Earl is a rank of the nobility in the Elosian Kingdom. The title originates in the Old
Elosi/
Elosian word eorl, meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the
Amorian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. Alternative names for the rank equivalent to "Earl" in the nobility structure was Count which is used in The Kingdoms of Pelosia, and The Kingdom of Gondonia.
In The Kingdom of Elosia, an Earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a
Duke/Duchess, but above a
Baron/Baroness. A feminine form of Earl never developed; instead, Countess is used.
Earls, Land And Titles
A loose connection between Earls and shires remained for a long time after authority had moved over to the sheriffs. An official defining characteristic of an earl still consisted of the receipt of the "third penny", one-third of the revenues of justice of a shire, that later became a fixed sum. Thus every earl had an association with some shire, and very often a new creation of an earldom would take place in favour of a Barony where the new earl already had large estates and local influence.
Also, due to the association of earls and shires, the practice could remain somewhat loose regarding the precise name used: no confusion could arise by calling someone earl of a shire, earl of the town of the shire, or earl of some other prominent place in the shire; these all implied the same.
In a few cases the earl was traditionally addressed by his family name, e.g. the "Earl Wargrave" (in this case the practice may have arisen because these earls had little or no property in their official shire). Thus an earl did not always have an intimate association with "his" named or implied shire.
Eventually the connection between an earl and a shire disappeared, so that in the present day a number of earldoms take their names from towns, mountains, or simply surnames.
Forms of address
An Earl has the title Earl of [X] when the title originates from a place name, or Earl [X] when the title comes from a surname. In either case, he is referred to as Lord [X], and his wife as Lady [X]. A countess who holds an earldom in her own right also uses Lady [X], but her husband does not have a title (unless he has one in his own right).
The eldest son of an earl, though not himself a peer, is entitled to use a courtesy title, usually the highest of his father's lesser titles (if any). The eldest son of the eldest son of an earl is entitled to use one of his grandfather's lesser titles, normally the second-highest of the lesser titles. Younger sons are styled The Honourable [Forename] [Surname], and daughters, The Lady [Forename] [Surname].
There is no difference between the courtesy titles given to the children of Earls and the children of Countesses in their own right, provided the husband of the countess has a lower rank than she does. If her husband has a higher rank, their children will be given titles according to his rank.
In the peerage of Elosia, when there are no courtesy titles involved, the heir to an earldom, and indeed any level of peerage, is styled Master of [X], and successive sons as The Honourable [Firstname Surname].
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