Spanish nobles are classified either as Grandees (also called Peers) or as Titled Nobles. Formerly, Grandees were divided into the first, second and third classes, but now, all Grandees are of the first class. An individual is a Grandee if he or she holds a Grandeeship, regardless of possession of a title of Nobility. Normally, however, each Grandeeship is granted along with a title, though this was not always the case. Furthermore, a Grandeeship is normally awarded along with every ducal title. A peer of any rank outranks a non-peer, even if that non-peer is of a higher grade. Thus, a Baron-Peer would outrank a Marquess who is not a peer.
Grandees are entitled to the style of Most Excellent Lord/ Lady or His/ Her Excellency.
By extension the term can refer to any important person of high status, particularly one long resident in an area possessing both land and wealth.
New Model Army
Senior officers from the landed gentry in the New Model Army who opposed the Levellers were called Grandees.
After the defeat of the King Charles I of England in the English Civil War, there were a series of debates and confrontations between the Levellers who's members were known as Agitators and the Grandees like Sir Thomas Fairfax, Oliver Cromwell and Henry Ireton, who opposed what they saw to be the radical proposals of the Agitators. The disagreements were aired publicly at the Putney Debates which started in late October 1647 and lasted for a couple of weeks.
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