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Hello,
This is a quick user-friendly guide to better understanding medieval titles in England as follos:
Back in medieval England there were the Royal Families, Nobility, Gentry and everyone else beneath them.
The Royal Families were the monarch (i.e., king, queen) and prince/princess.
The Noble families consisted of anyone who was actually summoned to Parliament in the House of Lords chamber. These consisted of in order of rank from lowest to highest:
Barons/Baronesses
I
Viscount/Viscountess
I
Earl/Countess
I
Marquess/Marchoiness
I
Duke/Duchess
Anyone above a duke or his female counterpart, a duchess, was Royalty.
The Nobility were the highest ranking titled people in Engalnd aside from the Royal Family of England. They were entitled, of course, to a coat-of-arms, a coronet which showed their noble rank and supporters.
The Gentry consisted of Gentleman, Esquires and Knights. If you were a Knight, then you had the prefix Sir and usually the suffix, Kt. The knights were the highest of the Gentry. Then, you had the Esquire, which in its abbreviated form was Esq., followed by the Gent., for gentleman.
The female equivalent for a gentleman was a gentlewoman and for a knight, would later be called a dame. There was no female counterpart to the title of esquire.
The Gentry consisted of those (3) classes of people, who were wealthy landowners and had the right to bear arms. The coat-of-arms of the gentry in the Middle Ages differed from the nobles' coat-of-arms, in that, the Gentry did not have supports nor did they have a coronet affixed beneath or above their helmet, which was located directly above the coat-of-arms.
Aside from the Gentry, which were called "Commoners," in a sense, nothing more than upper-class commoners who had titles, but were not afforded the title of nobility, were the rest of the commoners in England who were NOT armigerous, in other words, they were not entitled to bear a coat-of-arms.
I hope this clarifies the differences amongst the Middle Ages' social class strata.
If you have any further questions about Royal and/or Noble titles, then please don't hesitate to ask!
Sincerely,
Jason Simmons
republican21@yahoo.com
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