The highest precedence in the realm, attached to a feudal territory, was given to the twelve original pairies, which had originated in the Middle Ages and also had a traditional function in the royal coronation, comparable to the German imperial archoffices. Half of them were Dukes and half of them Counts. Of these, three were ecclesiastical and three were secular. Of these twelve, the prelates all ranked above the secular peers of the realm and three temporal, and the dukes all ranked above the counts.
Ecclesiastical Dukes
The Prince-Bishops with ducal territories included:
Later, the Archbishop of Paris was given the title of duc de Saint-Cloud with the dignity of peerage, but it was debated if he was an ecclesiastical peer or merely a bishop holding a lay peerage.
Duke of Normandy, peer of France: mightiest vassal of the French crown, later also kings of England. By privilege, they cannot be summoned by the King of France beyond the borders of the duchy of Normandy; King John of England had attempted to invoke this privilege to avoid the summons of Philip Augustus to his court in Paris. Merged into the French crown, circa 1204.
Duke of Aquitaine, peer of France: largest landholder of southwestern France, also rulers of Gascony and Poitou. Merged into the French crown, circa 1204. Reconstituted as the duchy of Guyenne in 1259 for the King of England by Saint Louis.
Duke of Burgundy, peer of France: held by a cadet line of the Kings of France. At some point the duke of Burgundy gained precedence over those of Normandy and Aquitaine in the French coronation ceremony.
Duke of Bourbon: originally a lordship, raised to the status of a duchy-peerage by Charles IV in 1327.
Early Modern period
At the end of the 13th century, the King elevated some counties into duchies, a practice that increased through the early modern period until the French Revolution. Many of this duchies were also peerages, so-called new peerages. Ducal titles traditionally held by princes of the royal blood:
The title of "duke and peer" is one of the highest honors in the French nobility, ranking just after the princes of the blood, which are themselves the direct descendants of the royal blood and are considered peers by birth. The word peer comes from the Latin paris, meaning "equal in dignity". The peers of the Middle Ages and of the modern period were not descended from the peers, or paladins, Carolingian heroes of song. They were descended from the great possessors of fiefs, members of the curia regis, since the duty to advise was vassalic obligation. The ancient peerages of France were twelve: six were ecclesiastical and six were lay; six were counts and six were dukes. The ecclesiastical peers, joined in 1690 by the Archbishop of Paris, Duke of Saint-Cloud, François Harlay, survived intact until the Revolution of 1789. In contrast the original lay peerages disappeared with the gradual annexation of their territories to the royal domain. The peerage was then at the disposal of royalty who granted the dignity to his faithful servants. The creations were particularly numerous in the 17th and 18th centuries. Some families accumulated peerages, and in 1723, 38 families had 52 peerages. From the 17th century the peerage was conferred only to dukes. In 1789, there were 43 peers of which 6 were princes of the blood. Peerage was normally hereditary in the male line, though the king could extend it to the female line and even to the collateral lines. It was extinguished with aristocratic lineage that had benefited from the creation. Ecclesiastical peerages were transmitted to the next holder of the episcopal see. Since 1667, the political power of the peers was much reduced; they no longer attended the King's Council. In contrast, they could, when they wished, attend the sessions of the Parlement of Paris, where they could carry a sword to the chagrin of judges. They sat on the right of the First President in the order of their dignity and the date of the creation of their peerage. Except for lit de justice, they were first to give their opinion after the presidents and councilors of parliament. The dignity was largely ceremonial. Peers occupied a spot directly below the members of the royal family. The king addressed them "my cousin", and were called Monseigneur or Votre grandeur. They could dance with members of the royal family, enter the royal castles in their carriages, and duchesses were entitled to tabouret when with the queen. They participated in the king's coronation, if there were no princes of the blood or legitimated princes. The Duke of Saint-Simon is the greatest representative of peer attachment to their dignity; he fiercely defended their rights against encroachment. The revenues of peers consisted of feudal dues, property income, salaries for functions exercised at Court and pensions granted by the king. In the 18th century the peerage became a caste, with over half of matrimonial alliances taking place between similarly-ranked families.
