Seize quartiers


Seize quartiers is a French phrase which literally means a person's "sixteen quarters", the coats of arms of their sixteen great-great-grandparents quarters of nobility, which are typically accompanied by a five generation genealogy ahnentafel outlining the relationship between them and their descendant. They were used as a proof of nobility in Continental Europe beginning in the seventeenth century and achieving their highest prominence in the eighteenth. Possession of seize-quartiers guaranteed admission to any court in Europe, and bestowed many advantages. For example, Frederick the Great was known to make a study of the seize quartiers of his courtiers. They were less common in the British Isles, seventeenth-century Scottish examples being the most prevalent.
According to Arthur Charles Fox-Davies in 1909, there were very few valid examples of seize quartiers among British families outside a small group of "Roman Catholic aristocracy", and after diligent searching, he could only find two Britons who were entitled to Trente Deux Quartiers.
Some held the view that, once a family had achieved seize-quartiers, descendants in the male line would continue to be entitled to the benefits even if they continually married non-armigerous women. Their use is now generally limited to genealogical, heraldic, and antiquarian circles.