Nobility of the First French Empire

[1] Like many others, both before and since, Napoleon found that the ability to confer titles was also a useful tool of patronage which cost the state little.

The Grand Dignitaries of the French Empire ranked, regardless of noble title, immediately behind the Princes of France.

Ennoblement started in 1804 with the creation of princely titles for members of Napoleon's family, the House of Bonaparte.

This step, which aimed at the introduction of a stable elite, was fully in line with the creation of the Legion of Honour and of life senatorial peerages.

A council of the seals and titles [fr] was also created and charged with establishing armorial bearings, and had a monopoly of this new nobility.

The title of marquis was not used during the First Empire, and it therefore became very fashionable after the Bourbon Restoration, since it was not perceived to be tainted by the Napoleonic creations.

As many grantees were self-made men, and the arms often alluded to their life or specific actions, many new or unusual charges were also introduced.

In this system, the arms of knights had an ordinary gules, charged with the emblem of the Legion of Honour; barons a quarter gules in chief sinister, charged with marks of the specific rank or function; counts a quarter azure in chief dexter, charged with marks of the specific rank or function; and dukes had a chief gules semé of stars argent.

Military barons and counts had a sword on their quarter, members of the Conseil d'Etat had a chequy, ministers had a lion's head, prefects had a wall beneath an oak branch, mayors had a wall, landowners had a wheat stalk, judges had a balance, members of academies had a palm, etc.