During theCarolingian Empire, the kings appointedcounts to administerprovinces and other smaller regions, asgovernors and military commanders. Viscounts were appointed to assist the counts in their running of the province, and often took onjudicial responsibility.[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.[4]
The title was in use inNormandy by at least the early 11th century.[5] Similar to the Carolingian use of the title, theNorman viscounts were local administrators, working on behalf of theDuke.[6] Their role was to administer justice and to collecttaxes and revenues, often beingcastellan of the localcastle. Under the Normans, the position developed into a hereditary one, an example of such being the viscounts inBessin.[6] The viscount was eventually replaced bybailiffs, andprovosts.[6]
As a rank of theBritish peerage, it was first recorded in 1440, whenJohn Beaumont was created Viscount Beaumont by KingHenry VI.[7] The wordviscount corresponds in the UK to theAnglo-Saxonshire reeve (root of the non-nobiliary, royal-appointed office ofsheriff). 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 ofher coronation in 1838,Queen Victoria recorded in her diary an explanation for this by then-Prime MinisterLord Melbourne (himself a viscount):
I spoke to Ld M. about the numbers of Peers present at the Coronation, & he said it was quite unprecedented. I observed that there were very few Viscounts, to which he replied "There are very few Viscounts," that they were an old sort of title & not really English; that they came from Vice-Comites; that Dukes & Barons were the only real English titles;—that Marquises were likewise not English, & that people were mere made Marquises, when it was not wished that they should be made Dukes.[8]
In British practice, the title of a viscount may be a place name, a surname, or a combination: examples includeViscount Falmouth,Viscount Hardinge andViscount Colville of Culross. Some viscounts in the peerage of Scotland were traditionally styled "The Viscountof [X]", such as theViscount of Arbuthnott. In practice, however, very few maintain this style, instead using the more common version "Viscount [X]" in general parlance, for exampleViscount of Falkland who is referred to as Viscount Falkland.
A British viscount is addressed in speech asLord [X], while his wife isLady [X], and he is formally styled "The Right Honourable The Viscount [X]". The children of a viscount are known asThe Honourable [Forename] [Surname], with the exception of a Scottish viscount, whose eldest child may be styled as "The HonourableMaster of [X]".[10]
A specifically British custom is the use of viscount as acourtesy title for the heir of an earl ormarquess. The peer'sheir 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. For example, the eldest son of theEarl Howe isViscount Curzon, because this is the second most senior title held by the Earl.[11]
However, the son of a marquess or an earl can be referred to as a viscount when the title of viscount is not the second most senior if those above it share their name with thesubstantive title. For example, the second most senior title of theMarquess of Salisbury is theEarl of Salisbury, so his heir uses the lower title ofViscount Cranborne.
Sometimes, the son of a peer is referred to as a viscount even when he could use a more senior courtesy title which differs in name from the substantive title. Family tradition plays a role in this. For example, the eldest son of theMarquess of Londonderry is Viscount Castlereagh, even though the Marquess is also the Earl Vane.
On occasion, the title of viscount may be the courtesy title used for the grandson of a duke, provided that he is the eldest son of the duke's eldest son. This is because the eldest son of the duke will be given the second-highest title of his father (marquess or earl), and so the third-highest is left for his eldest son. It is possible for the great-grandson of a duke to hold the courtesy title of viscount if the duke's eldest son has the courtesy title marquess and his eldest son, in turn, uses the title of earl.
A viscount'scoronet of rank bears 16 silver balls around the rim. Like all heraldic coronets, it is mostly worn at theCoronation of the British monarch, but a viscount has the right to bear his coronet of rank on hiscoat of arms, above the shield. In this guise, the coronet is shown face-on, featuring 9 silver balls.[12]
The island ofJersey (a BritishCrown Dependency) still retains an officer whose function is purely to administer orders of the island's judiciary, and whose position remains non-hereditary. The role of theViscount 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 ascoroner for sudden or unexpected deaths and managingjury selection.[13]
In the former kingdom ofPortugal avisconde ranks above abarão (baron) and below aconde (count). The first Portuguese viscountcy, that of D. Leonel de Lima, visconde de Vila Nova de Cerveira, dates from the reign ofAfonso V. A flood of viscountcies, some 86 new titles, were awarded in Portugal between 1848 and 1880.
