This difference in title was not due to any inferiority in terms of ancestry on the part of the Shimo Reizei family; rather, the murder of the family head by the Bessho clan and the loss of land in the period of Warring States subsequently affected their official rank in the Meiji Period.
下冷泉家も、家系的には全く劣るものではなかったが、戦国時代に別所氏によって当主が殺され、所領を失ったことが後々官位にも響き、明治期の爵位の差となった。