Earl
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Earl (
In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount.[3] A feminine form of earl never developed; instead, countess is used.
In modern times, earldoms have typically been created only for members of the royal family. The last non-royal earldom, Earl of Stockton, was created in 1984 for Harold Macmillan, prime minister from 1957 to 1963.
Etymology
The term earl has been compared to the name of the Heruli, and to runic erilaz.[4] Proto-Norse eril, or the later Old Norse jarl, came to signify the rank of a leader.[5]
In Anglo-Saxon Britain, the term Ealdorman was used for men who held the highest political rank below King. Over time the Danish eorl became substituted for Ealdorman, which evolved into the modern form of the name.[citation needed]
The
In the other languages of Great Britain and Ireland, the term is translated as: Welsh iarll,[7] Irish and Scottish Gaelic iarla,[8][9] Scots erle, eirle or earle,[10] Cornish yurl, yarl, yerl.[11]
History
England
Anglo-Saxon period
In
By the late 900s, one ealdorman controlled multiple shires. During Cnut's reign (1016–1035), they became known as earls (from Old English eorl meaning "noble").[note 1] He divided the kingdom into four earldoms: Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria. Earls were governors or viceroys, ruling in the king's name, keeping the peace, dispensing justice, and raising armies. Like the earlier ealdormen, they received the third penny from their jurisdictions; however, they could not mint coins or hold their own courts. Earls were the king's chief counselors in the Witan, and they ranked above thegns in precedence.[15] In theory, earls could be removed and replaced by the king, but the office essentially became hereditary in the 11th century.[16] Earls were an "élite within an élite", numbering at most 25 men at any one time between 1000 and 1300.[17]
When
Norman Conquest
The
After the
After the Conquest, new earldoms tended to be named for the city and castle in which they were based. Some titles became attached to the family name rather than location. For example, the holder of the
Stephen and Matilda
The number of earls rose from seven in 1135 to twenty in 1141 as King
- Waleran de Beaumont, who was already Count of Meulan in Normandy and the twin brother of the 2nd Earl of Leicester, was made earl of Worcester.
- Waleran's younger brother Hugh de Beaumont was made earl of Bedford.
- Gilbert de Clare was made earl of Pembroke.
- earl of Hertford.
- William de Aumale was made earl of York in reward for service during the Battle of the Standard.
- Robert de Ferrers was made earl of Derby in reward for service during the Battle of the Standard.
- William d'Aubigny was made earl of Lincoln.
- William de Roumare was made earl of Cambridge.
In 1140, Roumare was given the earldom of Lincoln in exchange for Cambridge, and William d'Aubigny received the earldom of Sussex (commonly known as Arundel). The same year, Geoffrey de Mandeville was made earl of Essex, and his is the oldest surviving charter of creation. Around the same time, Hugh Bigod was made earl of Norfolk.[29]
In February 1141, Stephen was captured at the
During the Anarchy, earls took advantage of the power vacuum to assume Crown rights. Robert of Gloucester, Patrick of Salisbury, Robert of Leicester, and Henry of Northumbria all minted their own coinage. Earls and barons had also built adulterine castles (castles built without royal permission).[31]
Plantagenets
It fell to Stephen's successor Henry II (r. 1154–1189) to again curtail the power of earls. He confiscated or demolished illegal castles.[31] He reduced the number of earldoms by allowing them to die with their holders and did not create new ones. During his reign, "the title became a mark of rank, rather than a substantive office: the real power lay with the king's sheriffs and justices."[27]
The real power possessed by any individual earl in this period depended on the amount of land and wealth he possessed that could be translated into patronage and influence. The more land and resources concentrated in a region, the more influence an earl had. The most powerful were the earls of Chester, who by the middle of the 13th century were described as
An earldom along with its land was inherited generally according to primogeniture. If the only heirs were female, then the land would be partitioned equally between co-heirs with the eldest co-heir receiving the title. In 1204, Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester, died without children. His heirs were his sisters, Amice and Margaret. Amice's son, Simon de Montfort, succeeded as earl of Leicester, and Margaret's husband, Saer de Quincy, was created the earl of Winchester in 1207. This was the first new hereditary earldom created since the reign of Stephen.[33]
