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{{Short description|Hereditary medieval title}}
Historically, '''feudal barons''' were the king's [[tenant-in-chief|tenants-in-chief]], that is to say men who held land by [[feudal land tenure in England|feudal tenure]] directly from the king as their sole [[overlord]] and were granted by him a legal jurisdiction ([[court baron]]) over their territory, the barony, comprising several [[manor]]s. Such men, if not already nobles,<ref>Several of the men granted feudal baronies by William the Conqueror were of obscure Norman origin, but who had served conspicuously during the [[Norman Conquest]] and had revealed valuable personal qualities to a king seeking to establish his rule in a conquered land (e.g. [[Turstin FitzRolf]], feudal baron of [[North Cadbury]])</ref> were ennobled by obtaining such tenure, and had thenceforth an obligation, upon summons by writ, to attend the king's peripatetic court, the earliest form of [[Parliament]] and the [[House of Lords]]. They thus formed the [[baronage]], which later became known as the [[peerage]].▼
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{English Feudalism}}
A '''feudal baron''' is a [[vassal]] holding a heritable [[fief]] called a ''barony'', comprising a specific portion of land, granted by an [[lord|overlord]] in return for allegiance and service. Following the end of European [[feudalism]], feudal baronies have largely been superseded by [[baron]]ies held as a rank of nobility, without any attachment to a fief. However, in [[Scotland]], the [[Barons in Scotland|feudal dignity of baron]] remains in existence, and may be bought and sold independently of the land to which it was formerly attached.
==England==
{{main|English feudal barony}}
English feudal baronies (and all lesser forms of feudal tenure) were abolished by the [[Tenures Abolition Act 1660]], but 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]]. ▼
▲Historically,
▲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
* 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. 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, in 2014 the family still possesses and resides (that is to say retains ''tenure'') as county gentry at [[Berkeley Castle]], 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}}
==France==
{{see also|Baron#France}}
Under the [[Ancien Régime]] until the [[abolition of feudalism in France|abolition of the feudal system]] in 1789, a [[Kingdom of France|French]] baron was any [[French nobility|noble]] in possession of fief called a barony. As such, possession of the title and the land were in theory inextricably linked.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Velde |first1=François |title=Nobility and Titles in France |url=https://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/noblesse.htm |website=Heraldica |access-date=22 November 2018}}</ref> Nevertheless, nobles without any fief of their own might assume the title of baron for themselves.
Under the [[Nobility of the First French Empire|imperial nobility]] of [[Napoleon]] and the recreated [[peerage]] of the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]], French baronies returned. However, these new baronies were simply titles of nobility and not fiefdoms.
==Ireland==
==Scotland==
{{main|Scottish feudal barony}}
In contrast to the English equivalent, the [[Scottish feudal barony]] retains a dignity preserved by the "Abolition of Feudal Tenure, etc (Scotland) Act 2000". A feudal barony is the only title of dignity legally assignable and able to be legally alienated from the bloodline of its previous possessor. The heraldry and legal determination of ownership of Scottish baronies are governed by the court of the Lord Lyon.
==See also==
* [[Baron]]
* [[Barony (county division)]]
==Notes==
▲==Irish feudal barony==
{{Notelist}}
==References==
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[[Category:Feudalism in England]]
[[Category:Feudalism in Scotland]]
[[Category:Honours (feudal barony)]]
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