![Arms of Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Arms_of_Edward_Somerset%2C_4th_Earl_of_Worcester.svg)
Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester,
KG,
Earl Marshal
Earl marshal (alternatively marschal or marischal) is a hereditary royal officeholder and chivalric title under the sovereign of the United Kingdom used in England (then, following the Act of Union 1800, in the United Kingdom). He is the eig ...
(c. 1550 – 3 March 1628) was an English aristocrat. He was an important advisor to King
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
(James VI of Scots), serving as
Lord Privy Seal
The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and abov ...
.
He was the only son of three children born to the
3rd Earl of Worcester and Christiana North. On 21 February 1589, he succeeded his father as
Earl of Worcester
Earl of Worcester is a title that has been created five times in the Peerage of England.
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 Leices ...
.
In June 1590 Worcester travelled to Edinburgh to congratulate
James VI of Scotland
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
on his safe return from Denmark and marriage to
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...
, and gave notice that the king was to join the Order of the Garter. He discussed with James rumours that English ships had lain in wait for his return. At first, he was not able to see Anne of Denmark who had toothache, and he joked that in England this would be interpreted as a sign she was pregnant. Worcester had an audience with Anne, and took her letter to Elizabeth. He was accompanied by
Lord Compton who watched 'pastimes' or hunting on the sands of Leith.
In 1593 he was made a
Knight of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...
. In a letter of September 1602 he mentions that Queen Elizabeth was entertained in the Privy Chamber with country dances and Irish tunes.
In 1606 he was appointed Keeper of the Great Park, a park created for hunting by
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
around
Nonsuch Palace
Nonsuch Palace was a Tudor royal palace, built by Henry VIII in Surrey, England; it stood from 1538 to 1682–83. Its site lies in what is now Nonsuch Park on the boundaries of the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey and the London Boro ...
, of which
Worcester Park
Worcester Park is a suburban town in South London, South West London, England. It lies in the Boroughs of London, London boroughs of London Borough of Sutton, Sutton and Royal Borough of Kingston, Kingston, and partly in the Surrey borough of Ep ...
was a part. The residence
Worcester Park House
Worcester Park House, built in 1607, whose ruins are in Surrey, in the United Kingdom, was one of the residences of the 4th Earl of Worcester, who was appointed Keeper of the Great Park of nearby Nonsuch Palace in 1606.
During the English Co ...
was built in 1607.
Family
He married
Lady Elizabeth Hastings
Lady Elizabeth Hastings (19 April 1682 – 21 December 1739), also known as Lady Betty, was an English philanthropist, religious devotee and supporter of women's education. She was an intelligent and energetic woman, with a wide circle of conn ...
on 16 December 1571 at Whitehall Palace in a triple wedding with
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (; 12 April 155024 June 1604) was an English peer and courtier of the Elizabethan era. Oxford was heir to the second oldest earldom in the kingdom, a court favourite for a time, a sought-after patron of ...
and bride,
Anne Cecil
Anne de Vere (née Cecil), Countess of Oxford (5 December 1556 – 5 June 1588) was the daughter of the statesman William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, chief adviser to Queen Elizabeth I of England, and the translator Mildred Cooke. In 1571 she be ...
, and
Edward Sutton, 4th Baron Dudley
Edward Sutton, 4th Baron Dudley (circa 1515 – 12 July 1586). The oldest son and heir of John Sutton, 3rd Baron Dudley. He was an English nobleman and soldier. Contemporary sources also refer to him as ''Sir Edward Dudley''.
Life
He served in Ir ...
and bride, Mary Howard. She was a daughter of
Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon
Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon, KG (151420 June 1561) was the eldest son of George Hastings, 1st Earl of Huntingdon and Anne Stafford, Countess of Huntingdon, the ex-mistress of Henry VIII.
His maternal first cousins included Hen ...
and
Catherine Pole
Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon, KG (151420 June 1561) was the eldest son of George Hastings, 1st Earl of Huntingdon and Anne Stafford, Countess of Huntingdon, the ex-mistress of Henry VIII.
His maternal first cousins included Henr ...
. Catherine was a daughter of
Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu
Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu (also written Montague or Montacute; circa 1492 – January 1539), was an English nobleman, the only holder of the title Baron Montagu under its 1514 creation, and one of the relatives whom King Henry VIII of ...
and Jane Neville. Jane was in turn a daughter of
George Nevill, 4th Baron Bergavenny
George Neville, or Nevill, 4th and ''de jure'' 2nd Baron Bergavenny (c.1440 – 20 September 1492) was an English nobleman.
