Earl (/ɜːrl, ɜːrəl/)[1] is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word eorl, meaning "a man of noble birth or rank".[2] The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced by duke (hertig/hertug/hertog). After the Norman Conquest, it became the equivalent of the continental count (in England in the earlier period, it was more akin to a duke; in Scotland, it assimilated the concept of mormaer). However, earlier in Scandinavia, jarl could also mean a sovereign prince.[citation needed] For example, the rulers of several of the petty kingdoms of Norway had the title of jarl and in many cases they had no less power than their neighbours who had the title of king. Alternative names for the rank equivalent to "earl" or "count" in the nobility structure are used in other countries, such as the hakushaku (伯爵) of the post-restoration Japanese Imperial era.
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.
Etymology
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20220716183358im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Beowulf_-_eorla.jpg)
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.
The Norman-derived equivalent count (from Latin comes) was not introduced following the Norman conquest of England though countess was and is used for the female title. Geoffrey Hughes writes, "It is a likely speculation that the Norman French title 'Count' was abandoned in England in favour of the Germanic 'Earl' […] precisely because of the uncomfortable phonetic proximity to cunt".[6]
In the other languages of Great Britain and Ireland, the term is translated as: Welsh iarll, Irish and Scottish Gaelic iarla, Scots erle, yarl or yerl, Cornish yurl.
United Kingdom
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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, the eldest son of The Earl of Wessex is 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].
England
In Anglo-Saxon England, the ealdorman was appointed by the English king to be the chief officer in a shire. He commanded the local fyrd and presided with the bishop of the shire court. As compensation, he received the third penny—one-third of the profits of royal justice and one-third of the revenues from boroughs under his jurisdiction.[7] By the late 900s, ealdormen often controlled multiple shires at once. 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. There were, however, limitations on their authority. They could not mint coins or hold their own courts, and in theory, they could be removed by the king. In rank, earls were below the king and above thegns, they were therefore the king's chief counselors in the Witan.[10] Earls were an "élite within an élite", numbering at most 25 men at any one time between 1000 and 1300.[11]
When Edward the Confessor (r. 1042–1066) came to the throne, he inherited the royal estates of Harthacnut but lacked family lands of his own. As a result, the earls collectively possessed more land than the king, especially Earl Godwin of Wessex. In 1066, according to the Domesday Book, the Godwin family estates were valued at £7,000, Earl Leofric of Mercia at £2,400, and Earl Siward of Northumbria at £350. In comparison, the king's lands were valued at £5,000. This concentration of land and wealth in the hands of the earls, and one earl in particular, weakened the Crown's authority. The situation was reversed when Godwin's son Harold became king, and he was able to restore the Crown's authority.[12]
The Norman Conquest of 1066 introduced a new Anglo-Norman aristocracy that gradually replaced the old Anglo-Saxon elite.[13] In Normandy, the equivalent of an earl was a count, even though the titles had different powers.[9] In 1066, there were three counts in Normandy who were all closely related to William I (r. 1066–1087): Richard of Évreux, Robert of Eu, and Robert of Mortain.[14] Norman kings reduced the number of earls and also reduced the number of counties within a single earldom. For William I, earls were military governors assigned to areas vulnerable to invasion, such as Marcher Lords who guarded the Welsh Marches. To protect this region, the king made Roger de Montgomery the Earl of Shrewsbury and Hugh d'Avranches the Earl of Chester. Likewise, the king's half-brother Odo of Bayeux was made Earl of Kent because that region was vital to security in the English Channel.[15] Following the Revolt of the Earls in 1075, there were only four earldoms, all held by Normans: Kent, Shrewsbury, Chester, and Northumbria. This number was reduced to three after 1082 when Odo of Bayeux was arrested and deprived of Kent.[16]
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20220716183358im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Earls_Procession_to_Parliament.jpg/350px-Earls_Procession_to_Parliament.jpg)
The number of earls rose from seven in 1135 to twenty in 1141 as King Stephen (r. 1135–1154) created twelve new earls to reward supporters in his war with his cousin Empress Matilda,[17][18]. During the civil war known as 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). It fell to Stephen's successor Henry II (r. 1154–1189) to again curtail the power of earls. He confiscated or demolished illegal castles.[19] He reduced the number 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."[17]
Earls in more peripheral areas, such as the Scottish Marches and Welsh Marches and Cornwall, retained some vice-regal powers long after other earls had lost them.[citation needed]
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.[20]
An earldom became, with a few exceptions, the default rank of the peerage to which a former prime minister was elevated. However, the last prime minister to accept an earldom was Harold Macmillan, who became Earl of Stockton in 1984.
