Titles, ranks, and classes

Titles:

Duc: possessor of a duchy (duché -- a feudal property, not an independent principality) and recognition as duke by the king.

Prince: possessor of a lordship styled a principality (principauté); most such titles were held by family tradition and were treated by the court as titres de courtoisie -- often borne by the eldest sons of the more important duke-peers. This title of prince is not to be confused with the rank of prince, borne by the princes du sang, the princes légitimés or the princes étrangers whose high precedence derived from their kinship to actual rulers.

Marquis: possessor of a marquessate (marquisat), but often assumed by a noble family as a titre de courtoisie

Comte: possessor of a county (comté) or self-assumed.

Vicomte: possessor of a viscounty (vicomté) or self-assumed.

Baron: possessor of a barony (baronnie) or self-assumed.

Seigneur possessor of a lordship; strictly, it was neither a title nor a rank, merely indicating that the person lacked a noble title yet owned a piece of feudal land. It did not indicate that the "landlord" was noble, although prior to the 18th century most were. Generally referred to by sieur i.e. sir, followed by the name of the fief, as in sieur de Crenne.

Gentilhomme ("gentleman") was used for any noble, from the king to the last untitled écuyer.


Ranks:

Fils de France: son of a king or dauphin.

Petit-fils de France: grandson of a king in the male line.

Prince du Sang ("prince of the blood"): a remote, legitimate male-line descendant of a king of France.

Peer of France was technically a dignity of the Crown (as, e.g., marshal of France), but became in fact the highest hereditary rank borne by the French nobility -- always in conjunction with a title (e.g. "Duc et Pair", "Comte-Pair"). The peerage was originally awarded only to princes of the blood, some legitimised and foreign princes, often the heads of the kingdom's most ancient and powerful families, and a few bishops. Eventually it was almost always granted in conjunction with the title of duke. Gradually the peerage came to be conferred more broadly as a reward for distinguished military or diplomatic service, but also on favourites of the king (e.g. Les Mignons). The peers were entitled to seats in the Parliament of Paris, the most important Court of Justice in the kingdom.

Prince légitimé: legitimised son or male-line descendant of a king. Precise rank depended upon the king's favour.

Prince étranger ("foreign prince"): members of foreign royal or princely families naturalized at the French court, such as the Clèves, Rohan, La Tour d'Auvergne, and Lorraine-Guise.

Chevalier: an otherwise untitled nobleman who belonged to an order of chivalry; earlier, a rank for untitled members of the oldest noble families.

Écuyer: rank of the vast majority of untitled nobles. Also called valet or noble homme in certain regions.


Classes

Noblesse d'épée (nobility of the sword) or noblesse de race or noblesse ancienne: the traditional or old nobility.

Noblesse de chancellerie (nobility of the chancery): person made noble by holding certain high offices for the king.

Noblesse de lettres: person made noble by letters patent.

Noblesse de robe (nobility of the robe): person or family made noble by holding certain official charges, like masters of requests, treasurers, or Presidents of Parlement courts.

Noblesse de cloche (nobility of the "bell") or Noblesse échevinale/Noblesse scabinale: person or family made noble by being a mayor or alderman (échevin) or dean of guilds (municipal leader) in certain towns (such as Abbeville and Angers, Angoulême, Bourges, Lyon, Toulouse, Paris, Perpignan, and Poitiers).

Noblesse militaire (military nobility): person or family made noble by holding military offices, generally after two or three generations.

Nobles sometimes made the following distinctions based on the age of their status:

Noblesse chevaleresque (knightly nobility): nobility from before the year 1400.

Noblesse d'extraction: nobility for at least four generations.

Commoners were referred to as roturiers. Magistrates and men of law were sometimes called robins.

The acquisition of titles of nobility could be done in one generation or gradually over several generations:

Noblesse au premier degré (nobility in the first generation): nobility awarded in the first generation, generally after 20 years of service or by death in one's post.

Noblesse graduelle: nobility awarded in the second generation, generally after 20 years of service by both father and son.

source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_nobility