Baron Monteagle or Baron Mount Eagle is a title that has been created three times; in the Peerage of England , in the Peerage of Ireland and in the Peerage of the United Kingdom .
178-511: The first creation, in the Peerage of England, was in 1514 when Edward Stanley was summoned to the House of Lords as Lord Monteagle . He was the fifth son of Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby . The family seat was Hornby Castle, Lancashire . The barony fell into abeyance on the death of the seventh Baron in 1697. The second creation, in the Peerage of Ireland, was in 1760 when John Browne
356-618: A Cluniac monk and followed Stephen to England, where the King made him Abbot of Glastonbury , the richest abbey in England. The King then appointed him Bishop of Winchester , one of the richest bishoprics, allowing him to retain Glastonbury as well. The combined revenues of the two positions made Henry of Winchester the second-richest man in England after the King. Henry of Winchester was keen to reverse what he perceived as encroachment by
534-601: A British peerage from being held by a foreign citizen (although such peers cannot sit in the House of Lords, while the term foreign does not include Irish or Commonwealth citizens). Several descendants of George III were British peers and German subjects; the Lords Fairfax of Cameron were American citizens for several generations. A peer may also disclaim an hereditary peerage under the Peerage Act 1963 . To do so,
712-425: A child born legitimate, not legitimated by a later marriage. An example of this can be seen in the film director Christopher Guest , who bypassed his older half-brother Anthony to became the 5th Baron Haden-Guest as the 4th Baron Haden-Guest was not married to Anthony's mother at the time of his birth. Normally, a peerage passes to the next holder on the death of the previous holder. However, Edward IV introduced
890-603: A council at Winchester before Easter in his capacity as papal legate to consider the clergy's view. He had made a private deal with the Empress Matilda that he would deliver the support of the church, if she agreed to give him control over church business in England. Henry handed over the royal treasury, rather depleted except for Stephen's crown, to the Empress, and excommunicated many of Stephen's supporters who refused to switch sides. Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury
1068-471: A course of descent are invalid, though the same is not true for the letters patent creating peers in the Peerage of Scotland . The House of Lords has ruled in certain cases that when the course of descent is not specified, or when the letters patent are lost, the title descends to heirs-male. It is generally necessary for English patents to include limitation to heirs "of the body", unless a special remainder
1246-560: A feudal knight or baron, whilst steering Henry towards a career in the church, possibly so that their personal career interests would not overlap. Unusually, Stephen was raised in his mother's household rather than being sent to a close relative; he was taught Latin and riding, and was educated in recent history and Biblical stories by his tutor, William the Norman. Stephen's early life was heavily influenced by his relationship with his uncle Henry I . Henry seized power in England following
1424-483: A hundred Irish peers left). In the early 19th century, Irish creations were as frequent as this allowed; but only three have been created since 1863, and none since 1898. As of 2011, only 66 "only-Irish" peers remain. The law applicable to a British hereditary peerage depends on which Kingdom it belongs to. Peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom follow English law; the difference between them
1602-572: A limitation on the Crown's power. It sought to permit no more than six new creations, and thereafter one new creation for each other title that became extinct. But it did allow the Crown to bestow titles on members of the Royal Family without any such limitation. The Bill was rejected in its final stage in the Lords, but it was passed in the Lords when it was reintroduced in the next year. Nonetheless,
1780-431: A limited period of service during a campaign, or, increasingly, mercenaries, who were expensive but more flexible and often more skilled. These armies, however, were ill-suited to besieging castles, whether the older motte-and-bailey designs or the newer, stone-built keeps . Existing siege engines were significantly less powerful than the later trebuchet designs, giving defenders a substantial advantage over attackers. As
1958-535: A major regional rebellion in Kent and across the south-west of England, although Robert himself remained in Normandy. In France, Geoffrey of Anjou took advantage of the situation by re-invading Normandy. David I of Scotland also invaded the north of England once again, announcing that he was supporting the claim of his niece the Empress Matilda to the throne, pushing south into Yorkshire . Anglo-Norman warfare during
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#17327838897012136-454: A matter of principle, since Stephen had previously agreed in 1135 to respect the freedoms of the church, and more pragmatically because he himself had recently built six castles and had no desire to be treated in the same way. As the papal legate, he summoned the King to appear before an ecclesiastical council to answer for the arrests and seizure of property. Henry asserted the church's right to investigate and judge all charges against members of
2314-406: A minimal guard force, a ripe target for a surprise attack of his own. Abandoning the deal he had just made, Stephen gathered his army again and sped north, but not quite fast enough—Ranulf escaped Lincoln and declared his support for the Empress. Stephen was forced to place the castle under siege. While Stephen and his army besieged Lincoln Castle at the start of 1141, Robert and Ranulf advanced on
2492-670: A month after the death of his father Frederick, Prince of Wales . The Dukedom of Cornwall is associated with the Duchy of Cornwall ; the former is a peerage dignity, while the latter is an estate held by the Duke of Cornwall. Income from the Duchy goes to the Duke of Cornwall, or, when there is no duke, to the sovereign (but the money is then paid to the heir to the throne under the Sovereign Grant Act 2011 ). The only other duchy in
2670-462: A network of alliances with the western counties of France against Louis, resulting in a regional conflict that would last throughout Stephen's early life. Adela and Theobald allied themselves with Henry, and Stephen's mother decided to place him in Henry's court. Henry fought his next military campaign in Normandy, from 1111 onwards, where rebels led by Robert of Bellême were opposing his rule. Stephen
2848-478: A peerage. The last instance of a man being summoned by writ without already holding a peerage was under the early Tudors; the first clear decision that a single writ (as opposed to a long succession of writs) created a peerage was in Lord Abergavenny 's case of 1610. The House of Lords Act 1999 also renders it doubtful that such a writ would now create a peer if one were now issued; however, this doctrine
3026-452: A port to receive the Empress Matilda's invading army, but Stephen's forces forced him to retreat into the south-west. The following month, however, Henry I's widow, Adeliza, invited the Empress to land at Arundel instead, and on 30 September the Empress and Robert of Gloucester arrived in England with 140 knights. The Empress stayed at Arundel Castle , whilst Robert marched north-west to Wallingford and Bristol, hoping to raise support for
3204-476: A powerful family of bishops. When the Empress and Robert invaded in 1139, Stephen was unable to crush the revolt rapidly, and it took hold in the south-west of England. Captured at the battle of Lincoln in 1141, he was abandoned by many of his followers and lost control of Normandy . He was freed only after his wife and William of Ypres , one of his military commanders, captured Robert at the Rout of Winchester , but
3382-436: A procedure known as a writ of acceleration , whereby it was possible for the eldest son of a peer holding more than one peerage to sit in the House of Lords by virtue of one of his father's subsidiary dignities. A person who is a possible heir to a peerage is said to be "in remainder". A title becomes extinct (an opposite to extant , alive) when all possible heirs (as provided by the letters patent) have died out; i.e., there
3560-543: A rank something more than an earl and something less than an earl, respectively. When Henry III or Edward I wanted money or advice from his subjects, he would order great churchmen, earls, and other great men to come to his Great Council (some of these are now considered the first parliaments ); he would generally order lesser men from towns and counties to gather and pick some men to represent them. The English Order of Barons evolved from those men who were individually ordered to attend Parliament, but held no other title;
3738-443: A regional ally, yet not sufficiently wealthy or powerful in his own right to represent a threat to either the King or his son and heir, William Adelin . As a third surviving son, even of an influential regional family, Stephen still needed the support of a powerful patron to progress in life. With Henry's support, Stephen rapidly began to accumulate lands and possessions. Following the battle of Tinchebray in 1106, Henry confiscated
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#17327838897013916-505: A request from the king for a personal loan ( benevolence ). Which men were ordered to council varied from council to council; a man might be so ordered once and never again, or all his life, but his son and heir might never go. Under Henry VI of England , in the 15th century, just before the Wars of the Roses , attendance at Parliament became more valuable. The first claim of hereditary right to
