Baronage - Replacement By Peerage

Replacement By Peerage

Eventually the duties of the executive office of earldom became redundant, being absorbed by the sheriff, and the title of earl became in itself a title of nobility above that of baron, yet the baronage remained the collective term for both degrees, since earls continued nonetheless to hold their lands per baroniam. Possession of a barony was thus the common factor of the baronage. Indeed in the ancient sense of the word baron as simply a tenant-in-chief, all attendees at parliament were "peers", that is to say "equals" (Latin: pares) one to the other in regard to their feudal standing under the king. With the decline of the feudal system and the creation of barons by writ from 1265, that is to say by a personal summons from the king based on the recipient's personal characteristics rather than his form of land tenure, the feudal barony lost its claim as the qualifying factor for nobility, and the barony by writ, or by letters patent from 1388, became altogether personal not territorial. The Further degrees of nobility of dukes, marquesses and viscounts were likewise created by writ and by patent, and the term baronage was no longer adequate to describe all degrees of nobility collectively. Thus was coined the term peerage to replace it.