Arms of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland

Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland, 12th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG (c. 1497{{snd20 September 1543), of Belvoir Castle in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire ...

(adjacent to the small county of

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

), was created Earl of Rutland by King

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 ...

in 1525.

Origins

Thomas was the son of Sir George Manners, 11th Baron de Ros (c. 1470{{snd1513) by his wife Anne St Leger (1476–1526). His maternal grandparents were Sir Thomas St Leger (c. 1440–1483) and Anne of York (1439–1476), a daughter of

Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (21 September 1411 – 30 December 1460), also named Richard Plantagenet, was a leading English magnate and claimant to the throne during the Wars of the Roses. He was a member of the ruling House of Planta ...

and Cecily Neville. She was thus an elder sister of Kings

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 ...

(1461–1483) and of his brother and eventual successor,

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Bat ...

(1483–1485). Her other brothers were

Edmund, Earl of Rutland Edmund, Earl of Rutland (17 May 1443 – 30 December 1460) was the fourth child and second surviving son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville. He was a younger brother of Edward IV of England, Edward, Earl of March, the ...

and

George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (21 October 144918 February 1478), was the 6th son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the brother of English kings Edward IV and Richard III. He played an important role in the ...

. Her sisters included

Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk also known as Elizabeth Plantagenet (22 April 1444 – c. 1503) was the sixth child and third daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (a great-grandson of King Edward III) and Cecily Neville.Hals ...

and Margaret of York. Anne St Leger's first cousin, Elizabeth of York, married Henry Tudor and was the mother of

and grandmother of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

. Thomas Manners was thus a second cousin to Henry VIII.

Career

On 22 June 1513, Thomas landed at

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

on the French expedition. In 1513 he became Baron Ros, probably aged 16 or 17, on his father's death and was summoned in 1515 to Parliament. He was at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 and at King

's meeting with

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) fr ...

afterwards. In December 1521 he became cupbearer to the king. In January 1522 he was made steward of Pickering, Yorkshire, and from April to October of the same year he held the appointment of Lord Warden of the East Marches, in which he was succeeded by Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland. He received the wardenship of

Sherwood Forest Sherwood Forest is a royal forest in Nottinghamshire, England, famous because of its historic association with the legend of Robin Hood. The area has been wooded since the end of the Last Glacial Period (as attested by pollen sampling cor ...

on 12 July 1524, an office which afterwards became practically hereditary in his family. He was appointed a Knight of the Garter on 24 April 1525 and on 18 June 1525 he was made Earl of Rutland, a title previously held by members of the house of York.{{Cite EB1911, wstitle=Rutland, Earls and Dukes of, volume=23, page=943 He was a great favourite of King Henry VIII and received many grants, including the keepership of

Enfield Chase Enfield Chase is an area of Enfield that is named for a former royal hunting ground. Much of the former area of the Chase has been developed, but a large part survives between Cockfosters in the west and Enfield in the east as Trent Count ...

on 12 July 1526, and Belvoir Castle, which remains the chief seat of his family. On 11 October 1532 he landed with the king in France. He was at the coronation of Queen

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key f ...

in 1533 and later took part in her trial. Rutland was actively engaged in meeting the

Pilgrimage of Grace The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular revolt beginning in Yorkshire in October 1536, before spreading to other parts of Northern England including Cumberland, Northumberland, and north Lancashire, under the leadership of Robert Aske. The "most ...

. He held a joint command with the Earls of

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cr ...

and

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

and marched to

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

and thence to Newark, Southwell, and Doncaster against the northern rebels.{{sfn, Archbold, 1893 He was steward of many monasteries, and from his various ancestors had claims through their having founded certain of the houses. Hence at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, he received numerous grants of monastic property. In

he obtained Charley, Garradon, and by exchange, Croxton; in Yorkshire he received Beverley, Warter, and Rievaulx by exchange. Jointly with

Robert Tyrwhit Robert Tyrwhit D.D. (1698 – 15 June 1742) was a Canon of Windsor from 1730 to 1742''Fasti Wyndesorienses'', May 1950. S.L. Ollard. Published by the Dean and Canons of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle and Archdeacon of London from 1731 to 1742. ...

, he obtained Belvoir, Eagle, and Kyme in Lincolnshire, and in Yorkshire Nun Burnham. When

Anne of Cleves Anne of Cleves (german: Anna von Kleve; 1515 – 16 July 1557) was Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July 1540 as the fourth wife of King Henry VIII. Not much is known about Anne before 1527, when she became betrothed to Francis, Duke of ...

came to England to marry the king, Rutland was appointed her

lord chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main c ...

and met her at

Shooter's Hill Shooter's Hill (or Shooters Hill) is a district in South East London within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It borders the London Borough of Bexley. It lies north of Eltham and south of Woolwich. With a height of , it is the highest point i ...

on her approach to Greenwich Palace, after her unfortunate interview with the king at Rochester. In 1542 he became constable of Nottingham Castle. He went to the border again on 7 August 1542 as Warden of the Marches, but was recalled, in consequence of illness, in November of the same year. From

Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent or Newark () is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road bypasses the town on the line ...

he wrote on 7 November to the

Council of the North The Council of the North was an administrative body first set up in 1484 by King Richard III of England, to improve access to conciliar justice in Northern England. This built upon steps by King Edward IV of England in delegating authority in the ...