4094-461: A result, slow sieges to starve defenders out, or mining operations to undermine walls, tended to be preferred by commanders over direct assaults. Occasionally pitched battles were fought between armies but these were considered highly risky endeavours and were usually avoided by prudent commanders. The cost of warfare had risen considerably in the first part of the 12th century, and adequate supplies of ready cash were increasingly proving important in
4272-723: A seat in the House of Lords. Since the start of the Labour government of Harold Wilson in 1964 , the practice of granting hereditary peerages has largely ceased except for members of the royal family . Only seven hereditary peers have been created since 1965: four in the royal family (the Duke of York , the Earl of Wessex , the Duke of Cambridge , and the Duke of Sussex ) and three additional creations under Margaret Thatcher 's government (the Viscount Whitelaw [had four daughters],
4450-408: A series of attacks on his possessions in England and Normandy by David I of Scotland , Welsh rebels, and the Empress Matilda's husband Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou . In 1138, the Empress's half-brother Robert of Gloucester rebelled against Stephen, threatening civil war. Together with his close advisor, Waleran de Beaumont , Stephen took firm steps to defend his rule, including arresting
4628-464: A similar language, albeit with regional dialects; followed the same religion; and were closely interrelated. They were also highly competitive and frequently in conflict with one another for valuable territory and the castles that controlled those territories. Stephen had at least four brothers and one sister, along with two probable half-sisters. His eldest brother was William , who under normal circumstances would have ruled Blois and Chartres. William
4806-462: A solid infantry block; he joined them himself, fighting on foot in the battle. Stephen was not a gifted public speaker, and delegated the pre-battle speech to Baldwin of Clare , who delivered a rousing declaration. After an initial success in which William's forces destroyed the Angevins' Welsh infantry, the battle went badly for Stephen. Robert and Ranulf's cavalry encircled Stephen's centre, and
4984-409: A woman she was at a substantial political disadvantage. Shortly after the death of his son, the King took a second wife, Adeliza of Louvain , but it became increasingly clear that he would not have another legitimate son, and he instead looked to Matilda as his intended heir. Matilda claimed the title of Holy Roman Empress through her marriage to Emperor Henry V , but her husband died in 1125, and she
5162-410: A writ comes from this reign; so does the first patent , or charter declaring a man to be a baron. The five orders began to be called peers. Holders of older peerages also began to receive greater honour than peers of the same rank just created. If a man held a peerage, his son would succeed to it; if he had no children, his brother would succeed. If he had a single daughter, his son-in-law would inherit
5340-404: A writ, what constituted proof of sitting, and which 13th-century assemblages were actually parliaments. Even a writ issued in error is held to create a peerage unless the writ was cancelled before the recipient took his seat; the cancellation was performed by the now obsolete writ of supersedeas . Peerages created by writ of summons are presumed to be inheritable only by the recipient's heirs of
5518-486: Is applied retrospectively: if it can be shown that a writ was issued, that the recipient sat and that the council in question was a parliament, the Committee of Privileges of the House of Lords determines who is now entitled to the peerage as though modern law had always applied. Several such long-lost baronies were claimed in the 19th and 20th centuries, though the committee was not consistent on what constituted proof of
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5696-417: Is by the rules of male primogeniture , a mechanism whereby normally, male descendants of the peer take precedence over female descendants, with children representing their deceased ancestors, and wherein the senior line of descent always takes precedence over the junior line per each gender. These rules, however, are amended by the proviso whereby sisters (and their heirs) are considered co-heirs ; seniority of
5874-399: Is created Prince of Wales ; at the same time as the principality is created, the duke is also created Earl of Chester . The earldom is a special case, because it is not hereditary, instead revesting or merging in the Crown if the prince succeeds to the Crown or predeceases the monarch: thus George III (then the grandson of the reigning monarch) was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester
6052-420: Is determined by the method of its creation. Titles may be created by writ of summons or by letters patent . The former is merely a summons of an individual to Parliament and does not explicitly confer a peerage; descent is always to the heirs of the body , male and female. The latter method explicitly creates a peerage and names the dignity in question. Letters patent may state the course of descent; usually, this
6230-402: Is nobody in remainder at the death of the holder. A title becomes dormant if nobody has claimed the title, or if no claim has been satisfactorily proven. A title goes into abeyance if there is more than one person equally entitled to be the holder. In the past, peerages were sometimes forfeit or attainted under Acts of Parliament, most often as the result of treason on the part of
6408-550: Is only to male heirs, but by a special remainder other descents can be specified. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 regulates acquired gender and provides that acquiring a new gender under the Act does not affect the descent of any peerage. A child is deemed to be legitimate if its parents are married at the time of its birth or marry later; only legitimate children may succeed to a title, and furthermore, an English, Irish, or British (but not Scottish) peerage can only be inherited by
6586-450: Is similarly affected. No further hereditary peerages may be conferred upon the person, but life peerages may be. The peerage remains without a holder until the death of the peer making the disclaimer, when it descends normally. A title held by someone who becomes monarch is said to merge in the Crown and therefore ceases to exist, because the sovereign cannot hold a dignity from himself. The Dukedoms of Cornwall and of Rothesay , and
6764-473: Is specified (see below). The limitation indicates that only lineal descendants of the original peer may succeed to the peerage. In some very rare instances, the limitation was left out. In the Devon Peerage Case (1831) 2 Dow & Cl 200 , the House of Lords permitted an heir who was a collateral descendant of the original peer to take his seat. The precedent, however, was reversed in 1859, when
6942-684: Is that peerages of England were created before the Act of Union 1707 , peerages of Great Britain between 1707 and the Union with Ireland in 1800, and peerages of the United Kingdom since 1800. Irish peerages follow the law of the Kingdom of Ireland , which is very much similar to English law, except in referring to the Irish Parliament and Irish officials, generally no longer appointed; no Irish peers have been created since 1898, and they have no part in
7120-577: Is through the male line only. Some very old titles, like the Earldom of Arlington , may pass to heirs of the body (not just heirs-male), these follow the same rules of descent as do baronies by writ and seem able to fall into abeyance as well. Many Scottish titles allow for passage to heirs general of the body , in which case the rules of male primogeniture apply; they do not fall into abeyance, as under Scots law, sisters are not treated as equal co-heirs. English and British letters patent that do not specify
7298-642: The British royal family . The most recent grant of a hereditary peerage was in 2019 for the youngest child of Elizabeth II , Prince Edward , who was created Earl of Forfar ; the most recent grant of a hereditary peerage to a non-royal was in 1984 for former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan , who was created Earl of Stockton with the subsidiary title of Viscount Macmillan. The hereditary peerage, as it now exists, combines several different English institutions with analogues from Scotland and Ireland. English earls are an Anglo-Saxon institution. Around 1014, England
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7476-589: The Count of Flanders ; the King sent Stephen on a mission to prevent this, and in the aftermath of his successful election, William attacked Stephen's lands in neighbouring Boulogne in retaliation. Eventually, a truce was declared, and William died the following year. Henry attempted to build up a base of political support for Matilda in both England and Normandy, demanding that his court take oaths first in 1127, and then again in 1128 and 1131, to recognise Matilda as his immediate successor and recognise her descendants as
7654-681: The County of Mortain from his cousin William and the Honour of Eye from Robert Malet . In 1113, Stephen was granted both the title and the honour, although without the lands previously held by William in England. The gift of the Honour of Lancaster also followed after it was confiscated by Henry from Roger the Poitevin . Stephen was also given lands in Alençon in southern Normandy by Henry, but
7832-815: The Dukedom of Albany (together with its subsidiary peerages, the Earldom of Clarence and the Barony of Arklow ), the Dukedom of Cumberland and Teviotdale (along with the Earldom of Armagh ) and the Viscountcy of Taaffe (along with the Barony of Ballymote ). Under the Titles Deprivation Act, the successors to the peerages may petition the Crown for a reinstatement of the titles; so far, none of them has chosen to do so (the Taaffe and Ballymote peerages would have become extinct in 1967). Nothing prevents
