Marquis,

Marquis, or MARQUESS, the degree of nobility which in the peerage of England ranks next to duke. Marquises were originally commanders on the borders or frontiers of countries, or on the sea-coast, which they were bound to protect. In England there were marquises or lords-marchers of the borders of Scotland and Wales in the reign of Henry III., and the foreign equivalent Markgraf was common on the Continent; but the first English marquis in the modern sense was Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who was created Marquis of Dublin by Richard II. in 1385. The title was first introduced into Scotland in 1599, when the Marquises of Huntly and Hamilton were created. For the coronet of a marquis, see CORONET. The mantle is scarlet, with three and a half doublings of ermine. A marquis is styled 'The Most Honourable;' his wife is a marchioness; his eldest son takes by courtesy the next lower title in the peerage, except where that is identical with the title of the marquisate, in which case he must take the next lower still. The younger sons of a marquis are styled 'Lord,' and daughters 'Lady,' with the addition of Christian name and surname.