Re: Scottish titles

["Stephanie M. Thorson" <smt2@st-andrews.ac.uk>]

Poster: "Stephanie M. Thorson" <smt2@st-andrews.ac.uk>

Eogan wrote:

> I have been trying to document various Scots titles of nobility that are
> roughly equivalent to "Lord" to the early or mid 14th century or earlier.
> The closest I have been able to come with anything is the late 14th
> century.  I will include a partial list of what I have found below.  If
> anyone has any other posible titles or leads that could date from earlier,
> for either Scots or Gaelic, please let me know.
> 
> Here is what I have been able to find and date so far:
> Lord--late 14th (more specific titles such as Lord of the ____ date from
> 	late 14th to 20th)
> Laird--15th-?
> Lard--late 14th - 20th

I'd add to this that just now I'm dealing with some late 15th and early
16th century material where *Lord* refers specifically to someone who not
only holds a grant of land from the king, but is also a member of the
nobility. Lard or laird refers to those who hold lands of the king, but
are *not* members of the nobility.  (Yes, in Scotland it was entirely
possible).  The scribes are quite consistent in their spelling and meaning
on these issues, and what background research I've done indicates that
they were correct in this.

> Lerd--late 16th - 17th

Hehe.  The aforementioned 15th/16th c. material also uses this word, as
the past participle of "lere" and also a substantive adjective to mean
"learned," as clerks, for instance, and as opposed to "lawd"  meaning
sometimes the laity in general or more often the unlettered.  For example,
when narrating an invasion in which the attackers slew without mercy, my
chronicler says that they slew "3oung and auld, wife and barn, lerd and
lawd."  Check out the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue for more
detail. 

Alianora
*****************************************************************************
Stephanie M. Thorson			|  SCA: Lady Alianora Munro
Dept. of Scottish History		|  Clan White Wing
University of St Andrews		|  Tarkhan, Khanate Red Lion


=======================================================================
List Archives, FAQ, FTP:  http://sca.wayfarer.org/merryrose/
            Submissions:  atlantia@atlantia.sca.org
        Admin. requests:  majordomo@atlantia.sca.org