8010-556: The Earldom of Carrick , are special cases, which when not in use are said to lapse to the Crown : they are construed as existing, but held by no one, during such periods. These peerages are also special in that they are never directly inherited. The Dukedom of Cornwall was held formerly by the eldest son of the King of England, and the Dukedom of Rothesay, the Earldom of Carrick, and certain non-peerage titles ( Baron of Renfrew , Lord of
8188-501: The Earldom of Roberts (to a daughter and her heirs-male), the Barony of Amherst (to a nephew and his heirs-male) and the Dukedom of Dover (to a younger son and his heirs-male while the eldest son is still alive). In many cases, at the time of the grant the proposed peer in question had no sons, nor any prospect of producing any, and the special remainder was made to allow remembrance of his personal honour to continue after his death and to preclude an otherwise certain rapid extinction of
8366-599: The Empress Matilda , nine earls were created in three years. William the Conqueror and his great-grandson Henry II did not make dukes; they were themselves only Dukes of Normandy or Aquitaine . But when Edward III of England declared himself King of France, he made his sons dukes, to distinguish them from other noblemen, much as royal dukes are now distinguished from other dukes. Later kings created marquesses and viscounts to make finer gradations of honour:
8544-422: The House of Lords Act 1999 it was possible for one of the peer's subsidiary titles to be passed to his heir before his death by means of a writ of acceleration , in which case the peer and his heir would have one vote each. Where this is not done, the heir may still use one of the father's subsidiary titles as a " courtesy title ", but he is not considered a peer. The mode of inheritance of an hereditary peerage
8722-490: The King's speech that they would bring in legislation to abolish the remaining hereditary peers' rights to sit in the House of Lords. Stephen of England Stephen (1092 or 1096 – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was King of England from 22 December 1135 to his death in 1154. He was Count of Boulogne jure uxoris from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 until 1144. His reign
8900-671: The Marquess of Salisbury . (Viscount Cranborne succeeded to the marquessate on the death of his father in 2003.) There are no Scottish peerages created by writ; neither can Scottish baronies go into abeyance, for Scots law does not hold sisters as equal heirs regardless of age. Furthermore, there is only one extant barony by writ in the Peerage of Ireland , that of La Poer , now held by the Marquess of Waterford . (Certain other baronies were originally created by writ but later confirmed by letters patent.) More often, letters patent are used to create peerages. Letters patent must explicitly name
9078-535: The Norman conquest of England in 1066, followed by the Norman expansion into south Wales over the coming years. Both the kingdom and duchy were dominated by a small number of major barons who owned lands on both sides of the English Channel , with the lesser barons beneath them usually having more localised holdings. The extent to which lands and positions should be passed down through hereditary right or by
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#17327838897019256-481: The Viscount Tonypandy [had no issue] and the Earl of Stockton [with issue]). The two viscounts died without male heirs, extinguishing their titles. Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton received the earldom customarily bestowed on former prime ministers after he retired from the House of Commons . As for the practice of granting hereditary titles (usually earldoms) to male commoners who married into
9434-558: The peerage in the United Kingdom . As of November 2024, there are 801 hereditary peers: 30 dukes (including six royal dukes), 34 marquesses , 189 earls , 109 viscounts , and 439 barons (not counting subsidiary titles ). As a result of the Peerage Act 1963 , all peers except those in the peerage of Ireland were entitled to sit in the House of Lords . Since the House of Lords Act 1999 came into force only 92 hereditary peers, elected from all hereditary peers, are permitted to do so, unless they are also life peers. Peers are called to
9612-487: The royal forests and to reform any abuses of the royal legal system. He portrayed himself as the natural successor to Henry's policies, and reconfirmed the existing seven earldoms in the kingdom on their existing holders. The Easter court was a lavish event, and a large amount of money was spent on the event itself, clothes and gifts. Stephen gave out grants of land and favours to those present and endowed numerous church foundations with land and privileges. His accession to
9790-463: The treaty of Durham ; Northumbria and Cumbria would effectively be granted to David and his son Henry, in exchange for their fealty and future peace along the border. The powerful Ranulf II, Earl of Chester , considered himself to hold the traditional rights to Carlisle and Cumberland and was extremely displeased to see them being given to the Scots. Nonetheless, Stephen could now focus his attention on
9968-552: The 13th century, and Irish parliaments began later in the same century; until Henry VIII declared himself King of Ireland, these parliaments were small bodies, representing only the Irish Pale . A writ does not create a peerage in Ireland; all Irish peerages are by patent or charter, although some early patents have been lost. After James II left England, he was King of Ireland alone for a time; three creations he ordered then are in
10146-457: The Angevins, and bringing Worcestershire into the Empress's camp. Waleran's twin brother, Robert of Leicester, effectively withdrew from fighting in the conflict at the same time. Other supporters of the Empress were restored in their former strongholds, such as Bishop Nigel of Ely, or received new earldoms in the west of England. The royal control over the minting of coins broke down, leading to coins being struck by local barons and bishops across
10324-404: The Crown. A writ of acceleration is a type of writ of summons that enables the eldest son of a peer to attend the House of Lords using one of his father's subsidiary titles. The title is strictly not inherited by the eldest son, however; it remains vested in the father. A writ may be granted only if the title being accelerated is a subsidiary one, and not the main title, and if the beneficiary of
10502-462: The Empress "Lady of England and Normandy" as a precursor to her coronation. When Matilda advanced to London in an effort to stage her coronation in June, though, she faced an uprising by the local citizens in support of Stephen that forced her to flee to Oxford, uncrowned. Once news of Stephen's capture reached him, Geoffrey of Anjou invaded Normandy again and, in the absence of Waleran of Beaumont, who
10680-513: The Empress Matilda to invade England herself. Dover finally surrendered to the Queen's forces later in the year. Stephen's military campaign in England had progressed well, and historian David Crouch describes it as "a military achievement of the first rank". The King took the opportunity of his military advantage to forge a peace agreement with Scotland. Stephen's wife Matilda was sent to negotiate another agreement between Stephen and David, called
10858-538: The Empress besieged Henry in the city of Winchester in July. Queen Matilda and William of Ypres then encircled the Angevin forces with their own army, reinforced with fresh troops from London. In the subsequent battle the Empress's forces were defeated and Robert of Gloucester himself was taken prisoner. Further negotiations attempted to deliver a general peace agreement but the Queen was unwilling to offer any compromise to
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#173278388970111036-414: The Empress's childhood friend Brien FitzCount , only to find it too well defended. He then left behind some forces to blockade the castle and continued west into Wiltshire to attack Trowbridge Castle , taking the castles of South Cerney and Malmesbury en route. Meanwhile, Miles of Gloucester marched east, attacking Stephen's rearguard forces at Wallingford and threatening an advance on London. Stephen
11214-582: The Empress's son Henry invaded England and built an alliance of powerful regional barons to support his claim for the throne. The two armies met at Wallingford , but neither side's barons were keen to fight another pitched battle. Stephen began to examine a negotiated peace, a process hastened by the sudden death of Eustace. Later in the year Stephen and Henry agreed to the Treaty of Winchester , in which Stephen recognised Henry as his heir in exchange for peace, passing over William , Stephen's second son. Stephen died
11392-477: The Empress, Stephen focused on pacifying the south-west of England. Although there had been few new defections to the Empress, his enemies now controlled a compact block of territory stretching out from Gloucester and Bristol south-west into Devon and Cornwall, west into the Welsh Marches and east as far as Oxford and Wallingford, threatening London. Stephen started by attacking Wallingford Castle , held by
11570-575: The Empress, as his main opponent at this point in the conflict. He also faced a military dilemma at Arundel—the castle was considered almost impregnable, and he may have been worried that he was tying down his army in the south whilst Robert roamed freely in the west. Another theory is that Stephen released Matilda out of a sense of chivalry ; he was certainly known for having a generous, courteous personality and women were not normally expected to be targeted in Anglo-Norman warfare. Having released
11748-496: The English possessions of David's son Henry , including the Earldom of Huntingdon . Returning south, Stephen held his first royal court at Easter 1136. A wide range of nobles gathered at Westminster for the event, including many of the Anglo-Norman barons and most of the higher officials of the church. Stephen issued a new royal charter, confirming the promises he had made to the church, promising to reverse Henry I's policies on
