Retracing Our Family Legacy

An Outline of the English Cast System

 I. SOVEREIGNTY
      king, queen
      prince, princess
II. SUBJECTS
    A. ECCLESIASTICAL (CLERGY)
    B. STATES
       1. MILITARY
       2. MARITIME
       3. CIVIL
          a. Nobility (peerage, sometimes called "high nobility")
               i.  Duke
              ii.  Marquis
             iii.  Earl, Count
              iv.  Viscount
               v.  Baron
                     lord or nobleman; the most general title of nobility in England
                     judge of the court of exchequer
                     vassel holding directly from the king
          b. Dignity (degrees of honor, sometimes called "low nobility" though not nobility)
               Knights Baneret, created by sovereign in person on field of battle
                 Can lead vassels into battle under his own banner.
               Knight (not hereditary), a soldier, assistant to a superior 
                 commonly in return for land, "sir", a mounted man of arms serving a superior
                 Knights of the Garter, aka Knights of the Order of St. George
                 Baronet, granted by patent, lowest hereditary dignity or degree 
                   of honor but not a title of nobility, baronets are commoners
                 Knights Baneret, created by sovereign NOT in person on field of battle
                    can lead vassels into battle under his own banner.
                 Knights of the Bath (took a bath the night before his creation)
                   The order originally consisted of the sovereign, grand master, 
                   and 36 knights companion
                 Knights Bachelors (the lowest, but most ancient of the ranks of knight)
                 Knights of the Chamber (title awarded in sovereign's chamber in peacetime)
               Esquire
                 title of office for sheriffs, serjeants, barristers at law, justices, 
                 and others
               Gentleman
                 One without title, but with a coat of arms showing ancestry
                 A person of superior birth, above a yeoman.
               Yeoman
                 yeoman, freeholder, a man freeborn, butler for nobility, 
                 gentleman attendant in royal household, "young man"
            c. Peasant
                 serf, countryman, tiller of the soil, laborer