Baronage

In England, the baronage was the collectively inclusive term denoting all members of the feudal nobility, as observed by the constitutional authority Edward Coke.

An Earl, at the time, was the highest executive office concerned with shire administration, holding higher responsibilities than the sheriff, whose title would later evolve into a Viscount.

The privilege attached was the right, indeed the obligation, to attend the king in his feudal court, termed the Council de Baronage,[2] a precursor to the modern Parliament, in order to advise and support him.

Other baronages evolved similarly, until the title itself eventually became 'peerages' to recognise their contemporary equality under the monarch and effectively declining privileges.

Therefore, the Scottish equivalent of an English peerage baron is referred to as the Lord of Parliament, and barons/baronial earls in Scotland originate from a feudal background.