A Short History of the British Peerage

Where it began: 1066 and the feudal bargain

When William the Conqueror took England in 1066, he claimed all its land as his own and shared it out among the followers who had backed him. In return they owed him loyalty, taxes and knights for war. This was the feudal bargain, and the men who held their land directly from the king, the tenants-in-chief, became the first English nobility. The earliest of them were barons.

The ranks take shape

The five ranks of the peerage did not appear all at once. They were added over four centuries as kings needed new ways to reward and rank their nobles. Earl was the oldest, carried over from Anglo-Saxon England. Baron was the feudal foundation. The rest were borrowed from the continent and layered on top.

• Pre-1066Earl, the oldest English title, from the Anglo-Saxon eorl
• 11th c.Baron, the feudal foundation of the whole peerage
• 1337Duke, first created for Edward, the Black Prince
• 1385Marquess, for nobles guarding the borderlands
• 1440Viscount, the newest of the five degrees

See how they rank against each other today in the full order of precedence.

Honours and the peerage: two different things

Alongside the peerage grew a second kind of title: the honour. Knighthoods, and later damehoods, reward personal achievement rather than land or bloodline. A knight is a Sir and a Dame holds the female equivalent, but neither sits in the peerage proper. The distinction still holds today: a peer is a Lord, a knight is a Sir.

Lords, Parliament and the House of Lords

The barons summoned to advise the king formed the great council that, over centuries, became Parliament. The peers sat in what grew into the House of Lords, and for most of British history a hereditary title came with a seat and a say in how the country was run. The barons who forced King John to seal Magna Carta in 1215 are the most famous example of that power.

The peerage today

Two changes reshaped the peerage in modern times. The Life Peerages Act of 1958 allowed titles granted for a single lifetime that cannot be inherited, opening the Lords to people recognised for service in every field, from science to business. And reform has steadily reduced the number of hereditary peers who sit in Parliament. The titles remain, rich with history, even as their political role has faded.

Want a title of your own?

You cannot inherit a thousand years of lineage, and a real peerage cannot be bought. What you can do is legally change your title and hold a genuine title pack of your own. See how to become a Lord for the routes, or are Lord titles real and legal? for the honest detail.