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Pairie

Encyclopedia : P : PA : PAI : Pairie

For the peerage of the United Kingdom, see British peerage.
The French word pairie is the equivalent of the English peerage, in the sense of an individual title carrying the rank of Pair ('peer' in English), which derives from the Latin par 'equal', and signifies the members of an exclusive body of noblemen and prelates, considered to be the highest social order -not taking in account the dynasty- and even in a sense the 'equals' (though subjects and vassals) of the Monarch as he is seen as their primus inter pares.

The main uses of the word refer to two historical traditions in the French kingdom, before and after Napoleon I's Premier Empire. Still in French it applies to a crusader imitation. Those are treated here.

Furthermore the word is used to render the English word peerage for the British/Commonwealth equivalent and occasionally in a more generic sense, as for equivalent institutions elsewhere, also mainly listed in peerage.

There is also an etymological theory that the (French and later English) word baron, via the Latin form baro, would also derive from the Latin par, which would fit its early sense, not as a title below comital ranks but used for the whole peerage.

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French feudal pairies

Peers of the realm of France

The exalted title and position of Peer of France (French: Pair de France) was held by the greatest and highest-ranking members of the French nobility. In that respect the French kingdom's peerage was always different from the British peerage (to whom the term Barons, their lowest class, was applied in its generic sense), because the vast majority of French nobles of ranks from Baron to Duke were not Peers, the rare title of Peer of France was granted only to very few, originally only dukes and counts (including princes of the French church) and thus more prestigious. Furthermore, the English peerage would share in the growing power of Parliament, while the French pairs had no collective political role.

According to one tradition, the French king Louis VII (1137–80) decided to elevate some of his vassals, both clerics and laymen, above all others, by creating for them the peerage, a dignity attached to a specific fief (and therefore title; hence the pairies can by specified thereby, e.g. pairie-duché for duchy, pairie-comté for a countship), which was transmitted (inherited or transferred) with it, while the episcopal peerages were attached to the see.

Originally (or after some evolution?), there were twelve so-called pairies anciennes. The number twelve is said to be chosen to mirror the 12 paladins (sometimes called pares "equals, i.e. peers", but rather like King Arthur's mythical Knights of the Table Round) of Charlemagne in the Chanson de geste, so popular that these stories became so attached to the French Peerage concept that for a long time people thought it had actually originated in the reign of Charlemagne, who was considered the model king and shining example for knighthood and nobility. This dozen pairs played a role in the royal "sacre" (consecration), during liturgy of the coronation of the king (no earlier then 1179), symbolically upholding his crown, and each original peer had a specific role, often with an attribute. This paralleled the arch-offices attached to the electorates, the even more prestigious (and powerful) first college in the Holy Roman Empire, the other heir of Charlemagne's Frankish empire.

The six prelates (all prince-(arch)bishops) took precedence over the six lay vassals. While the archbishops of Reims had always crowned the French kings (since Clovis' conversion), it is less clear why the other prelates were chosen.

In each estate the first three held ducal titles, the next three comital titles:

Apart from the above consecration-sinecures, their privileges were limited to precedence, with the titles Monseigneur, Votre Grandeur and the address mon cousin ('my cousin', suggesting parentage to the royal family, or at least equivalence) by the King, and a privilegium fori (i.e. judicial proceedings pertaining to them and to their pairie-fiefs were exclusively under the jurisdiction of the court of peers, which later was incorporated into the Parliament of Paris) and a few minor honors such as entering the courtyards of royal castles in their carriages.

In time, many original lay pairies could cease; only the ecclesiastical sees were 'immortal', and only one more was created, taking precedence behind the six original sees: in 1690, for the archbishop of Paris (after centuries as a mere suffraganage), styled as second archevêque-duc as he held the duchy of Saint-Cloud.

(Others believe the origins and original significance of the college are not clear, but at the latest by the thirteenth century the peers performed special functions at royal coronations, and this was to remain one of their most important distinctions until the end of the ancien regime.

By 1216 there would have been only nine peers: the Archbishop of Reims, the bishops of Langres, Beauvais, Châlons, and Noyon, the dukes of Normandy, Burgundy, and Guyenne (Aquitaine), and the count of Champagne. The presence of Normandy -held by the English crown by Angevin heritage- was theoretical, since in French eyes it had been forfeited to the crown in 1202. A few years later (before 1228) three peers were added to make the total 12: the Bishop of Laon and the counts of Flanders and Toulouse.

Later in the thirteenth century two more lay peerages were absorbed by the crown, and so in 1297 three new peerages were created)

Beginning in 1297 with Artois, Anjou and Bretagne, French kings created new peerages, by letters patent (specifying the fief to which the peerage was attached, and the conditions under which the fief could be transmitted, e.g. only male heirs) for princes of the blood who held an apanage — by 1328, all apanagists would be pairs. The number of lay peerages increased over time from 7 in 1297 to 26 in 1400, 21 in 1505, 24 in 1588. By 1789, there were 43, including 5 held by princes of the blood (Orléans, Condé, Bourbon, Enghien, Conti), a legitimized prince (Penthièvre), and 37 other peers, ranking from Uzès (duchy created in 1572) to Aubigny (created in 1787). One family could hold several peerages; the minimum age was 25.

Lower French pairies

It was also possible for a group of nobles within a French fief to be its peers, e.g. the Prince-bishop of Cambrai, who held the countship of Cambrésis, was the overlord of its twelve pairs.

Revolutionary and Napoleonic 'inter-regnum'

The original peerage of the French realm, alike other feudal titles of nobility, was abolished during the French Revolution, notably on the night of August 4, 1789, the Night of the Abolition of Feudalism.

Napoleon I Bonaparte (Emperor of the French since 1804) 'reinvented' the functions of the anciennes pairies, so to speak, as he created in 1806 the exclusive duchés grand-fiefs (in chief of politically insignificant estates in non-annexed parts of Italy) in 1806 and first recreated the honorary functions at (his own) imperial coronation, but now vested in Great officers, not attached to fiefs.

He later reinstituted French noble titles in 1808, but did not create a system of peerages comparable to the UK. He would on paper create a House of Peers on his return from Elba in 1815), but since he had to abdicate again after 100 days (Cent jours), this remained without effect.

French Chamber of Pairs

The peerage was however revived, albeit on a different basis than the pre-revolutionary royal pairies, when the restored royal Bourbon dynasty's June 1814 constitutional charter introduced two legislative Houses modelled on the British Westminster Parliament.

The members of its Upper House, called Chambre des Pairs (French for 'Chamber of Peers'), were now appointed by the King, like the British House of Lords, without limit on their numbers (starting with 154, including all surviving old pairies, except the British-held duchy Aubigny, including only three (arch)bishoprics: Reims, Langres and Châlon; the list determined their precedence) as peerages for life or hereditary, as the king chose. Male members of the royal family and descendants in male line of previous kings (princes du sang 'princes of the blood') were pairs-nés (peers 'by birth'), but needed explicit permission from the King to seat at each session.

At first it comprised only hereditary peers, but following the July Revolution of 1830, it became a body to which one was appointed for life. In 1848, following the Revolution of 1848, the Chamber of Peers was disbanded and the Peerage of France was definitely abolished.

Crusader pairs

In the kingdom of Jerusalem, the only crusader state ranking as equal in title to such kingdoms as France (where most of its knight originated from) and England, there also was a peerage on the French model, using French language.

See also

Sources and references

 

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