Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Baroness of Douglas
I nominated this article for deletion, because I found no evidence to support its existence. Some references have now been produced (though not all in |reliable sources), but I not persuaded that they solve the original problem. On the contrary they point to a much more complex picture, which still leads me to think that there should not be a standalone article ''under the current title''. Please bear with me while I explain.AFAICS, the situation here is the Isle of Man had a structure similar to that pertaining in much of the rest of Europe, where religious orders owned a lot of land and other property, and had extensive civil powers. It seems that there were several such religious houses in the Isle of Man, in which the head of the abbey/priory/monastery had significant civil powers, which led to them being described ''in some sources'' as "barons" or "baronesses". However, that terminology is not as straightforward as it appears. In contemporary usage in England, a Baron is the junior rank of hereditary peerage, a person whose title entitled them until the House of Lords Act 1999|1999 Act to a seat in the House of Lords ... but as set out at Baron#Barons_in_the_United_Kingdom_and_the_Commonwealth, the term had a much wider usage in the middle ages, when it extended far beyond those who would now be considered "nobility".So, a lot of caution is needed when looking looking at the usage in medieval societies ... particularly when the term is linked to religious office.In the contemporary United Kingdom, the Lords Spiritual (i.e. CoE Bishops) continue to hold ''ex officio'' seats in the House of Lords, but there is disagreement as to whether they are members of the peerage (see Lords Spiritual#Peers) ... and they are certainly not Barons.In this case, the situation appears to be that there were a number of religious houses, whose leaders held some civil power.  However, evidence presented here for the use of the titles "Baron" and "Baroness" is very weak; AFAICS amidst the shoal of red herrings, it consists solely of a mention in a travelogue and a http://www.manxmanorialroll.com/quests/baronies.html unattributed website.  The quality of debate has been undermined by one editor postings 4 refs (http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/manxsoc/msvol05/index.htm; http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/dh1893/ch04.htm, http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/jmmuseum/d231.htm, http://books.google.com/books?id=pc8DAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=%22prior+of+Douglas%22&source=bl&ots=5Xm4NtNSrZ&sig=eX2MWS3FKviH3ITyI1gCEg3g9Cg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4_DAT5_5EuSm6gGqtsShCg&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22prior%20of%20Douglas%22&f=false) as "evidence" of the notability of tithe title, but ''none of them even mentions the word "baroness"''.I do not yet see any clear evidence about the nature of this title of baroness: was it an ''ex officio'' role of the Prioress? Was either position hereditary (whether through primogeniture or otherwise)? Was it a Courtesy title#Courtesy_title_as_principal_title|courtesy title? Even the very specific but non-RS http://www.manxmanorialroll.com/quests/baronies.html is not clear about this.Most of the references that I can see clearly support the existence of a  notable "Prioress of Douglas"; but they make far fewer refs to the title "Baroness of Douglas", and are unclear about the nature of that title.So, I suggest that ''if'' there is to be a standalone article on this office, it should be titled per  as "Prioress of Douglas". However, the material collected so far in relation to the prioress is patchy and brief, so I suggest that a better solution is DoctorKubla's suggestion of a merger to The Nunnery, Douglas. That way, the material on the priory and its leaders can be kept together on one page, while will still be quite short
— User:BrownHairedGirl, 15:43, 27 May 2012 (UTC)
Stance: merge
Cited policy: WP:RS||WP:GNG||WP:COMMONNAME (Wikipedia:Reliable sources)