Scottish feudal lordship
A feudal lordship is a Scottish feudal title that is held in baroneum, which Latin term means that its holder, who is called a feudal lord, is also always a feudal baron. A feudal lordship is an ancient title of nobility in Scotland. The holder may or may not be a Lord of Regality, which meant that the holder was appointed by the Crown and had the power of "pit and gallows", meaning the power to authorise the death sentence.
A Scottish feudal lord ranks above a Scottish feudal baron (being a feudal baron of a higher degree), but below a lord of parliament which is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, and below a feudal earldom, which is a feudal barony of still higher degree than a feudal lordship. There are far fewer feudal lordships than feudal baronies, whilst feudal earldoms are very rare.[1]
While feudal barons originally sat in parliament (along with the lords and higher nobility who made up the Peerage), all of the peerage, originally, was within the feudal system. Later, some of what used to be feudal lordships came to be known as peerages (such as that of The Right Honourable The Lord Forrester) while others were sold, inherited by greater peers, or otherwise disqualified from the modern-day peerage. The feudal rights were gradually emasculated and, with the demise of the Scottish parliament in 1707, the right of feudal barons to sit in parliament ceased altogether, unless, that is, a feudal baron was also a Peer (Peerage rights are dealt with elsewhere).
Feudal lordships were all but abolished by Act of Parliament in 1747, following the Jacobite Uprising. A feudal barony no longer carries any political power as such, although the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 has preserved the baronies themselves, and the quality, precedence and heraldic rights pertaining to these baronies.
A peer is invariably addressed as 'Lord Placename' or 'Lord Such-and-so', whilst those holding a feudal lordship are addressed 'Lord of Placename' or 'Baron of Placename' and feudal barons are addressed as 'Baron of Placename' or 'Placename'.
A female feudal baron is usually referred to as 'Lady Placename'. The wife of a Lord receives the courtesy title 'Lady Placename', but the husband of a Lady, who holds a feudal barony in her own right, is just plain Mr. 'Surname'.
Lords of regality, feudal lords, and feudal barons are not to be confused with a manorial lordship.
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[edit] Order of precedence of Scottish feudal titles
Wallace states that:
"Lordships, Earldoms, Marquisates and Dukedoms differ only in name from Baronies" but continues "one whose property was erected into a Lordship ranked before a simple Baron" and "A person to whom an Earldom belonged, would be superior to a person who had no more than a lordship ... One, whose lands were incorporated into a Marquisate, was superior to both ... A man, who owned a fief elevated into a Dukedom, was exhaulted above all three."[2]
The inference in terms of superiority from greater to lesser is thus: Feudal Duke, Feudal Marquis, Feudal Earl, Feudal Lord, Feudal Baron. (Note however that Lord Stair states that Lordships or Earldoms are "but more noble titles of a Barony" [3].)
Putting Scottish feudal nobility in the context of all Scottish nobility, including non-feudal (or peerage) nobility, the following order of precedence is derived[4][5][6]:
The Sovereign
Duke
Marquis
Earl
Viscount
Lord
Baronet
Knight
Feudal Duke
Feudal Marquis
Feudal Earl
Feudal Lord
Feudal Baron
Clan Chief/Laird
Esquire/Gentleman.
[edit] List of feudal lordships (created before 1707)
Below is an incomplete list of Scottish feudal lordships created in Scotland before 1707.
| Lordship | County | Createda | Incumbent | Succeeded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abernethy | Perthshire | Dr. Mafouz M. Binmafouz | 2008 | |
| Ardrossan | Ayrshire | 1357 | ||
| Buncle and Preston | Berwickshire | Olivier Fuchs of Cockburn | ||
| Coldingham | Berwickshire | 1141 | ||
| Cumbernauld | Lanarkshire | 1314 | ||
| Dirleton | East Lothian | 1220 | Baron Camilo Agasim-Pereira of Fulwood | 2000 |
| Dudhope | Angus | 1542 | ||
| Garioch | Aberdeenshire | 12th century | ||
| Glencoe | Argyllshire | 1350 | Gòndec MacGòndec | 2011 |
| Hailes | East Lothian | 20 Dec 1451b | S. Malin of Hailes | 2008 |
| Holydean | Roxburghshire | 1128 | Taylor Forrester Moffitt | |
| Jedburgh Forest | Roxburghshire | 3 Feb 1602 | Richard Bruce Bernadotte Miller | 2010 |
| Kilmarnock | Ayrshire | 1316 | Eur Ing David Ayre | 2002 |
| Strathdee | Aberdeenshire | 1563 | ||
| Urquhart | Inverness-shire | 1230 |
a: The creation date is the earliest known date for the Lordship and subject to revision
b: The Barony of Hailes was granted to Adam de Hepburn by Patrick de Dunbar, Earl of March in 1343
[edit] See also
- Peerage of Scotland
- List of Scottish feudal baronies
- Order of precedence in Scotland
- English Feudal Baronies (list of)
- List of Marcher lordships (Welsh Marches)
- Marcher Lord
- Register of the Great Seal of Scotland;
- Abolition of Feudal Tenure Act, Scotland;
- Statutes of 1592;
- Baronetcy Warrants of Charles I.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.baronage.co.uk/2003a/fbandml.pdf
- ^ Ancient Peerages, 2nd Edition, Edinburgh, 1785, pp 127-130
- ^ Institutes, II.3.45
- ^ Scots Heraldry, Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, Oliver and Boyd, 1956
- ^ http://www.peerage.org/genealogy/Baronies.htm
- ^ http://www.debretts.com/
