Earl

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The royal procession to Parliament at Westminster, 4 February 1512. Left to right: The Marquess of Dorset, Earl of Northumberland, Earl of Surrey, Earl of Shrewsbury, Earl of Essex, Earl of Kent, Earl of Derby, Earl of Wiltshire. From: Parliament Procession Roll of 1512

An Earl or Jarl was an Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian title, meaning "chieftain" and it referred especially to chieftains set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it got out of use in the Middle Ages, whereas, in Britain, it became synonymous with the continental count.

Today, an earl is a member of the British peerage and ranks below a Marquess and above a Viscount. A British Earl is equivalent to a continental Count. Since there is no feminine form of Earl, the wife of an Earl bears the rank of Countess (the continental equivalent).