List of earldoms

This page lists all earldoms, extant, extinct, dormant, abeyant, or forfeit, in the peerages of England, Scotland, Great Britain, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

The Norman conquest of England introduced the continental Frankish title of "count" (comes) into England, which soon became identified with the previous titles of Danish "jarl" and Anglo-Saxon "earl" in England. Until the reign of Edward III in the 14th century, the peerage of England consisted exclusively of earls and barons.

It remains a matter of debate whether early Anglo-Norman counts/earls held their title by tenure (as barons did) or as a personal dignity conferred separately from the land grants. At least three types of early earldoms can be distinguished - (1) earls palatine (e.g. Chester, Pembroke, Durham) whose titles were connected to entire counties, with regal jurisdiction (jura regalia) and enjoying full privileges and fruits of royal seigniory, (2) earldoms created by the king and appointed to a county, but only enjoying right to a third of the profits of the pleas of the county court; (3) earldoms created by royal grants of large tracts of land to be held in feudal service (per servitum unius comitatus), erecting the tract to a county to support the earldom. Nonetheless, for the last few centuries of English history, earldoms have always been created by letters patent or charters, and the volume of earldoms has long exceeded the number of territorial counties, and, as a result, the names of many earldoms are associated with smaller units (estates, villages, families, etc.).