In England during the middle ages there was a noble position known as an earl.
And an earl was essentially, what was referred to as a count in the rest of Europe at the
time.
The word earl comes from the name of a Germanic god/warrior Ríg-Jarl who was said to be the
ancestor of warrior nobles.
A feminine form of earl never developed; instead, countess is used.
An earl was essentially someone who looked after land in the name of the king and did
not have to be related to the royal family.
The earl looked after a county, or at times a couple of counties, and depending on the
time period had various amounts of power in creating laws and judging the people under
his rule.
In Anglo-Saxon England, earls had authority over their own regions and had the right of
judgment in local courts, as far as permitted by the king.
They collected fines and taxes and in return received one-third of all the money they collected.
And during times of war they mustered and led the king's armies.
During this period, it was common for counties, known as shires, to be grouped together into
larger units known as earldoms, headed by an ealdorman or earl.
After the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror tried to rule England using the traditional
system but eventually modified it to suit his own needs.
Shires or counties became the largest subdivision in England and earldoms disappeared.
earls power and regional jurisdiction was limited to that of the Norman counts and Earls
no longer aided in tax collection or made decisions in country courts.
By the 13th century, earls had a social rank just below the king and princes, but they
were not necessarily more powerful or wealthier than other noblemen.
The only way to become an earl was to inherit the title or marry into one—and the king
reserved a right to prevent the transfer of the title.
By the 14th century, creating an earl included a special public ceremony where the king personally
tied a sword belt around the waist of the new earl, emphasizing the fact that the earl's
rights came from him.
Earls still exist in the UK and Ireland but don't hold as much power as they once did
although many of them are members of the house of lords.
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