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English peerage

Anglo-Saxon period (600-1066)

5th–8th century

In the 5th century, Germanic peoples collectively known as Anglo-Saxons migrated to sub-Roman Britain and came to dominate the east and southeast of the island. Based on archaeological evidence (such as burials and buildings), these early communities appear to have lacked any social elite. Around half the population were free, independent farmers (Old English: ceorlas) who cultivated a hide of land (enough to provide for a family). Slaves, mostly native Britons, made up the other half.^[1]

By the late 6th century, the archeological evidence (grander burials and buildings) suggests the development of a social elite.^[2] The early law codes of Kent use the Old English word eorl ('high born', 'noble') to describe a nobleman. By the 8th century, the word gesith ('companion'; Latin: comes) had replaced eorl as the common term for a nobleman.^[3]^[4]

900–1066

By the 10th century, Anglo-Saxon society was divided into three main social classes: slaves, ceorlas ('free men'), and þegnas ('thegns', 'aristocrats').^[5] Thegn (Old English: þeġn) meant servant or warrior, and it replaced the term gesith in the 10th century.^[3] Law codes assigned a weregeld or man price of 200 shillings for a ceorl and 1,200s for a thegn. Children inherited thegnly status from their father, and a thegnly woman who married a ceorl retained her noble status.^[6]

Not all ceorlas were peasants. Some were themselves landlords, and these prosperous free men could aspire to thegnly rank. Archbishop Wulfstan of York (1002–1023) wrote that a ceorl had to own five hides to qualify for thegnhood. The legal text Norðleoda laga ('law of the Northern People') concurred but added that the property qualification had to be met for three generations.^[7]

In 1066, there were an estimated 5,000 thegns in England.^[8] These were divided into three ranks: ealdormen, king's thegns, and median thegns.^[9] The ealdorman was an official appointed by the king to administer a shire or group of shires (an ealdormanry).^[10] In the 11th century, while England was ruled by a Danish dynasty, the office changed from ealdorman to earl (related to Old English eorl and Scandinavian jarl).^[11] After the king, the earl was the most powerful secular magnate. During Edward the Confessor's reign (1042–1066), there were four principal earldoms: Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria, and East Anglia.^[12]

Below ealdormen were king's thegns, so called because they only served the king. The lowest thegnly rank were the median thegns who owed service to other thegns.^[13] Thegns were the backbone of local government and the military. Sheriffs were drawn from this class, and thegns were required to attend the shire court and give judgment. For these reasons, historian David Carpenter described thegns as "the country gentry of Anglo-Saxon England".^[14]

High-ranking members of the church hierarchy (archbishops, bishops and abbots) paralleled the secular aristocracy. The church's power derived from its spiritual authority as well as its virtual monopoly on education. Secular government depended on educated clergy to function, and prelates were important politicians and royal advisers in the witan (the king's council).^[15]

"Reputable moneyers were important men, often possesing rights of private jurisdiction. ... One must think of the moneyer as a member or potential member of the thegnly class".^[16]

Baronage (1066–1272?)

Not in article: Except in northern England and the Welsh Marches, it was rare for the estates of any lordship to be contiguous.^[17] English kings preferred to spread the manors of their barons over several counties to dilute their power.^{[citation needed]}

Not sure where this belongs: "Before 1300 the king's role in the use and assumption of titles was limited and unambitious ... the first firm and general pronouncement of a king on a matter of social dignity did not come until 1292 in England."^[18]  

The old Anglo-Saxon thegnage was therefore replaced by the baronage.^[19]

Earls after the Conquest and earls palatine mentioned on pages 166-167 in book Lyon, Bryce (1980). A Constitutional and Legal History of Medieval England (2nd ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-95132-4. 1st edition available to read online here.

the below strike through was moved to the Medieval peerage section
In the reign of Edward I (1272–1307), the first hereditary barons were created by writ. Overtime, baronies by writ became the main method of creating baronies, and baronies by tenure became obsolete.^[20]

"barony by tenure"

Medieval peerage (1272?–1500)

Maybe we should start this section with the reign of Edward I?

