Earl of Worcester is a title that has been created five times in the

Peerage of England The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. In that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were replaced by one Peerage of Great Britain. There are five peerages in th ...

Five creations

The first creation came in 1138 in favour of the Norman noble Waleran de Beaumont. He was the son of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester, by Elizabeth of Vermandois, and the twin brother of

Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (1104 – 5 April 1168) was Justiciar of England 1155–1168. The surname "de Beaumont" was given to him by genealogists. The only known contemporary surname applied to him is "Robert son of Count Rober ...

. Like his father and brother he also held the title

Count of Meulan The county of Meulan, in Normandy, France, appeared as an entity within the region of the Vexin when the otherwise unknown Count Waleran established an independent power base on a fortified island in the River Seine, around the year 1020. Waleran' ...

in the French nobility. The earldom of Worcester apparently became extinct on his death in 1166. The second creation came in 1397 in favour of the military commander and governor Thomas Percy. He was a younger son of

Henry de Percy, 3rd Baron Percy Henry Percy, 3rd Baron Percy of Alnwick (c. 1321–1368), was the eldest son of Henry de Percy, 2nd Baron Percy (1301–1352), and his wife, Idoine de Clifford (Idonea in Latin and also in English), daughter of Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de ...

, and

Mary of Lancaster Mary of Lancaster, Baroness Percy ( – 1 September 1362), was the youngest surviving child of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster by his wife Maud Chaworth. Through her father, she was a great-granddaughter of Henry III of England. Family Mary was bor ...

, and the brother of

Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, titular King of Mann, KG, Lord Marshal (10 November 134120 February 1408) was the son of Henry de Percy, 3rd Baron Percy, and a descendant of Henry III of England. His mother was M ...

. He fought in the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Plantagen ...

for

Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father ...

, against whom he later rebelled. After the

Battle of Shrewsbury The Battle of Shrewsbury was a battle fought on 21 July 1403, waged between an army led by the Lancastrian King Henry IV and a rebel army led by Henry "Harry Hotspur" Percy from Northumberland. The battle, the first in which English archer ...

, he was beheaded for treason and his honours forfeit, although he was without issue anyway. The third creation came in 1420 in favour of Richard Beauchamp, 2nd Baron Bergavenny. He was the son of William de Beauchamp, younger son of

Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, KG (c. 14 February 131313 November 1369), sometimes styled as Lord Warwick, was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War. His reputation as a military leader was so fo ...

and

Katherine Mortimer Katherine Mortimer, Countess of Warwick (1314 – 4 August 1369) was the wife of Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick KG, an English peer, and military commander during the Hundred Years War. She was a daughter and co-heiress of Roger Mor ...

. William de Beauchamp was summoned to Parliament as "Willilmo Beauchamp de Bergavenny" on 23 July 1392, by which he is held to have become Baron Bergavenny. The earldom of Worcester became extinct on the death of its first holder in 1422, while the barony was passed on to his daughter and only child, Elizabeth. See

Baron Bergavenny The title Baron Bergavenny (or Abergavenny) was created several times in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain, all but the first being baronies created by error. Abergavenny is a market town in South East Wales with ...

for further history of this title. The fourth creation came in 1449 in favour of John Tiptoft, 2nd Baron Tiptoft, a noted scholar and sometime favourite of

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in Englan ...

. After the Lancastrians were restored to power under Henry VI, Worcester was captured and beheaded, with his titles forfeited. However, they were restored the following year in favour of his second and only surviving son Edward. Edward died at an early age in 1486. On his death the earldom became extinct while the barony became either extinct or fell into

abeyance Abeyance (from the Old French ''abeance'' meaning "gaping") is a state of expectancy in respect of property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. ...

between his aunts. The barony of Tiptoft had been created on 7 January 1426 when the first Earl's father, John Tiptoft, was summoned to Parliament. He had previously served as Speaker of the House of Commons and

Lord High Treasurer The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Acts of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third-highest-ranked Great Officer of State ...

. The fifth creation came in 1514 in favour of Charles Somerset, the legitimised son of

Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset (26 January 143615 May 1464) was an important Lancastrian military commander during the English Wars of the Roses. He is sometimes numbered the 2nd Duke of Somerset, because the title was re-created for his ...

. The fifth Earl was made Marquess of Worcester in 1643 and the third Marquess

Duke of Beaufort Duke of Beaufort (), a title in the Peerage of England, was created by Charles II in 1682 for Henry Somerset, 3rd Marquess of Worcester, a descendant of Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, legitimised son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of S ...

in 1682. See the latter title for more information on this creation.

List of Earls

Earls of Worcester; First creation (1138)

Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester Waleran de Beaumont, Count of Meulan, Earl of Worcester (1104 – 9 April 1166, in Preaux), was the son of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester and Elizabeth de Vermandois, and the twin brother of Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Lei ...

(1104–1166)

Earls of Worcester; Second creation (1397)

* Thomas Percy, 1st Earl of Worcester (1343–1403) (forfeit)

Earls of Worcester; Third creation (1421)

Richard Beauchamp, 1st Earl of Worcester Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Worcester, KB (c. 1394 – c. 18 March 1421/1422) was an English peer. The only son of William de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Bergavenny and Joan de Beauchamp, Baroness Bergavenny. William Beauchamp was the fourth son o ...

(c. 1397–1422)

Earls of Worcester; Fourth creation (1449)

* John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester (c. 1427–1470) (attainted 1470) * Edward Tiptoft, 2nd Earl of Worcester (c. 1469–1485) (restored 1471)

Earls of Worcester; Fifth creation (1514)

*see

Family tree

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Worcester Earldoms in the Peerage of England Forfeited earldoms in the Peerage of England Noble titles created in 1138 Noble titles created in 1397 Noble titles created in 1421 Noble titles created in 1449 Noble titles created in 1514