Queshire
Istar
So the reason I'm posting this here rather than in the Research forum is that I'm not particularly concerned about historical accuracy so much as wrapping my head around something "good enough" for me and my readers when it comes to noble ranks.
So, going from lowest to highest based off the wikipedia page on noble titles (LINK)
Gentleman/woman: People either from noble families or can trace their lineage to nobility but don't have a title and might not be the heir to the title. I'll probably use it also for non-nobles with a certain level of prestige such as for merchants or the masters of crafting guilds.
Esquire: Basically the same as Gentleman though for someone higher on the social totem pole than the speaker.
Knight: I think we all and our readers are familiar enough with Knights. It says that Knights are also granted some land, but since for the modern day reader the idea of not being able to own land isn't something they consider I'll probably not include that perk.
Baronet: I'll be honest, I never heard about these guys before I started looking up this stuff. It looks like they started out as nobles who lost the right to take part in parliament somehow, but the interesting thing is that it looks like later it became a hereditary title that could be basically sold, though this later version still couldn't take part in parliament unlike higher ranked nobility. One incident talks about a king making 200 guys baronets but they had to either provide a large lump of money or soldiers for the war, another says about a king who made people baronets in exchange for helping fund a colonization effort or provided settlers for colonization. Now, I still don't like the term Baronet and probably won't use it, but the idea of the king selling noble titles interests me.
Baron: Huh, so it seems that any land owner with noble blood could call themselves a Baron if they didn't have a higher ranked title, but as a writer that seems lame. I think I'll have it where a Baron is in charge of a town or village sized area, though not all towns or villages would have a direct noble overseer like that.
Viscount: Says that a Viscount would often assist a Count, serving in an administrative or judicial role. I think I like that. Instead of being defined by the land they're in charge of, they would be more defined by being in charge of a specific industry. Hmmm.... I might also have them be more urban than Barons, so maybe instead of being in charge of a town or village they'd be in charge of a large town or small city?
Count: So, I only recently realized it, but the word County comes from Count. Might not be historically accurate, but that seems like a good enough rule of thumb to follow for them. Say roughly between 5 and 12 towns ranging from villages to cities? Along with the countryside around them.
Earl: Technically an Earl is the same as a Count, differing only in what country they're used in, but I don't like that. I think I'll have Earls be in charge of more developed equivalents to counties, so maybe like a county sized chunk of suburbs or a neighborhood/district/borough in a metropolis.
Marquess: I like the story behind Marquesses. Basically the same as a Count turf-wise but while a count's turf would be closer to the center of the country a Marquess' would be near the edge. As the first to get attacked in case of an invasion and the furthest away from the king's eye if they decide to scheme against him it was important that the Marquess could be trusted. So, with that I'll have them be in charge of land equivalent to a count's but have their lands be the most distant, isolated, or exotic ones. So, like if there was a Fairy's Forest a Marquess would be in charge of the land around it even if it isn't that distant.
Prince: Well, naturally there's the kids of of the king and queen, but it looks like in the Holy Roman Empire it was also used for the guys in charge of one of the principalities regardless of whether they were part of the monarch's immediate family. I like that. I think I'll use Prince or Princess for the guys in charge of places that operate outside of the standard town-county-duchy system.
Duke: So the Duchy would be made up of various counties, earldoms, whatever a Marquess' turf would be called and could be thought of as one of the provinces or regions that make up the country. To put it in modern day terms, it'd be like one of the states of the US, though I imagine most readers would think of something much smaller when it comes to a Duchy. Say equate a state to a kingdom when it comes to fantasy writing then a duchy would be one of the regions of the state? In either case, seems simple enough.
Prince v2: The wikipedia article ranks Prince and Princess' in the form of members of the royal family here, but considering the type of shenanigans a prince or princess can get away with in fantasy land, I think I prefer them ranked back their with the first version of Prince / Princesses.
Grand Duke: Hmmmm.... says that grand duke came about when rank inflation eventually meant that being a regular duke wasn't worth as much. For territories too small to be a Kingdom, but too big to be a single Duchy. Hmmm.... I figure it would mostly come up on an Empire scale? While a Kingdom might be made up of various Duchies, an Empire would be made up of various Grand Duchies which would be made up of regular Duchies in turn?
Archduke:Higher than Duke or Prince but lower than King or Emperor? Only used for Austria? 0.o Hmmm.... In my story I'd probably have an Archduchy be someplace that's managed to retain a decent amount of independence within the Empire. Yeah, that sounds good to me.
King: The person in charge of a country naturally. Made up of various Duchies.
Emperor: If the King is in charge of a single country and emperor would be in charge of land equal to multiple countries. However, I feel that it would strain willing suspension of disbelief among the readers (regardless of potential accuracy or inaccuracy) for an Emperor to have Kings underneath him since King suggests a level of political independence which would be a threat to an Emperor. So for my story I think I'd have the Emperor get rid of Kings and instead of Grand Dukes or Archdukes underneath him.
