A barony is an administrative division of a country, usually of lower rank and importance than a county. Countries or their counties can include baronies. Originally, a barony was the land subject to a baron and could, in England after the Norman Conquest, consist of estates scattered throughout the country or in several regions (see, for example, the barony of the earl of Pembroke, with estates in England, Ireland, and Normandy). Just as counties are no longer necessarily connected with a noble earl or count, there are baronies which are not connected with a baron anymore.
Instances include:
BARONY, the domain of a baron. In Ireland counties are divided into "baronies," which are equivalent to the "hundreds" in England, and seem to have been formed out of the territories of the Irish chiefs, as each submitted to English rule (General Report of the Census of England, iv. 181, 1873). In Scotland the term is applied to any large freehold estate even when held by a commoner. Barony also denotes the rank or dignity of a baron, and the feudal tenure "by barony."
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Categories: BAR-BAR | Government
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