Dukes and Earls: The Origin of Royal Titles

[Music] hello and welcome to another members question and answer first question i'd like to answer today comes from catherine kersey and it is as follows dr starkey please can you explain the difference between an earl and a duke how are these titles chosen for people exclusively by the queen or by a committee why she goes on was sussex chosen for harry obviously in everybody's mind with his semi-appearance of the jubilee harry wasn't born there nor does he seem to have had any special connections there so let's begin then right at the beginning the difference between an earl and a duke well actually we can begin even further back dukes did not exist the dukedom the title duke the the status of dukedom is only invented in the 14th century by king edward iii who also of course claims the title of king of france and the title of dukedom is actually borrowed from france before that point before the 14th century in england there were only two titles of nobility one of them was exactly what catherine is asking about earl now if you look at the list of the peerage beginning at the top duke marquess earl vikant baron you'll see duke marquess vi count baron they're all french one word sticks out it's er that's english or perhaps danish scandinavian as it actually that that is the title that's when the title seems to come into use in the reign of canutor or kanat as he's now fashionably referred to uh in anglo-saxon england the older more the eld man was the what we could call the chief noble the who was also chief administrative officer in the county and the relationship between an earldom and the county and the counties again of course they were known as shires in anglo-saxon england the relationship between the earldom and the shire is a very very close one and and at that point um the earl was normally in fact i suspect invariably the greatest landowner in the area from which he actually took his title so the title of nobility was a functional sign of land ownership and and also a specific power over the county that broadly remains the case after the norman conquest except of course the ownership of the land changes radically and the titles change radically because within a few years of the norman conquest the entire elite the entire upper class nobility of anglo-saxon england had been eliminated and the lands had been given to foreigners particularly to the norman french the followers of william the conqueror and it's also under william that the separation between the actual ownership of land in an area and the conferment of a title seems to begin because william very wisely distributes the lands of his followers so he doesn't give them great blocks of solid territory and he it's an extremely sensible precaution and because of course that was exactly what had been the foundation of his power in france that he controlled a great block of territory the great bulk of the lands a very large part of the lands in normandy which gives him that enormous power which leads to the fact that he and his descendants and become greater subjects than their nominal overlord the king of france so william wisely begins the process of division of of and scattering of noble estates across the country which leads to as i said a division between the the title the earl of essex except that that that wasn't created under the earl of cornwall or whatever it is and the uh uh and the and the actual ownership of land in a particular area so that's the position broadly speaking right through to the middle of the 14th century with the reign of edward iii and edward iii um claiming the the kingdom of france desirous to eq make himself the equivalent in status in every way of the king of france decides that he too wants a carefully graduated peerage reflecting the titles which have been created in france there's another little element that we ought to put in there because of course catherine has been referring specifically to the titles that are given to this the sons of the sovereign the members of the royal family the first specific use of title in that kind of way seems to be the principality of wales which famously is created by edward the first the conqueror of wales that actually conquers wales covers it with the great castles and and destroys the power of the native princes uh but in compensation in the sort of compensation he creates his eldest son the future edward ii he creates him prince of wales certain other earldoms that were enormously rich and powerful had also become associated with members of the royal family like the eldon of chester and and the earldom of cornwall as the the older families which had held these that died out they were regularly given to sons of the king and again when edward the third formalizes this whole process you can see the the way in which he is consciously associating certain titles with certain sons so the um of course he continues what he'd ground what his grandfather had begun what his grandfather edward the first has done and he creates his his eldest son another edward the man that we know as the black prince he creates him prince of wales but he also gives him a clutch of other titles he creates him well what well first of all he actually creates him duke of aquitaine in france the great swathe of land uh the the that that centers around bordeaux and uh in the great wine growing areas of western western coastal france he creates him duke of aquitaine but he also creates him duke of cornwall and he creates him as well earl of chester so the prince of wales and from that point onwards it becomes