Earl of Norfolk

“ Duke of Norfolk.—The Duke of Norfolk had been, throughout Henry's reign, one of his most confidential ministers. But as the king approached his end, an inordinate jealousy of great men, rather than mere caprice, appears to have prompted the resolution of destroying the most conspicuous family in England. Norfolk's son, too, the Earl of Surrey, though long a favourite with the king, possessed more talents and renown, as well as a more haughty spirit, than was compatible with his safety. A strong party at court had always been hostile to the Duke of Norfolk ”

“ The Revolt of the Earls.—Meanwhile a revolt broke out in England, which was not, like the revolt of Ely, a rising of the English people against strangers, but a revolt of a few of the great men for their own ends. Roger, Earl of Hereford, gave his sister Emma in marriage to Ralph, Earl of Norfolk, against the King’s orders, which was in itself an offence. Then at the bride-ale they began to talk treason, and to plot how they might kill the King and divide the kingdom. Earl Waltheof too was there ”

“ After the bride-ale the splendid company parted, mainly in three great divisions: Earl Waltheof and his following to the north; Earl Roger to the west; Earl Ralph with his bride, his Norman knights, and Breton vassals and mercenaries, his Anglo-Saxon vassals and sympathisers, to the east; a few minor parties of independent barons, knights, and thegns going their several ways.
The Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk and his train rode forth along the old Roman Ikenield Street, which ran then an uninterrupted course from within a few miles of Exning to Norwich. ”

“ On the 27th of November following, the King, by charter dated at Westminster, created Roger, son of Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, and Steward of his Household: who being in such favour as to be made Earl of the county, may be allowed to be constable of the castle, seeing history mention no other as constable at that time ”

“ At the same time the inner circle of the king's confidants the Earl of Kent, now Duke of Surrey, Sir William le Scrope, now Earl of Wiltshire, and the Earl of Salisbury were (Norfolk had reason to suspect) urging the king to rid himself of all who had ever been his enemies. Norfolk is said to have confided his fears to Hereford as they rode from Brentford to London in December 1397 (ib. p. 382) . Richard was informed of Norfolk's language ”

“ This nobleman died unmarried in 1677, and his brother Henry (who had been created Earl of Norwich, and in 1672 Earl Marshal of England, to him and the heirs male of his body, with other limitations in default) thereupon became sixth Duke of Norfolk. By him the marbles and library were finally dispersed. ”

“ The Duke of Norfolk was aware of Surrey's intentions. How far he had committed himself to active participation in them may remain uncertain. For the Earl, as his sister's evidence places him beyond the reach of interest and almost of compassion, so no injustice is done to him if we conclude that he was ready to employ any means, however unworthy, to gain an influence over the King; that when Lady Richmond refused to be his instrument, he intended, on Henry's death, to claim the supreme power for Norfolk or himself as the right of their birth ”

“ Norfolk. It is a marvellous and false world that we live in; for I know well that, had it not been for some persons, my lord your father of Lancaster and yourself would have been taken or killed, when you went to Windsor after the Parliament. The Dukes of Albemarle and Exeter, and the Earl of Worcester and I, have pledged ourselves never to assent to the undoing of any lord without just and reasonable cause. But this malicious project belongs to the Duke of Surrey, the Earls of Wiltshire and Salisbury, drawing to themselves the Earl of Gloucester. ”

“ His Grace died in 1860, and was succeeded by his eldest son, then in his thirteenth year.
The present peer, his Grace Henry Fitzalan-Howard, fifteenth Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Arundel, Earl of Surrey, Earl of Norfolk, Baron Maltravers, Baron Fitzalan, Baron Clun, Baron Oswestry, Premier Duke and Earl next to the blood royal, Hereditary Earl Marshal, and Chief Butler of England, was born on the 27th of December, 1847, and attained his majority in 1868. His grace is unmarried. He is the patron of seven livings; but, “being a Roman Catholic, cannot present.” ”

