Scottish Feudal Barony - Scottish Heraldry

Scottish Heraldry

The former Lord Lyon declined to award the following baronial additaments to the arms of those feudal barons registering arms now that the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 is in force. However, the current Lord Lyon has confirmed in a recent policy statement that he will officially recognise feudal barons or those possessing the dignity of baron who meet certain conditions and will grant them arms with a helmet befitting their degree. Scottish Barons rank below Lords of Parliament, and, while a noble, are not conventionally considered peerage titles; unlike others, the title can be hereditary or bought and sold.

In showing that Scottish barons are titles of nobility, reference may be made, amongst others, to Lyon Court in the Petition of Maclean of Ardgour for a Birthbrieve by Interlocutor dated 26 February 1943 which "Finds and Declares that the Minor Barons of Scotland are, and have both in this Nobiliary Court, and in the Court of Session, been recognised as 'titled' nobility, and that the estait of the Baronage (The Barones Minores) is of the ancient Feudal Nobility of Scotland".

Sir Thomas Innes of Learney in his 'Scots Heraldry' (2nd Ed., p. 88, note 1) states that 'The Act 1672, cap 47, specially qualifies the degrees thus: Nobles (i.e. peers, the term being here used in a restricted seventeenth-century English sense), Barons (i.e. Lairds of baronial fiefs and their "heirs", who, even if fiefless, are equivalent to heads of Continental baronial houses) and Gentlemen (apparently all other armigers).' Baronets and knights are evidently classed as 'Gentlemen' here and are of a lower degree than Barons.