List of French marquisates

The following page contains an incomplete list (A-Z) of marquisates (French marquisat) that exist or formerly existed in France or within its conquered provinces. They were created by the kings of France and Spain, the dukes of Savoy and Lorraine, the popes in Comtat Venaissin, and other sovereign lords in the present-day Republic of France.

From the late Middle Ages until the French revolution, marquisates were mainly raised by letters patent. In a few cases other official acts, such as brevets royal, were used to create marquisates. These marquisates were given to members of princely houses, nobles, officials, soldiers or land-owners as rewards.

Currently, there does not exist a complete list of marquisates (or other marquess titles, which are not covered in this list), in part, because their creations were numerous, especially during the reigns of Louis XIV and XV.

This list also contains "marquisates of usage", which may only be courtesy titles used by descendants of those who assumed titles, or may be legally created but incompletely documented marquisates. Due to loss of records in fires, wars and deliberate destruction during the French revolution, it has not been established that these seigneuries were ever raised to formal marquisates. Recent archive findings have shown that some titles previously believed to be only courtesy titles are, in fact, raised marquisates.

In the "Type" column is an acronym or symbol that identifies the type of marquisate (or margraviate) in that row.

• LP indicates a marquisate created by letters patent.
• BR indicates a marquisate created by brevet royal.
• C LP or C BR indicates a title older than the marquisate is associated with that fief or family; that is, the family had a different title before they acquired the marquisate.
• * (asterisk) indicates the marquisate's validity is uncertain.
• TC indicates a confirmed, hereditary courtesy title used with a fief.
• FD indicates a feudal marquisate or a margraviate.

The titleholder of a marquisate before the French revolution was addressed as Marquis de X. The title was attached to the fief, therefore a non-noble purchaser of a marquisate needed royal confirmation to properly bear the title. Otherwise, he or she could formally only be styled Seigneur/Dame de Marquisat de X (Lord/Lady of the Marquisate of X). Enforcement in this matter was fairly lax, however, and confirmations were rather few, which often did not hinder usage of the title of marquis. In most cases, once a fief was raised, the feudal rank of marquisate remained even if the fief passed to new owners through marriage, inheritance, or purchase. In the following list, titles borne by descendants of a title-user who had not obtained confirmation at the time of the revolution, are designated in the Current Status column as parenthetically "(Extant)", while titles still borne by a descendant of the first beneficiary are designated as "Extant".

With the French revolution, feudalism was abolished and titles became disconnected from the land to which they were previously attached. Therefore, after the French revolution, it was no longer possible to purchase a marquisate and thereby obtain the title of marquis, or any other noble title.. Only a few marquisates in France were specifically transferable through marriage (unlike Italy and Spain).. This means many titles became extinct when the last direct male descendant of the pre-revolutionary titleholder died. An adoption of another male person by the last, legal, male title holder could, in some respects, be treated as a legal transfer of the title itself,, but never a transfer of nobility if the adopted male was not noble.