11926-611: The First Crusade, however, continued to circulate, and a desire to avoid the same reputation may have influenced some of Stephen's rasher military actions. His wife, Matilda, played a major role in running their vast English estates, which contributed to the couple being the second-richest lay household in the country after the King and Queen. The landless Flemish nobleman William of Ypres had joined Stephen's household in 1133. Stephen's younger brother, Henry of Blois, had also risen to power under Henry I. Henry of Blois had become
12104-541: The French King. Stephen was less successful, however, in regaining the Argentan province along the Normandy and Anjou border, which Geoffrey had taken at the end of 1135. Stephen formed an army to retake it, but the frictions between his Flemish mercenary forces led by William of Ypres and the local Norman barons resulted in a battle between the two halves of his army. The Norman forces then deserted Stephen, forcing
12282-530: The House of Commons rejected the Peerage Bill by 269 to 177. George III was especially profuse with the creation of titles, mainly due to the desire of some of his Prime Ministers to obtain a majority in the House of Lords. During his 12 years in power, Lord North had about 30 new peerages created. During William Pitt the Younger 's 17-year tenure, over 140 new peerages were awarded. A restriction on
12460-426: The House of Commons. Prior to the House of Lords Act 1999, a hereditary peer could not disclaim a peerage after having applied for a writ of summons to Parliament; now, however, hereditary peers do not have the automatic right to a writ of summons to the House. Irish peerages may not be disclaimed. A peer who disclaims the peerage loses all titles, rights and privileges associated with the peerage; his wife or her husband
12638-474: The House of Lords decided in the Wiltes Peerage Case (1869) LR 4 HL 126 that a patent that did not include the words "of the body" would be held void . It is possible for a patent to allow for succession by someone other than an heir-male or heir of the body, under a so-called special remainder . Several instances may be cited: the Barony of Nelson (to an elder brother and his heirs-male),
12816-564: The House of Lords deemed invalid the clause intended to keep the Barony of Buckhurst separate from the Earldom of De La Warr (the invalidation of clause may not affect the validity of the letters patent itself). The patent stipulated that if the holder of the barony should ever inherit the earldom, then he would be deprived of the barony, which would instead pass to the next successor as if the deprived holder had died without issue. Letters patent are not absolute; they may be amended or revoked by Act of Parliament . For example, Parliament amended
12994-498: The House of Lords with a writ of summons . Not all hereditary titles are titles of the peerage. For instance, baronets and baronetesses may pass on their titles, but they are not peers. Conversely, the holder of a non-hereditary title may belong to the peerage, as with life peers . Peerages may be created by means of letters patent , but the granting of new hereditary peerages has largely dwindled; only seven hereditary peerages have been created since 1965, four of them for members of
13172-596: The Irish Government. Scotland evolved a similar system, differing in points of detail. The first Scottish earldoms derive from the seven mormaers , of immemorial antiquity; they were named earls by Queen Margaret. The Parliament of Scotland is as old as the English; the Scottish equivalent of baronies are called lordships of Parliament . The Act of Union 1707 , between England and Scotland, provided that future peerages should be peers of Great Britain , and
13350-581: The Irish Patent Roll, although the patents were never issued; but these are treated as valid. The Irish peers were in a peculiar political position: because they were subjects of the King of England, but peers in a different kingdom, they could sit in the English House of Commons, and many did. In the 18th century, Irish peerages became rewards for English politicians, limited only by the concern that they might go to Dublin and interfere with
13528-452: The Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland ) by the eldest son of the King of Scotland . Since those titles have been united, the dukedoms and associated subsidiary titles are held by the eldest son of the monarch. In Scotland, the title Duke of Rothesay is used for life or until ascension. In England and Northern Ireland , the title Duke of Cornwall is used until the heir apparent
13706-417: The King found himself surrounded by the enemy army. Many of his supporters, including Waleran de Beaumont and William of Ypres, fled from the field at this point but Stephen fought on, defending himself first with his sword and then, when that broke, with a borrowed battle axe. Finally, he was overwhelmed by Robert's men and taken away from the field in custody. Robert took Stephen back to Gloucester, where
13884-462: The King met with the Empress Matilda, and was then moved to Bristol Castle , traditionally used for holding high-status prisoners. He was initially left confined in relatively good conditions, but his security was later tightened and he was kept in chains. The Empress now began to take the necessary steps to have herself crowned queen in his place, which would require the agreement of the church and her coronation at Westminster . Bishop Henry summoned
14062-806: The King to give up his campaign. He agreed to another truce with Geoffrey, promising to pay him 2,000 marks a year in exchange for peace along the Norman borders. In the years following his succession, Stephen's relationship with the church became gradually more complex. The royal charter of 1136 had promised to review the ownership of all the lands that had been taken by the crown from the church since 1087, but these estates were now typically owned by nobles. Henry of Blois's claims, in his role as Abbot of Glastonbury, to extensive lands in Devon resulted in considerable local unrest. In 1136, Archbishop of Canterbury William de Corbeil died. Stephen responded by seizing his personal wealth, which caused some discontent amongst
14240-540: The King's position with a somewhat larger force. When the news reached Stephen, he held a council to decide whether to give battle or to withdraw and gather additional soldiers: Stephen decided to fight, resulting in the Battle of Lincoln on 2 February 1141. The King commanded the centre of his army, with Alan of Brittany on his right and William of Aumale on his left. Robert and Ranulf's forces had superiority in cavalry and Stephen dismounted many of his own knights to form
14418-556: The Marcher Lord Robert Fitz Harold of Ewyas into Wales to pacify the region. Neither mission was particularly successful, and by the end of 1137, the King appears to have abandoned attempts to put down the rebellion. Historian David Crouch suggests that Stephen effectively "bowed out of Wales" around this time to concentrate on his other problems. Meanwhile, he had put down two revolts in the south-west led by Baldwin de Redvers and Robert of Bampton; Baldwin
14596-707: The Norman barons and Robert of Gloucester at Lisieux on 21 December. Their discussions were interrupted by the sudden news from England that Stephen's coronation was to occur the next day. Theobald then agreed to the Normans' proposal that he be made king, only to find that his former support immediately ebbed away: the barons were not prepared to support the division of England and Normandy by opposing Stephen, who subsequently financially compensated Theobald, who in return remained in Blois and supported his brother's succession. Stephen's new Anglo-Norman kingdom had been shaped by
14774-473: The Norman kings on the rights of the church. English kings had traditionally exercised a great deal of power and autonomy over the church within their territories. From the 1040s onwards, however, successive popes had put forward a reforming message that emphasised the importance of the church being "governed more coherently and more hierarchically from the centre" and established "its own sphere of authority and jurisdiction, separate from and independent of that of
14952-461: The Sovereign create one new Irish peerage for each extinction. There were no restrictions on creations in the Peerage of the United Kingdom . The Peerage continued to swell through the 19th century. In the 20th century, there were even more creations, as Prime Ministers were again eager to secure majorities in the House of Lords. Peerages were handed out not to honour the recipient but to give him
15130-466: The United Kingdom is the Duchy of Lancaster , which is also an estate rather than a peerage dignity. The Dukedom of Lancaster merged in the Crown when Henry of Monmouth, Duke of Lancaster became King Henry V. Nonetheless, the Duchy of Lancaster continues to exist, theoretically run by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (which is normally a sinecure position with no actual duties related to
15308-652: The Welsh victory at the battle of Llwchwr in January 1136 and the successful ambush of Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare in April, south Wales rose in rebellion, starting in east Glamorgan and rapidly spreading across the rest of south Wales during 1137. Owain Gwynedd and Gruffydd ap Rhys successfully captured considerable territories, including Carmarthen Castle . Stephen responded by sending Richard's brother Baldwin and
15486-457: The anticipated invasion of England by Robert and Matilda's forces. Stephen prepared for the Angevin invasion by creating a number of additional earldoms . Only a handful of earldoms had existed under Henry I and these had been largely symbolic in nature. Stephen created many more, filling them with men he considered to be loyal, capable military commanders, and in the more vulnerable parts of
