Earls, Marquises and Dukes in the Baronage of Scotland

An Earl/Marquis/Duke in the Baronage of Scotland is an ancient title of nobility that is held en baroneum, which means that its holder, who is a earl/marquis/duke in the Baronage of Scotland, is also always a baron. The holder may or may not be a Lord of Regality, which meant that the holder was appointed by the Crown and had the power of "pit and gallows", meaning the power to authorise the death sentence.

A baronial earl/marquis/duke ranks above both a baron and a lord (being a baron of a higher degree) in the Baronage of Scotland, but below all ranks in the Peerage of Scotland. Earldoms, marquisates and dukedoms in the Baronage of Scotland are very rare.^[2]

Since all baronage titles are based in Scots property law and not personal peerages, there are some instances when, for historic reasons, the baronage title happens to share the same name as an extant peerage title, but the current holder of the baronage title is different from the current holder of the peerage title of the same name. The two are not to be confused. Historically, they were held by one and the same person, but the baronage title may subsequently have been disponed according to Scots property law, whereas the peerage title always descends according to the destination in the letters patent of creation of the peerage and the rules of peerage law.

The last remnants of feudal tenure in Scotland were brought to an end by the Abolition of Feudal Tenure Act 2000 which came into force in 2004, with special provision for the dignity of baron and other titles becoming personal titles, preserved in law by the Scottish Parliament. After this date, it is incorrect to refer to titles used today as feudal titles, as feudalism in Scotland ended in 2004. The correct term for present day titles is baronage or baronial titles.^[3]

Scottish titles, in order of precedence, are as follows: Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Lord, Baronet, Knight, Baron, Clan Chief, Esquire/Gentleman. Wallace states that "Lordships, Earldoms, Marquisates and Dukedoms differ only in name from Baronies" but continues "one whose property was erected into a Lordship ranked before a simple Baron" and "A person to whom an Earldom belonged, would be superior to a person who had no more than a lordship ... One, whose lands were incorporated into a Marquisate, was superior to both ... A man, who owned a fief elevated into a Dukedom, was exaulted above all three."^[4] However, Lord Stair states that Lordships or Earldoms are "but more noble titles of a Barony".^[5]

Modern status

In 2014 the Lord Lyon King of Arms issued the "Note on the Petition of George Menking", under which he determined to accept petitions for the grant arms for baronage dignities including Earldoms, Marquisates and Dukedoms since such dignities have historically always been of the genus of a barony and as such represent a higher form of barony and fall within the jurisdiction of the King of Arms.

The Menking Note is considered an important change (and return to similar status of an earlier Lord Lyon) from an interim ruling on the petition in 2010 by a Swiss national Willi Ernst Sturzenegger, who had purchased the feudal Earldom of Arran, and wished to be titled as 'Willi Ernst Sturzenegger of Arran, Earl of Arran in the territorial baronage of Scotland' or 'Sturzenegger of Arran, holder of the territorial Earldom of Arran", or 'Sturzenegger of Arran, holder of the feudal Earldom of Arran'. In 2006, an earlier Lord Lyon had recognised three petitioners as "Feudal Countess of Crawfurd-Lindsay", "Feudal Earl of Breadalbane" and "Feudal Earl of Rothes". In the ruling in 2010, the Lord Lyon stated that as a general rule previous decisions should be followed, but he could not agree with them as the arguments in the previous cases did not appear to have been tested and no reasoning had been given by the prior Lord Lyon for his decisions. The title "feudal Earl", "territorial Earl", or simply "Earl", being used or recognised in respect of an assemblage of lands into an earldom had never existed until recently. He stated that while the Abolition of Feudal Tenure Act of 2000 divorced feudal baronies from land title, it preserved the title of baron. This was not the case he found with "territorial" or "feudal earldoms": "On the contrary there is a clear break between the type of territorial earldoms which existed before the evolution of a personal peerage, and the later erection of lands into what has been termed a “territorial earldom”. He therefore did not accept that it follows from the recognition of a feudal baron, or one possessed of the dignity of a former feudal barony, as “Baron of X”, that the person in possession of a “territorial earldom” stemming from the erection by the Crown of lands into a free earldom, should be recognised as an “Earl” or “Countess”, “feudal” or otherwise."^[6] Since then, in April 2015 the Lord Lyon changed his mind and he may recognise a person possessing a barony (and other titles that are but nobler titles of baron within the Baronage of Scotland lord/earl/marquis/duke) on petition.^[7]

List of Earldoms in the Baronage of Scotland

Below is an incomplete list of Earldoms created in the baronage, please help by filling in details below (with reference links).

Titles in italics are subsidiary baronial titles held by the same earl. Titles with The before the name is the holder's primary title.

