Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 4.djvu/708

686 APPENDIX H special writs, and who were ordinarily described under the appellation of Barons, had not any barony, or only part of a barony," this is not to the point. The magnates who advised the King disregarded the question of summons to Parliament, which in their eyes had none of the baron- making power attributed to it in modern times. They instanced, for the King's guidance, those tenures which, according to the custom or law of their time, were comparable with the tenure of the Scottish Crown. We cannot repeat too often that the succession to land was, both in the case of earldoms and of baronies, the chief prepossession of landowners, the idea of what is now called "dignity" and "title" being quite vague. The case of Hugh de Courtenay has already been referred to. He evinced no knowledge of the fact that his inheritance put the Earldom of Devon within his grasp whenever he cared to ask for it, and it is possible that, but for the dispute about the third penny, he would not have become Earl.(^) If a man who had a claim to a real name of dignity was either unconscious of his rights or did not care to assert them, how little can we expect a feudal baron, who had no inheritable title, to set a value on that which had no existence! And yet we are approaching the time when, according to modern doctrine, the barons jealously guarded the succession to peerage titles, the existence of which was unknown to them and their descendants until 19th century Peerage counsel made a profession of inventing them. So little is the historical atmosphere of early times in England under- stood by those who would make the baron of the 13th century a modern peer that they have not only distorted the facts concerning him, but they have given to the contemporary terms applied to him meanings which are entirely foreign to the period. To the Peerage lawyer of to-day the word " dominus " means " lord " in the modern sense, no matter how or when it is used. And yet, as a fact, this word, like the word " baron," was used in an infinite variety of meanings; it ranged from the vaguest courteous address to something approximating the modern " lord." It was used for non-graduate clerks as well as laymen. In the schedule to the writs oi Equis et Armis, 26 Dec. 24 Edw. 1, a number of those summoned are called " Dominus"; e.g. Dominus Robertus Ros de Gedney, Dominus Rogerus de Huntingfeld, Dominus Robertus de Kirketon, but there is nothing to show why there should be this discrimination between them and the much larger number who have no such addition to their names. Again, in the list of those who subscribed the Barons' Letter to the if) See anti, p. 660.