Late Medieval Forms of Address

It was always my impression that the first time you met someone, you used their special title, and afterwards you were permitted to call them 'Sir' or 'Lady.'

Special titles:

Esquires: I don't know. Maybe 'The Honorable?'
Knights: always 'Sir??'
Barons: Lord
Dukes: Your Grace
King: Your Majesty
Emperor: Kaiser (if he's the Holy Roman Emperor) Tsar (If he's Ivan the Terrible) I think that the Byzantine emperor was called...(this wiki site has a few titles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_emperor)
Now, I don't know if these conventions are late middle ages, or came later?

It depends on what you mean by "late Medieval", but I've found this site useful for terms of address. It's also worth checking out if your local library has a copy of Debretts, which gives more formal advice on how to address the nobs.

Sarpedon:
King: Your Majesty

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This is why the exact time period is important because in the 16th century, the monarch was referred to as "Your Grace".

MM

His/Her/Your Imperial Majesty for emperors and empresses

From Wikipedia:

His/Her Imperial Majesty (abbreviation HIM, oral address Your Imperial Majesty) — Emperors and Empresses
His/Her Imperial and Royal Majesty (abbreviation HI&RM, oral address Your Imperial and Royal Majesty) — Emperors and Empresses who were simultaneously Kings and Queens, such as the German Emperor and Emperor of Austria
His/Her Apostolic Majesty (abbreviation HAM, oral address Your Apostolic Majesty) — the King of Hungary, usually styled Imperial Majesty or Imperial and Royal Majesty as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, also sometimes Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty
His/Her Catholic Majesty (abbreviation HCM, oral address Your Catholic Majesty) — the King of Spain
His/Her Most Faithful Majesty (abbreviation HFM, oral address Your Most Faithful Majesty) — the King of Portugal
His/Her Majesty (abbreviation HM, oral address Your Majesty) — Kings, Queens and Sultans
His/Her Imperial Highness (abbreviation HIH, oral address Your Imperial Highness) — other members of an imperial House
His/Her Imperial and Royal Highness (abbreviation HI&RH, oral address Your Imperial and Royal Highness) — Archdukes of the Habsburg family, the German Crown Prince, German Crown Princess and members of the Brazilian Imperial Family; also women with one style by birth and the other by marriage
His/Her Royal Highness (abbreviation HRH, oral address Your Royal Highness) — other members of a Royal House, reigning grand dukes, members of some grand ducal houses, some princes consort
His/Her Grand Ducal Highness (abbreviation HGDH, oral address Your Grand Ducal Highness) — junior members of some grand ducal houses
His/Her Highness (abbreviation HH, oral address, Your Highness) — reigning dukes and members of reigning ducal houses, members of some grand ducal houses, junior members of some royal houses, emirs and sheikhs, also princes or princesses of nobility in several European countries, not belonging to a royal house
His/Her Ducal Serene Highness (abbreviation HDSH, oral address, Your Ducal Serene Highness — members of some ducal houses
His/Her Serene Highness (abbreviation HSH, oral address Your Serene Highness) — sovereign or mediatized Fürst ("Prince") and his family - this is a mistranslation from German Durchlaucht, the correct form should be His/Her Serenity
His/Her Illustrious Highness (abbreviation HIllH, oral address Your Illustrious Highness) — sovereign or mediatized Count and his family - this is a mistranslation too, from German Erlaucht; it should be correctly His/Her Illustriousness
His/Her Highborn - counts, barons in several European countries, and also marquesses and viscounts in the Netherlands
His/Her Grace - peers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
His/Her High Well-born - knights and untitled noble persons in several European countries, and also barons in the Netherlands
His/Her Excellency (abbreviation HE, oral address Your Excellency) — Governors-General
The English style Serene Highness and even more Illustrious Highness goes back to an incorrect translation. These styles originally did not exist in English-speaking countries.

His/Her Serene Highness = German: Seine/Ihre Durchlaucht; His/Her Illustrious Highness = German: Seine/Ihre Erlaucht; Italian: Sua Illustrissima; Spanish: Su Ilustrísima

For example, Sir Ranulph Dacre is also the Baron of Dacre.

