#1243 What is the difference between an earl, a duke, a lord, and a knight?

What is the difference between an earl, a duke, a lord, and a knight? They are all ranks of the aristocracy, conferred upon a person by the monarch of the UK, but they have different levels and privileges.

The ranks of nobility obviously only exist in countries that have a nobility, and they vary in position and name from country to country. Some countries, such as Japan, have a monarchy, but no aristocracy. I am going to focus on the UK. In the UK, the aristocracy is ranked in order from monarch, prince or princess, duke, marquess, earl, viscount, baron, knight. A lord is a word used for all of the positions from duke to baron. A knight is usually addressed as “sir”. All of these positions were introduced at different times and were a way of controlling the powerful people in the country while recognizing their power and a way of organizing society. As humans, we always need some kind of hierarchy to know exactly what our position is. Or at least, that is how it seems.

The first king in the world was either in Egypt or in Sumer. There is a king buried in a tomb called Tomb U-j in Egypt who reigned in 3320 BC. He could be the first. It is almost impossible to know because there were no written records, and the only evidence are tombs and engravings on them. Royal regalia has also been found, but there is no way of knowing if it was for a king. It stands to reason that kings evolved from the leaders of tribes as tribes slowly got bigger. If one tribe took over other tribes, that tribe leader would become more powerful and become a king. The next logical step would be a system of princes or princesses. Undoubtedly, early kings would have been replaced by the most powerful contenders, but once there was some semblance of stability, it would make sense to try to have a hereditary monarchy. At least, it would make sense for the monarch. However, we are looking at the UK today and the first king of England was Aethelstan in 924 AD. There were kings and queens that rules smaller areas before the Romans, then again after the Romans, but Aethelstan was the first king of a united England.

Most of the ranks for the nobility were created in or after the 14^th century. Before then, powerful people were landowners and had titles that were connected to the land they owned, such as Lord of the Manor. In 1066, William the Conqueror brought a system of nobility from France and it slowly took hold in England. When William the Conqueror took control of England, he wanted a way of controlling the land owning class, so he confiscated all of the land before gifting it back to people loyal to him. These people were then able to rent out their land on down the hierarchy, so that they could make money off it. This was the system of fiefdom.

The position of Duke is the next down after prince or princess and it was officially created in 1337 by King Edward III. It comes from the Latin “dix”, which means “leader”. There are 24 dukes in England at the moment. Following Duke is Marquess, which came from the Norman French for an earl or baron who guarded the Welsh and Scottish marshes. It was originally “marchio”. Richard II introduced marquess into England in 1385 and he set it above earl and baron, two positions which already existed. The position was very unpopular because it reduced the importance of the earls and barons. There are currently 34 marquesses in England. Then comes earl. The role of earl has existed for a long time, but it was made a position by William the Conqueror. The word “earl” comes from the old English “eorlcund man”, which meant noble man, or leader. An eorlcund man controlled a large piece of land for the king. There are 195 earls in the UK at the moment. Viscount comes next. A viscount was the rank below count in Europe, but didn’t exist in England. King Henry VI made the first viscount in 1440 and brought the position to England. There are 111 viscounts at the moment. Baron comes next and is one of the oldest positions. Baron comes from the Latin “baro”, which meant “servant” or “soldier” and a baron was the king’s man. These are the lowest rank of the nobility and they were originally intended to do the king’s work. There are 400 barons in the UK at the moment. Then, knight comes at the bottom. A knight is someone who has been raised above the common people, but not raised enough to join the aristocracy. The idea of knights goes back thousands of years. The word “knight” comes from the Old English “cniht”, which meant boy or servant. There are roughly 3,000 knights in the UK at the moment. Somebody can hold more than one title at the same time. For example, King Charles III is king, duke, and earl, all at the same time. And this is what I learned today.

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