Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 4.djvu/709

 APPENDIX H 687 Pope, 12 I'^eh. 1300/1, all under the rank of carl have "Doniinus" after their names except Robertas de Clifford Castellanus dc Appelby, Thomas de Bcrkele, Fulco filius Warini, Walterus de Huntcrcombe, Edmundus Bare Stafford. (■■) Yet we have no reason to suppose that these five were inferior in position to the others. In connection with the holding of land the word "Dominus" denoted on the one hand ownership, and on the other the relation of one man to another. The system of feudal tenure resembled a ladder marking steps in the social scale. The humble liomo at the foot had his liotnlitits above him, and the dominus himself was the homo of a greater dominus, who in turn was the homo or vassal of the greatest dominus, the King.C") Even at the present day the word "lord" conveys different meanings. A landlord may be the keeper of an inn; a treeholder or a leaseholder ot land; or even tenant of part of a house, a portion ot which he lets to another. And how little wc can depend on early documents for a true definition of a man's condition is instanced by such a fact as that William Deincourt, who died s.p. 1422, is called on the Fine Roll of 26 Hen. VI " Willelmus Dominus Deyncourt (") The Greystocks and StafFords are a puzzle in nomencl.iturc. In a list of writs of 23 June 23 Edw. I is included Johanni Baroni de Greyitock; next year, in a list of Equis et Armis writs, 26 Dec. 24 Edw. I, he appears as 'Johannn Baro de Greystoci; and in 32 Edw. I as yohanni de Greyitock. Edmund' Ba< oni Stafford first appears in writs 6 Feb. 27 Edw. I; on 26 Sep. 28 Edw. I the writ is directed Edmundo Baroni de Stafford; in the Barons' Letter to the Pope, 12 Feb. 1300/1, he is called Edmundus Baro Stafford. Both families were addressed as Baro in writs for many years. Pike, in his Constitutional History of the House of Lords (pp. 1 09, iio), suggests that Baro is a surname in both cases, and he gives four examples of men named Baro or Baron temp. John, Henry III, and Edward I who had no pretensions to possessing a name of dignity. This view, however, is not generally accepted. C") In the latter part of Edward IIFs reign a practice arose, which became general under the Lancastrian kings, of prefixing Dominus de to a surname without the inter- vention of a baptismal name. At the same time in documents written in the French language the words " Seignur," " Sire," and " Monsire " were used. While Dominus Henricus de Percv would be translated Sir Henry dc Percy, it is difficult to translate Henricus Dominus de Percy otherwise than Henry Lord dc Percy. (See Cal. Close Rolls, 1369-74, pp. 445, 451, 483). In Professor J. F. Baldwin's book. The King's Council, pp. 483, 484, the following names occur in a French document of I346t "le seignur de Percy, monsire Rauf de Nevill, le sire de Segravc . . . Ics seignurs dc Mowbray et de Segrave," cfc. The Chancerj'^, however, was very slow to adopt terms such as these to designate a man who would be described as a lord. As has been pointed out above, the use of the expression does not necessarily imply that the person so called possessed an hereditary peerage.