Lords in the Baronage of Scotland
Feudal title / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A Lord in the Baronage of Scotland is an ancient title of nobility, held in baroneum, which Latin term means that its holder, who is a feudal lord, is also always a feudal 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 Scottish Baron is below a Lord of Parliament (the Scottish equivalent of an English baron) which is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, while a Lord in the Baronage of Scotland is a noble dignity of higher degree than Baron, but below an Earl in the Baronage of Scotland, which is a baron of still higher degree than a lordship.[1] In the baronage there is only a small number of lordships compared to baronies, whilst earldoms are very rare.[2]
While feudal barons originally sat in parliament (along with the lords and higher nobility who made up the Peerage), all of the peerage, originally, was within the feudal system. Later, some of what used to be feudal lordships came to be known as peerages (such as that of The Right Honourable The Lord Forrester) while others were assigned, inherited by greater peers, or otherwise disqualified from the modern-day peerage. The feudal rights were gradually emasculated and, with the demise of the Scottish parliament in 1707, the right of feudal barons to sit in parliament ceased altogether, unless, that is, a feudal baron was also a Peer (Peerage rights are dealt with elsewhere).
Feudal lordships were all but abolished by Act of Parliament in 1747, following the Jacobite rising. A feudal barony no longer carries any political power as such, although the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 has preserved the baronies themselves, and the quality, precedence and heraldic rights pertaining to these baronies.
Between 1500 and 2000 feudal baronies may have been created, mostly in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, since only about 400 baronies are identified as existing in 1405.[3] Because they fell into disuse, the substantiating paperwork for only a few hundred survives or has been identified. Burke's Landed Gentry for Scotland lists only about 130.
Lords of regality, barons, lords and earls in the Baronage of Scotland are not to be confused with a manorial lordship.