Earl of Winchester | Earl Winchester

Earl of Winchester was a title that was created three times in the Peerage of England during the Middle Ages. The first was Saer de Quincy, who received the earldom in 1207/8 after his wife inherited half of the lands of the Beaumont earls of Leicester. This creation became extinct in 1265 upon the death without male heirs of Saer's son Roger de Quincy. In 1322 Edward II created the elder Hugh le Despenser Earl of Winchester. This creation lapsed after Despenser's execution in 1326.

During his exile in 1470–71 Edward IV had been the guest of a Flemish nobleman, Louis de Bruges. After Edward's return to the throne Louis was rewarded with the earldom of Winchester. His son, the second Earl, returned it to the crown in 1500.

In medieval times earldoms closely associated with counties, and the Earls of Winchester were sometimes referred to as Earls of Southampton (for Winchester is the county seat of Hampshire, which in those days was known as County Southampton or Southamptonshire).

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—John Wilmot, 2d Earl Of Rochester (1647–1680)

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—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)

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—Thomas Buchanan Read (1822–1872)