The constitution of parliaments in England deduced from the time of King Edward the Second, illustrated by King Charles the Second in his Parliament summon'd the 18 of February 1660/1, and dissolved the 24 of January 1678/9 : with an appendix of its sessions / observed by Sr. John Pettus ... Knight.

SECT. IV. Of Earls.

THe learned Selden tells us,* 1.1 (as I have shewn) That the Titles of Dukes, and Counts, or Earls, were promiscuously us'd as well in foreign parts as in England, till the Title of Marquess was interpos'd; and it is agreed, that Comes is the Latin word for Count, (in whatever Territory that word is us'd) and that Count is de∣riv'd from Commitatus, or County; and Co∣mitatus from Committo, denoting the par∣ticular County committed to his Care) and vice versa, Committo begets Comitatus, or County, and Comitatus, Comes, a Count, i. e. Earl.

Of these Counts the learned Selden reckons but 6 Sorts, viz. the Single Count, (who hath no addition but his Christian name) 2d. Count Palatine (from Palatium or some Palace in it,) 3d. Count of the Empire, 4th. Count of Frontiers, where the Title of Mar∣quess is also us'd instead of Count, 5th. Count of Provinces, (or Counties joyn'd) which in Foraign parts are call'd Landgraves, (the word Grave and Comes signifying the same Title) and 6th. Count of Cities or Towns, and these latter, as in England, are call'd Comites Castrenses or Burgraves, or Counts of Castles or Burroughs, (all which are more fully describ'd in his second Book.) But I find that Cassiodorus in his 6th. Book mentions 22 Sorts more than Mr. Selden, of which 6 of Mr. Seldens, or 28 of Cassiodorus, we in England re∣tain but few, viz. a Count of a County, (as Algernonus, Comes Northumbriae; A Count of a City, (as Albericus or Awbry, Comes Oxoniae (or Oxford,) and Guilel∣mus, Comes Novi Castri or New Castle upon Tine, (being both a Castle and Burrough.)

3. All the curiosity lies in finding out how Comes or Count happens to be trans∣mutted into the word Earl, so much dif∣ferent in Pronuntiation and Orthography from each other, and yet, as we say, are the same in Substance.

4. Now it being no hard matter to be∣lieve (as I have shewn) that Duke is deriv'd from Duco, and Marquess from Mare, but Earl from Comes or Count, is not so intelligible; but this may be said, that the Saxons from whom we borrow this word Earl, did use it as a word of Honour, and in the same sence with Co∣mes, for they did call their chiefest Governors of Shires, (of which many of our Counties still retain that name, as will be shewn) and of Cities and Bur∣roughs, by the name of Earldermen, and for a more easie pronounciation Ealder∣man, and after Alderman, and for brevity Earl, and the Danes after them Earlan; and commonly the Earlan or Earl had a Shire or more for his Earldom, and the number of Earls increasing, some had part of a Shire, others some chief Town, of which he was made Earl or Earlder∣manus; and whatever other Etymologers say, (of which I can speak more freely in my Annotations) I conceive the Do∣minion of those Earls were allotted near some spreading Rivers, (in Fenny-Coun∣tries) which are to this day call'd Eas, and those Inland Isles (which we now write Island,* 1.2 and some corruptly calls Eyes) were anciently writ Ealands, as Rumen-ea, (now Rumney-Marshes in Kent) and Ely

an Island in Cambridgeshire is anciently writ Ealand, and so Worrel Island, (near Chester) sometimes call'd Ealand, and some∣times Island, and I could reckon up what I have seen in Cambridgeshire, and Lin∣colnshire, at least 40 antient Cuts and Sewers of Water, which still are call'd and writ by the name of Ea, viz. Boston Ea in Lincolnshire, Popham Ea in North∣hamptonshire, (signifying great Waters in those places) and many more might be instanced to prove that as Marquess may safely be deriv'd from Mare, (as denoting one that had the guard of the inundations from Saltwaters) so Earl may as safely be deriv'd from Ea, (or one that had the guard and care against the Inland innunda∣tions of fresh waters) and some observe that this word Ea is still retain'd in most of those Counties which are intituled Shires, or bordering on those Shires (Shire being (a Saxon word) as will be shewn) but in other Counties which are not call'd Shires, the word Ea is scarce known, so as Comes or Count was us'd in such places as were call'd Counties, and Earl in such as were call'd Shires.

