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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BAR-BEC |
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BARON . This word, of uncertain origin, was introduced into England at the Conquest to denote " the man " (i.e. one who had done him " homage ") of a great lord, and more especially of the king. All who held " in chief
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As all those who held direct of the crown by military service (for those who held " by serjeanty " appear to have been classed apart), from earls downwards, were alike " barons," the great difference in their position and importance must have led, from an early date, to their being roughly divided into " greater " and " lesser " barons, and indeed, under Henry II., the Dialogus de Scaccario already distinguishes their holdings as " greater " or " lesser " baronies. Within a century of the Conquest, as we learn from Becket's case (1164), there arose the practice of sending to the greater barons a special summons to the council, while the lesser barons, it is stipulated in Magna Carta (1215), were to be summoned only through the sheriffs. Thus was introduced a definite distinction, which eventually had the effect of restricting to the greater barons the rights and privileges of peerage. Thus far the baron's position was connected with the tenure of land; in theory the barons were those who held their lands of the king; in practice, they were those who so held a large amount of land. The great change in their status was effected when their presence in that council of the realm which became the House of Lords was determined by the issue of a writ of summons, dependent not on the tenure of land, but only on the king's will. Camden's statement that this change was made by Henry III. after " the Barons' War " was long and widely accepted, but it is now assigned, as by Stubbs, to Edward I., and the earliest writs accepted as creating hereditary baronies are those issued in his reign. It must not, however, be supposed that those who received such summons were as yet distinguished from commoners by any style or title. The only possible prefix at that time was Dominus (lord), which was regularly used by simple knights, and writs of summons were still issued to the lowest order of peers as knights (chevaliers) only. The style of baron was first introduced by Richard II. in 1387, when he created John de Beauchamp, by patent, Lord de Beauchamp and baron of Kidderminster, to make him " unum parium et baronum regni nostri." But it was not till 1433 that the next " baron " was created, Sir John Cornwall
422 was only summoned to parliament by the style of " John Beauchamp of Kidderminster," and the latter by that of " John Cornwall
recent
The solemn investiture
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Barons of the Exchequer were formerly six judges (a chief
Barons of the Cinque Ports (originally Hastings, Dover, Hythe, Romney and Sandwich) were at first the whole body of their freemen, who were so spoken of in royal charters. But the style was afterwards restricted to their mayors, jurats, and (prior to 1831) members of the House of Commons elected by the Cinque Ports, two for each port. Their right to the title is recognized in many old statutes, but in 1606 the use of the term in a message from the Lower House drew forth a protest from the peers, that " they would never acknowledge any man that sitteth in the Lower House to the right or title of a baron of parliament " (Lords' Journals). It was the ancient privilege of these " barons " to bear a canopy over the sovereign at his or her coronation and retain it as their perquisite. They petitioned as " barons of the Cinque Ports " to attend the coronation of Edward VII., and a deputation was allowed to do so.Baron and Feme, in English law, is a phrase used for husband and wife, in relation to each other, who are accounted as one person. Hence, by the old law of evidence, the one party was excluded from giving evidence for or against the other in civil questions, and a relic of this is still preserved in the criminal law. Baron and Feme, in heraldry, is the term used when the coatsof-arms of a man and his wife are borne per pale in the sameescutcheon, the man's being always on the dexter side, and the woman's on the sinister. But in this case the woman is supposed not to be an heiress, for then her coat must be borne by the husband on an escutcheon of pretence. (See HERALDRY.) The foreign title of baron is occasionally borne by English subjects, but confers no precedence in the United Kingdom. It may be Russian, e.g. Baron Dimsdale (1762); German, e.g. Baron Stockmar, Baron Halkett (Hanoverian); Austrian, e.g. Baron Rothschild (1822), Baron de Worms; Italian, e.g. Baron Heath; French, e.g. Baron de Teissier ; French-Canadian, e.g. Baron de Longueil (1700); Dutch, e.g. Baron Mackay (Lord Reay). (J. H. R.) The Foreign Title.On the continent of Europe the title baron, though the same in its origin, has come, owing to a variety of causes, to imply a rank and status very different from its con-notation in the United Kingdom, and again varies considerably in different countries. Originally baro meant no more than " man," and is so used in the Salic and other " barbarian " laws; e.g. Si quis mortaudit barum vel feminam, &c. (Lex Aleman. tit. 76). In this way, too, it was long preserved in the sense of " husband," as in the Assize of Jerusalem (MSS. cap. 98) : Si l'on appelle aucune chose femme qui aura baron, et it la vent deffendre, it la peut deffendre de son cors, &c. Gradually the word seems to have come to mean a "strong or powerful man," and thus generally " a magnate." Finally, in France in the 12th century the general expression barones was introduced in a restricted sense, as applied properly to all lords possessing an important fief, subject to the rule of primogeniture and thus not liable to be divided up, and held of one overlord alone. Sometimes it included ecclesiastical lordships of the first rank. In the 13th century the Register of King Philip Augustus
The same is true, mutatis mutandis, of most other European countries, and notably of Italy. In Austria and Germany the case is somewhat different. Though in Latin documents of the middle ages the term barones for liberi domini was used, it was not until the 17th century that the word Baron, perhaps under the influence of the court of Versailles, began to be used as the equivalent of the old German Freiherr, or free lord of the Empire. The style Freiherr (liber dominus) implied originally a dynastic status, and many Freiherren held countships without taking the title of count. When the more important of them styled themselves counts, the Freiherren sank into an inferior class of nobility. The practice of conferring the title Freiherrby imperial letters was begun in the 16th century by Charles V., was assumed on the ground of special imperial concessions by many of the princes of the Empire, and is now exercised by all the German sovereigns. Though the practice of all the children taking the title of their father has tended to make that of Baron comparatively very common, and has dissociated it from all idea of territorial possession, it still implies considerable social status and privilege in countries where a sharp
drawn
See du Cange, Glossarium, s. " Baro " (ed. Niort, 1883); John Selden, Titles of Honor, p. 353 (ed. 1672); Achille Luchaire, Manuel des institutions francaises (Paris, 1892); Maurice Prou, art. " Baron " in La Grande Encyclopedie. (W. A. P.) End of Article: BARON If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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