The Spanish title ofvizconde is ranked between the titleconde (count/earl) and the relatively rare title ofbarón.
In Spain, nobles are classified as either Grandee of Spain (Grandes de España), as titled nobles, or as untitled nobles. A grandee of any rank outranks a non-grandee, even if that non-grandee's title is of a higher degree, thus, a viscount-grandee enjoys higher precedence than a marquis who is not a grandee.
In the kingdom of Spain the title was awarded from the reign ofFelipe IV (1621–65; Habsburg dynasty) until 1846.
There are non-etymological equivalents to the title of viscount (i.e., 'vice-count') in several languages, including German.
However, in such case titles of the etymologicalBurgrave family (not in countries with a viscount-form, such as Italianburgravio alongsidevisconte) bearers of the title could establish themselves at the same gap, thus at generally the same level. Consequently, aFreiherr (or Baron) ranks not immediately below aGraf, but below aBurggraf.
Thus inDutch,Burggraaf is the rank above Baron, belowGraaf (i.e., Count) in the kingdoms of the Netherlands and of Belgium (by Belgian law, its equivalents in the other official languages areBurggraf inGerman andvicomte inFrench).
Like other major Western noble titles, viscount is sometimes used to render certain titles in non-western languages with their own traditions. Even though they are considered 'equivalent' in relative rank, they are as a rule historically unrelated and thus hard to compare.
The Japanese cognateshishaku (shi) (Japanese:子爵) was the fourth of the five peerage ranks established in theMeiji period (1868–1911). The Japanese system of nobility,kazoku, which existed between 1884 and 1947, was based heavily on the British peerage. 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:
the Chinesetzu-chueh (tzu) orzijue (zi) (Chinese:子爵), hereditary title of nobility first established in theZhou dynasty
Viscounts and viscountesses appear in fiction, notably inJulia Quinn'sBridgerton series where Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton is the eldest son and head of theeponymous family. He is also the focus of the second novel of the series, the #1The New York Times BestsellerThe Viscount Who Loved Me, published in 2000.[16] The viscount is portrayed byJonathan Bailey in the Netflix television adaptationBridgerton released in 2020.[17][18]
^"Viscount (n.)".Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved18 June 2014.
^abUpshur, Jiu-Hwa; Terry, Janice; Holoka, Jim; Goff, Richard; Cassar, George H. (2011).Cengage Advantage Books: World History. Vol. I. California: Wadsworth Publishing Co Inc. p. 329.ISBN9781111345167.
^Loud, G. A. (1999).Conquerors and churchmen in Norman Italy. Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing Co. p. 4.ISBN9780860788034.
^abcPetit-Dutaillis, C. (1936).The Feudal Monarchy in France and England. Oxford, UK: Routledge. p. 162.ISBN9781136203503.
^"28 June 1838".Queen Victoria's Journals. Vol. 4. Buckingham Palace, Princess Beatrice's copies. 1 June – 1 October 1838. p. 84. Retrieved25 May 2013.
Engels, O. (1997). "Vicecomes II. Katalonien".Lexikon des Mittelalters, VIII: Stadt (Byzantinisches Reich) bis Werl (in German). Stuttgart and Weimar: J. B. Metzler. col. 1619.ISBN3-89659-908-9.
Houben, H. (1997). "Vicecomes IV. Italien".Lexikon des Mittelalters, VIII: Stadt (Byzantinisches Reich) bis Werl (in German). Stuttgart and Weimar: J. B. Metzler. col. 1619.ISBN3-89659-908-9.
Huschner, W. (1997). "Vicecomes I. Karolingerzeit".Lexikon des Mittelalters, VIII: Stadt (Byzantinisches Reich) bis Werl (in German). Stuttgart and Weimar: J. B. Metzler. col. 1618–1619.ISBN3-89659-908-9.
Mattejiet, U. (1997). "Vicecomes II. Süd- und Südwestfrankreich".Lexikon des Mittelalters, VIII: Stadt (Byzantinisches Reich) bis Werl (in German). Stuttgart and Weimar: J. B. Metzler. col. 1619–1620.ISBN3-89659-908-9.
Renoux, A. (1997). "Vicecomes III. Normandie".Lexikon des Mittelalters, VIII: Stadt (Byzantinisches Reich) bis Werl (in German). Stuttgart and Weimar: J. B. Metzler. col. 1620–1621.ISBN3-89659-908-9.
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