Earl of Richmond - History

History

The title appears to have been in existence in England a considerable time before it was held in accordance with any strict legal principle. Alan Le Roux (c. 1040–1089), was a Breton relative of Geoffrey of Brittany. He took part in William the Conqueror's invasion of England, and Le Roux obtained grants of land in various parts of England, including manors formerly held by Earl Edwin in Yorkshire. He built the castle of Richmond in one of these.

His brother Alan Le Noir, or Niger, (c. 1045–1093), succeeded to these estates on the former's death. Le Noir was in turn succeeded by Stephen (d. 1137), Count of Penthièvre, who was either his son or another brother. These counts were territorial lords of Richmond, and are often reckoned as 'earls of Richmond', though they were not so in the strict later sense.

Stephen's son Alan (c. 1116–1146), was the first of these lords to be styled 'Earl of Richmond'. This Alan married Bertha, daughter and heiress of Conan of Brittany. Their son Conan (c. 1138–1171) married Margaret of Huntingdon, sister of Malcolm IV of Scotland. He asserted his right to Brittany, and with it Richmond, and transferred it in his lifetime to his daughter Constance (c. 1162–1201). As he left no sons, Richmond and his other English possessions passed to the king in 1171, though Constance is loosely spoken of as countess of Richmond in her own right.

Constance was three times married, and each of her husbands in turn assumed the title of earl of Richmond, in conjunction with that of Duke of Brittany. They were: Geoffrey Plantagenet (1158–1186), son of Henry II of England; Ranulph de Blondeville, Earl of Chester (c. 1172–1232), the marriage with whom Constance treated as null on the ground of consanguinity; and Guy de Thouars (d. 1213), who survived his wife for twelve years. The only son of the first marriage, Arthur (1187–1203), was styled Earl of Richmond in his mother's lifetime, and on his murder at the hands of his uncle, King John, the earldom was resumed by the crown.

By her third husband Constance had two daughters, the elder of whom, Alice, was given in marriage by Philip Augustus of France, to Peter de Braine in 1213, after which date Peter was styled Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond, until about 1235, when he renounced his allegiance to England, and consequently suffered forfeiture of his English estates.

In 1241 Henry III granted the estates of Richmond to Peter of Savoy (1203–1268), uncle of his queen consort, Eleanor of Provence. Peter was thereafter described as Earl of Richmond by contemporary chroniclers. By his will he left Richmond to his niece, Eleanor, who transferred it to the crown.

In the same year (1268) Henry III granted the earldom specifically to John I, Duke of Brittany (1217–1286), son of Peter de Braine, in whose family the title continued, though it was frequently forfeited, or reverted to the crown, and was recreated for the next heir, until 1342, when it was apparently resumed by Edward III, and granted by him to his son John of Gaunt, who then surrendered it in 1372.

The earldom was then given to John de Montfort, Duke of Brittany, but on his death without heirs in 1399, or possibly at an earlier date through forfeiture, it reverted to the crown. The earldom now became claimed by both the Duke of Brittany (a pariah in England) and the English appointees.

From 1414 to 1435 the earldom of Richmond was held by John Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford, and in 1453 it was conferred on Edmund Tudor, half-brother to King Henry VI. When Edmund's son Henry ascended the throne as Henry VII in 1485, the earldom of Richmond merged in the crown, and for the next forty years there was no further grant of the title.

Ludovic Stuart, 2nd Duke of Lennox (1574–1624), who also held other titles in the peerage of Scotland, was created Earl of Richmond in 1613 and Duke of Richmond in 1623. These became extinct at his death in 1624. The earldom was not recreated.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.