Titled characters (WAS Voldemort's "lordship")

[pengolodh_sc]

No: HPFGUIDX 86150

--- In HPforGrownups, "Geoff Bannister" wrote:
> Speaking as a UK resident, my comment would be that the title
> Baron is fairly rare - Baronet and also Baroness is not. Earl,
> Lord and Duke are reasonably common and the wife of an Earl,
> for example, might be styled Countess.
> 
> Hence, I too would be inclined to think of the Bloody Baron as
> being foreign. (Flanders and Swann: "It's knowing they're
> foreign that makes them so mad" - A Song of Pariotic Prejudice).

1.  A Baroness is a wife of a Baron, so I don't expect Baronesses to 
be significantly more common or rare than Barons.

2.  To say that Barons are rare and Earls and Dukes are common 
doesn't hold true to me.  The title of Lord sounds common, but that 
is because all Barons, Viscounts, Earls, and Marquesses are entitled 
to be styled as "Lord", but in addition, the Scots rank equivalent to 
English, Welsh, Irish Baron is styled simply "Lord", as Baron in 
Scotland is not a peerage rank.  As far as I presently can determine, 
there are today among the British peerages 35 hereditary Dukedoms, 57 
hereditary Marquessats, 338 hereditary Earldoms, 350 hereditary 
Viscounties, 878 hereditary Baronies, 147 Scots Lordships of the 
lowest peerage rank, and 130 Scots Feudal Baronies.  

As such I will say that the title of Baron itself does not in any 
particular way point at the Bloody Baron being foreign.

Best regards
Christian Stubø