They were probably, at the time of the old Frankish monarchy, the great princes and vassals who were called to appoint the successor of the king among the eligible princes to the crown. At the Capetian era, we find that the number is set at twelve, but all throughout the Old Regime, there were 173 fiefs which were erected in peerage.
Archbishop of Reims | Bishop of Laon | Bishop of Langres | Bishop of Beauvais | Bishop of Châlons | Bishop of Noyon |
Duke of Burgundy | Duke of Normandy | Duke of Guyenne | Count of Flanders | Count of Champagne | Count of Toulouse |
Since 1204, when the duchies of Normandy and Aquitaine were absorbed into the French crown, the roster of the Twelve Peers had never been complete. By 1297, there were only three lay peers — the duke of Burgundy, the duke of Guyenne, and the count of Flanders (the county of Champagne was held by the king's eldest son and heir). Philip IV decided to restore the number of peers to twelve by granting peerage to three princes of the royal line — the duke of Brittany, the count of Anjou, and the count of Artois.
Duke of Brittany | Count of Anjou | Count of Artois |
Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais
Poitou
La Marche
Évreux
Angoulême
Mortain
Étampes
Bourbon
Beaumont-le-Roger
Clermont-en-Beauvaisis
Maine
Orléans
Valois
Nevers
Rethel then Rethel-Mazarin
Mantes-et-Meulan
Mâcon
Berry
Auvergne
Touraine
Vertus
Alençon
Montpellier
Forez
Roannais
Blois
Chartres
Dunois
Fère-en-Tardenois
Chateau-Thierry
Périgord
Soissons
Coucy
Nemours
Châtillon-sur-Marne
Mortagne-lès-Tournay
Évry-le-Châtel
Jouy-le-Châtel
Coulommiers
Ponthieu
Saintonge
Auxerre
Foix
Eu
Beaujeu
Villefranche
Civray
Vendôme
Châtellerault
Guise
Montpensier
Aumale
Montmorency
Albret
Enghien
Perche
Graville
Penthièvre
Dreux
Mercœur
Clermont-Tonnerre
Uzès
Mayenne
Saint-Fargeau
Joyeuse
Piney-Luxembourg
Épernon
Elbeuf
Retz
Brienne
Hallwin
Montbazon
Ventadour
Beaufort
Thouars
Biron
Aiguillon
Rohan
Sully
Fronsac
Damville
Brissac
Grancey
Lesdiguières
Chevreuse
Châteauroux
Luynes
Bellegarde
Candale
Chaulnes
La Roche-Guyon
La Rochefoucauld
La Valette
Frontenay
Richelieu
Puylaurens
Saint-Simon
La Force
Valentinois
Gramont
Coligny
Châtillon/Loing
Estrées
Tresmes/Gesvres
Arpajon
Lavedan
Mortemart
Noirmoutier
La Vieuville
Rosnay
Villemor
Villeroy
Bournonville
Cardone
Créquy
Orval
Roquelaure
Verneuil
Villars-Brancas
Fayel (Le Fayel)
La Guiche
Montaut
Randan
La Meilleraye
Saint-Aignan
Noailles
Coislin
Montausier
Choiseul
Aumont
La Ferté-Senneterre (Saint-Nectaire)
La Vallière
Duras
Chârost
Saint-Cloud
Le Lude
Aubigny
Châteauvillain
Boufflers
Villars
Harcourt
Fitz-James
Antin
Rambouillet
Rohan-Rohan
Hostun
Lévis
Châtillon
Fleury
Gisors
Taillebourg
La Vauguyon
Praslin
Brunoy
Louvois
Amboise
Coigny
A type of personal peerage, instituted in 1576 for the princes of the blood of France. This practically ensures that any adult prince of the blood is a peer of France. At the age of 15, they are allowed to sit among the other Peers of the Realm. The royal princes who actually sat in respect of this type of peerage, having reached their 15th year, were as follows, at the dates indicated:
Christophe Levantal, Ducs et pairs et duchés-pairies laïques à l'époque moderne (1519-1790), Paris, 1996
The House of Bourbon is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. A branch descended from the French Bourbons came to rule Spain in the 18th century and is the current Spanish royal family. Further branches, descended from the Spanish Bourbons, held thrones in Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Today, Spain and Luxembourg have monarchs of the House of Bourbon. The royal Bourbons originated in 1272, when Robert, the youngest son of King Louis IX of France, married the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon. The house continued for three centuries as a cadet branch, serving as nobles under the direct Capetian and Valois kings.
