# My lord Earl and his wife the ??????



## jgbrowning (Nov 4, 2002)

um.. what do you call an Earl's wife?

Earless?  any brits out there help this poor yank?

joe b.


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## jgbrowning (Nov 4, 2002)

I don't know... GRRR!!!!!!

I have a huge list (70+) of the precedence of the various peer/gentry from england and they just skip over "Earl's wives."

yep, apparantly in the 1000+ friggen years of british recording their peeps.... not a single earls wife wanted to be paid attention too...  gah!

joe b.


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## Aitch Eye (Nov 4, 2002)

Earl's wives are called "countess." You can do a Google search for "Earl wife title" if you want more details, or look at the link below:

http://members.shaw.ca/jobev/title.html


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## jgbrowning (Nov 4, 2002)

*ROFL*

you know what?  there really couldn't be any more of a typically "british" response to my question.  hahahahahah

"You silly git!  Everyone knows that Earl's wives are Countesses..." 


thanks for the info.. gah!

joe b.


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## Aitch Eye (Nov 4, 2002)

I especially like that "_Count_ has never been used as an English title," though "the rank immediately below earl is _ viscount_  (i.e. vice-count)."

http://www.takeourword.com/TOW121/page1.html


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## Dragongirl (Nov 4, 2002)

Not that anyone asked but . . .

*Duke*
Wife : Duchess
Style : His Grace the Duke of ______
Addressed : My Lord Duke or Your Grace
Eldest son : Takes on a secondary title of the duke (if there is one, always is one in Britain) as a curtesty title.
Younger sons and daughters : Lord or Lady (christian name)

*Marquess*
Wife : Marchioness
Style : The Most Hon. (Honorable) the Marquess of ______
Addressed : My Lord Marquess
Children : Same as Duke above.

*Earl*
Wife : Countess
Style : The Right Hon. the Earl of ________
Addressed : My Lord
Eldest son : As Duke above.
Younger sons : the Hon. (christian name)
Daughters : Lady (christian name)

*Viscount*
Wife : Viscountess
Style : The Right Hon. the Viscount of _________
Addressed : My Lord
Children : the Hon. (christian name)

*Barons*
Wife : Baroness
Style : The Right Hon. the Baron of ________
Addressed : My Lord
Children : no honorific

*Baronet*
Wife addressed as : Your Ladyship or Lady (surname)
Style : Sir (name), Bt. such as Sir George Windsor, Bt.
Addressed : Sir (christian name)


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## Edena_of_Neith (Nov 4, 2002)

Thank you, Dragongirl.  Interesting reading.


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## Scarogoth (Nov 4, 2002)

*Not that anyone asked for even more... ;-)*

One of the most comprehensive lists of address that you might find for the nobility can be found at:

Correct forms of address 

which covers just about everything that you could possibly want, I trust!


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## MeepoTheMighty (Nov 4, 2002)

Why are all of those links talking about romance novels? Who cares about romance novels?


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## Skarp Hedin (Nov 4, 2002)

> Why are all of those links talking about romance novels? Who cares about romance novels?




There's a big subcategory of romance novels set in the Regency period in England, while George III was too far gone in his mental illness to actually rule, but had not yet passed away.  The future George IV ruled in his father's stead as regent for about ten years, from 1810 to 1820, at which point his father died and he ruled for another ten years.

At any rate, there's a ton of these Regency romance novels, and since they all seem to be about the upper classes (for as we all know, poor people aren't interesting  ), you need to know how to address everyone.

[ edit:  conflated reigns of Georges III and IV ]


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## jgbrowning (Nov 4, 2002)

*well*

I was actually looking for precedence and peerage information for the earlier period of 1350-1500 or so and the best i could find was from a book written in the late 1500's... that one of course didn't mention the earl/countess thingy.

and well, romance novels... they have such ...interesting... uses of language...


joe b.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
my friend Jim, reading aloud, "He kissed her lovingly."
me, "Where's 'her lovingly'?"
Jim, "Somewhere close to 'her passionately'.  Shut up.. I'm getting to the good part where he says, 'I'm going to ride you until you yield or crumble like a biscuit.'"
me, "Homemade or Pillsbury?"

*me, ducking thrown book*


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## Gez (Nov 4, 2002)

And what about a thane's wife ? Thaness ? Or baroness (I believe thane is synonym to baron).

Just being curious. Me, I'm French, so it's easier:

Roi/Reine
Prince/Princesse
Duc/Duchesse
Marquis/Marquise
Comte/Comtesse
Vicomte/Vicomtesse
Baron/Baronne

And also roitelet (minor king)/"roitelette" (never seen it used) and baronnet/baronnette. One fun thing is that such minor nobles are often given bird names. An aristocrat of little nobility, with few land, would be called a _hobereau_ (from the faucon hobereau, _falco subbuteo_, because that hawk is much smaller than the king of falcons, _falco peregrinus_).


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## Tonguez (Nov 4, 2002)

The difference between Earl and Count is that Earl is a Anglo-Saxon word in origin (ie Jarl) whereas Count is latin derived

the word Count means Companion (of the Monarch) and indicates a Lord of the County - the person who employed (or sometimes acted as) the Shire Reeve (Sheriff)

Marquis is a Lord of the Marches (Border Counties) they are a higher rank becuase the borders were often subject to raids and the Lord had to have wider powers of martial law (ie the ability to raise an army in their own right as a Duke can)

Duke derives from the Latin word Dux "Commander' and are the head of armies.


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## Agback (Nov 4, 2002)

Tonguez said:
			
		

> *Duke derives from the Latin word Dux "Commander' and are the head of armies. *




'Dux' is better translated as 'leader' than as 'commander'. The Latin for 'commander' is 'imperator', the word from which 'emperor' is derived.

Regards,


Agback


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