pretty much a fixed pattern the prince of wales is prince of wales the eldest son of the sovereign the heir apparent and is prince of wales he is duke of cornwall and he is earl of chester right duke earl that's a prince duke earl that is establishing a pattern that the higher peerage titles like duke and whatever also hold lower peerage titles but let's keep that idea in mind for a moment so edward then creates his his eldest son prince of wales duke of cornwall earl of chester but edward has enormous numbers of sons since it's half a dozen i can't remember offhand and he gives all of them appropriately grand titles and the second son and this again for a century or more becomes regular practice he creates his second son clarence the duke of clarence now okay we know where aquitaine is we know where wales is we know where cornwall is we know where chester is where is clarence the answer is it doesn't exist it's a romantic notion derived from the great title of the great family of claire which is c-l-a-r-e which would become extinct and and its lands reverting to the crown and this is a kind of romantic memorial remember this romance even then edward iii along with doing all this he also establishes the knights of the god he creates the order of the gata which is a mixture of a kind of revival an attempted translation into reality the fantasies of arthur and the knights of the round table but it's also a group of fighting companions to wage his war against france and it's based at windsor and its ceremonies and its traditions still broadly continue um uh there will in fact be an installation and their garter ceremony got a feast and a got a service and an installation at windsor very shortly which will figure that noble combatant for truth and righteousness a certain tony blair kg knight of the garter uh the wonderful you will remember the motto shame be to him that thinks evil we must think no evil of mr blair i mean sir tony right edward again this romanticization so the title of duke of clarence and then the third the third of the sons this is john of gaunt his famously created duke of lancaster which dukedom very soon folds itself into the crown and which indeed it remains so the queen is also duke of lancaster and that supplies that the backbone of the crown lands it's folded into the crown because uh ed edwards the sorry john of gaunt's um her son and henry grossmont uh makes himself seizes the throne as henry iv in 1399. well getting getting they're getting a bit closer we've already established the tradition by the reign of edward iii that we're now multiplying peerage titles we can see certain peerage titles being attached to the king's sons in order of priority so first there is the prince of wales there is the duke of cornwall and the earl of chester that cluster of title cluster of titles for the king's eldest son for the king's second son there is the dukedom of clarence and to begin with at the rate for the king's third son there is the dukedom of lancaster edward the third um set sets um a precedent which is then developed by uh by his grandson uh by richard ii it's richard ii who creates the first marquis said i think it is the marquis said of of ireland if i remember correctly uh for for his his his favorite divir who who held actually the titles of the time the the traditional english title the very old one by this point of earl of oxford and you also get the creation of the title of vi count and that gives you the ordered peerage the peerage of england now reflecting the peerage of france so you have duke going down duke marquis earl vikalt baron with as i said earl standing out as anglo-saxon because if you remember what do we call the wife of an earl we call her the french from the french countess and because the fred the french from earl is caught again county and the the very very very much the same idea by this point the the this range of titles um are becoming firmly associated with again what makes the english peerage very unusual um there is firmly associated with um a seat with with a writ of summons to the upper house of parliament which we call the house of lords the english peerage is defined not simply by its titles but by the fact that these titles carry a seat in the house of lords you have a right and hereditary right to a writ of summons to the house of lords and this tends to keep it very very small indeed um tiny in comparison for example with the peerage of france so again just to emphasize the point the english peerage is not a class it's not the aristocracy as a class it's a tiny status group numbering from less than 100 at the head of a much larger class of landowners the the peerage again acquires as you differentiate the titles you differentiate the robes so the by the 15th century this within 100 years this pattern is also very very well established and the the duke uh the part of the robes are red you have um bands of fur which is called minifi it's actually usually i think rabbit fur white rabbit fur and the number of bands of hermann on the top of the cloak the the the the kind of cape that goes over the top of the cope of the cloak indicates rank so for duke you've got four bands for a marquis you've got three and a half for an earl you've got three for a vika you've got two and a half and for a baron the lowest rank of the peerage you've just got two similarly the coronets differ with the with with with straw believes for the duke with with two down just to a cluster of balls or silver balls uh going around the band of the coronet for the barons and originally there were different forms of uh