|  Forms of Address 
The
English Peerage
Information collected and researched by Matthew Duvall
KING/QUEEN
ADDRESSING THE KING: Your Majesty, Your Majesty King Henry, My Liege
(only if he is your monarch), Most Dread Sovereign
ADDRESSING THE QUEEN: Your Majesty, Your Majesty Queen Anne
TALKING ABOUT THEM: His/Her Majesty, His/Her Majesty King/Queen <first
name>, Good King/Queen <first name>, King/Queen <first name>,
The King/Queen
PRINCE/PRINCESS
ADDRESSING BOTH: Your Highness, Your Highness Prince/Princess <first
name>
TALKING ABOUT BOTH: His/Her Highness, His/Her Highness Prince/Princess
<first name>, Prince/Princess <first name>
DUKE/DUCHESS
ADDRESSING A DUKE: Example: Lord Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk
Your Grace, Your Grace Duke Suffolk, (My) Lord Suffolk
TALKING ABOUT A DUKE: His Grace, (His Grace) the Duke of Suffolk, Lord
Charles (Brandon)
ADDRESSING A DUCHESS: Example: Lady Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond
My Lady, (My) Lady Mary or (My) Lady Richmond
TALKING ABOUT A DUCHESS: Lady Mary, Lady Richmond
MARQUESS/MARCHIONESS
(Called
Marquis on the Continent)
ADDRESSING A MARQUESS: My example is Sir Henry Courtenay, Marquess of
Exeter
My Lord, (My) Lord/Sir Henry, (My) Lord Exeter
TALKING ABOUT A MARQUESS: Lord/Sir Henry, Lord/Sir Henry Courtenay, Lord
Exeter
ADDRESSING & TALKING ABOUT A MARCHIONESS: Same as Duchess
EARL/COUNTESS
(Called Count/Countess on the Continent)
ADDRESSING & TALKING ABOUT AN EARL: Same as Marquess
ADDRESSING & TALKING ABOUT A COUNTESS: Same as Duchess & Marchioness
VISCOUNT/VISCOUNTESS
ADDRESSING & TALKING ABOUT A VISCOUNT: Same as Marquess & Earl
ADDRESSING & TALKING ABOUT A VISCOUNTESS: Same as Duchess, Marchioness
& Countess
BARON/BARONESS
ADDRESSING & TALKING ABOUT A BARON: Same as Marquess, Earl & Viscount
ADDRESSING & TALKING ABOUT A BARONESS: Same as Duchess, Marchioness,
Countess & Viscountess
Baronetcies do not exist in this period.
A
NOTE ABOUT KNIGHTS & THEIR WIVES
Knights are gentry, not nobles. Knighthoods are earned, not inherited.
The term "Sir" is used before the first name of the knight,
NEVER the last name. Example: Sir Anthony Browne is a knight. He can be
properly called Sir Anthony, but NOT Sir Browne. If you are going to refer
to him by his last name, you would call him Master Browne. Wives of knights
are referred to like noblewomen, with "My Lady", or "Lady
<first name>." A unique form of address for these women is
<first name>, Lady <last name> , such as in Frances, Lady
Parker-Trumpington. They are NOT called dames.
THE
SCOTTISH PEERAGE
Similar
to the English Peerage with the following big exceptions: there are no
Princes/Princesses, Marquesses/Marchionesses or Viscounts/Viscountesses
in Scotland in 1533. So the Peerage goes...
KING/QUEEN
Use the same forms of address when talking to and about Queen Margaret
of Scotland as you would when doing so of Queen Anne.
DUKE/DUCHESS
There's only one Scottish duke in 1533: John Stewart, Duke of Albany.
The king's male heir -- there isn't one in 1533 -- is entitled the Duke
of Rothesay Use the same forms of address when talking to and about the
Duke of Albany as you would with an English duke.
EARL/COUNTESS
Scotland has 21 earls in 1533, several of whom are very powerful and directly
in line for the throne. The most prominent are often addressed by their
own people as "Your Grace". However, the forms of address an
English earl would get are certainly appropriate for Scottish ones as
well.
LAIRD/LADY
(Highlands & Midlands) or BARON/LADY
(Lowlands)
Same station as barons in England, and are addressed as such.
NOTE:
Scottish baron and earl characters at Faire refer to themselves as "lairds",
not "lords". Thus Avery MacDuff, Earl of Fife calls himself
and is referred to by his countrymen (and socially conscious non-Scots)
as Laird Avery MacDuff or Laird Avery. He could also be called Laird Fife.
HELPFUL
HINTS FOR NOBLE TITLES
NEVER refer to a Lord, Laird, Sir or Lady by these titles and then their
LAST name. Either their first name (Sir is always followed by a first
name, and the others can be as well) or the name of their lands (Lord
Beauchamp for Sir Henry Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp) follows. Calling
one of the Seymour brothers "Lord Seymour", for example, is
generic and considered quite rude.
ONLY a member of the peerage of equal level or higher may call a peer
by just their title. The dukes of Albany and Suffolk can call each other
"Good Albany" or "Sufffolk" (and their kings could
do the same with them), but no one of lower rank could call them that.
OTHERS
The Imperial peerage is very complex, so I won't go in to it. But the
Archduchess Sabine is equivalent to a princess and thus is called Your
Imperial Highness, Your Highness or Your Excellency (because she's an
ambassador)
There are also certain members of the village that hold political titles/posts.
Just a few are Lord High Sheriff Sir Benjamin Bloode and Lord Banks Sir
Percival Pettijohn (tax collector).
We have a few Spanish peers at Faire this year as well – a duke, a marquis
(marquess), a condesca (coutness) and a vizcondesca (viscountess). Address
them as you would their English equivalents, or default to "My Lord"
and "My Lady."
ADDRESS
FOR THE CLERGY
The Pope (Your Holiness, His Holiness, His Holiness the Pope, His Holiness
Pope Clement)
Archbishops (Your Eminence, His Eminence, His Eminence the Archbishop
of Canterbury)
Bishops (Your Grace, His Grace, His Grace the Bishop of Durham)
Abbots (My Lord)
Priests (Father <first name>)
Monks & Nuns (Brother or Sister <first name>
ADDRESS
FOR THE GENTRY
Gentry characters are often refereed to as Master <first name> or
Mistress <first name>. Craftsmen are as well, with their trade at
the end – Master Mercer is an appropriate form of address for Sachiko,
for example.
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