Naming conventions
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20220716183358im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Earl_coronation_robes.jpg/130px-Earl_coronation_robes.jpg)
A loose connection between earls and shires remained for a long time after authority had moved over to the sheriffs. An official defining characteristic of an earl still consisted of the receipt of the "third penny", one-third of the revenues of justice of a shire, that later became a fixed sum. Thus every earl had an association with some shire, and very often a new creation of an earldom would take place in favour of the county where the new earl already had large estates and local influence.
Also, due to the association of earls and shires, the medieval practice could remain somewhat loose regarding the precise name used: no confusion could arise by calling someone earl of a shire, earl of the county town of the shire, or earl of some other prominent place in the shire; these all implied the same. So we find an "Earl of Shrewsbury" (Shropshire), "Earl of Arundel" (Sussex), "Earl of Chichester" (also Sussex), "Earl of Winchester" (Hampshire), etc.
In a few cases the earl was traditionally addressed by his family name, e.g. the "earl Warenne" (in this case the practice may have arisen because these earls had little or no property in Surrey, their official county). Thus an earl did not always have an intimate association with "his" named or implied county. Another example comes from the earls of Oxford, whose property largely lay in Essex. They became earls of Oxford because earls of Essex and of the other nearby shires already existed.
Eventually the connection between an earl and a shire disappeared, so that in the present day a number of earldoms take their names from towns, mountains, or simply surnames.
Ireland
The first Irish earldom was the Earl of Ulster, granted to the Norman knight Hugh de Lacy in 1205 by Henry II, King of England and Lord of Ireland. Other early earldoms were Earl of Carrick (1315), Earl of Kildare (1316), Earl of Desmond (1329) and Earl of Waterford (1446, extant).
After the Tudor reconquest of Ireland (1530s–1603), native Irish kings and clan chiefs were encouraged to submit to the English king (now also King of Ireland) and were, in return, granted noble titles in the Peerage of Ireland. Notable among those who agreed to this policy of "surrender and regrant" were Ulick na gCeann Burke, 1st Earl of Clanricarde, Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Thomond, Donald McCarthy, 1st Earl of Clancare, Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, Randal MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim and Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. The earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell later rebelled against the crown and were forced to flee Ireland in 1607; their departure, along with about ninety followers, is famed in Irish history as the Flight of the Earls, seen as the ultimate demise of native Irish monarchy.
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 Scotland (with the exception of the Earldom of Dunbar and March) originated from the office of mormaer, such as the Mormaer of Fife, of Strathearn, etc.; subsequent earldoms developed by analogy. The principal distinction between earldom and mormaer is that earldoms were granted as fiefs of the King, while mormaers were virtually independent. The earl is thought to have been introduced by the anglophile king David I. While the power attached to the office of earl was swept away in England by the Norman Conquest, in Scotland earldoms retained substantial powers, such as regality throughout the Middle Ages.
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.
Sheriffs were introduced at a similar time to earls, but unlike England, where sheriffs were officers who implemented the decisions of the shire court, in Scotland they were specifically charged with upholding the king's interests in the region, thus being more like a coroner. As such, a parallel system of justice arose, between that provided by magnates (represented by the earls), and that by the king (represented by sheriffs), in a similar way to England having both Courts Baron and Magistrates, respectively. Inevitably, this led to a degree of forum shopping, with the king's offering - the Sheriff - gradually winning.
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 (Welsh: ieirll, singular iarll) in Welsh history were those from the West of England. As Wales remained independent of any Norman jurisdiction, the more powerful Earls in England were encouraged to invade and establish effective "buffer states" to be run as autonomous lordships. These Marcher Lords included the earls of Chester, Gloucester, Hereford, Pembroke and Shrewsbury (see also English Earls of March).
The first Earldoms created within Wales were the Lordship of Glamorgan (a comital title) and the Earldom of Pembroke.
Tir Iarll (English: Earl's land) is an area of Glamorgan, which has traditionally had a particular resonance in Welsh culture.[21]
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.