Information not included in the article yet:

Dan Jones wrote "There had been a general decline in the state of the aristocracy during the previous two generations." He goes on to write that Edward I distrusted of nobles and he was "stingy" with earldoms. He also had Quo Warranto inquiries to uncover if barons were enjoying rights and privileges that properly belonged to the Crown. Edward II gave out new titles to his friends and favourites. "Edward II had made Gaveston earl of Cornwall, Andrew Harclay earl of Carlisle, Hugh Despenser earl of Winchester, and his half brothers earls of Norfolk and Kent; but of all these, only the earl of Norfolk lived past 1330. John of Eltham, who had been created earl of Cornwall in 1328, had died ..."^[21]

During Edward I's reign there were eleven earls and at least 152 barons.^[22]
 
Around the 13th century, individual noblemen began using baron as a title.^[23] 

Richard II created the first barony by letters patent in 1387 for John Beauchamp of Holt.^[24] 

"By the second half of the fourteenth century the English peerage, those sixty to seventy lords each of whom was entitled to an individual summons to parliament, had emerged as a distinct and privileged group at the top of English lay society."^[25] 

In the reign of Edward I (1272–1307), the first hereditary barons were created by writ. Overtime, baronies by writ became the main method of creating baronies, and baronies by tenure became obsolete.^[26]

Notes

Citations

^ Morris 2021, pp. 49–50.
^ Morris 2021, pp. 50–51.
^ ^a ^b Loyn 1955, p. 530.
^ Williams 2008, p. 5.
^ Williams 2008, p. 2.
^ Williams 2008, pp. 1–2.
^ Williams 2008, pp. 3–4.
^ Huscroft 2016, p. 29.
^ Williams 2008, pp. 3 & 5.
^ Green 2017, p. 103.
^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 6.
^ Huscroft 2016, p. 28.
^ Williams 2008, p. 3.
^ Carpenter 2003, p. 66 quoted in Huscroft 2016, p. 28.
^ Powell & Wallis 1968, p. 4.
^ Loyn 1984, p. 123.
^ Jolliffe 1961, p. 152.
^ Crouch 1992, p. 41.
^ Jolliffe 1961, p. 147.
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Parliament" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 840.
^ Jones 2012, p. 374.
^ Powell & Wallis 1968, pp. 206 & 223.
^ Crouch 1992, p. 113.
^ Crouch 1992, p. 114.
^ Given-Wilson 1996, p. 1.
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Parliament" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 840.

References

Carpenter, David (2003). The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066–1284. Penguin History of Britain. Penguin Books. ISBN 0140148248.
Crouch, David (1992). The Image of Aristocracy in Britain, 1000–1300. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415755047.
Given-Wilson, Chris (1996). The English Nobility in the Late Middle Ages. Routledge. ISBN 0415148839.
Green, Judith A. (2017). Forging the Kingdom: Power in English Society, 973–1189. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521193597.
Huscroft, Richard (2016). Ruling England, 1042-1217 (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1138786554.
Jolliffe, J. E. A. (1961). The Constitutional History of Medieval England from the English Settlement to 1485 (4th ed.). Adams and Charles Black.
Loyn, H. R. (1955). "Gesiths and Thegns in Anglo-Saxon England from the Seventh to Tenth Century". The English Historical Review. 70 (277): 529–549. doi:10.1093/ehr/LXX.CCLXXVII.529. JSTOR 558038.
Loyn, H. R. (1984). The Governance of Anglo-Saxon England, 500–1087. Governance of England. Vol. 1. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804712170.
Maddicott, J. R. (2010). The Origins of the English Parliament, 924-1327. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199585502.
Morris, Marc (2021). The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400–1066. Pegasus Books. ISBN 978-1-64313-312-6.
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.
Sanders, Ivor John (1960). English Baronies: A Study of Their Origin and Descent, 1086-1327. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Williams, Ann (2008). The World Before Domesday: The English Aristocracy, 900–1066. London: Continuum. ISBN 9781847252395.

Jones, Dan (2012). The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England (revised ed.). Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-101-60628-5.