Editing Duke (section)

== France ==
{{main|Dukes in France}}
{{see also|Appanage#Original appanage: in France}}

The highest precedence in the realm, attached to a feudal territory, was given to the twelve original [[pairie]]s (en: ''peers''), who also had a traditional function in the royal coronation, comparable to the German imperial archoffices.

Half of them were ducal: three ecclesiastical (the six prelates all ranked above the six secular peers of the realm) and three temporal, each time above three counts of the same social estate.

The ''[[Prince-Bishop]]s'' with ducal territories among them were:
* The [[Archbishop of Reims]], styled ''archevêque-duc pair de France'' (in Champagne; who crowns and anoints the king, traditionally in his cathedral)
* Two [[suffragan bishop]]s, styled ''evêque-duc pair de France'' :
** the bishop-duke of [[Laon]] (in Picardy; bears the 'Sainte Ampoule' containing the sacred ointment)
** the bishop-duc de [[Langres]] (in Burgundy; bears the scepter)
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.

The secular dukes in the peerage of the realm were, again in order of precedence:
* The [[Duke of Burgundy]] or ''duc de Bourgogne'' (known as ''Grand duc''; not a separate title at that time; just a description of the wealth and real clout of the 15th-century dukes, cousins of the kings of France) (bears the crown, fastens the belt)
* The [[Duke of Normandy]] or ''duc de Normandie ''(holds the first square banner)
* The [[Duke of Aquitaine]] or ''duc d'Aquitaine'' or ''de Guyenne'' (holds the second square banner)

The theory of the participation of the peers in the coronation was laid down in the late 13th century, when some of the peerage (the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Toulouse) had already been merged in the crown.

At the end of this same century, the king elevated some counties into duchies, a practice that increased up until the Revolution. Many of these duchies were also peerages (the so-called 'new peerages').