The concept of the Scottish Noblesse, a class of nobles of either peerage or non-peerage rank, was prominently advocated for by Sir
Thomas Innes of Learney during his tenure as an officer of arms. Innes of Learney believed that Scottish
armigers, those individuals granted arms by the
Court of the Lord Lyon
The Court of the Lord Lyon (the Lyon Court) is a standing court of law, based in New Register House in Edinburgh, which regulates heraldry in Scotland. The Lyon Court maintains the register of grants of arms, known as the Public Register of All A ...
, implicitly become 'Nobles in the Noblesse of Scotland': a form of hereditary
nobility. The soundness of the basis for this belief is uncertain, and included drawing on historical English practice, and the belief that, because other officers of the Crown had been delegated the power to ennoble historically, the Lord Lyon should be able to as well. Despite relying heavily on historical documentation in England, he simultaneously also opposed the application of English heraldic practice and law as it related to heraldry in Scotland.
In 2018, the Lord Lyon quietly dropped the so-called nobility clause from newly issued Letters Patent.
See also
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Peerage of Scotland
The Peerage of Scotland ( gd, Moraireachd na h-Alba, sco, Peerage o Scotland) is one of the five divisions of peerages in the United Kingdom and for those peers created by the King of Scots before 1707. Following that year's Treaty of Union, ...
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Barons in Scotland
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Laird
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noblesse
Medieval Scottish nobility
Scottish culture