Page:Debrett's Illustrated Peerage and Titles of Courtesy.djvu/67

 TITLES, ORDERS, AND DEGREES OF PRECEDENCE AND DIGNITY. in doing- homage to the king-, that, according- to ancient custom, the archbishops and bishops should precede all the lay lords, and even the Duke of York." The Bishops of London, Durham, and "Winchester have precedence of all the other bishops, the others ranking accor- ding to the seniority of their consecrations. The Junior Bishop, not being of London, Durham, or "Winchester, has not a seat in the House of Lords, The mitre, placed over the arms of bishops, is a round cap, pointed and clelt at the top, from which hang two pendants fringed at the ends ; it is surmounted by a fillet of gold set with precious stones. The mitres of archbishops, and that also of the Bishop of Durham (as nominally Count Palatine of Durham), are repre- BISHOF. sented as issuing out of a ducal coronet. Archbishops and bishops impale their arme with those of the see, but they have neither crests, supporters, nor mottoes. Bishops have the style of Lords, and Right Reverend Fathers in God. BARONS Much obscurity prevails as to the ancient meaning, and even derivation, of the word baron ; and eccentric speculations have been indulged in with respect to their ancient position. When the title was introduced into England is uncertain. It seems probable that its original Lame in England was Vartvssour, which by the Danes was changed into Tlume, and by the Normans into Baron. It never occurs as a title of dignity in the Saxon annals. By some it is supposed to have originally meant a hired soldier ; by others, a free man ; by others, a man equal to any other man; and so on. It is certain, however, that as a title of dignity it is of very ancient date in some parts of the Continent. Gregory Tnronensis writes of "the Barons of Burgundie, as well Bishops as other Leudes," and other old writers mention it in equally good company. But though the Normans introduced it into England, it was some time before it implied a man of distinguished mark. Earls had their barons under them, and charters are extant in which earls addressed them thus: "To all my barons, as well French as English, greeting." Even citizens of good note were called barons. To this day, the common law does not acknowledge a baron to be a title of dignity, unless it be connected with some special office. A Baron of the Exchequer is simply " Mr. Baron ." The salient fact, however, is, that the barons of England soon rose to be the great moving power in the State, and how the title was accounted may be judged from a summons of Henry ILL to the High Court of Parliament: "For he, after many troubles and enormous vexations betweene the King himself e and Simon of Montfort, with other barons, and after