15664-464: The beginning of each new parliament, each peer who has established his or her right to attend Parliament is issued a writ of summons. Without the writ, no peer may sit or vote in Parliament. The form of writs of summons has changed little over the centuries. It is established precedent that the sovereign may not deny writs of summons to qualified peers. By modern English law, if a writ of summons
15842-691: The body. The House of Lords has settled such a presumption in several cases, including Lord Grey's Case (1640) Cro Cas 601 , the Clifton Barony Case (1673), the Vaux Peerage Case (1837) 5 Cl & Fin 526, the Braye Peerage Case (1839) 6 Cl & Fin 757 and the Hastings Peerage Case (1841) 8 Cl & Fin 144. The meaning of heir of the body is determined by common law. Essentially, descent
16020-468: The chosen representatives, on the other hand, became the House of Commons . This order, called a writ , was not originally hereditary, or even a privilege; the recipient had to come to the Great Council at his own expense, vote on taxes on himself and his neighbours, acknowledge that he was the king's tenant-in-chief (which might cost him special taxes), and risk involvement in royal politics – or
16198-419: The church and had the broad support of his barons. There were significant underlying problems, nonetheless. The north of England was now controlled by David and Prince Henry, Stephen had abandoned Wales, the fighting in Normandy had considerably destabilised the duchy, and an increasing number of barons felt that Stephen had given them neither the lands nor the titles they felt they deserved or were owed. Stephen
16376-458: The clergy. Stephen sent Aubrey de Vere II as his spokesman to the council, who argued that Roger of Salisbury had been arrested not as a bishop, but rather in his role as a baron who had been preparing to change his support to the Empress Matilda. The King was supported by Hugh of Amiens , Archbishop of Rouen , who challenged the bishops to show how canon law entitled them to build or hold castles. Aubrey threatened that Stephen would complain to
16554-457: The country assigning them new lands and additional executive powers. He appears to have had several objectives in mind, including both ensuring the loyalty of his key supporters by granting them these honours, and improving his defences in key parts of the kingdom. Stephen was heavily influenced by his principal advisor, Waleran de Beaumont , the twin brother of Robert of Leicester . The Beaumont twins and their younger brother and cousins received
16732-594: The country. Stephen's wife, Matilda, played a critical part in keeping the King's cause alive during his captivity. Queen Matilda gathered Stephen's remaining lieutenants around her and the royal family in the south-east, advancing into London when the population rejected the Empress. Stephen's long-standing commander William of Ypres remained with the Queen in London; William Martel, the royal steward, commanded operations from Sherborne in Dorset, and Faramus of Boulogne ran
16910-407: The county; they gradually became honours, with a stipend of £ 20 a year. Like most feudal offices, earldoms were inherited, but the kings frequently asked earls to resign or exchange earldoms. Usually there were few earls in England, and they were men of great wealth in the shire from which they held title, or an adjacent one, but it depended on circumstances: during the civil war between Stephen and
17088-603: The creation of new peerages, the Royal Warrant of 2004 , explicitly apply to both hereditary and life peers. However, successive governments have largely disowned the practice, and the Royal Household website currently describes the King as the fount of honour for "life peerages, knighthoods and gallantry awards", with no mention of hereditary titles. In 2024, the Starmer Labour government announced in
17266-490: The creation of peerages, but only in the Peerage of Ireland, was enacted under the Acts of Union 1800 that combined Ireland and Great Britain into the United Kingdom in 1801. New creations were restricted to a maximum of one new Irish peerage for every three existing Irish peerages that became extinct, excluding those held concurrently with an English or British peerage; only if the total number of Irish peers dropped below 100 could
17444-399: The death of his elder brother William Rufus . In 1106 he invaded and captured the Duchy of Normandy , controlled by his eldest brother, Robert Curthose , defeating Robert's army at the battle of Tinchebray . Henry then found himself in conflict with Louis VI of France , who took the opportunity to declare Robert's son, William Clito , the Duke of Normandy . Henry responded by forming
17622-579: The duchy and is used to appoint a minister without portfolio ). The Duchy of Lancaster is the inherited property that belongs personally to the monarch, rather than to the Crown . Thus, while income from the Crown Estate is turned over to the Exchequer in return for a Sovereign grant payment, the income from the duchy forms a part of the Privy Purse , the personal funds of the Sovereign. At
17800-454: The dukedom was allowed to pass to the Duke's daughters; Lady Henrietta , the Countess of Sunderland , the Countess of Bridgewater and Lady Mary and their heirs-male – and thereafter "to all and every other the issue male and female, lineally descending of or from the said Duke of Marlborough, in such manner and for such estate as the same are before limited to the before-mentioned issue of
17978-496: The earldom reverted to the Crown, who might re-grant it (often to the eldest son-in-law); in the 17th century, it would not be inherited by anybody unless all but one of the daughters died and left no descendants, in which case the remaining daughter (or her heir) would inherit. After Henry II became the Lord of Ireland , he and his successors began to imitate the English system as it was in their time. Irish earls were first created in
18156-463: The edge of London by 8 December and over the next week he began to seize power in England. The crowds in London traditionally claimed a right to elect the king, and they proclaimed Stephen the new monarch, believing that he would grant the city new rights and privileges in return. Henry of Blois delivered the support of the church to Stephen: Stephen was able to advance to Winchester , where Roger, Bishop of Salisbury and Lord Chancellor , instructed
18334-535: The end of the Wars of the Roses , which killed many peers, and degraded or attainted many others, there were only 29 Lords Temporal; but the population of England was also much smaller then. The Tudors doubled the number of Peers, creating many but executing others; at the death of Queen Elizabeth I, there were 59. The number of peers then grew under the Stuarts and all later monarchs. By the time of Queen Anne's death in 1714, there were 168 peers. In 1712, Queen Anne
18512-442: The established nobility. In the process he had been able to maximise revenues and contain expenditures, resulting in a healthy surplus and a famously large treasury, but also increasing political tensions. Stephen had to intervene in the north of England immediately after his coronation. David I of Scotland invaded the north on the news of Henry's death, taking Carlisle , Newcastle and other key strongholds. Northern England
18690-402: The family lands, and usually the same peerage; more complex cases were decided depending on circumstances. Customs changed with time; earldoms were the first to be hereditary, and three different rules can be traced for the case of an earl who left no sons and several married daughters. In the 13th century, the husband of the eldest daughter inherited the earldom automatically; in the 15th century,
18868-481: The fens and using boats lashed together to form a causeway that allowed him to make a surprise attack on the isle. Nigel escaped to Gloucester, but his men and castle were captured, and order was temporarily restored in the east. Robert of Gloucester's men retook some of the territory that Stephen had taken in his 1139 campaign. In an effort to negotiate a truce, Henry of Blois held a peace conference at Bath , to which Stephen sent his wife. The conference collapsed over
19046-583: The final straw for Ranulf. Ranulf had previously claimed that he had the rights to Lincoln Castle , held by Stephen, and under the guise of a social visit, Ranulf seized the fortification in a surprise attack. Stephen marched north to Lincoln and agreed to a truce with Ranulf, probably to keep him from joining the Empress's faction, under which Ranulf would be allowed to keep the castle. Stephen returned to London but received news that Ranulf, his brother and their family were relaxing in Lincoln Castle with
19224-468: The following year. Geoffrey's success in Normandy and Stephen's weakness in England began to influence the loyalty of many Anglo-Norman barons, who feared losing their lands in England to Robert and the Empress, and their possessions in Normandy to Geoffrey. Many started to leave Stephen's faction. His friend and advisor Waleran was one of those who decided to defect in mid-1141, crossing into Normandy to secure his ancestral possessions by allying himself with
19402-462: The following year. Modern historians have extensively debated the extent to which his personality, external events, or the weaknesses in the Norman state contributed to this prolonged period of civil war. Stephen was born in Blois , France , in either 1092 or 1096. His father was Stephen-Henry , Count of Blois and Chartres , an important French nobleman and an active crusader who died when Stephen
19580-451: The gift of the King was still uncertain, and tensions concerning this issue had grown during the reign of Henry I. Certainly lands in Normandy, passed by hereditary right, were usually considered more important to major barons than those in England, where their possession was less certain. Henry had increased the authority and capabilities of the central royal administration, often bringing in " new men " to fulfil key positions rather than using
