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English feudal baronies (and all lesser forms of feudal tenure) were abolished by the [[Tenures Abolition Act 1660]], but the titles/dignities remain. However, long before then the royal summons to attend parliament had been withheld from all but the most powerful feudal barons and had been extended to persons with lesser feudal tenures who had personal qualities fitting them to be royal councillors and thus peers. These latter were [[Barony by writ|barons by writ]].
The English feudal barony, or "barony by tenure", now has no legal existence except as an incorporeal hereditament title or dignity. It was the highest form of [[feudal land tenure]], namely ''per baroniam'' (Latin for "by barony") under which the land-holder owed the now little understood service of "being one of the king's barons". It must be distinguished from the lesser barony, also feudal, which existed within a [[county palatine]], such as the barony of Halton within the [[Palatinate of Chester]].{{efn|Sanders<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sanders |first1=Ivor John |title=English Baronies: A Study of Their Origin and Descent 1086-1327 |date=1960 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=138 }}</ref> refers to the "Lord" of Halton being the hereditary constable of the County Palatine of Chester, and omits Halton from both his lists}} Such barons were merely tenants-in-chief of a prince, whose own overlord was the king
The duties and privileges owed by feudal barons cannot now be defined exactly, but the main duty certainly was the provision of soldiers to the royal feudal army on demand by the king. A further duty, which involved considerable expense and travel, clearly also a privilege, was the attendance at the king's feudal court, the precursor of [[Parliament of England|Parliament]]. The principal benefits clearly were
There exist today a very few cases of English families which, had it not been for the 1660 Act, would still be feudal barons of ancient creation. One such is the Berkeley family, which although its [[Earl of Berkeley|Earldom of Berkeley]] became extinct in 1942<ref>Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.140</ref> and it recently lost its older peerage title [[Baron Berkeley]] to a female line, still possesses and resides (that is to say retains ''tenure'') as county gentry at [[Berkeley Castle]] in 2014, the ''caput'' of the [[feudal barony of Berkeley]] granted by King Henry II (1154-1189) to its direct ancestor in the male line [[Robert Fitzharding|Robert FitzHarding]] (d.1171), whose son took the surname ''de Berkeley''.{{sfnp|Sanders|1960|p=13}}▼
* the revenue generated from rents and production within the demesne lands of the barony;
* the personal power and prestige derived from the feudal service of the tenants, the highest level of whom, lords of their own manors, became knights in the baron's retinue.
The [[Estate (law)|estate-in-land]] held by barony, if containing a significant castle as its ''[[caput baroniae|caput]]'' and if especially large, that is to say consisting of more than about 20 [[knight's fee]]s (each loosely equivalent to a [[Manorialism|manor]]), was termed an "[[Honour (feudal land tenure)|honour]]". Constituent manors of a barony were mostly [[subinfeudation|subinfeudated]] by the baron to his own knights or followers, with a few retained tenantless as his [[demesne]]. Most English feudal baronies were converted to baronies of writ or peerage under the Tenures Abolition Act 1660. The baronies not converted became baronies of free socage, a dignity title.
▲There exist today a very few cases of English families which, had it not been for the 1660 Act, would still be feudal barons of ancient creation. One such is the Berkeley family
==France==
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[[Category:Feudalism in England]]
[[Category:Feudalism in Scotland]]
[[Category:Honours (feudal barony)]] | |||