An earldom could be dramatically impacted upon by multiple partitions. In 1232, Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester died childless. His lands were divided between his four sisters with the title going to the eldest's son, John of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon. John died in 1237, and once again the estate had to be divided between five co-heirs (the two daughters of his eldest sister and his three surviving sisters). Before the land could be divided, King Alexander II of Scotland claimed the earldom of Huntingdon. While the king's council dismissed this claim, the Scottish king was granted the lands attached to Huntingdon but not the title. This reduced the land available to John's co-heirs and created the possibility of an earl who was virtually landless. Earl Ranulf had been the greatest landholder in England, but after two partitions in five years, the land granted to each co-heir was small. William de Forz, husband of the senior co-heir, argued that as a county palatine the earldom of Chester should not be partitioned, but this argument was rejected by the king's court. Ultimately, the king himself gained possession of all the lands attached to the Chester earldom through a series of land exchanges with the co-heirs.[34]
In 1227,
By the 13th century earls had a social rank just below the king and princes, but were not necessarily more powerful or wealthier than other noblemen. The only way to become an earl was to inherit the title or to marry into one—and the king reserved a right to prevent the transfer of the title. By the 14th century, creating an earl included a special public ceremony where the king personally tied a sword belt around the waist of the new earl, emphasizing the fact that the earl's rights came from him.[citation needed]
Earls still held influence and, as "companions of the king", generally acted in support of the king's power. They showed their own power prominently in 1327 when they deposed King Edward II. They would later do the same with other kings of whom they disapproved. In 1337 Edward III declared that he intended to create six new earldoms.[36]
20th century
An earldom became, with a few exceptions, the default rank of the peerage to which a former prime minister was elevated. The last prime minister to accept an earldom was Harold Macmillan, who became earl of Stockton in 1984.
Ireland
The first Irish earldom was the
After the
Ireland became part of the United Kingdom in 1801, and the last Irish earldom was created in 1824. The Republic of Ireland does not recognise titles of nobility.
Notable later Irish earls include Jacobite leader Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan; Postmaster General Richard Trench, 2nd Earl of Clancarty; Prime Minister William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne (later made a marquess) and the (alleged) murderer John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan.
Scotland
The oldest earldoms in
It is important to distinguish between the land controlled directly by the earl, in a landlord-like sense, and the region over which he could exercise his office. Scottish use of Latin terms provincia and comitatus makes the difference clear. Initially these terms were synonymous, as in England, but by the 12th century they were seen as distinct concepts, with comitatus referring to the land under direct control of the earl, and provincia referring to the province; hence, the comitatus might now only be a small region of the provincia. Thus, unlike England, the term county, which ultimately evolved from the Latin comitatus, was not historically used for Scotland's main political subdivisions.
As in England, as the centuries wore on, the term earl came to be disassociated from the office, and later kings started granting the title of earl without it, and gradually without even an associated comitatus. By the 16th century there started to be earls of towns, of villages, and even of isolated houses; it had simply become a label for marking status, rather than an office of intrinsic power. In 1746, in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising, the Heritable Jurisdictions Act brought the powers of the remaining ancient earldoms under the control of the sheriffs; earl is now simply a noble rank.
Wales
Some of the most significant Earls (
The first Earldoms created within Wales were the
Coronet
A British earl is entitled to a coronet bearing eight strawberry leaves (four visible) and eight silver balls (or pearls) around the rim (five visible). The actual coronet is rarely, if ever, worn except at the coronation of a new monarch, but in heraldry an earl may bear his coronet of rank on his coat of arms above the shield.
