Earl of Leicester

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the title of nobility. For the band, see The Earls of Leicester (band).

Earldom of Leicester
heirs male of the body lawfully begotten
Subsidiary titlesViscount Coke
StatusExtant
Seat(s)Holkham Hall
MottoPRUDENS QUI PATIENS
("He is prudent who is patient")
Robert Dudley, created Earl of Leicester in 1564.

Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837.

Early creations

The title was first created for

Count of Meulan. Three generations of his descendants, all also named Robert, called themselves Earls of Leicester. The Beaumont male line ended with the death of the 4th Earl. His property was split between his two sisters, with Simon IV de Montfort, the son of the eldest sister, acquiring Leicester and the rights to the earldom. (The husband of the younger daughter, Saer de Quincy, was created Earl of Winchester.) However, Simon IV de Montfort was never formally recognized as earl, due to the antipathy between France and England at that time. His second son, Simon V de Montfort, did succeed in taking possession of the earldom and its associated properties. He is the Simon de Montfort who became so prominent during the reign of Henry III. He was killed at the Battle of Evesham
in 1265, and his lands and titles were forfeited.

In 1267 the title was created a second time and granted to the king's youngest son,

John of Gaunt, husband of her younger sister, Blanche, who was later created Duke of Lancaster. Both the dukedom and the earldom were inherited by John of Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke, and both titles ceased to exist when Henry usurped the throne, as the titles "merged into the crown". (The peers are vassals to the Sovereign, and no one can be a vassal to himself.) The properties associated with the earldom became part of what was later called the Duchy of Lancaster
.

In 1564 the earldom was again created for

Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley. Since Dudley died without heirs, the title became extinct at his death. The title was again created in 1618 for Robert Sidney (Baron Sydney), his nephew. Prior to being granted the earldom, Robert Sidney was granted the subsidiary title of Viscount Lisle on 4 May 1605. The Sidneys retained the titles until the death of the seventh Earl in 1743, when the titles again became extinct. The title of earl was then recreated for Thomas Coke (pronounced "Cook"[2]
), but it became extinct when he, too, died without heirs.

1784 creation

The title was again bestowed upon

George Townshend, 4th Viscount Townshend, later the first Marquess Townshend. Townshend was a female-line great-great-great-grandson of Lady Lucy Sydney, daughter of the second Earl of the 1618 creation. The earldom became extinct yet again upon the death of his son
, the third Marquess and second Earl, in 1855 (the marquessate was passed on to a cousin and is extant).

1744 and 1837 creations

The Coke family is descended from the noted judge and politician

Margaret Tufton, 19th Baroness de Clifford (1700—1775) (see the Baron de Clifford for earlier history of this title). Their only child Edward Coke, Viscount Coke, predeceased both his parents, without issue. Consequently, Lord Leicester's titles became extinct on his death in 1759 while the barony of de Clifford fell into abeyance
on Lady de Clifford's death in 1775.

The Coke estates were passed on to the late Earl's nephew

Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk for sixty years and was made a Knight of the Garter
in 1873.

On his death in 1909 the titles passed to his eldest son, the

Elizabeth II. He died without male issue and was succeeded by his first cousin, the sixth Earl in 1976. He was the son of the Hon. Arthur George Coke, second son of the third Earl. Upon his death in 1994, his son became the 7th Earl of Leicester. As of 2015 the titles are held by his son Thomas Edward Coke, the eighth Earl
, who succeeded in that year.

The family seat is Holkham Hall, near Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk. The traditional burial place of the Coke family is a plot situated on the south side of the churchyard of the Holkham parish church of St Withburga. A family mausoleum was built in the same churchyard in the 1870s,[3] but was later abandoned. Many members of the Coke family during the post-medieval period were also buried in St. Mary's Church, Tittleshall.

List of Earls of Leicester

First creation (1107)

Arms of Beaumont, Earls of Leicester (1st Creation): Gules, a Cinquefoil Ermine, which were adopted by the town of Leicester[4]

Second creation (1267)

Third creation (1564)

Fourth creation (1618)

Arms of Sidney Earls of Leicester (4th Creation): Or, a Pheon Azure.

Fifth creation (1744)

Sixth creation (1784)

Seventh creation (1837)

Holkham Hall

The heir apparent is the 8th Earl's son, Edward Horatio Coke, Viscount Coke (b. 2003).

See also

References

Citations
  1. ^ Crest: On a Chapeau Azure, turned up Ermine, an Ostrich Argent, holding in the beak a Horseshoe Or. Supporters: Dexter: an Ostrich Argent, gorged with a Ducal Coronet per pale Gules and Azure, line reflexed over the back Argent. Sinister: an Ostrich Argent, gorged with a Ducal Coronet per pale Azure and Gules, line reflexed over the back Argent.
  2. ^ Debrett's Peerage, 1967, p.669
  3. ^ "Coke Mausoleum, Holkham". Archived from the original on 28 February 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  4. ^ Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1904). The Art of Heraldry: An Encyclopaedia of Armory. T.C. & E.C. Jack. p. 195. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
Sources

External links

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