5. This Tutelage of grounds gain'd or preserv'd from waters, was so great an honour, that Caius Marius, (who was made seven times Consul or Comes, (for

as Selden saith, Comites dici possunt Con∣sules a Consulendo) which was render'd Earl, did by a Cut or Drain so secure the Inundation of Salt waters often overflow∣ing a large Fenny County near Arles in France, that in memory of so benificial a Work, it was called Fossa Mariana, (or the Consul Marius his Drain) and in Pom∣peys time the securing of the inundations of Freshes about 40 Miles from Rome was esteem'd to be so good Service, that one of the two Consuls were usually appointed to attend the Gallick Enemy, the other had the care of the Ea or Watry Enemy; and it is no small honour now to the Earl of Bedford to be Governour of 365000 Acres of Fenny Grounds, intituled by his name of Bedford Level subject to inundations, but by his vigilance preservs it.

6. And when this Title of Earl was first given in England, (as tis said) by Wil∣liam the first, to Hugo de Aurank or de Ib∣rinks, making him Earl of Chester, it was doubtless from some eminent Service done in preserving the Banks or Brinks of that County against the inundations of the River Dee upon the South-side of Worrcl Ealand aforesaid, reaching from the Town of Chester to the Hebrea, for shortness call'd Heber, and so round that Hundred, (besides the Banks in other parts of that County.)

Some do question whether this d'Aurank or d'Ibrink was the first Earl, but tis likely he was so Titularly, and other the like Earls before him: but that which is agreed on is, that Albericus or Aubry d'Vere, was the first that was by Charter (or Patent) created Earl by Henry the 2d. who had the additional Title of Earl of Oxford or Oxenford in Oxfordshire, and continues in that Family to this day; but I cannot pass the word Ford, which doth imply a passable Ea or Water, which was necessarily to be preserved from the over∣flowing of at least 7 several Rivers in that little County, for the more safe pas∣sage of Men and Oxen.

7. To conclude, Ihope I may be allow'd so much of the Art of Tachygraphy or short writing, as may render my applica∣tion of this word more plausible, by writ∣ing Earl for Ea Regalia, so as whether Ea be consider'd as a Saxon word, or the plural of the pronoun Ea, it confirms my notion, and may serve as well to explain the word Earl, as SPQR the Senate and People of Rome, or DNS to signifie a Ba∣ron of the Realm or Chr. Chevaleer.

8. I have said sufficiently of the word; now as to the antiquity of it in England, it is Authentick from History and Record, that the word Earl and Honour of it, was

in use in the Saxons, and Danes time, and continued with the Normans, and Earls had the like extensive power in Shires and Counties as they have had since their formal creation by Charter, which it seems was a mode and form not us'd till this to the Earl of Oxford, since which there hath been some variations in the Form, but especially in the time of Hen∣ry the eighth and King James, as will be seen when I come to recite so much of their Charters of Creation as relate to their interests in Parliament.

9. The learned Selden divides this Title into two sorts, a Local and a Personal Earl; by Local he means such Counties, Cities, Castles, Towns, or Burroughs, as are fix'd to the Title of Earl, (or Comes) as Earl of Oxford, Earl of Kent, &c. (being not County Palatines) or of such as are County Palatines, whereof there are five, viz. Cheshire, Lancashire, (which are in the Crown) Pembrokeshire (in the present Earl of Pembroke) Durham and Ely, (which two are County Palatines, belonging to the Bishops of those Coun∣ties, never granted to any Temporal Earls) so as the Bishops of Ely and Durham do sit in Parliament Virtute Tenurae, and not Virtute Comitatus Palatinae.

As for Personal Earls, there are but three remaining at this day, viz. the Earl or Lord Great Chamberlain, granted to Ber∣ty, Earl of Lindsey, with a large intale to that Family, 2ly. the Title of Earl Mar∣shal granted to Hen. Howard Earl of Nor∣wich, and after Duke of Norfolk, with a large intale as I have shewn, 3ly. granted by Patent to Savage Earl Rivers being made a Baron in 5 Edw. 6. and also Vis∣count of Colchester in 19 Jacobi, and in the 2d. of Charles the first was made Viscount Savage of Rock Savage in Cheshire, where∣by he is a double Viscount, and Earl Rivers, which is the Name of an illustrious Fami∣ly, and not of a Place, but all the other Earls are intituled from some noted Place.

10. Forty nine Earls Summon'd the 18th. February, 1661. and six more Sum∣mon'd the 29th. of Aprill, 1661. See the Pawn. Cap. 2.

The next I am to treat of is the Vice∣comes, Vice Earl, or Viscount.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Obs. I.
• * 1.2

  Sir Willi∣am Dug∣dale.