“ After the Dissolution, the site, &c. with Windham abbey manor, was given, in 1545, to Thomas Howard Earl of Surrey, during the life of Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk, his father, if the Earl so long lived, paying into the Court of Augmentations 9l. 7s. 7d. a year. It came after to the Crown, belonged to Queen Mary, and was granted by Queen Elizabeth, in 1564, to Walter Haddon, to be held by the fee-farm of 11l. 9s. 8d. per annum. ”

“ The Conqueror gave the castle and manor, and all that belonged to Earl Ralf, to William de Albany, Albini, Albigni, de Albenio, who came into England with him, together with Wymondham, Snetesham, and Kenningkall, to be held by the service of being butler to the Kings of England on the day of their coronation, for which reason he was always styled Pincerna Regis, or the King's Butler; he founded Wymondham abbey, where he was buried, before the high altar, by Maud his wife, daughter of Roger Bygot Earl of Norfolk, with whom he had 10 knights fees in Norfolk, of Earl Roger's gift ”

“ Won over to what appeared so desirable an attempt, he also won over his elder brother, the Earl of Norfolk. The Earl of Leicester, the brother and heir of the Earl of Lancaster, had abundant motives of interest and vengeance for entering into the design. The Archbishop of Canterbury and many of the prelates approved of the queen's cause, and aided her with money; several of the most powerful barons were ready to embrace it on her appearance on the English coast; and the minds of the populace were embittered against the king by the industrious dissemination of calumnies and injurious truths. ”

“ The two instances cited by him are rather unfortunate, the connexion of both ladies with royalty being sufficiently close to suggest the possibility of their right to the "full and complete" shield.
Margaret, Duchess (not Countess) of Norfolk, was sole heir of her father, Thomas of Brotherton, fifth Earl of Norfolk, son of King Edward I., and Marshal of England. She, "for the greatness of her birth, her large revenues and wealth," was created Duchess of Norfolk for life ”

“ The whole came to Ralf Earl of Norfolk, but on his forfeiture, the Conqueror seized it, and Godric managed it for him; and when the survey was taken by that prince, about the year 1086, it appears that the manor was raised from 12 to 25, and was now worth 29l. a year, besides 20s. as an annual fine: the parts in Tutington and Crakeford were now separated from the manor, and were first held by William Earl Warren, of whom Humphry, nephew of Ralf, brother of Ilger, held them ”

“ What sailh your Lordship, my Lord Michael? know that I require not of the King that which is his, but that which he (drawn thereunto by you, or by the counsel of such as you are) withholds from other men, upon none of the justest titles, and which (as I think) will never do him any good: as for you, if the King's hinderance be the thing you weigh, why did you so greedily accept of a thousand marks by year, at such time as he created you Earl of Suffolk? ”

“ Norfolk was a wise and experienced politician, and an expert and valiant soldier, careful in the management of his own affairs, and a faithful adherent of the house of York; but his memory is stained by his desertion of the interests of the son of his old master and by his intimate relations with the usurper. By his first wife, Catharine, he had Thomas, earl of Surrey and second duke of Norfolk [q. v.] , and four daughters: Anne, married to Sir Edward Gorges of Wraxall, Somerset; Isabel, married to Sir Robert Mortimer of Essex; Jane, married to John Timperley ”

“ Ralf Guader Earl of Norfolk owned the whole town (except the carucate which belonged to Bury abbey) in the Confessor's time, when there were 3 carucates in demean, and woods sufficient to maintain 182 swine, 21 socmen of his own, and 43 that were under the protection of other men, all which the Earl joined to his manor. In the Conqueror's time it was worth 6l. 13s. 4d. and two sextaries of honey; and when all was joined, it was risen to 32l. 13s. 4d. and 20s. as a present or gift; it was two miles long and as much broad, and paid 19d. geld or tax out of every 20s. raised on the hundred. ”

“ It was not, we have seen, till January, 1156, that charters were granted dealing with the earldoms of Essex and of Oxford. And it can only have been when some time had elapsed since the coronation that Hugh Bigod obtained a charter creating him anew Earl of Norfolk. [830]
To sum up the result of this inquiry, we have now seen that no such beings as "fiscal" earls ever existed. No chronicler mentions the name, and their existence is based on nothing but a false assumption. Stephen did not "incautiously" confer on men in a state of "poverty" the dignity of earl ”