Career
George Neville was the son of Edward Neville, 3rd Baron Bergavenny and Elizabeth Beauchamp. He was knighted by ...
and his wife Margaret, daughter of
Hugh Fenn. They had fifteen children among whom were:
*William Worcester born before 20 Apr 1576, Edward's eldest son, denounced his family name to become a minister at the Wooster Chapel. He married Rebecca (Kynge) Worcester, with whom he had nine children. William died at the age of 47 on 20 Nov 1623 in Cheddington, Buckingham.
*
Henry Somerset, 5th Earl of Worcester, his heir and successor, who was later created the 1st
Marquess of Worcester
A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman w ...
;
*
Thomas Somerset, 1st Viscount Somerset
Thomas Somerset, 1st Viscount Somerset (1579–1651) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1601 and 1611. He was raised to the Peerage of Ireland in 1626.
Somerset was the third son of Edward Somerset, 4th Earl ...
(
Peerage of Ireland
The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...
), who was born in 1579,
died in 1649; he was created ''
Viscount Somerset
Viscount Somerset, of Cashell in the County of Tipperary, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1626 for Sir Thomas Somerset, the second son of Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester, and the brother of Henry Somerset, 1st Marque ...
'' on 8 December 1626; in 1616 he married Helen Barry – her third marriage -, with whom he had one daughter:
**Elizabeth Somerset, who might have died young, but that is unsure;
*Lady Catherine or Katherine Somerset, who died on 6 November 1654 and, before 14 January 1607, married
Thomas Windsor, 6th Baron Windsor
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
, with whom she had no issue; and
*
Lady Blanche Somerset, who died 28 October 1649, and married
Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour
Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour ( – 19 May 1643) was an England, English nobleman son of Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour and Lady Mary Wriothesley.
Life
He succeeded to the title of 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour, ...
, with whom she had one son and two daughters, his only children; the settlement for this marriage was on 11 May 1607.
*Lady Frances Somerset, wife of
William Morgan, esquire of Llantarnam
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
and mother of Edward Morgan (c. 1612 – 24 June 1653), who was the great-great grandfather of
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...
.
* Sir Charles Somerset (1587/8 – 1665), traveller and writer, Knight of the Bath.
* Lady Elizabeth Somerset, married Sir Henry Guildford.
* Lady Katherine Somerset (1575-1624), married
William Petre, 2nd Baron Petre
William Petre, 2nd Baron Petre (24 June 1575 – 5 May 1637) was an English peer and Member of Parliament.
He was born the son of Sir John Petre, 1st Baron Petre and was educated at Exeter College, Oxford and the Middle Temple. William and hi ...
.
Four of his daughters danced as the rivers of
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...
in the court masque ''
Tethys' Festival
''Tethys' Festival'' was a masque produced on 5 June 1610 to celebrate the investiture of Prince Henry (1594–1612) as Prince of Wales.
Prince Henry, the son of James VI and I and Anne of Denmark, was made Prince of Wales in June 1610. Among ...
'' on 5 June 1610; Lady Catherine Windsor as the "Nymph of
Usk
Usk ( cy, Brynbuga) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, northeast of Newport. It is located on the River Usk, which is spanned by an arched stone bridge at the western entrance to the town. Usk Castle, above the town, overlooks th ...
"; Lady Katherine Petre as the "Nymph of Olwy"; Lady Elizabeth Guildford as the "Nymph of
Dulesse"; and Lady Mary Wintour as the "Nymph of
Wye".
Somerset is buried in the family chapel in the
Church of St Cadoc, Raglan, Monmouthshire
St Cadoc's Church, Raglan, Monmouthshire, south east Wales, is the parish church of the village of Raglan. The church is situated at a cross-roads in the centre of the village. Built originally by the Clare and Bluet families in the thirteenth ...
[Newman, John (2002). Gwent/Monmouthshire. New Haven; London: Yale University Press. p. 305. .]
Ancestry
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worcester, Edward Somerset, 4th Earl Of
16th-century births
1628 deaths
*06
Earls Marshal
Knights of the Garter
Lord High Constables of England
Lord-Lieutenants of Glamorgan
Lord-Lieutenants of Monmouthshire
Lords Privy Seal
16th-century English nobility
E
*06
17th-century English nobility