When creating an ordered list of groups, it’s important to establish rules for how they’re sorted. Here is the logic I’ve used to ordering the branches in the Armorial of Precedence and the Shire Precedence Project.

General Rules:

1. 1. The Armorial of Precedence is arranged first by the rank, then the effective date, of the branch. The ranks of branches in descending order are:
      1. Kingdoms
      2. Principalities
      3. Baronies and Provinces
      4. Shires, Marches, and Dominions
      5. Cantons, Ridings, Colleges, Ports, Strongholds, and other dependent subgroups (not included in the scope of this project)
   2. The effective date of a branch will be when it attained a rank at or above its current status.
      1. Branches that are run by the Crown or their Regents (Kingdoms, Principalities, Baronies, and the Crown Province of Ostgardr) are measured by the date the first ruler was invested with their office (“when metal hit head”)
      2. Branches that do not have Royal representation (Shires, Marches, and Dominions) are measured by the date their group was officially recognized in court by the Crown, at or above their current rank.
   3. Movement up the ranks of branches will create a new effective date, while movement down the ranks will either maintain or revert to the older date. A principality that becomes a kingdom has a new effective date based on their coronation. A group that started as a barony and became a shire uses the investiture date of the first Baronage. A group that started as a shire, became a barony, then evolved back to shire status uses the original shire recognition date.
   4. Breaks in status such as dormancy and abeyance will be considered on a case-by-case basis, with the underlying principle that if the group is re-established by members who have no connection to the previous iteration, it will be treated as if it were a new branch, with the effective date being the new establishment date.
   5. Absence from a kingdom newsletter roster is not necessarily evidence of dissolution, dormancy, or abeyance.
   6. If a branch is recognized by the Board as having been dissolved, all effective dates prior to the date of the Board meeting are nullified.