19758-530: The half-brother of the Empress Matilda, Robert was one of the most powerful Anglo-Norman barons, controlling estates in Normandy. He was known for his qualities as a statesman, his military experience, and leadership ability. Robert had tried to convince Theobald to take the throne in 1135; he did not attend Stephen's first court in 1136 and it took several summonses to convince him to attend court at Oxford later that year. In 1138, Robert renounced his fealty to Stephen and declared his support for Matilda, triggering
19936-424: The heir to the throne, William Adelin, and many other senior nobles. Stephen had intended to sail on the same ship but changed his mind at the last moment and got off to await another vessel, either out of concern for overcrowding on board the ship, or because he was suffering from diarrhoea . The ship foundered en route, and all but one of the passengers died, including William Adelin. With William Adelin dead,
20114-470: The holder. The blood of an attainted peer was considered "corrupted", consequently his or her descendants could not inherit the title. If all descendants of the attainted peer were to die out, however, then an heir from another branch of the family not affected by the attainder could take the title. The Forfeiture Act 1870 abolished corruption of blood; instead of losing the peerage, a peer convicted of treason would be disqualified from sitting in Parliament for
20292-429: The inheritance to the English throne was thrown into doubt. Rules of succession in western Europe at the time were uncertain; in some parts of France, male primogeniture , in which the eldest son would inherit a title, was becoming increasingly popular. It was also traditional for the king of France to crown his successor whilst he himself was still alive, making the intended line of succession relatively clear, but this
20470-481: The insistence by Henry and the clergy that they should set the terms of any peace deal, which Stephen found unacceptable. Ranulf of Chester remained upset over Stephen's gift of the north of England to Prince Henry. Ranulf devised a plan for dealing with the problem by ambushing Henry whilst the prince was travelling back from Stephen's court to Scotland after Christmas. Stephen responded to rumours of this plan by escorting Henry himself north, but this gesture proved
20648-549: The late King was properly buried, which prevented them from returning to England. Stephen's brother Theobald was further south still, in Blois. Stephen, however, was in Boulogne, and when news reached him of Henry's death he left for England, accompanied by his military household. Robert of Gloucester had garrisoned the ports of Dover and Canterbury and some accounts suggest that they refused Stephen access when he first arrived. Nonetheless, Stephen probably reached his own estate on
20826-474: The late king had been wrong to insist that his court take the oath. Furthermore, the late king had only insisted on that oath to protect the stability of the kingdom, and in light of the chaos that might now ensue, Stephen would be justified in ignoring it. Henry was also able to persuade Hugh Bigod , the late king's royal steward, to swear that King Henry had changed his mind about the succession on his deathbed, nominating Stephen instead. Stephen's coronation
21004-500: The lay ruler", in the words of historian Richard Huscroft. When news began to spread of Henry I's death, many of the potential claimants to the throne were not well placed to respond. Geoffrey and Matilda were in Anjou, rather awkwardly supporting the rebels in their campaign against the royal army, which included a number of Matilda's supporters such as Robert of Gloucester. Many of these barons had taken an oath to stay in Normandy until
21182-411: The letters patent creating the Dukedom of Marlborough in 1706. The patent originally provided that the dukedom could be inherited by the heirs-male of the body of the first duke, Captain-General Sir John Churchill . One son had died in infancy and the other died in 1703 from smallpox . Under Parliament's amendment to the patent, designed to allow the famous general's honour to survive after his death,
21360-416: The lieutenant of Normandy, and Theobald led the efforts to defend the duchy. Stephen himself only returned to the duchy in 1137, where he met with Louis VI and Theobald to agree to an informal regional alliance, probably brokered by Henry, to counter the growing Angevin power in the region. As part of this deal, Louis recognised Stephen's son Eustace as Duke of Normandy in exchange for Eustace giving fealty to
21538-406: The line is irrelevant when succession is through a female line. In other words, no woman inherits because she is older than her sisters. If all of the co-heirs but one die, then the surviving co-heir succeeds to the title. Otherwise, the title remains abeyant until the sovereign "terminates" the abeyance in favour of one of the co-heirs. The termination of an abeyance is entirely at the discretion of
21716-549: The local Normans rebelled, seeking assistance from Fulk IV, Count of Anjou . Stephen and his older brother Theobald were comprehensively beaten in the subsequent campaign, which culminated in the Battle of Alençon, and the territories were not recovered. In 1120, the English political landscape changed dramatically. Three hundred passengers embarked on the White Ship to travel from Barfleur in Normandy to England, including
21894-491: The majority of these new earldoms. From 1138 onwards, Stephen gave them the earldoms of Worcester , Leicester , Hereford , Warwick and Pembroke , which – especially when combined with the possessions of Stephen's new ally, Prince Henry, in Cumberland and Northumbria – created a wide block of territory to act as a buffer zone between the troubled south-west, Chester , and the rest of the kingdom. With their new lands,
22072-543: The north. Stephen himself went west in an attempt to regain control of Gloucestershire , first striking north into the Welsh Marches , taking Hereford and Shrewsbury , before heading south to Bath . The town of Bristol itself proved too strong for him, and Stephen contented himself with raiding and pillaging the surrounding area. The rebels appear to have expected Robert to intervene with support that year, but he remained in Normandy throughout, trying to persuade
22250-469: The other bishops surrender all of their castles in England. This threat was backed up by the arrest of the bishops, with the exception of Nigel who had taken refuge in Devizes Castle ; the bishop only surrendered after Stephen besieged the castle and threatened to execute Roger le Poer . The remaining castles were then surrendered to the King. Stephen's brother Henry was alarmed by this, both as
22428-474: The peer must deliver an instrument of disclaimer to the Lord Chancellor within 12 months of succeeding to the peerage, or, if under the age of 21 at the time of succession, within 12 months of becoming 21 years old. If, at the time of succession, the peer is a member of the House of Commons , then the instrument must be delivered within one month of succession; meanwhile, the peer may not sit or vote in
22606-400: The peerage in most of the United Kingdom are, in descending order of rank, duke , marquess , earl , viscount and baron ; the female equivalents are duchess, marchioness, countess, viscountess and baroness respectively. Women typically do not hold hereditary titles in their own right, except for certain peerages in the peerage of Scotland. One significant change to the status quo in England
22784-502: The peerage. However, in all cases the course of descent specified in the patent must be known in common law. For instance, the Crown may not make a "shifting limitation" in the letters patent; in other words, the patent may not vest the peerage in an individual and then, before that person's death, shift the title to another person. The doctrine was established in the Buckhurst Peerage Case (1876) 2 App Cas 1 , in which
22962-601: The period of imprisonment. The Titles Deprivation Act 1917 permitted the Crown to suspend peerages if their holders had fought against the United Kingdom during the First World War . Guilt was to be determined by a committee of the Privy Council ; either House of Parliament could reject the committee's report within 40 days of its presentation. In 1919, King George V issued an Order in Council suspending
23140-529: The pope that he was being harassed by the English church, and the council let the matter rest following an unsuccessful appeal to Rome. The incident successfully removed any military threat from the bishops, but it may have damaged Stephen's relationship with the senior clergy, and in particular with his brother Henry. The Angevin invasion finally arrived in 1139. Baldwin de Redvers crossed over from Normandy to Wareham in August in an initial attempt to capture
23318-412: The possible exception of those given to members of the royal family, would be created if not upon the advice of the prime minister . Many peers hold more than one hereditary title; for example, the same individual may be a duke, a marquess, an earl, a viscount, and a baron by virtue of different peerages. If such a person is entitled to sit in the House of Lords, he still only has one vote. However, until
23496-654: The power of the Beamounts grew to the point where David Crouch suggests that it became "dangerous to be anything other than a friend of Waleran" at Stephen's court. Stephen took steps to remove a group of bishops he regarded as a threat to his rule. The royal administration under Henry I had been headed by Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, who was supported by his nephews, Bishops Alexander of Lincoln and Nigel of Ely , and his son, Lord Chancellor Roger le Poer . These bishops were powerful landowners as well as ecclesiastical rulers, and they had begun to build new castles and increase