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only if his surname is the same as the area he is Baron of. If he's the Baron of Dacre, he'd be known as Lord Dacre, even if his actual surname is Smith.

see this thread for more info.

zornhau said:

(I've googled, but was rather swamped by the results. If anybody could help me out, I'd be most grateful.)

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Go read the Paston Letters

Go on, just google it .. .

Sirrah is another form, usually used by nobles for servants or commoners. Check shakespeares 15th century plays such as Richard III.

For Maxmordon (I didn't want to quote the whole thing):

Good God, Max.

Victor Hugo, in his vastly underrated masterpiece The Man Who Laughs, has an entire satiric section devoted to how to address and behave in 18th Century England with people of the various classes of nobility. It's both hysterical and heartbreaking (Hugo was good at that combo).

caw

Princess Leia - Your Worship

zornhau said:

Thanks. Since I have a degree in Medieval History*, I am aware of the Paston Letters. However, I'm trying to avoid bogging myself down in research at this stage.

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Well of course not; that makes perfect sense. It's much easier to ask other people to do your research for you.

As Maxmordon's post shows, it would be easily possible to get very bogged down in minutiae when dealing with titles. In a fantasy work, you fortunately can invent your own system; what matters is being consistent, I think. Perhaps the main thing to keep in mind is that we live (in the 21st Century and especially in the USA) is an extremely informal society (which some of us may dislike a bit...), and that informality is not a characteristic of late Medieval societies (or virtually any others, I believe). So use those titles. And not just for nobles. In my own writing, it's every bit as important for well-bred people to show respect for their inferiors by using "goodman" or "goodwife," (for the lowest), "master" or "mistress" (for the burghers, or older people, or someone you want to flatter; "young master/mistress" for those under 25 or so), as it is to call a baron "your Grace", a member of the royal family "your Highness", and the Emperor "your Majesty" (or "sire" in subsequent references in the same conversation, should one be fortunate enough to converse with his Imperial Majesty). Knights whose name you do not know are addressed as "sir knight," but members of the illustrious Sovereign Order (of Imperial Knights of the Sword of Glory, to give them their full monicker) are called "lord knight". People at court will often refer to the Emperor as "H.M."(pronouncing the letters), as a respectful shorthand, but not of course in front of him.

Inventing titles and modes of address is important for a very hierarchical society; have fun and be consistent.
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For ranks: don't forget Counts. "Sirrah" is an insulting term, applied by (arrogant) nobles to nobodies.

Medievalist said:

Well of course not; that makes perfect sense. It's much easier to ask other people to do your research for you.

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That had a nasty little bite to it, didn't it?

zornhau said:

But since I generally pop up to answer Western Martial Arts and Medieval military questions, I don't think I need to feel too guilty!

There's always a good chance that somebody has a similar passion for historic social customs and can help me without too much effort.

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Yes, you have popped up, and been a HUGE help, and incredibly patient with those of us asking questions regarding swords and archery...no matter how ridiculous our questions may seem to a professional in said field.
Here's what I found by taking a few minutes to see if I could return the favor:
Many titles that we take for granted today such as Marquis, Baroness, Duchess, and such were unknown through most of the Middle Ages.
Quick list of forms of address:
King = Your Grace, Sire, Your Majesty
Queen = Your Grace, Your Majesty
Lords = milord, m'lord
Ladies = milady, m'lady
Earl's wife = Countess

This info gathered from:
Everyday Life in the Middle Ages The British Isles From 500-1500

I'll keep looking & post again if I find any good nuggets of info.

Sarpedon said:

Emperor: Kaiser (if he's the Holy Roman Emperor) Tsar (If he's Ivan the Terrible) I think that the Byzantine emperor was called...(this wiki site has a few titles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_emperor)
Now, I don't know if these conventions are late middle ages, or came later?

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Kaiser and Tsar are both translations of "Caesar," for the record. A lot of emperors seem to have liked to think they were the heirs to the Roman empire.

The King of England was referred to as "Your Grace" until the second half of the reign of Henry VIII. Before Anne Boleyn, his title was changed to "Your Majesty" some time during Wosley's ascendance, as I recollect.