Wednesday 14 April 2010

Earl

Earl was the Anglo-Saxon form and jarl the Scandinavian form of a title meaning "chieftain" and referring especially to chieftains set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke (hertig/hertug); in later medieval Britain, it became the equivalent of the continental count (in England in the earlier period, it was more akin to duke, while in Scotland it assimilated the concept of mormaer).

In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above viscount. The English never developed a feminine form of earl; the wife of an earl is styled countess (the continental equivalent).

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