MonsieurGaston, Duke of Orléans, was the third son of King Henry IV of France and his second wife, Marie de' Medici. As a son of the king, he was born a Fils de France. He later acquired the title Duke of Orléans, by which he was generally known during his adulthood. As the eldest surviving brother of King Louis XIII, he was known at court by the traditional honorific Monsieur.
Henri Philippe Pierre Marie d'Orléans was the Orléanist pretender to the defunct French throne as Henry VII. He used the title count of Paris.
Duke of Orléans was a French royal title usually granted by the King of France to one of his close relatives, or otherwise inherited through the male line. First created in 1344 by King Philip VI for his younger son Philip, the title was recreated by King Charles VI for his younger brother Louis, who passed the title on to his son and then to his grandson, the latter becoming King Louis XII. The title was created and recreated six times in total, until 1661, when Louis XIV bestowed it upon his younger brother Philippe, who passed it on to his male descendants, who became known as the "Orléans branch" of the Bourbons.
Duke of Bourbon is a title in the peerage of France. It was created in the first half of the 14th century for the eldest son of Robert of France, Count of Clermont, and Beatrice of Burgundy, heiress of the lordship of Bourbon. In 1416, with the death of John of Valois, the Dukes of Bourbon were simultaneously Dukes of Auvergne.
Count of Guise and Duke of Guise were titles in the French nobility.
Duke of Berry or Duchess of Berry was a title in the Peerage of France. The Duchy of Berry, centred on Bourges, was originally created as an appanage for junior members of the French royal family and was frequently granted to female royals. The style "Duke of Berry" was later granted by several Bourbon monarchs to their grandsons. The last official Duke of Berry was Charles Ferdinand of Artois, son of Charles X. The title Duke of Berry is currently being claimed through its usage as a courtesy title by Prince Alphonse de Bourbon, son of Prince Louis, Duke of Anjou, the Legitimist claimant to the French Throne.
Duke of Châtellerault is a French noble title that has been created several times, originally in the Peerage of France in 1515. It takes its name from Châtellerault, in the Vienne region.
Duke of Nemours was a title in the Peerage of France. The name refers to Nemours in the Île-de-France region of north-central France.
Fils de France was the style and rank held by the sons of the kings and dauphins of France. A daughter was known as a fille de France.
The 4th House of Orléans, sometimes called the House of Bourbon-Orléans to distinguish it, is the fourth holder of a surname previously used by several branches of the Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimate male line from the dynasty's founder, Hugh Capet. The house was founded by Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger son of Louis XIII and younger brother of Louis XIV, the "Sun King".
In the 11th and 12th centuries the Countship of Penthièvre in Brittany belonged to a branch of the sovereign House of Brittany. It initially belonged to the House of Rennes. Alan III, Duke of Brittany, gave it to his brother Eudes in 1035, and his descendants formed a cadet branch of the ducal house.
Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier, Princess of Dombes and Duchess of Orléans by marriage, was a French noblewoman and one of the last members of the House of Bourbon-Montpensier. Her parents were Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier and Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse, Duchess of Joyeuse in her own right.
A prince du sang or prince of the blood is a person legitimately descended in male line from a sovereign. The female equivalent is princess of the blood, being applied to the daughter of a prince of the blood. The most prominent examples include members of the French royal line, but the term prince of the blood has been used in other families more generally, for example among the British royal family and when referring to the Shinnōke in Japan.
The House of Bourbon-Montpensier or Maison de Bourbon-Montpensier was a semi royal family. The name of Bourbon comes from a marriage between Marie de Valois, comtesse de Montpensier (1375–1434) who married Jean de Bourbon - the duc de Bourbon. The second name of Montpensier, comes from the title of the family.
The Royal Chapel of Dreux situated in Dreux, France, is the traditional burial place of members of the House of Orléans. It is an important early building in the French adoption of Gothic Revival architecture, despite being topped by a dome. Starting in 1828, Alexandre Brogniart, director of the Sèvres porcelain manufactory, produced fired-enamel paintings on large panes of plate glass for King Louis-Philippe I, an important early French commission in Gothic Revival taste, preceded mainly by some Gothic features in a few jardins paysagers.
The Duchy of Joyeuse was created in 1581 by King Henry III of France for his favourite Anne de Joyeuse.
Duke of Longueville (Longueville-sur-Scie) was a title of French nobility, though not a peerage of France.