View Single Post
Old 05-17-2021, 06:14 AM   #14
Donny Brook
 
Donny Brook's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Snoopy's basement
Default Re: [Banestorm] Why is the Cardien Council of Lords full of barons and vicounts?

I don't know Yrth all that well, but as far as Europe on Earth goes, the highly structured British peerage as we know it was a relatively late evolution.

In France through most of the middle ages, baron wasn't really a title that was handed out, it was a description of a particular social condition: a landed lord with armed retainers who was in homage to a generic 'prince' (a ruler who might be titled King, Emperor, Prince or Duke). Observers might call such individuals baron but they themselves wouldn't necessarily tack it to their names. The concept of 'peer' meant someone in direct homage to the king, without any requirement of a particular title. One of the greatest peer familes of the 1300s were De Coucy who had no title, were in homage to the king and members of his council, and were 'barons of the crown' de facto. In such a status an heir who inherited the lands could, theoretically decline to do homage to the monarch but still be lord of their domains but not a baron because they had no relationship of homage. Such a person would be a 'prince' in their own right, albeit a minor one and something of a black sheep.

'Count' in its original usage was an appointed office, but a vastly powerful and important one as a military and administrative boss of a region. The office, the title, and any land or other rights that went with it were dependent on the 'imperium' of the ruler who granted them; there was no quality to countship that was independent of the ruler who granted it. I theory, any free person could be appointed a count although in practice it was typically powerful noble. Eventually the office became hereditary but always remained subject to the ovrrlord's approval. Same for marquesses who were counts of border territories.

Dukes came in two types. There were those who were 'princes' (i.e ruling monarchs) whose traditional title happend to be Duke instead of Prince or King, e.g. the duke of Burgundy. Then there were others who were given the title as a mark of status rather than power, typically offspring of a monarch who were not heirs to the crown.
Donny Brook is offline   Reply With Quote