23674-415: The present governance of the United Kingdom. Scottish peerage law is generally similar to English law, but differs in innumerable points of detail, often being more similar to medieval practice. Women are ineligible to succeed to the majority of English, Irish, and British hereditary peerages, but may inherit certain English baronies by writ and Scottish peerages in the absence of a male heir. The ranks of
23852-427: The previous sixty years – William the Conqueror had gained England by force; two of his sons, Robert Curthose and William Rufus, had fought a war amongst themselves for the throne, with Rufus, who was younger, emerging victorious; and Henry had likewise acquired control of Normandy only by force. There had been no peaceful, uncontested successions. Henry had only one other legitimate child, the Empress Matilda , but as
24030-404: The rebellion and to link up with Miles of Gloucester , a capable military leader who took the opportunity to renounce his fealty to the King. Stephen promptly moved south, besieging Arundel and trapping Matilda inside the castle. Stephen then agreed to a truce proposed by his brother Henry; the full details of the truce are not known, but the results were that Stephen first released Matilda from
24208-479: The rebels. In the middle of this confrontation, Henry unexpectedly fell ill and died near Lyons-la-Forêt . Stephen was a well established figure in Anglo-Norman society by 1135. He was extremely wealthy, well-mannered and liked by his peers; he was also considered a man capable of firm action. Chroniclers recorded that despite his wealth and power he was a modest and easy-going leader, happy to sit with his men and servants, casually laughing and eating with them. He
24386-457: The recipient of the title and specify the course of descent; the exact meaning of the term is determined by common law . For remainders in the Peerage of the United Kingdom , the most common wording is "to have and to hold unto him and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten and to be begotten". Where the letters patent specifies the peer's heirs male of the body as successors, the rules of agnatic succession apply, meaning that succession
24564-436: The reign of Stephen was characterised by attritional military campaigns, in which commanders tried to seize key enemy castles in order to allow them to take control of their adversaries' territory and ultimately win a slow, strategic victory. The armies of the period centred on bodies of mounted, armoured knights , supported by infantry and crossbowmen . These forces were either feudal levies, drawn up by local nobles for
24742-402: The rich province of Île-de-France , just to the east of Stephen's home county of Blois. To the west lay the three counties of Maine , Anjou and Touraine , and to the north of Blois was the Duchy of Normandy , from which William the Conqueror had conquered England in 1066. William's children were still fighting over the collective Anglo-Norman inheritance. The rulers across this region spoke
24920-399: The rightful rulers after her. Stephen was amongst those who took this oath in 1127. Nonetheless, relations between Henry, Matilda, and Geoffrey became increasingly strained towards the end of the King's life. Matilda and Geoffrey suspected that they lacked genuine support in England, and proposed to Henry in 1135 that the King should hand over the royal castles in Normandy to Matilda whilst he
25098-543: The royal family, the latest offer of such peerage was in 1973 to Captain Mark Phillips (husband of The Princess Anne ) who declined, and the most recent to accept was the Earl of Snowdon (husband of The Princess Margaret ) in 1961. There is no statute that prevents the creation of new hereditary peerages; they may technically be created at any time, and the government continues to maintain pro forma letters patent for their creation. The most recent policies outlining
25276-446: The royal household. The Queen appears to have generated genuine sympathy and support from Stephen's more loyal followers. Henry's alliance with the Empress proved short-lived, as they soon fell out over political patronage and ecclesiastical policy; the bishop met the Queen at Guildford and transferred his support to her. The King's eventual release resulted from the Angevin defeat at the Rout of Winchester . Robert of Gloucester and
25454-543: The royal treasury to be handed over to Stephen. On 15 December, Henry delivered an agreement under which Stephen would grant extensive freedoms and liberties to the church, in exchange for the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Papal Legate supporting his succession to the throne. There was the slight problem of the religious oath that Stephen had taken to support the Empress Matilda, but Henry convincingly argued that
25632-654: The rules covering the peers should follow the English model; because there were proportionately many more Scottish peers, they chose a number of representatives to sit in the British House of Lords. The Acts of Union 1800 changed this to peers of the United Kingdom , but provided that Irish peerages could still be created; but the Irish peers were concerned that their honours would be diluted as cheap prizes, and insisted that an Irish peerage could be created only when three Irish peerages had gone extinct (until there were only
25810-425: The said Duke, it being intended that the said honours shall continue, remain, and be invested in all the issue of the said Duke, so long as any such issue male or female shall continue, and be held by them severally and successively in manner and form aforesaid, the elder and the descendants of every elder issue to be preferred before the younger of such issue." The number of peers has varied considerably with time. At
25988-450: The senior clergy. Henry wanted to succeed to the post, but Stephen instead supported Theobald of Bec , who was eventually appointed. The papacy named Henry papal legate , possibly as consolation for not receiving Canterbury. Stephen's first few years as king can be interpreted in different ways. He stabilised the northern border with Scotland, contained Geoffrey's attacks on Normandy, was at peace with Louis VI, enjoyed good relations with
26166-473: The siege and then allowed her and her household of knights to be escorted to the south-west, where they were reunited with Robert. The reasoning behind Stephen's decision to release his rival remains unclear. Contemporary chroniclers suggested that Henry argued that it would be in Stephen's own best interests to release the Empress and concentrate instead on attacking Robert, and Stephen may have seen Robert, not
26344-500: The size of their military forces, leading Stephen to suspect that they were about to defect to the Empress Matilda. Bishop Roger and his family were also enemies of Waleran, who disliked their control of the royal administration. In June 1139, Stephen held his court in Oxford, where a fight between Alan of Brittany and Roger's men broke out, an incident probably deliberately created by Stephen. Stephen responded by demanding that Roger and
26522-403: The success of campaigns. Stephen's personal qualities as a military leader focused on his skill in personal combat, his capabilities in siege warfare and a remarkable ability to move military forces quickly over relatively long distances. In response to the revolts and invasions, he rapidly undertook several military campaigns, focusing primarily on England rather than Normandy. His wife Matilda
26700-465: The succession of the English throne open to challenge. When Henry died in 1135, Stephen quickly crossed the English Channel and, with the help of his brother Henry, Bishop of Winchester and Abbot of Glastonbury , took the throne, arguing that the preservation of order across the kingdom took priority over his earlier oaths to support the claim of Henry I's daughter, the Empress Matilda. The early years of Stephen's reign were largely successful, despite
26878-647: The throne still needed to be ratified by the Pope, however, and Henry of Blois appears to have been responsible for ensuring that testimonials of support were sent both from Stephen's brother Theobald and from the French king Louis VI, to whom Stephen represented a useful balance to Angevin power in the north of France. Pope Innocent II confirmed Stephen as king by letter later that year, and Stephen's advisers circulated copies widely around England to demonstrate his legitimacy. Troubles continued across Stephen's kingdom. After
27056-403: The war dragged on for many years with neither side able to win an advantage. Stephen became increasingly concerned with ensuring that his son Eustace would inherit his throne. The King tried to convince the church to agree to crown Eustace to reinforce his claim; Pope Eugene III refused, and Stephen found himself in a sequence of increasingly bitter arguments with his senior clergy. In 1153,
27234-413: The writ is the heir-apparent of the actual holder of the title. A total of ninety-four writs of acceleration have been issued since Edward IV issued the first one, including four writs issued in the twentieth century. The only individual who recently sat in the House of Lords by writ of acceleration is Viscount Cranborne in 1992, through the Barony of Cecil which was actually being held by his father,
27412-444: Was a disputed territory at this time, with the Scottish kings laying a traditional claim to Cumberland , and David also claiming Northumbria by virtue of his marriage to the daughter of Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria . Stephen rapidly marched north with an army and met David at Durham . An agreement was made under which David would return most of the territory he had taken, with the exception of Carlisle. In return, Stephen confirmed
27590-477: Was a major reason for Stephen-Henry's return to the Levant. She had a strong formative influence on Stephen during his growing years; she would live to see her son take her father's throne of England, but would die within a year after that. In the 12th century, France was a loose collection of counties and smaller polities under the minimal control of the king of France. The king's power was linked to his control of