inauguration or investiture to give it its proper word the investiture of the duke until the until the 16th century was quasi-royal um because the title of duke was if was largely largely reserved for members of the royal family or or or uh member or noble houses that were very closely associated uh with the with with the um with the royal family and a duke's formal title was again royal it was right high and mighty prince and the form of a dress that you used to aduke your grace was the equivalent that you used to the king it's only in the uh the late 15th century that you start to separate out and call the king first highness and then by the time that you've got to henry viii majesty the title of majesty up to that point had been reserved for the the emperor the holy roman emperor but from from the 16th century onwards it's claimed for the king so there is there is a separation out and again when the when the duke was invested and he was actually given a rod um a kind of scepter all highlighting this this this quasi-royal authority so we've now got then catherine we've got this differentiated peerage the duke marquis oil vicar baron and so on and by the way isn't it interesting you reminded me i'm also in the middle of doing so many other things writing my autobiography one interesting little section it will be my love-hate relationship with another boy who lived on the same council estate that i did back in the late 40s and a man called david holmes and isn't it striking as a as a representation of the difference of the where are we now the 70 years going back to the 1940s david and i as council house boys on an estate in the far northwest of england in the 1940s knew that dissent peerage titles knew the different ranks duke marquez pearl vicar baron and we even played games of giving each other the appropriate range of titles you know duke of this duke of sanderlands marcus of kendall earl of westmoreland and so on the complete disappearance um on a complete disappearance but substantial disappearance of the title nobility the hereditary ability from the public consciousness in the space of a mere 70 years the group that had dominated england from the norman conquest if not before to the 20th century largely snuffed out in terms of power apart from the you know odd eccentric um who features in downton abbey or is his kind of um his fictive ghost his fictional ghost so the the the perish now let's go back to the whole question of royal titles from edward the from edward iii for the next century to the middle of the 15th century the pattern that i've described the prince of wales the eldest son of the king prince of wales duke of cornwall earl of chester the second son duke of clarence uh obtained that that was what happened the significant change and the one whose um consequence is still endured to the present is the usurpation of the house of york uh in the middle of the 15th century when first richard duke of york challenges the title of henry vi and the grandson of henry iv who sees the throne from richard iii and by the way look at how the names of the house of york consciously heart back richard edward you're consciously going back and saying 1399 was wrong the house of lancaster is is an illegitimate and illegal succession so when finally the son of of of richard duke of york um edward the the man ed edward earl of richmond edward earl of march when he finally seizes the throne and and makes himself king in 1461 you have the uh you have the um [Music] a new pattern introduces itself um he has eventually ten years later um he has uh he too um edward ii uh in 1470 actually whilst he's abroad whilst he's in exile in the the the crisis that we know as the um the crisis that we know as the re-adoption crisis when edward is driven into exile and you briefly restore henry vi to the throne with with uh warwick the kingmaker as as the real wielder of power and the uh uh whilst edward is abroad he's his wife um uh in sanctuary in westminster elizabeth woodville gives birth to his son who becomes of course edward prince of wales and given all the usual titles of duke of cornwall and earl of chester when his father comes back and successfully reclaims the throne and then he goes on and that's to say edward iv and elizabeth woodville go on and they have a second son now traditionally he will be created duke of clarence but of course well there is already george duke of clarence that's edward's younger brother except he famously finishes up uh in in in a butt of marmsy wine and instead for richard a new title or rather not a new title the title of the yorkist house is given to the king's second son so rather than reviving the dukedom of clarence for prince richard for his second son edward iv creates him duke of york so the now the king's second son is called duke of york and that change survives even the loss of the throne by the yorkist dynasty when richard iii is defeated the usurping brother of edward iv when he is defeated at bosworth by henry vii um by henry earl of richmond who makes himself henry vii the sort of lancastrian claimant by means of a very indirect dissent from john of gaunt via his third marriage uh to the lady that i always refer to um as as his au pair catherine swinford and the what what um henry vii does when he becomes king he follows the yorkist president not the earlier precedent so his eldest son arthur and when he arthur is born very quickly he is created at birth and he becomes a duke of cornwall an earl of chester and he's quickly created prince of wales as well and then when the second son is born the man that we know as henry