BARON, a person who holds a barony. The origin and primary import of this term have been much contested. Menage derives it from the Latin baro, a word which we find used for vir, a “stout” or “valiant man ;” whence it was that those placed next the king in battles were, according to him, called barones, as being the bravest men in the army; and as princes frequently rewarded with fees the bravery and fidelity of those about them, the word came to signify any noble person who held a fee immediately of the king. Isidore, and after him Camden, suppose the word, in its original acceptation, to have meant a ¢£ mercenary soldier;” and Messieurs de Port Royal derive it from ∕3αgoς, “weight” or “authority.” But Cicero uses the word baro for a stupid brutal man; the old Germans make mention of “buffeting a baron,” meaning a villain; and the Italians use the word bαrone to signify a “beggar.” Μ. de Marca thinks baron derived from the German bar, “man,” or “freeman ;” others seek its origin in the old Gaulish, Celtic, and Hebrew languages; and some are of opinion that it comes from the Spanish varo, a “stout noble person ;” whence wives used to call their husbands, and princes their tenants, “barons.” In the Salic law, as well as in the laws of the Lombards, the word baron signifies man in general; and, accordingly, the old glossary of Philomenes renders baron awjg, “man.”

Baron is more particularly used amongst us for a lord or peer of the lowest class, or a degree of nobility next below that of viscount, and above that of knight or baronet. In ancient records the word baron included all the nobility of England, because all noblemen were barons even although they occupied a higher rank in the peerage. But anciently it sometimes happened, that, when a baron had been raised to a new degree of peerage, the two titles, in the course of a few generations, descended differently, one perhaps to the male descendants, and the other to the heirs-general, by which means the earldom or other superior title subsisted without a barony; and there are also modern instances where persons have been created earls and viscounts without annexing a barony t< their other honours; so that now the rule does not hold universally, that all peers are barons.

The origin and comparative antiquity of barons have been the subject of much research amongst English antiquaries. But the most probable opinion is, that they were the same with our present lords of manors; to whic the appellation of court-baron, which is the lord s court?
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and incident to every manor, seems to give countenance. The original name of this dignity in England is said to have been vavassour, which by the Saxons was changed into thane, and by the Normans into baron. From Magna Charta it appears that originally all lords of manors, or barons, had seats in the great council or parliament; but such is the defective state of the public records, that the first precept to be found is not of older date than the 49th of Henry III.; and this, though it had been issued out in the king’s name, had neither his authority nor his sanction, since not only the king himself, but his son Prince Edward, and most of the nobility who remained faithful to him, were then prisoners in the hands of the rebellious barons; having been taken at the battle of Lewes, in the month of May preceding, and detained in captivity until the memorable battle of Evesham, which happened in August the year following.

Before the 49th of Henry III., the ancient parliaments consisted of archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and barons. Of these barons there were two sorts; the greater barons, or the king’s chief tenants, who held in capite of the crown; and the lesser barons, who held of the greater by the tenure of military service. The former had a summons to parliament by several writs; and the latter, if possessed of thirteen knights’ fees and a quarter, had a general summons from the sheriff in each county. Matters continued in this state until the 49th of Henry III., when, instead of keeping to the old form, the prevailing powers thought fit to summon only those of the greater barons who were of their party, and, in room of the lesser barons who attended with large retinues, to issue their precepts to the sheriffs of counties to cause two knights in every shire to be chosen, and one or two burgesses for each borough, to represent the people residing in those counties and boroughs;—an innovation which gave rise to the separation into two houses of parliament. Hence the title came by degrees to be confined to the greater barons, or lords of parliament; and, among the peerage, no other barons were admitted except such as had been summoned by writ, in respect of the tenure of their lands or baronies, until Richard II. converted it into a mere title of honour, by conferring it on divers persons by his letters patent.

When a baron is called up to the house of peers by writ of summons, the writ is in the king’s name, and he is directed to repair to the parliament appointed to be holden at a certain time and place, and there to treat and advise with his majesty, the prelates, and nobility, about the weighty affairs of the nation. The ceremony of the admission of a baron into the house of peers is this: He is brought into the house between two barons, who conduct him up to the lord chancellor, his patent or writ of summons being carried by a king-at-arms, and presented by him kneeling to the lord chancellor, who reads it. then congratulates him on his becoming a member of the house of peers, and invests him with his parliamentary robe, thereafter the patent is delivered to the clerk of parliament, and the oaths are administered to the new peer, who is then conducted to his seat on the barons’ bench. The coronation robes of a baron are the same as those of an earl, except that he has only two rows of spots on each shoulder; and, in like manner, his parliamentary robes have but two guards of white fur, with rows of gold lace; but, ιn other respects, they are the same as those of other peers. King Charles II. granted a coronet to the barons, having six pearls set at equal distances on the chaplet. A arons cap is the same as a viscount’s. His style is Right Honourable; and he is addressed by the king or queen, Jbghi Tru s ty α nd Well Beloved. Barons by ancient tenure were those who held certain erntories of the king, who still reserved the tenure in chief to himself. There were also barons by temporal tenure, who held their honours, castles, and manors, as heads of their barony; that is, by grand serjeantry, by which tenure they were anciently summoned to parliament. But at present a baron by tenure is not a lord of parliament till he be called thither by writ.

Barons of the Exchequer, four judges to whom the administration of justice is committed in causes betwixt the king and his subjects relative to matters of revenue. Their office is also to look into the accounts of the king, for which reason they have auditors under them.

Barons of the Cinque-ports are members of the house of commons, elected by the five ports, two for each port.

Baron and Feme, in the English Law, a term used, for husband and wife, in relation to each other, who are deemed but one person; so that a wife cannot be witness for or against her husband, nor he for or against his wife, except in cases of high treason.

Baron and Feme, in Heraldry, is when the coats of arms of a man and his wife are borne per pale in the same escutcheon; the man’s being always on the dexter side, and the woman’s on the sinister. But in this case the woman is supposed not to be an heiress, for then her coat must be borne by the husband on an escutcheon of pretence.