27768-442: Was also rapidly running out of money: Henry's considerable treasury had been emptied by 1138 due to the costs of running Stephen's more lavish court and the need to raise and maintain his mercenary armies fighting in England and Normandy. Stephen was attacked on several fronts during 1138. First, Robert, Earl of Gloucester , rebelled against the King, starting the descent into civil war in England. An illegitimate son of Henry I and
27946-536: Was at most ten years old. During the First Crusade , Stephen-Henry had acquired a reputation for cowardice, and he returned to the Levant again in 1101 to rebuild his reputation; there he was killed at the battle of Ramlah . Stephen's mother, Adela , was the daughter of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders . She was famous among her contemporaries for her piety and strong personality. Indeed, Adela
28124-429: Was brought up by his mother. Placed into the court of his uncle Henry I of England , Stephen rose in prominence and was granted extensive lands. He married Matilda of Boulogne , inheriting additional estates in Kent and Boulogne that made the couple one of the wealthiest in England. Stephen narrowly escaped drowning with Henry I's son, William Adelin , in the sinking of the White Ship in 1120; William's death left
28302-406: Was called upon to create 12 peers in one day in order to pass a government measure, more than Queen Elizabeth I had created during a 45-year reign. Several peers were alarmed at the rapid increase in the size of the Peerage, fearing that their individual importance and power would decrease as the number of peers increased. Therefore, in 1719, a bill was introduced in the House of Lords to place
28480-437: Was curtailed, however, by the power of the King's personality and reputation. Meanwhile, the King arranged for Stephen to marry in 1125 to Matilda , the daughter and only heiress of Eustace III , Count of Boulogne , who owned both the important continental port of Boulogne and vast estates in the north-west and south-east of England. In 1127, William Clito, a potential claimant to the English throne, seemed likely to become
28658-517: Was divided into shires or counties, largely to defend against the Danes ; each shire was led by a local great man, called an earl; the same man could be earl of several shires. When the Normans invaded England , they continued to appoint earls, but not for all counties; the administrative head of the county became the sheriff . Earldoms began as offices, with a perquisite of a share of the legal fees in
28836-484: Was forced to give up his western campaign, returning east to stabilise the situation and protect his capital. At the start of 1140, Nigel, Bishop of Ely, whose castles Stephen had confiscated the previous year, rebelled against Stephen as well. Nigel hoped to seize East Anglia and established his base of operations in the Isle of Ely , then surrounded by protective fenland . Stephen responded quickly, taking an army into
29014-445: Was held a week later at Westminster Abbey on 22 December 1135. Meanwhile, the Norman nobility gathered at Le Neubourg to discuss declaring Theobald king, probably following the news that Stephen was gathering support in England. The Normans argued that Theobald, as the more senior grandson of William the Conqueror, had the most valid claim over the kingdom and the duchy, and was certainly preferable to Matilda. Theobald met with
29192-466: Was in 1532 when Henry VIII created the Marquess of Pembroke title for his soon-to-be wife, Anne Boleyn ; she held this title in her own right and was therefore ennobled with the same rank as a male. In the Scottish peerage, the lowest rank is lordship of Parliament , the male holder thereof being known as a lord of Parliament . A Scottish barony is a feudal rank, and not of the Peerage. The barony by tenure or feudal barony in England and Wales
29370-460: Was issued to a person who was not a peer, that person took his seat in Parliament, and the parliament was a parliament in the modern sense (including representatives of the Commons), that single writ created a barony , a perpetual peerage inheritable by male-preference primogeniture . This was not medieval practice, and it is doubtful whether any writ was ever issued with the intent of creating such
29548-602: Was made Baron Mount Eagle , of Westport in the County of Mayo. He was later created Earl of Altamont and is the ancestor of the Marquesses of Sligo . The third creation, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, was in 1806 when John Browne, 1st Marquess of Sligo , was created Baron Monteagle , of Westport in the County of Mayo. In 1839 Thomas Spring Rice was made Baron Monteagle of Brandon . Hereditary peer#Writs of summons The hereditary peers form part of
29726-456: Was marked by the Anarchy , a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda , whose son, Henry II , succeeded Stephen as the first of the Angevin kings of England . Stephen was born in the County of Blois in central France as the fourth son of Stephen-Henry, Count of Blois , and Adela , daughter of William the Conqueror . His father died while Stephen was still young, and he
29904-444: Was not the case in England. In other parts of Europe, including Normandy and England, the tradition was for lands to be divided up, with the eldest son taking patrimonial lands—usually considered to be the most valuable—and younger sons being given smaller, or more recently acquired, partitions or estates. There was no precedent of a woman ruler. The problem was further complicated by the sequence of unstable Anglo-Norman successions over
30082-402: Was probably intellectually disabled , and Adela instead had the counties pass to her second son, Theobald , later also Count of Champagne . Stephen's other older brother, Odo, died young, probably in his early teens. Stephen's younger brother, Henry , was probably born four years after him. The brothers formed a close-knit family group, and Adela encouraged Stephen to take up the role of
30260-473: Was probably with Henry during the military campaign of 1112, when he was knighted by the King. He was present at court during the King's visit to the Abbey of Saint-Evroul in 1113. Stephen probably first visited England in either 1113 or 1115, almost certainly as part of Henry's court. Henry became a powerful patron of Stephen, and probably chose to support him because Stephen was part of his extended family and
30438-462: Was released after his capture and travelled to Normandy, where he became an increasingly vocal critic of the King. The security of Normandy was also a concern. Geoffrey of Anjou invaded in early 1136 and, after a temporary truce, invaded later the same year, raiding and burning estates rather than trying to hold the territory. Events in England meant that Stephen was unable to travel to Normandy himself, so Waleran de Beaumont , appointed by Stephen as
30616-409: Was remarried in 1128 to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou , whose lands bordered the Duchy of Normandy. Geoffrey was unpopular with the Anglo-Norman elite: as an Angevin ruler, he was a traditional enemy of the Normans. At the same time, tensions continued to grow as a result of Henry's domestic policies, in particular the high level of revenue he was raising to pay for his various wars. Conflict
30794-554: Was sent to Kent with ships and resources from Boulogne, with the task of retaking the key port of Dover , under Robert's control. A small number of Stephen's household knights were sent north to help the fight against the Scots, where David's forces were defeated later that year at the battle of the Standard in August by the forces of Thurstan , the Archbishop of York . Despite this victory, however, David still occupied most of
30972-446: Was similar to a Scottish feudal barony , in being hereditary, but is long obsolete, the last full summons of the English feudal barons to military service having occurred in 1327. The Tenures Abolition Act 1660 finally quashed any remaining doubt as to their continued status. Peerage dignities are created by the sovereign by either writs of summons or letters patent . Under modern constitutional conventions, no peerage dignity, with
31150-418: Was still alive and insist on the Norman nobility swearing immediate allegiance to her, thereby giving the couple a much more powerful position after Henry's death. Henry angrily declined to do so, probably out of a concern that Geoffrey would try to seize power in Normandy somewhat earlier than intended. A fresh rebellion broke out in southern Normandy, and Geoffrey and Matilda intervened militarily on behalf of
31328-446: Was still fighting in England, Geoffrey took all the duchy south of the river Seine and east of the river Risle . No help was forthcoming from Stephen's brother Theobald this time either, who appears to have been preoccupied with his own problems with France—the new French king, Louis VII , had rejected his father's regional alliance, improving relations with Anjou and taking a more bellicose line with Theobald, which would result in war
31506-547: Was unwilling to declare Matilda queen so rapidly, however, and a delegation of clergy and nobles, headed by Theobald, travelled to see Stephen in Bristol and consult about their moral dilemma: should they abandon their oaths of fealty to the King? Stephen agreed that, given the situation, he was prepared to release his subjects from their oath of fealty to him, and the clergy gathered again in Winchester after Easter to declare
31684-443: Was very pious, both in terms of his observance of religious rituals and his personal generosity to the church. Stephen also had a personal Augustinian confessor appointed to him by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who implemented a penitential regime for him, and Stephen encouraged the new order of Cistercians to form abbeys on his estates, winning him additional allies within the church. Rumours about his father's cowardice during
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