Why is the wife of an Earl called a Countess?

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Count, Countess, Countess of Wessex, Earl, Earl of Wessex, Jarl, Nobility, Title

The other day I was asked why is the wife of an Earl called a Countess, just like the wife of a Count is called a Countess?

First some historical background on the title of Earl.

Earl is a rank of the nobility in Britain. The title originates in the Old English word eorl, meaning “a man of noble birth or rank”. The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant “chieftain”, particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king’s absence.

The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form Jarl, and meant “chieftain”, particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king’s stead.

An Earl was the highest rank amongst the nobility below the king in pre-Norman England, and there was no female version of the word. Indeed, the only female noble who had a title at all was the cyninge (queen).

In fact, a female equivalent of Earl never developed in England and therefore the title of Countess was borrowed from the title Count, a title that never caught on with the English nobility.

The word Count came into English from the Norman-French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning “companion”, and later “companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor”. The adjective form of the word is “comital”. In the English nobility the title Earl developed as an equivalent to the title of Count.

The Norman-derived equivalent “count” was not introduced following the Norman Conquest of England though “countess” was introduced at the time and was used for the female title. As Geoffrey Hughes writes, “It is a likely speculation that the Norman French title ‘Count’ was abandoned in England in favour of the Germanic ‘Earl’ […] precisely because of the uncomfortable phonetic proximity to cunt”…I kid you not!

Since the title countess is derived from the male form of count it was possible a female equivalent for Earl could have developed along similar lines. For example, “ess” is a suffix from French; where the title Count originated as previously mentioned,

However, English has more in common with the Germanic language where the most common Germanic suffix is -“in”, so if there were an inherited feminine form of Jarl/Earl it would probably be Jarlin. One can speculate that this would have come into English as Earlen.

In Scandinavia, Jarl/Earl could also mean a sovereign prince. For example, the rulers of several of the petty kingdoms of Norway had the title of jarl and in many cases they had no less power than their neighbours who had the title of king.In Scandinavia, the title Jarl/Earl became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced by Duke. After the Norman Conquest of England, an Earl became the equivalent of the continental title of Count. Prior to the times of England post Norman Conquest, during the Anglo-Saxon period, the title of Earl was more akin to a Duke.

Let me fill you in on the title of Duke for perspective.

Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, and grand dukes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked below princes of nobility and grand dukes. The title comes from French duc, itself from the Latin dux, ‘leader’, a term used in republican Rome to refer to a military commander without an official rank (particularly one of Germanic or Celtic origin), and later coming to mean the leading military commander of a province. In most countries, the word duchess is the female equivalent.

Now back to the title of Earl:

In Scotland, the title Earl assimilated the concept of mormaer. A mormaer, also spelled Mormaor, (from Gaelic mor, “great”; maer, or maor, “steward,” or “bailiff”), was a ruler of any of seven provinces into which Celtic Scotland (i.e., the part of the country north of the Forth and the Clyde) was divided.

For the simplest answer to the question why the wife of an Earl is a Countess is simply due to the fact that a female equivalent title, or word,, never developed.

The above picture is Thier Royal Highnesses The Earl and Countess of Wessex and Fofar.

British Nobility

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Baron, Countess, Duke, Earl, England, Esquire, Gentleman, Ireland, knight, Landed Gentry, Marquess, Peerage, Scotland, Viscount, Wales

British System Part II

His Grace, Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond. 

Today I want to cover the the Nobility under the British system. This is also a complex system I could First of all Britain still functions under the class system although some movements away from that have happened, namely through the reform of the House of Lords. Being a peer just isn’t what it used to be. The nobility is made up of two entities, the peerage and the landed gentry. The peerage is a legal system of hereditary titles and honors with the holder of the title having the right to sit and vote in The House of Lords. However, no hereditary peerage titles are being created except for members of the royal family and only life peers are being created. The Sovereign is considered the fount of honour from which the peerage titles flow, therefore the sovereign is not a peer. Under the British system there are three legal positions: The Sovereign, Peers and all the rest are commoners. In reality until Her Majesty created Prince William a Peer he was technically a commoner as the title of British Prince or Princess has no legal barring. Also, ironically, when the Queen, as Princess Elizabeth, married her husband, who had just been created a Peer of the Realm, she was technically a commoner and her was not! For centuries members of the British Royal Family, generally male members, have been ennobled. 

Here is the list of titles in accordance with rank.

Duke: It derrives from the Latin dux meaning leader. It was first created in England in 1337 when King Edward I made his son, Edward the Black Prince, Duke of Cornwall. The feminine form of Duke is Duchess.

Marquess: Derives from the French word ‘Marquis” and used to mean those that ruled the Marches or the border counties of a England, Scotland and Wales. The last Marquess was created in 1936 and since hereditary peers are no longer being created and not even members of the royal family hold this as a primary or secondary title, this title has seem to fallen into disuse. The feminine form is Marchioness.

Earl: Prior to the development of Duke and Marquess, the title of Earl was the highest ranking noble in the Kingdom after the king. It’s title has two sources. One the Anglo-Saxon term, Eorl, for a military leader, and also the Norse term, Jarl, from the Danelaw period of English history. Since there is no feminine form of Earl, the wife of an Earl is called a Countess.

Viscount: It simple means vice-count.

Baron: From the Latin Baro, meaning servant or soldier. This was created in 1066 and was instituted by William I. It is the lowest rank of peerage and with the introduction of non-hereditary life peers, they also hold the rank/title of Baron although they are not technically part of the aristocracy even though they are called ‘Noble Lord.”

Over the years and with the changing titles of the State itself Peers are ennobled as part of one state within the kingdom. I ripped this off from Wikipedia to demonstrate how peers are divided.

The Peerage of England — all titles created by the Kings and Queens of England before the Act of Union in 1707.
The Peerage of Scotland — all titles created by the Kings and Queens of Scotland before 1707.
The Peerage of Ireland — titles created for the Kingdom of Ireland before the Act of Union of 1801, and some titles created later.
The Peerage of Great Britain — titles created for the Kingdom of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801.
The Peerage of the United Kingdom — most titles created since 1801.

Under the British System only the person holding the title is ennobled and not their entire family. Although in practice families that hold noble titles are greatly esteemed. This contrasts with the practices on the European Continent (Germany is a good example) where the entire family is ennobled and not just the holder of the title. More on that in the section on Germany.

The Landed Gentry:

This historical social class are those landowners who lived of their rental income. These are the ranks of the titles:

Baronet: Created in 1611 by King James I-VI of England and Scotland. It is a hereditary title and is the only hereditary title not considered a peerage title.

Knight: This was originally only given as an award for military service but has since been modified to include any person who has served the country.

Esquire: Was an individual that served a Knight and was aspiring to knighthood themselves.

Gentleman: Created in 1413 and denoted a man of high birth and social standing who did not have to work for a living.

The landed gentry is still considered an upper social class. 

There is all is in a simple nutshell. This has been just a glancing overview of the Noble system in Britain.