Laird
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Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those holding official recognition in a territorial designation by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. They are usually styled [name] [surname] of [lairdship]. However, since "laird" is a courtesy title, it has no formal status in law.
In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 595 inbound references to Laird, and connects out to Lord Lyon King of Arms, Scotland and Geoffrey Chaucer.
It is catalogued under topics including 15th-century neologisms, Courtesy titles and Feudalism in Scotland.
Vinony links it to 16 Wikipedia language editions.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- social class
- Subclass of
- gentry
- Country
- United Kingdom
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
9 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- History and definition
- Today
- Traditional and current forms of address
- Souvenir plots and false titles
- See also
- References
- Sources
- External links
Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those holding official recognition in a territorial designation by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. They are usually styled [name] [surname] of [lairdship]. However, since "laird" is a courtesy title, it has no formal status in law.
Historically, the term bonnet laird was applied to rural, petty landowners, as they wore a bonnet like the non-landowning classes. Bonnet lairds filled a position in society below lairds and above husbandmen (farmers), similar to the yeomen of England.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Laird” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.