Earl, the most ancient title of nobility used in Great Britain. Under the early Saxon kings the powerful nobles to whose charge shires or territories had been committed were called ealdormen, literally elder men (whence the modern alderman), a term equivalent to the Latin senior or senator, and given in Latin documents as princeps, dux, or comes. The Danes subsequently applied the term eorle, which signified originally a man of noble birth, as opposed to the ceorl or churl, to the same men who had borne the title of ealdormen. The Saxon earl derived his title solely from his office, which was originally in the gift of the crown, and in recompense for his services received a part of the revenues of his province to his own use. Toward the close of the Saxon dynasty these provincial governors not only greatly enlarged their authority, but claimed the dignity as hereditary; and in the time of Edward the Confessor the whole kingdom was divided between five powerful earls, including Godwin and his sons Harold and Tosti, of whom Harold subsequently usurped the throne.

After the Norman conquest the territorial possessions of the Saxon nobility were declared forfeited, and with many newly created fiefs were distributed among the chief followers of William the Conqueror, who thereupon severally assumed the title of count, from the Latin comes. But this title was very soon replaced by the old one of earl, while the territory from which the new, dignitary received his name or over which he exercised jurisdiction was thenceforth called a county, instead of a shire as previously under the Saxons, and the consort of the earl became a countess. According to Cruise, there were three sorts of earldoms under the early Norman kings: the first and highest, where the dignity was annexed to the possession of a whole county, with the jura regalia, in which case the county became a county palatine, and the person created earl of it exercised all the authority of a sovereign; the next, where the earl was entitled to the third part of the revenues of the county court; and the third, where a tract of land was erected into a county and granted with civil and criminal jurisdiction to be held per servitium unius comitatus.

This statement, however, is open to controversy, and Sir Harris Nicolas is of opinion that the Norman earls, excepting in the counties palatine, possessed no jurisdiction over the counties from which they were denominated, the dignity being of a nature altogether personal. At present the title conveys no local jurisdiction or revenue, and is no longer confined to the names of counties, but may be derived from those of towns or villages, or of families. It remained the highest hereditary dignity in England until the reign of Edward III., when the first dukedom was created, and is now the third order of the British nobility, being next below that of marquis, and above that of viscount. The style of an earl is "right honorable," and he is officially addressed by the crown as " our right trusty and well beloved cousin," an appellation attributed to Henry IV., who had his own reasons for flattering the powerful earls, with nearly all of whom he is said to have been allied by birth or marriage, by frequent allusions to the relationship.

He bears also on some occasions the title of "most noble and puissant prince." The coronet of an earl consists of a circle of gold chased as jewelled, upon which rise eight pyramidical points, gold, each point bearing a large silver ball, while between the points close to the rim of the coronet are strawberry leaves of gold. The cap is of crimson velvet with turned ermine and a golden tassel. Earls are now created by letters patent, in place of the old practice by which the sovereign girded on the sword of the new earl and invested him with mantle and coronet. In 1872 there were 110 earls (and one countess) in the peerage of Great Britain, including 32 Scotch and 21 Irish earls; besides which there were 34 earls in the Scotch and 20 in the Irish peerage; 9 Scotch and 10 Irish earls had seats in the house of lords as representative peers. - The Earl Marshal is an officer of state in England, who directs important ceremonies, takes cognizance of matters relating to honor, arms, and pedigree, and proclaims the declaration of war or of peace.

The office was established in the reign of Richard II., who conferred it upon Thomas Mowbray, earl of Nottingham, and is now hereditary in the family of Howard, the head of which, the duke of Norfolk, is the present earl marshal of England.