“ During this King's reign, Harold, son of Earl Godwin, was Earl of the East Angles: he was not faithful to the King, but assisted his father, who then rebelled, with a large body of troops raised out of his counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, and Huntingdonshire ”

“ When Henry went to war with France in 1544, Norfolk in spite of his age was appointed lieutenant-general of the army. The army besieged Montreuil, and, after a long siege, captured Boulogne, but Norfolk could claim no glory from the war. Again he found himself superseded in the royal favour by a powerful rival, the Earl of Hertford, whom he failed to conciliate by a family alliance which was proposed for his acceptance. Under the influence of his last queen (Catherine Parr) and the Earl of Hertford Henry VIII favoured the reforming party, and Norfolk's counsels were little heeded. ”

“ The height of his prosperity alone was the source of his misfortunes, and engaged him in attempts from which his virtue and prudence would naturally have forever kept him at a distance.
Norfolk was at this time a widower; and being of a suitable age, his marriage with the queen of Scots had appeared so natural, that it occurred to several of his friends and those of that princess: but the first person who, after Secretary Lidington, opened the scheme to the duke, is said to have been the earl of Murray, before his departure for Scotland. ”

“ In the year 1400, Michael De-lu-poole Earl of Suffolk granted him an annuity of 20l. during his life, out of his castle, manor, and honour of Eye in Suffolk, in recompense for the good and agreeable service that Sir William had done him in times past, and shall do him in time to come, both in war and peace; and upon this Sir William obliged himself to serve the Earl with one esquire, two servants, and five horses, all which were to have bouche de court at the Earl's expense; and if he travels in England at the Earl's command, he was to be allowed reasonable expenses ”

“ Thomas, EarlMarshal, Earl of Norfolk, son to the King, guardian to Robert de Bosco, Knt. deceased; the manor of Fersfield being held of the Earl, who, at the death of Christian, seized him as his ward. 1326, 18 kal. Febr. Nicholas de Aschfield, priest, at the resignation of Blakesdone. Ditto. Nicholas Ulton, rector; he resigned, and in 1344, 22 Decem. Andrew Gylour de Wymboteshum, priest, succeeded. John Howard, Knt. 1352, 25 October, Richard Munch, priest, at Gylour's resignation, who changed with him for the vicarage of St. Mary Magdalen of Wygenhale. Sir John Ufford, Knt. ”

“ In 1281, John Earl Warren, the first of that name, granted to the canons the advowson of the church of Gresham in Norfolk, which belonged to his manor there, and was held in capite of the King; but yet the Prior did not present to it for some years after, till it was confirmed by John Earl Warren, his son and heir, in 1329, and from that time they presented the rectors. ”

“ In 1385, the Earls of Notingham and Suffolk, and the Duke of Lancaster, were here, and were nobly treated by the city; it seems the Earls came to solicit for the King towards carrying on the war against the Scots, to which the city gave 50 marks, and lent 150 more, and gave 50 marks to the Duke, towards carrying on his own foreign affairs; they expended 10 marks on the Earl of Notingham, and presented the Earl of Suffolk with two pipes of wine, and a last of oats. ”

“ Canute became sole monarch of all England; and in 1017, assigned all Norfolk to Earl Turkil, who had enjoyed it ever since the expulsion of Earl Ulfketel, "and committed to him the custody of Cnute, which his father Swain burnt and destroyed; and to keep the East-Angles secure to him, he (Canute) was most like to be the builder of the present stone castle of Norwich ”

“ PHILIP HOWARD, son and heir to the last mentioned Duke, was Earl of Surrey, Lord Howard, Mowbray, Segrave, and Bruse of Gower, and Earl-Marshal of England; also, in right of his mother, he assumed the title and honour of Earl of the earldom of Arundel, with the appurtenances thereof, it having anciently been adjudged in parliament, to be a local dignity, so that the possessors thereof should enjoy that title of honour ”