In the early modern period, the term precedence – borrowed from Latin praecedere (precede, surpass) or praecedentia (previousness), no longer common today in this sense – denoted the priority or advantage of one person or group over another. Precedence was of special significance especially on ceremonial occasions (Ceremonial). This phenomenon was based on the notion, characteristic of early Europeans societies as a whole, that human society is a divinely ordained hierarchy in which each individual has a fixed rank dependent on his estate (Estates of the realm) and the meri…