Recent Articles



































Earl of Warwick



         


The Earl of Warwick is one of the oldest English earldoms. The medieval earldom was held to be inheritable through a female line of descent, and thus was held by members of several families. It was traditionally associated with posssession of Warwick Castle, and when the 11th Earl entailed the castle to his heirs male, he probably intended to entail the earldom as well.

It was held by several Earls, until Edward Plantagenet, the eighteenth Earl, whose title was attained due to his treason. The title was next conferred upon John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. At Dudley's death the dukedom was forfeit for his treason, but the earldom passed to his son John, and then his other son Ambrose. At Ambrose's death, the earldom became extinct.

The earldom was for a third time created for Robert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich. However, unlike previous holders of the title, the Rich family did not control Warwick Castle, ancient seat of the Earl of Warwick. This was in the hands of the Greville familly, who held the title Baron Brooke. At the death of the eighth Rich Earl, the title became extinct, and was granted to Francis Greville, 1st Earl Brooke, thus uniting again the title and castle. The new Earl, technically The Earl Brooke and of Warwick, was given permission to use the more prestigious Warwick title alone, and thus the Greville Earls have always been known simply as The Earl of Warwick.

[Top]

Earls of Warwick, First Creation (1066)

[Top]

Earls of Warwick, Second Creation (1547)

[Top]

Earls of Warwick, Third Creation (1618)

[Top]

Earls of Warwick, Fourth Creation (1759)






  View Live Article   This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License