A member of the lowest rank of hereditary nobility in Britain, ranking above knights but below barons, using the title 'Sir' or 'Dame'.
From 'baron' + the diminutive suffix '-et' (meaning small or lesser), created in the early 1600s by King James I as an hereditary honor between knighthood and peerage to raise money for Ireland's colonization.
Baronets were literally invented by King James I as a financial scheme—he'd hand out hereditary titles to wealthy merchants who paid for the privilege, creating a whole new social rank just to fund colonial projects in Ireland.
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