Forms of address
An earl has the title Earl of [X] when the title originates from a placename, or Earl [X] when the title comes from a surname. In either case, he is referred to as Lord [X], and his wife as Lady [X]. A countess who holds an earldom in her own right also uses Lady [X], but her husband does not have a title (unless he has one in his own right).
The eldest son of an earl, though not himself a peer, is entitled to use a courtesy title, usually the highest of his father's lesser titles (if any). For instance, prior to his father's elevation to the Dukedom of Edinburgh, the eldest son of the Earl of Wessex was styled as James, Viscount Severn. The eldest son of the eldest son of an earl is entitled to use one of his grandfather's lesser titles, normally the second-highest of the lesser titles. Younger sons are styled The Honourable [Forename] [Surname], and daughters, The Lady [Forename] [Surname] (Lady Diana Spencer being a well-known example).
There is no difference between the courtesy titles given to the children of earls and the children of countesses in their own right, provided the husband of the countess has a lower rank than she does. If her husband has a higher rank, their children will be given titles according to his rank.
In the peerage of Scotland, when there are no courtesy titles involved, the heir to an earldom, and indeed any level of peerage, is styled Master of [X], and successive sons as The Honourable [Firstname Surname].
List of earldoms
There are many earldoms, extant, extinct, dormant, abeyant, or forfeit, in the peerages of England, Scotland, Great Britain, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
In fiction
Earls have appeared in various works of fiction.
References
Notes
Citations
- Collins Dictionary. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- ^ "Earl". Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-19-920687-2.
- ^ e.g. Järsberg Runestone (6th century) ek erilaz [...] runor waritu...
- ^ Lindström 2006, pp. 113–115).
- ^ Hughes 1998.
- ISBN 9781786831118– via Google Books.
- ISBN 9780521898645– via Google Books.
- ISBN 9781134977949– via Google Books.
- ^ "Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: DOST :: erle n".
- ^ Williams, Robert (18 January 1865). "Lexicon cornu-britannicum: a dictionary of the ancient Celtic language of Cornwall : in which the words are elucidated by copious examples from the Cornish works now remaining, with translations into English; the synonyms are also given in the cognate dialects of Welsh, Armoric, Irish, Gaelie, and Manx, shewing at one view the connexion between them". Roderic – via Google Books.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 6.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 5.
- ^ a b Green 2017, p. 61.
- ^ Huscroft 2016, p. 28.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 7.
- ^ Crouch 1992, p. 44.
- ^ Huscroft 2016, pp. 20 & 23.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 33.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 18.
- ^ Crouch 1992, pp. 54–56.
- ^ Crouch 1992, p. 57.
- ^ Huscroft 2016, pp. 82–83.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, pp. 32–33.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, pp. 51 & 60.
- ^ Crouch 1992, pp. 57–58.
- ^ a b Green 2017, p. 62.
- ^ Huscroft 2016, p. 83.
- ^ a b Powell & Wallis 1968, pp. 66–67.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, pp. 67 & 69.
- ^ a b Starkey 2010, pp. 166 & 175.
- ^ Crouch 1992, pp. 62–63.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 111.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, pp. 162–166.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 147.
- ^ Ayton 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.
Bibliography
- Ayton, Andrew (30 December 2013). "Edward III and the English Aristocracy at the Beginning of the Hundred Years War". De Re Militari. The Society for Medieval Military History. Archived from the original on 18 January 2020.
- ISBN 978-0415755047.
- ISBN 9780521193597.
- Hughes, Geoffrey (1998). Swearing: A Social History of Foul Language, Oaths and Profanity in English. ISBN 9780141954325.
- Huscroft, Richard (2016). Ruling England, 1042-1217 (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1138786554.
- Lindström, Fredrik (2006). Svitjods undergång och Sveriges födelse. [Stockholm]: A. Bonnier. ISBN 9789100107895.
- ISBN 0297761056.
- ISBN 9780007307715.
External links
- Media related to Earls at Wikimedia Commons
- Morris, Marc (December 2005). "The King's Companions". History Today.