Page:Debrett's Illustrated Peerage and Titles of Courtesy.djvu/65

 TITLES, ORDERS, AND DEGREES OF PRECEDENCE AND DIGNITY, mixed alternately, round, of nearly equal height. The general style of a marquess is Most HonourMe; and he is styled by the King or Queen, Our right trusty and entirely beloved cousin, and counsellor when of the Privy Council. EARL. It has been customary to identify this ancient English dignity with the Latin Comes "Companion" (French, Comte ; Anglice, Count], one of the duties or privileges! of possessors of the title being to accompany the King, and to give counsel, advice, and aid on important occasions. We are told that " Constantino the Great, in order to secure the attachment of his followers, created a number of these Comites, as Comes Domesticorum (Master of the Household), Comes Stabuli (Master of the Horse) ; also such dignities as Comes Onentit, Comes Africce (Lieutenant of the East, of - J -. ARI . ) Africa, &c.) Thence ever since the name of Comes im- parted dignity, and the authority or government was at first temporary, but afterwards enjoyed for life. Moreover, in process of time, when the Roman empire was divided into many kingdoms, this title was nevertheless retained, and our English Saxons called those in Latin Comites and Consules, whom, in their own language, they called Ealdormen, the same which the Danes in their tongue called Eorlas, that is, honourable, as Ethelward writes, by which name, somewhat softened, they are called by us, at this day, Earls." In the Saxon times the title was one of the highest dignity and eminence. Earl Godwin occupied a rank much higher than that of any noble of the present day. It was even applied to sovereign princes. Thus William the Conqueror, sovereign of Normandy, is frequently called Earl of Normandy, and "William of Malmesbury never mentions him otherwise. The Norman kings adopted the Saxon title, and the first earls created were digni- taries of enormous power, holding not only proprietary, but virtually sovereign sway over large districts of country. Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, was a real potentate within his territory, though exercising his authority in the name of the king ; and so with others. But the number of earls increased rapidly, whilst the possibility of furnishing them with land and revenue diminished in proportionate ratio, so that various devices were resorted to for the purpose of furnishing the new creations with the means of support.* The dignity of the distinction was thus depreciated. Earls were created with the name of some place appended to the title, and the third penny of the shire was assigned unto them, for example, the Empress Maud, daughter and heir to King Henry I., created an earl in the following words: "/, Maud, daughter of King Henry, and ladee of the English- men, doe give and grant unto Geffrey de Margravil for his service, and to his heirs after 1dm, by right of inheritance, to be Earle of Essex, and to have the third pennie out of the Sheriff's Court, issuing out of all pleas, as an Earle should have thorow his countrie in all things" And Henry H. : " Know yec, that we have made Hugh Begod, Earle of Norfolk, to ivit, of the third pennie, of Norwic and Norfolc, as fully as any Earle of England lioldeth his sountie." mentary that is, by fee or tenure, by service, by inheritance, and by lands. In th Domesday Book they were named earls without any addition Earl Hugh, Earl Roget c.
 * Immediately after the Conquest, earls began to be feudal, hereditary, and parlia-