A viscount (/ˈvaɪkaʊnt/ VY-kownt, for male) or viscountess (/ˈvaɪkaʊntɪs/ , for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty.
In the case of French viscounts, the title is sometimes left untranslated as vicomte [vi.kɔ̃t].
A county is a type of officially recognized geographical division within a modern country, federal state, or province. Counties are defined in diverse ways, but they are typically current or former official administrative divisions within systems of local government, and in this sense counties are similar to shires, and typically larger than municipalities. Various non-English terms can be translated as "county" or "shire" in other languages, and in English new terms with less historical connection have been invented such as "council area" and "local government district". On the other hand, in older English-speaking countries the word can still refer to traditional historical regions such as some of those which exist in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. The term is also sometimes used for districts with specific non-governmental purposes such as courts, or land registration.
Historically the concept of a geographical administrative "county" is European (from French: comté, Latin: comitatus), and represented the territorial limits of the jurisdiction of a medieval count, or a viscount (French: vîcomte, Latin: vicecomes) supposedly standing in the place of a count. However, there were no such counts in medieval England, and when the French-speaking Normans took control of England after 1066 they transplanted the French and medieval Latin terms to describe the pre-existing Anglo Saxon shires, but they did not establish any system placing the administration of shires under the control of high-level nobles. Instead, although there were exceptions, the officers responsible for administrative functions, such as tax collection, or the mustering of soldiers, were sheriffs, theoretically assigned by the central government, and controlled directly by the monarch.
Earl (/ɜːrl, ɜːrəl/) is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of earl never developed; instead, countess is used.
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. After the Norman Conquest, it became the equivalent of the continental count. In Scotland, it assimilated the concept of mormaer. Since the 1960s, earldoms have typically been created only for members of the royal family. The last non-royal earldom, Earl of Stockton, was created in 1984 for Harold Macmillan, prime minister from 1957 to 1963.
The Oda clan (Japanese: 織田氏, Hepburn: Oda-shi) is a Japanese samurai family who were daimyo and an important political force in the unification of Japan in the mid-16th century. Though they reached the peak of their power under Oda Nobunaga and fell soon after, several branches of the family continued as daimyo houses until the Meiji Restoration. After the Meiji Restoration, all four heads of the houses of the clan were appointed viscounts in the new system of hereditary peerage.
Viscount Yamaji Motoharu (山地 元治; 10 September 1841 – 3 October 1897) was a lieutenant general in the early Imperial Japanese Army during the First Sino-Japanese War. Soldiers under his command committed the Port Arthur massacre.
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight, but lower than a viscount or count. Often, barons hold their fief – their lands and income – directly from the monarch. Barons are less often the vassals of other nobles. In many kingdoms, they were entitled to wear a smaller form of a crown called a coronet.
The term originates from the Latin term barō, via Old French. The use of the title baron came to England via the Norman Conquest of 1066, then the Normans brought the title to Scotland and Southern Italy. It later spread to Scandinavian and Slavic lands.
Fulk I of Anjou (c. 870 – 942), known by the nickname Foulques le Roux ("Fulk the Red", i.e. "Red Falcon"), was a Frankish nobleman who held several titles in West Francia, including Viscount and later Count of Tours from 905, Count of Nantes from 910 to 919, and the first Count of Anjou from 929 until his death.
The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland, but was itself replaced by the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1801.
The ranks of the Peerage of Great Britain are Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron. Until the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, all peers of Great Britain could sit in the House of Lords.
The House of Rochechouart (French: [ʁɔʃ(ə)ʃwaʁ]; Maison de Rochechouart) is the oldest noble family in France. This powerful dynasty of the Carolingian era dates back to Foucher, supporter of Charles the Bald, who became viscount (vicomte) of Limoges in 876. His descendants—Limoges, Rochechouart, Mortemart and Brosse—ruled over the area for several centuries, providing many different French regimes with politicians, soldiers, functionaries and other notable figures. The family is named after the town of Rochechouart.