Earl Somerset

Earl Somerset is in Earldoms of England Alphabetically.

1397 John Beaufort created Earl Somerset

1418 Siege of Rouen

1455 First Battle of St Albans

1464 Battle of Hexham

1613 Marriage of Robert Carr 1st Earl Somerset and Frances Howard

Earl Somerset (1st Creation)

In 1141 William Mohun 1st Earl of Somerset (age 51) was created 1st Earl Somerset for life by Empress Matilda (age 38).

Around 1155 William Mohun 1st Earl of Somerset (age 65) died. Earl Somerset extinct.

Earl Somerset (2nd Creation)

Calendars. 32. The king (age 30) to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, dukes, earls, barons, justices, sheriffs, reeves, ministers, and other his bailiffs and faithful men, greeting. Know that we, considering the strenuous probity and prudent mind, distinguished conduct and nobility of birth of our beloved and faithful kinsman John Beaufort (age 24), knight, son of our beloved uncle John duke of Aquitaine and Lancaster (age 56), and willing therefore deservedly to exalt the same John Beaufort with the prerogative of honour, we do appoint and create John Beaufort earl of Somerset in our present parliament, and invest him with the style and name and honour of the aforesaid earl by girding him with the sword, to have to him and his male heirs issuing from his body in perpetuity. And that the same earl and his aforesaid heirs, given such name and honour, may the better and more honourably support the burdens incumbent upon the same, of our special grace in our present parliament we have given and granted, and by this our charter confirmed, to the same earl and his aforesaid heirs twenty pounds to be received each year from the issues of the aforesaid county by the hand of the sheriff of that county for the time being, at the terms of Easter and Michaelmas [29 September] in equal portions, in perpetuity. Witnessed by these, the venerable father Thomas archbishop of Canterbury (age 44) primate of all England, John of Aquitaine and Lancaster, and Edmund of York (age 55), dukes; Robert of London, William of Winchester (age 77), John of Ely, Edmund of Exeter, our chancellor (age 53), bishops; Henry of Derby (age 29), Edward of Rutland (age 24), Thomas of Nottingham and marshal of England (age 28), earls; Reginald Grey (age 35), Ralph Neville (age 33), John Lovell, knights; Roger Walden dean of York, our treasurer, Thomas Percy (age 54), steward of our household, Guy Mone, keeper of our privy seal, and others. Given by our hand at Westminster on 10 February in the twentieth year of our reign [10 Feb 1397].

Calendars. 30. Also, on the Saturday [10 February 1397], the chancellor (age 53) announced by the king's (age 30) command that reason willed that one should honour and enhance the estate of worthy and virtuous persons. Wherefore the king (age 30) - considering the nobility and virtue of his cousin Sir John Beaufort (age 24), son of his uncle of Guyenne and Lancaster (age 56), and the great honour he had done his person on various expeditions and labours in many kingdoms and lands overseas, to the great honour of the king and kingdom; and also to encourage him and others to do such honour; and also to strengthen the royal sceptre which could best be supported in honour by worthy and valiant persons - had, of his royal dignity and special grace, made and created the said John an earl, and given him the name and honour of the Earl of Somerset, to have to him and his male heirs lawfully engendered of his body, with twenty pounds a year to be taken from the issues and profits of the county of Somerset for his title and the name of earl.

Note. On 10 Feb 1397 John Beaufort 1st Marquess Somerset and Dorset (age 24) was created 1st Earl Somerset.

On 27 Nov 1397 John Beaufort 1st Marquess Somerset and Dorset (age 24) and Margaret Holland Duchess Clarence (age 12) were married. She by marriage Countess Somerset. She the daughter of Thomas Holland 2nd Earl Kent and Alice Fitzalan Countess Kent (age 47). He the son of John of Gaunt 1st Duke Lancaster (age 57) and Katherine Roet Duchess Lancaster (age 47). They were half third cousins. He a grandson of King Edward III of England. She a great x 2 granddaughter of King Edward "Longshanks" I of England.

On 29 Jul 1418 the English forces commenced the Siege of Rouen. Robert Willoughby 6th Baron Willoughby (age 33) fought. John Blount (age 30) died. William Harrington (age 45), the King's Standard Bearer, was wounded.

Walter Hungerford 1st Baron Hungerford (age 40) fought.

Henry Beaufort 2nd Earl Somerset (age 17) was killed. His brother John Beaufort 1st Duke Somerset (age 15) succeeded 3rd Earl Somerset.

