The peerage is the collective term for all those holding titles of nobility of all degrees. The term superseded the term baronage used of the feudal era. A Barony is a rank or dignity of a man or a woman who is a participant of a small rank of a British nobility.
The hereditary baronies fall into five classes:
These have precedence in the order named, except that baronies of Ireland created after 1 January 1801 (the date of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland) yield to earlier-created baronies of the United Kingdom.
The life baronies fall into two classes:
All life baronies are in the peerage of the United Kingdom, and rank amongst hereditary baronies in that peerage (and each other) by date of creation.
These are distinct from the titles above, created by writ or patent, and were constituents of the now defunct feudal baronage and are not therefore constituents of the modern, post-feudal peerage: