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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 a title for nobility used by Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. It originally meant "chieftain" and it referred especially to chieftains set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it stopped being used in the Middle Ages, whereas, in Britain, it became synonymous with the continental count.In Anglo-Saxon times the title was similar to that of Ealdorman.