Anyways, a large part of this was just me getting my thoughts down on paper, but any thoughts, questions, or comments about this would be welcome.
So, going from lowest to highest based off the wikipedia page on noble titles (LINK)
Gentleman/woman: People either from noble families or can trace their lineage to nobility but don't have a title and might not be the heir to the title. I'll probably use it also for non-nobles with a certain level of prestige such as for merchants or the masters of crafting guilds.
Esquire: Basically the same as Gentleman though for someone higher on the social totem pole than the speaker.
Knight: I think we all and our readers are familiar enough with Knights. It says that Knights are also granted some land, but since for the modern day reader the idea of not being able to own land isn't something they consider I'll probably not include that perk.
Baronet: I'll be honest, I never heard about these guys before I started looking up this stuff. It looks like they started out as nobles who lost the right to take part in parliament somehow, but the interesting thing is that it looks like later it became a hereditary title that could be basically sold, though this later version still couldn't take part in parliament unlike higher ranked nobility. One incident talks about a king making 200 guys baronets but they had to either provide a large lump of money or soldiers for the war, another says about a king who made people baronets in exchange for helping fund a colonization effort or provided settlers for colonization. Now, I still don't like the term Baronet and probably won't use it, but the idea of the king selling noble titles interests me.
Baron: Huh, so it seems that any land owner with noble blood could call themselves a Baron if they didn't have a higher ranked title, but as a writer that seems lame. I think I'll have it where a Baron is in charge of a town or village sized area, though not all towns or villages would have a direct noble overseer like that.
Viscount: Says that a Viscount would often assist a Count, serving in an administrative or judicial role. I think I like that. Instead of being defined by the land they're in charge of, they would be more defined by being in charge of a specific industry. Hmmm.... I might also have them be more urban than Barons, so maybe instead of being in charge of a town or village they'd be in charge of a large town or small city?
Count: So, I only recently realized it, but the word County comes from Count. Might not be historically accurate, but that seems like a good enough rule of thumb to follow for them. Say roughly between 5 and 12 towns ranging from villages to cities? Along with the countryside around them.
Earl: Technically an Earl is the same as a Count, differing only in what country they're used in, but I don't like that. I think I'll have Earls be in charge of more developed equivalents to counties, so maybe like a county sized chunk of suburbs or a neighborhood/district/borough in a metropolis.
Marquess: I like the story behind Marquesses. Basically the same as a Count turf-wise but while a count's turf would be closer to the center of the country a Marquess' would be near the edge. As the first to get attacked in case of an invasion and the furthest away from the king's eye if they decide to scheme against him it was important that the Marquess could be trusted. So, with that I'll have them be in charge of land equivalent to a count's but have their lands be the most distant, isolated, or exotic ones. So, like if there was a Fairy's Forest a Marquess would be in charge of the land around it even if it isn't that distant.
Prince: Well, naturally there's the kids of of the king and queen, but it looks like in the Holy Roman Empire it was also used for the guys in charge of one of the principalities regardless of whether they were part of the monarch's immediate family. I like that. I think I'll use Prince or Princess for the guys in charge of places that operate outside of the standard town-county-duchy system.
Duke: So the Duchy would be made up of various counties, earldoms, whatever a Marquess' turf would be called and could be thought of as one of the provinces or regions that make up the country. To put it in modern day terms, it'd be like one of the states of the US, though I imagine most readers would think of something much smaller when it comes to a Duchy. Say equate a state to a kingdom when it comes to fantasy writing then a duchy would be one of the regions of the state? In either case, seems simple enough.
Prince v2: The wikipedia article ranks Prince and Princess' in the form of members of the royal family here, but considering the type of shenanigans a prince or princess can get away with in fantasy land, I think I prefer them ranked back their with the first version of Prince / Princesses.
Grand Duke: Hmmmm.... says that grand duke came about when rank inflation eventually meant that being a regular duke wasn't worth as much. For territories too small to be a Kingdom, but too big to be a single Duchy. Hmmm.... I figure it would mostly come up on an Empire scale? While a Kingdom might be made up of various Duchies, an Empire would be made up of various Grand Duchies which would be made up of regular Duchies in turn?
Archduke:Higher than Duke or Prince but lower than King or Emperor? Only used for Austria? 0.o Hmmm.... In my story I'd probably have an Archduchy be someplace that's managed to retain a decent amount of independence within the Empire. Yeah, that sounds good to me.
King: The person in charge of a country naturally. Made up of various Duchies.
Emperor: If the King is in charge of a single country and emperor would be in charge of land equal to multiple countries. However, I feel that it would strain willing suspension of disbelief among the readers (regardless of potential accuracy or inaccuracy) for an Emperor to have Kings underneath him since King suggests a level of political independence which would be a threat to an Emperor. So for my story I think I'd have the Emperor get rid of Kings and instead of Grand Dukes or Archdukes underneath him.
Anyways, a large part of this was just me getting my thoughts down on paper, but any thoughts, questions, or comments about this would be welcome.