Scottish feudal lordship


A feudal lordship is a Scottish feudal title that is held in baroneum, which Latin term means that its holder, who is called a feudal lord, is also always a feudal baron. A feudal lordship is an ancient title of nobility in Scotland. The holder may or may not be a Lord of Regality, which meant that the holder was appointed by the Crown and had the power of "pit and gallows", meaning the power to authorise the death sentence.
A Scottish feudal lord ranks above a Scottish feudal baron, but below a Lord of Parliament which is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, and below a feudal earldom, which is a feudal barony of still higher degree than a feudal lordship. There are far fewer feudal lordships than feudal baronies, whilst feudal earldoms are very rare.
While feudal barons originally sat in parliament, all of the peerage, originally, was within the feudal system. Later, some of what used to be feudal lordships came to be known as peerages while others were sold, inherited by greater peers, or otherwise disqualified from the modern-day peerage. The feudal rights were gradually emasculated and, with the demise of the Scottish parliament in 1707, the right of feudal barons to sit in parliament ceased altogether, unless, that is, a feudal baron was also a Peer.
Feudal lordships were all but abolished by Act of Parliament in 1747, following the Jacobite rising. A feudal barony no longer carries any political power as such, although the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. Act 2000 has preserved the baronies themselves, and the quality, precedence and heraldic rights pertaining to these baronies.
Between 1500 and 2000 feudal baronies may have been created, most the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, since only about 400 baronies are identified as existing in 1405. Because they fell into disuse, the substantiating paperwork for only a few hundred survives or has been identified. Burke's Landed Gentry for Scotland lists only about 130.
A peer is invariably addressed as 'Lord Placename' or 'Lord Such-and-so', whilst those holding a feudal lordship are addressed 'Lord of Placename' or 'Baron of Placename' and feudal barons are addressed as 'Baron of Placename' or 'Placename'.
A female feudal baron is usually referred to as 'Lady Placename'. The wife of a Lord receives the courtesy title 'Lady Placename', but the husband of a Lady, who holds a feudal barony in her own right, is just plain Mr. 'Surname'.
Lords of regality, feudal lords, and feudal barons are not to be confused with a manorial lordship.

Order of precedence of Scottish feudal titles

Wallace states that:

"Lordships, Earldoms, Marquisates and Dukedoms differ only in name from Baronies" but continues "one whose property was erected into a Lordship ranked before a simple Baron" and "A person to whom an Earldom belonged, would be superior to a person who had no more than a lordship... One, whose lands were incorporated into a Marquisate, was superior to both... A man, who owned a fief elevated into a Dukedom, was exhaulted above all three."

The inference in terms of superiority from greater to lesser is thus: Feudal Duke, Feudal Marquis, Feudal Earl, Feudal Lord, Feudal Baron.

Usage

The holder of a Scottish feudal lordship, in similar fashion to the holder of a barony, may add the title to his existing name or add the territorial designation to his surname ; some of the oldest Scottish families prefer to be styled by the territorial designation alone.
According to the UK government, the current policy of using titles on passports requires that the applicant provides evidence that the Lord Lyon has recognised a feudal barony, or the title is included in Burke's Peerage. If accepted, the correct form is for the applicant to include the territorial designation as part of their surname. The Observation would then show the holder's full name, followed by their feudal title e.g. The holder is John Smith, Lord of Inverglen.

List of feudal lordships (created before 1707)

Below is an incomplete list of Scottish feudal lordships created in Scotland before 1707.
LordshipCountyCreatedaIncumbentSucceeded-
AbernethyPerthshireHE Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, GCMLJ, FRSA2008-
ArdrossanAyrshire1357
BalvairdPerthshire1673Alexander David Mungo Murray, Earl of Mansfield2015-
BraemarAberdeenJohn Sullivan2004-
Buncle and PrestonBerwickshireOlivier Fuchs of Cockburn-
ColdinghamBerwickshire1141-
CowalArgyllJames Devlin-
Crawford and DouglasSouth Lanarkshire-
CumbernauldLanarkshire1314-
DirletonEast Lothian1220Baron Camilo Agasim-Pereira of Fulwood2000-
DudhopeAngus1542-
GariochAberdeenshire12th centuryGeorge David Menking2001-
GiffenAyrshire14th centuryRyan Montgomery2001-
GlencoeArgyllForde-
HailesEast Lothian20 Dec 1451bS.A. Malin of Hailes2008-
HolydeanRoxburghshire1128Taylor Forrester Moffitt2006-
Jedburgh ForestRoxburghshire3 Feb 1602Richard Bruce Bernadotte Miller2010-
KildrummieAberdeenJohn Sullivan2004-
KilmarnockAyrshire1316-
LeslieSir Philip Christopher Ondaatje2004-
PittenweemFife1592Claes Zangenberg2011-
StoboPeebleshire1577The Much Hon. William Jolly-
StrathdeeAberdeenshire1563-
UrquhartInverness-shire1230-

a: The creation date is the earliest known date for the Lordship and subject to revision
b: The Barony of Hailes was granted to Adam de Hepburn by Patrick de Dunbar, Earl of March in 1343