Konungr (sovereign) |
Jarl (prince) |
Húskarl / Hird (retainer) |
Karl (free tenant) |
Frjálsi (freedman) |
Þræll (slave) |
Norway
In later medieval Norway, the title of jarl was the highest rank below the king. There was usually no more than one jarl in mainland Norway at any one time, sometimes none. The ruler of the Norwegian dependency of Orkney held the title of jarl, and after Iceland had acknowledged Norwegian overlordship in 1261, a jarl was sent there, as well, as the king's high representative. In mainland Norway, the title of jarl was usually used for one of two purposes:
- To appoint a de facto ruler in cases where the king was a minor or seriously ill (e.g. Håkon Galen in 1204 during the minority of king Guttorm, Skule Bårdsson in 1217 during the illness of king Inge Bårdsson).
- To appease a pretender to the throne without giving him the title of king (e.g. Eirik, the brother of king Sverre).
In 1237, jarl Skule Bårdsson was given the rank of duke (hertug). This was the first time this title had been used in Norway, and meant that the title jarl was no longer the highest rank below the king. It also heralded the introduction of new noble titles from continental Europe, which were to replace the old Norse titles. The last jarl in mainland Norway was appointed in 1295.
Some Norwegian jarls:
- Skagul Toste
- Skule Tostesson, killed by peasants near Haverö church in the 12th century.
- Erling Skakke, father of king Magnus V
- Alv Erlingsson, earl of Sarpsborg and governor of Borgarsyssel.
- Haakon the Crazy
- the Jarls of Orkney
- the Jarls of Møre
- the Jarls of Lade
Sweden
The usage of the title in Sweden was similar to Norway's. Known as jarls from the 12th and 13th century were Birger Brosa, Jon Jarl, Folke Birgersson, Charles the Deaf, Ulf Fase, and the most powerful of all jarls and the last to hold the title, Birger Jarl.
Denmark
In Denmark the jarl was the king's deputy, as Ulf Jarl (died in 1026) was to Canute the Great (king of England, Denmark and Norway).
The last jarl of Southern Jutland, Canute Lavard (died in 1131), became the first Danish hertug (duke), with the title "Hertug af Slesvig" ("Duke of Schleswig"). Thus the title hertug (duke) came to replace the old Norse title jarl.
Iceland
Only one person is known to have ever held the title of Jarl in Iceland. This was Gissur Þorvaldsson, who was made Jarl of Iceland in 1258 by King Haakon IV of Norway to aid his efforts in bringing Iceland under Norwegian kingship during the Age of the Sturlungs. He held the title until his death in 1268.[22][23]
In fiction
Earls have appeared in various works of fiction.
Notes
References
- ^ "Earl". Collins Dictionary. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- ^ "Earl". Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2007). Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Vol. 1 A-M (6th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-920687-2.
- ^ e.g. Järsberg Runestone (6th century) ek erilaz [...] runor waritu...
- ^ Lindström 2006, pp. 113–115).
- ^ Hughes 1998.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 6.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 5.
- ^ a b Green 2017, p. 61.
- ^ Huscroft 2016, p. 28.
- ^ Crouch 1992, p. 44.
- ^ Huscroft 2016, pp. 20 & 23.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 33.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 18.
- ^ Huscroft 2016, pp. 82–83.
- ^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 32–33.
- ^ a b Green 2017, p. 62.
- ^ Huscroft 2016, p. 83.
- ^ Starkey 2010, pp. 166 & 175.
- ^ Ayton 2013.
- ^ Davies, John; Jenkins, Nigel; Menna, Baines; Lynch, Peredur I., eds. (2008). The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 872. ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.
- ^ Gunnar Karlsson (12 February 2014). "Hver var Gissur jarl Þorvaldsson og hvaða hlutverki gegndi hann á Sturlungaöld?". Vísindavefurinn (in Icelandic). University of Iceland. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
- ^ Jesse L. Byock (2001), Viking Age Iceland, Penguin Books, ISBN 0141937653 p. 350
Works cited
- 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.
- Green, Judith A. (2017). Forging the Kingdom: Power in English Society, 973–1189. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521193597.
- Hughes, Geoffrey (1998). Swearing: A Social History of Foul Language, Oaths and Profanity in English. Penguin Books. 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.
- Powell, J. Enoch; Wallis, Keith (1968). The House of Lords in the Middle Ages: A History of the English House of Lords to 1540. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0297761056.
- Starkey, David (2010). Crown and Country: A History of England through the Monarchy. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 9780007307715.
External links
Media related to Earls at Wikimedia Commons
- Morris, Marc (December 2005). "The King's Companions". History Today.