arnaud Bunel. Click on the red ball to see the arms (there are occasional discrepancies between the blazon and the arms, usually because the depiction only shows the principal or patronymic quarter). 

    The main references are Père Anselme and Levantal for post-1519 creations. 

    The Twelve Original Peerages

    Creations of Peerages (1259-1530)

    In the late medieval period, peerages were created, almost always for members of the royal family or relatives.

    Creations of Peerages, 1528-1787

    The modern period of the French peerage begins around 1520-1530. The first peerage for a non-royal was created in 1519, but the letters were never registered. In 1528, the only hereditary peerages in existence were the counties of Eu and Nevers. 

    List of Peerages by Order of Reception in Parlement since 1515

    The date of reception in Parlement (which was usually the same as the date of registration of the letters patent of creation) determined the rank of the peer. Peerages that were created at the same time for the same person with the same remainder are listed as one.

    The Non-Royal Peerage in 1789

    All surviving Old Regime peers or their legitimate heirs were made members of the newly formed House of Peers peers by Louis XVIII on June 4 1814 (see the page on 19th c. peerage), with the exception of Aubigny, held by the duke of Richmond, a British subject. When titles were assigned to the members of the House of Peers on Aug 31 1817, all of the Old Regime dukes-peers were given the rank of duke. There are two exceptions: the duc de Praslin was removed in July 1815 for his behavior during Napoleon's return from Elba, but he was reinstated (with ducal rank) on Nov 21, 1819; and the duc de Fleury had died without heirs on Jan 15, 1815.

    This list is by order of precedence under the rules of the Old Regime. The exact same order of precedence was used in 1814. As before, a star (*) indicates that the title still exists.

    Other (non-Peer) Duchies

    The King also created duchies without making them into peerages at the same time. They were hereditary, created by letters patent which also had to be registered in order to be valid. Their legal regime was similar to that of peerages; in particular, the provisions of the edict of 1711 also applied to them. 

    The king could also issue a brevet which did not require parliamentary approval, and was only an authorization granted by the king to an individual to use the title of duke for his lifetime. Some brevets also included a promise to create a peerage or proper duchy at some future date, although the promise might not be kept. Peerages which were not registered were usually considered as duchies which became extinct at the death of the beneficiary; hence they were treated like brevet titles.

    The following list in principle covers duchies created by letters patent as well as unsuccessful peerages (some titles might be ). It is reasonably complete up to the 1740s, based on Père Anselme. 

    Surviving Duchies in 1814

    All the following dukes were made peers on June 4 1814, and dukes on Aug 31 1817. They ranked after the survivors of the Old Regime peerage, and before those holders of Napoleonic titles who received peerages under the Restoration, with the exception of Talleyrand, who ranked in between.

    Foreign Duchies

    Some Frenchmen held foreign titles of dukes. 

    Papal Titles

    The Comtat-Venaissin, centered on Avignon, was ceded to the Papal States in 1274 and remained continuously in papal possession until 1791. However, residents were legally deemed to be French residents. From 1665, popes created a number of titles located in the Comtat-Venaissin, from duc to baron. Here is a list of the ducs, taken from Woelmont de Brumagne (La Noblesse subsistante, vol. 3).

    Neapolitan Titles

    The family Anglure de Bourlémont held at the end of the 17th century the Neapolitan title of duke of Atri. This title was authorized in France by an arrêt sur requête du Conseil d'Etqt of 5 Sep 1646 for Angélique Djaceti d'Aquaviva d'Arragon, duchesse d'Atri, princesse de Melphe, her future husband and, of their children male or female, the eldest, representing the houses of Atri and Melphe, shall have rank and precedence of duke. She was the grandmother of Louis-Saladin d'Anglure de Bourlémont Djaceti d'Aquaviva d'Arragon, prince de Melphe, duc d'Atri, marquis de Sy, baron des Armoises, married to Antoinette Colbert. (Etat de la France 1694, vol. 2, p. 135).

    Then as now, the sovereign's authorization was required to legally bear the title in France. At present, the foreign titles legally born in France are those of Glucksbierg (Denmark 1818, for Decazes, authorized 1818) and San Fernando-Luis (Spain 1866, for Lévis-Mirepoix, authorized 1961). Unauthorized ducal titles are Pozzo di Borgo (Two-Sicilies, 1852), Rarecourt de La Vallée de Pimodan (Papal 1860), San Lorenzo (Papal 1898, for Dampierre), Stacpoole (Papal 1831) and Vandières (Papal 1909, for Desrousseaux).