Earl facts for kids

The royal procession to Parliament at Westminster, 4 February 1512. Left to right: The Marquess of Dorset, Earl of Northumberland, Earl of Surrey, Earl of Shrewsbury, Earl of Essex, Earl of Kent, Earl of Derby, Earl of Wiltshire. From: Parliament Procession Roll of 1512.

An Earl (or Jarl) was a title for nobility used by Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. It originally meant "chieftain" and it referred especially to chieftains set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it stopped being used in the Middle Ages, whereas, in Britain, it became synonymous with the continental count. In Anglo-Saxon times the title was similar to that of Ealdorman.

Today, an earl is a member of the British peerage, and is below a Marquess, but above a Viscount. A British Earl is the same as a continental Count. Since there is no feminine form of Earl, the wife of an Earl has the rank of Countess (the continental equivalent).

Images for kids

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  Eorla in medieval Beowulf manuscript

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  Odo of Bayeux, fighting in the Battle of Hastings as shown in the Bayeux Tapestry. Odo was later made Earl of Kent.

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  Hedingham Castle, seat of the Earls of Oxford, is in Essex where most of the earl's land was concentrated

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  Earl's coronation robes

See also

In Spanish: Earl para niños