Title	C.	Infeft	Arms	Incumbent	Heir	Notes
The Earl of Aboyne	1676	2016		Christiano Arnhold Simoes, Earl of Aboyne [8]	Hannah Arnhold Simões, Mistress of Aboyne	Earldom and Lordship of Aboyne, Lord Lyon granting arms in person to the Earl:
The Earl of Angus	1594	unknown
The Earl of Arran	17c	2023		Susan Clarke Livingston, 22nd Countess of Arran, Lady Balquidder [9]
Baron of Balquidder
The Earl of Breadalbane	17c	2004		John Sullivan of Braemar, Earl of Breadalbane and Lord of Braemar [10][11]	Paul Sullivan, Master of Braemar	Alan MacKay was the former Earl
Lord of Braemar
The Earl of Crawfurd-Lindsay	17c	2004		Abigail Busch Reisinger, Countess of Crawfurd-Lindsay, Baroness of Auchterutherstruther		Father is Baron of Inneryne
Baron of Auchterutherstruther
The Earl of Dunbar	1606			Robert Douglas, Earl of Dunbar [citation needed]
The Earl of Eglinton	1607			Hugh Montgomerie, 19th Earl of Eglinton	Rhuridh, Lord Montgomerie
The Earl of Erroll	1546	2021		Dr David Willien, 16th Earl of Erroll, 17th Baron of Tulloch
Baron of Tulloch	1678
Earl of Lennox	1594	2017		Charles Gordon-Lennox, 11th Duke of Richmond	Charles Gordon-Lennox, Earl of March and Kinrara
The Earl of Nithsdale		extinct
The Earl of Orkney	1603	1998		Peter St John, 9th Earl of Orkney	Oliver St John, Viscount Kirkwall
The Earl of Rothes	1458	2004		Sir Philip Ondaatje, Earl of Rothes, Lord of Leslie, Sheriff of Fife[12] OC CBE FRSL
Lord of Leslie	16c
Sheriff of Fife
The Earl of Wigtoun	1606	2004		Dr Roland Zettel, Earl of Wigtoun, Lord of Cumbernauld
Lord of Cumbernauld	1314

Note that some peerage titles of feudal origin sometimes have a duplicate baronage title of the same name either held by the current peer or transferred to a new holder.

List of Marquisates and Dukedoms in the Baronage of Scotland

The below are very rare, only two baronage titles are known to continue existing until today.

The Scots spelling of marquis, as a rule, follows the French spelling, rather than the English spelling "marquess".

Title	C.	Infeft	Arms	Incumbent	Heir	Notes
The Marquis of Huntly	1684 [13]	the holder wish to have their details withdrawn				The Marquisate, Earldom and Lordship of Huntly was disponed to a non-peer in 1930s, holder known as Marquis or Lord interchangeably According to the Lord Lyon, as at 2009, "...a Petition had previously been lodged on 27th May 1992 by Dennistoun Gordon Teall of Teallach narrating that he had “acquired right and title to the feudal Marquisate, Earldom and Lordship of Huntly” by disposition ... dated 22nd November 1991, recorded 3rd January 1992".[14]
The Duke of Albany	1565 [15]	extinct
The Duke of Hamilton	1661 [13]	2010		Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, 16th Duke of Hamilton	Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, Marquis of Douglas	peer's title has feudal origins
The Duke of Lennox	1581 [16]	extinct
The Duke of Montrose	1488 [17]	extinct

List of Lordships in the Baronage of Scotland

Lord is the second degree of baronage nobility, nobler than Baron (first) but not before Earl (third), Marquess (fourth) or Duke (fifth).

Click here for a list of Lordships in the Baronage of Scotland

List of Baronies in the Baronage of Scotland

The first degree of baronage nobility.

Click here for a list of Baronies in the Baronage of Scotland

List of Lordships of Regality

Higher dignities compared to baronage titles, erected in liberam regalitatem.

Click here for a list of Lordships of Regality

See also

• Lords in the Baronage of Scotland
• Baronage of Scotland
• Peerage of Scotland
• English feudal earldom

Notes

References

1. Ruling of the Court of the Lord Lyon (26 February 1943, Vol. IV, page 26): "With regard to the words 'untitled nobility' employed in certain recent birthbrieves in relation to the (Minor) Baronage of Scotland, Finds and Declares that the (Minor) Barons of Scotland are, and have been both in this nobiliary Court and in the Court of Session recognised as a 'titled nobility' and that the estait of the Baronage (i.e. Barones Minores) are of the ancient Feudal Nobility of Scotland".
2. "Feudal Baronies and Manorial Lordships" (PDF). baronage.co.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
3. "Abolition of the feudal system". Law Society of Scotland. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
4. Ancient Peerages, 2nd Edition, Edinburgh, 1785, pp 127-130
5. Institutes, II.3.45
6. "Lyon Court Note" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016.
7. "Note issued with Warrant for Letters Patent from Lord Lyon King of Arms" (PDF). 30 April 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
8. General Register Office, ed., Registrum magni sigilli regum Scotorum : The register of the Great seal of Scotland, A.D. 1306-1668, Edinburgh, 1882, p. 339
9. "Baronage – Registry of Scots Nobility". Archived from the original on 27 February 2024. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
10. "The Arms of J. Sullivan of Braemar, Earl of Breadalbane and Lord of Braemar". The Armorial Register, UK. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
11. "Decision of Lord Lyon King of Arms "Skye, 8 October 2009"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
12. "Decision of Lord Lyon King of Arms "Skye, 8 October 2009"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
13. "Decision of Lord Lyon King of Arms "Skye, 8 October 2009"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
14. "Decision of Lord Lyon King of Arms "Skye, 8 October 2009"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
15. Scotland; Great Britain. General Register Office (Scotland) (1882). Registrum magni sigilli regum Scotorum : The register of the Great seal of Scotland, A.D. 1306-1668. University of California Libraries. Edinburgh : General register house.
16. Scotland; Great Britain. General Register Office (Scotland) (1882). Registrum magni sigilli regum Scotorum : The register of the Great seal of Scotland, A.D. 1306-1668. University of California Libraries. Edinburgh : General register house.
17. Scotland; Great Britain. General Register Office (Scotland) (1882). Registrum magni sigilli regum Scotorum : The register of the Great seal of Scotland, A.D. 1306-1668. University of California Libraries. Edinburgh : General register house.

• Register of the Great Seal of Scotland;
• Abolition of Feudal Tenure Act, Scotland;
• Statutes of 1592;
• Baronetcy Warrants of Charles I.