The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

VISCOUNT

Viscount is the fourth rank of nobility. The term comes from the Norman Conquest of England, when the Norman rulers applied the word viscounte to the officials appointed as sheriffs. It was not until nearly four hundred years later that it became an order of the peerage. The premier viscountcy is that of Hereford, which was created in 1550. The viscount's mantle has two and a half bars of ermine. His coronet has sixteen silver balls fixed to a silver circlet.
Research Viscount