Viscount

A viscount (/ˈvaɪkaʊnt/ ⓘ VY-kownt, for male[1]) or viscountess (/ˈvaɪkaʊntɪs/, for female[2]) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status.

[3] During the Carolingian Empire, the kings appointed counts to administer provinces and other smaller regions, as governors and military commanders.

[4] The kings strictly prevented the offices of their counts and viscounts from becoming hereditary, in order to consolidate their position and limit chance of rebellion.

[5] Similar to the Carolingian use of the title, the Norman viscounts were local administrators, working on behalf of the Duke.

[7] The word viscount corresponds in the UK to the Anglo-Saxon shire reeve (root of the non-nobiliary, royal-appointed office of sheriff).

Thus, early viscounts originally received their titles from the monarch, and not hereditarily; they eventually tended to establish hereditary principalities in the wider sense.

The rank is a relatively late introduction to the British system, and on the evening of her coronation in 1838, Queen Victoria recorded in her diary an explanation for this by then-Prime Minister Lord Melbourne (himself a viscount): I spoke to Ld M. about the numbers of Peers present at the Coronation, & he said it was quite unprecedented.

The peer's heir apparent will sometimes be referred to as a viscount, if the second most senior title held by the head of the family is a viscountcy.

The role of the Viscount of Jersey (French: Vicomte de Jersey) involves managing fines, bail monies, seizures, confiscations, evictions, service of process, arrests for non-appearance in court and other enforcement procedures, as well acting as coroner for sudden or unexpected deaths and managing jury selection.

[13] In France until the end of the Second French Empire, the title of vicomte was below comte and above baron in precedence.

Thus in Dutch, Burggraaf is the rank above Baron, below Graaf (i.e., Count) in the kingdoms of the Netherlands and of Belgium (by Belgian law, its equivalents in the other official languages are Burggraf in German and vicomte in French).

At the creation of the system, viscounts were the most numerous of all the ranks, with 324 being created compared to 11 non-imperial princes or dukes, 24 marquesses, 76 counts and 74 barons, for a total of 509 peers.

[15][full citation needed] Other equivalent titles existed, such as: Viscounts and viscountesses appear in fiction, notably in Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series where Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton is the eldest son and head of the eponymous family.