viii when henry is born he too is created duke of york not duke of clarence and that establishes a pretty well not a pretty well that establishes a continuous precedent that goes right through to today with i'm afraid the somewhat i hate calling um i hate calling the the the andrew the disgraced duke of york um he's been disgraced in that most deplorable tribunal the so-called court of public opinion without due process or anything else but anyway the duke of york under a cloud the queen's second son and of course if it's any consolation i imagine the uh behavior of prince harry and his uh departure as a so-called working royal i would have thought that really is it most sort of contradiction in terms in some ways isn't it but anyway a right regular member of the royal family presumably and i'm not sure whether everybody has registered this spares is the necessity of creating him duke of york which he would normally be when his father succeeded when prince charles succeeds as king um a day that we hope is in the future but the events and the queen's age and frailty make it an increasingly likely possibility so perhaps there won't be a new dukedom of york created perhaps it will wait until the uh the li the lively young prince whose uh performances of of of boyish self-indulgence we've we've been watching the jubilee maybe he will be created duke of york but all this is a very very long way of saying um the there are some titles which are fixed for members of the royal house for the eldest son and for the second son for the other sons it's a much more variable process but what goes on again there's another layer of meaning put into all of this the big shift and it's the only really big shift i think after the 15th century after the replacement of the dukedom of clarence as the title for the second king's second son with the title of duke of york the only other big shift comes with the creation of britain as a multinational state that that's the the that's to say the creation of the united kingdom of great britain which is principally got a rather long story short the result of the act of union of 1707 followed very quickly by the succession of the hanoveridian dynasty after the death of the last stuart the last the last steward of the protestant line that's to say queen anne and what you get developing then is yet another tradition within the practice of the confirment of titles which is that i referred to the fact that a duke will hold subordinate titles he'll be earl of this and baron of the other um and the practice develops and it's a very interesting sign of the fact that right from the beginning britain was conceived of as a sort of multinational monarchy because remember and i've i've alluded to this point several times and i've occasionally developed it more fully scotland with the act of union retains all the forms of a separate kingdom uh its own legal system its its own church its own ecclesiastical establishment its its own educational system its its own court its own system of titles its own heraldry and uh its own administ its own sovereign officer the lion king of arms enforcing that that code of heraldry with much more considerable powers than the college of arms and got a king of arms in england and so on it retains all the attributes a separate statement apart from a parliament and this and and the this issue of as it were separateness was also of course compounded by the fact that england itself was a duel if not a triple monarchy it's a dual monarchy because from the reign of henry viii onwards the king of england was also king of ireland they were seen as two separate kingdoms and indeed up to the beginning of the 19th century had separate parliaments and finally that they also incorporated the principality of wales although the principality of wales until the beginning of the 20th century had no formal separate administrative existence once henry viii and it is henry viii i'm afraid who again i've i've talked about this shires wales if bans the use of welsh as far as he could and does what he could to incorporate wales into a unitary english state along with the rump of the english titles in france along with calais so but what you've got then is this multinational state england scotland ireland and sort of wales and the practice develops uh form right from the beginning of the stuart period right as i write from the beginning of the halloween period right from 1713 the practice develops of doing what the practice develops of acknowledging this fact by making sure that royal princes have titles which are scattered through the three kingdoms and latterly the principality as well so for example to bring it all back to um all back to uh harry prince harry duke of sussex earl of dumbarton in scotland and baron kilkeel in ireland three titles as it were signifying a monarchy that's got a root in all three places so that's the background that's the story it's quite a long one i think it's again this wonderful way of of of incidents of the past anchoring themselves becoming traditions occasionally being revisited as with the creation of the uh uh uh as with the changing of the the title duke of the second son from clarence to to york um uh uh acquiring separate layers of meaning uh when you get the uh the creation of the multinational state of britain and so on and all folded up and rolled up into that extraordinary story of the royal history of britain [Music] you

Channel: David Starkey Talks

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Length: 30min 9sec (1809 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 12 2022