In 1439 John Beaufort 1st Duke Somerset (age 36) and Margaret Beauchamp Duchess Somerset (age 29) were married. She by marriage Countess Somerset. He the son of John Beaufort 1st Marquess Somerset and Dorset and Margaret Holland Duchess Clarence (age 54). He a great grandson of King Edward III of England.

On 30 May 1444 John Beaufort 1st Duke Somerset (age 41) committed suicide. Suicide not certain but likely. Duke Somerset, Earl Kendal extinct. His brother Edmund Beaufort 1st or 2nd Duke Somerset (age 38) succeeded 4th Earl Somerset. Eleanor Beauchamp Duchess Somerset (age 35) by marriage Countess Somerset.

His only child Margaret Beaufort Countess Richmond aged one was his heir. King Henry VI of England and II of France (age 22) granted her wardship to William "Jackanapes" de la Pole 1st Duke of Suffolk (age 47) who married her to his son John de la Pole 2nd Duke of Suffolk (age 1).

On 22 May 1455 the Wars of the Roses commenced with the First Battle of St Albans. Richard Plantagenet 3rd Duke York (age 43) commanded with Richard "Kingmaker" Neville Earl Warwick, 6th Earl Salisbury (age 26), Richard Neville 5th Earl Salisbury (age 55), Edward Brooke 6th Baron Cobham (age 40) and Walter Strickland (age 44).

The Lancastrians ...

Edmund Beaufort 1st or 2nd Duke Somerset (age 49) was killed. His son Henry Beaufort 2nd or 3rd Duke Somerset (age 19) succeeded 2nd Duke Somerset, 5th Earl Somerset. Note his father is frequently incorrectly referred to as the second Duke and Henry as the third Duke. His father's Dukedom, however, was a new creation.

Henry Percy 2nd Earl of Northumberland (age 62) was killed. His son Henry Percy 3rd Earl of Northumberland (age 33) succeeded 3rd Earl of Northumberland, 6th Baron Percy of Alnwick, 14th Baron Percy of Topcliffe. Eleanor Poynings Countess Northumberland (age 33) by marriage Countess of Northumberland.

Thomas Clifford 8th Baron Clifford (age 41) was killed. His son John "Butcher" Clifford 9th Baron Clifford (age 20) succeeded 9th Baron de Clifford, 9th Lord Skipton. Margaret Bromflete Baroness Clifford (age 21) by marriage Baroness de Clifford.

William Cotton (age 45) and Richard Fortescue (age 41) were killed.

Humphrey Stafford 1st Duke of Buckingham (age 52) was wounded and captured.

King Henry VI of England and II of France (age 33), John Dudley 1st Baron Dudley (age 54) and Edmund Dudley (age 30) were captured.

Henry Beaufort 2nd or 3rd Duke Somerset (age 19) was wounded. James Butler 1st Earl Wiltshire 5th Earl Ormonde (age 34) and John Wenlock 1st Baron Wenlock (age 55) fought.

Richard Cotton of Hampstall Ridware (age 51) and his son William Cotton of Connington in Huntingdonshire (age 27) were killed.

On 15 May 1464 a Yorkist army commanded by John Neville 1st Marquess Montagu (age 33) defeated a Lancastrian army commanded by Henry Beaufort 2nd or 3rd Duke Somerset (age 28) at Hexham [Map] during the Battle of Hexham.

Those fighting for York included John Stafford 1st Earl Wiltshire (age 36), John Scrope 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton (age 26) and Richard Welles 7th Baron Willoughby 7th Baron Welles (age 36).

Henry Beaufort 2nd or 3rd Duke Somerset (age 28) was beheaded following the battle. The general pardon which he has previously received was annulled. Duke Somerset, Marquess Dorset, Earl Somerset and Earl Dorset forfeit for the second time. His son Edmund Beaufort 3rd Duke Somerset (age 25) was styled by supporters of the House of Lancaster as Duke of Somerset but had not right to do so.

Philip Wentworth (age 40) was executed at Middleham [Map].

Earl Somerset (3rd Creation)

On 03 Nov 1613 Robert Carr 1st Earl Somerset (age 26) was created 1st Earl Somerset.

On 26 Dec 1613 Robert Carr 1st Earl Somerset (age 26) and Frances Howard Countess Essex and Somerset (age 23) were married. She by marriage Countess Somerset. She the daughter of Thomas Howard 1st Earl Suffolk (age 52) and Catherine Knyvet Countess Suffolk (age 49).

Her marriage with her first husband Robert Devereux 3rd Earl Essex (age 22) had been annulled on the grounds of his impotence three months before causing something of a scandal.

On 17 Jul 1645 Robert Carr 1st Earl Somerset (age 58) died without male issue. Earl Somerset, Viscount Rochester extinct.