: ''"As Gode best knows, I ame in a poyur and febvll estat"''. He died on 20 September 1543.{{sfn, Archbold, 1893

Knight of the Garter

GarterPlateThomasManners1stEarlOfRutland1525

Manners, about two months before receipt of his earldom, was nominated by Henry VIII as a Knight of the Garter in 1525. His Garter stall plate of brass inlaid with coloured enamel, survives in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. It is inscribed: {{lang, enm, Thom(a)s lord roosse, Erle of rotteland. Above the escutcheon, circumscribed by the Garter, is the crest of Manners: ''A peacock in pride''. The arms displayed are: ''quarterly'':
1 and 4, or, two bars azure a chief quarterly of the last and gules, on the 1st and 4th, two fleurs-de-lis or, on the 2nd and 3rd, a lion passant guardant or (Manners, with augmentation for the 1st Earl);
2, a grand quarter consisting of
: 1, gules, three water bougets argent (Ros) : 2, azure, a Catherine wheel or (Belvoir) : 3, gules, three Catherine wheels argent (Espec) : 4, argent, a fess between two bars gemels gules (Badlesmere) 3, a grand quarter consisting of
: 1, gules, three lions pasant guardant or, within a bordure argent (Holland, Earls of Kent) : 2 and 3, argent, a saltire engrailed gules (Tiptoft) : 4, or, a lion rampant gules (Edward Charleton, 5th Baron Charleton of Powys (1370–1421))

Marriages and children

He married twice: *Firstly in about 1512 to Elizabeth Lovell. The marriage ended in 1513. *Secondly in about 1523 he married Eleanor Paston, daughter of Sir William Paston of Norfolk. They had the following children:

Sons

Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland, 13th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG (23 September 152617 September 1563) was an English nobleman. Origins He was the son and heir of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland and his wife Eleanor Paston. Career Li ...

(1526–1563) *

Sir John Manners ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only a ...

(c. 1534–1611), of

Haddon Hall Haddon Hall is an English country house on the River Wye near Bakewell, Derbyshire, a former seat of the Dukes of Rutland. It is the home of Lord Edward Manners (brother of the incumbent Duke) and his family. In form a medieval manor house, ...

, Derbyshire, husband of

Dorothy Vernon Dorothy Vernon (1544 – 24 June 1584), the younger daughter of Sir George Vernon and Margaret ''nee'' Talbois (or Tailboys), was the heiress of Haddon Hall, an English country house in Derbyshire with its origins in the 12th century. She marri ...

, grandfather of John Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland and great-grandfather of John Manners, 1st Duke of Rutland and

Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury, 11th Earl of Waterford (1623 – 16 March 1668), was an English peer who was a Royalist officer in the English Civil War. He survived the war only to be mortally wounded in a duel with the Duke of Bucki ...

. * Sir Thomas Manners, grandfather of Thomas Vavasour, 1st Baronet. *

Roger Manners Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland (6 October 1576 – 26 June 1612) was the eldest surviving son of John Manners, 4th Earl of Rutland and his wife, Elizabeth ''nee'' Charleton (d. 1595). He travelled across Europe, took part in military ca ...

(died 1607) of Uffington, a squire of the body to

,Edmund Lodge, ''Illustrations of British History'', vol. 3 (London, 1791), p. 66. died unmarried *Oliver Manners, Esq.

Daughters

* Gertrude Manners, who married George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury and was the mother of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury and

Edward Talbot, 8th Earl of Shrewsbury Edward Talbot, 8th Earl of Shrewsbury, 8th Earl of Waterford (christened 25 February 1561 – 8 February 1617), was the younger brother and nearest male heir of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, whom he succeeded as Earl of Shrewsbury and L ...

. *Anne Manners, who married

Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland (1525–Aug 1563) was an English peer, member of the House of Lords and Knight of the Garter. Life He was born in 1525, the eldest son of Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland and his wife, Katherine Sta ...

and was the mother of

Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland (18 August 154216 November 1601) was an English nobleman and one of the leaders of the Rising of the North in 1569. He was the son of Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland and Lady Anne Manners, second ...

. * Frances Manners, who married Henry Nevill, 6th Baron Bergavenny and was grandmother of

Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland (1 February 158023 March 1629), (styled Sir Francis Fane between 1603 and 1624) of Mereworth in Kent and of Apethorpe in Northamptonshire was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Comm ...

. *Katherine Manners, who married Sir Henry Capell, Sheriff of Essex. *Elizabeth Manners (c. 1530{{snd8 August 1570), who married Sir John Savage of

Rocksavage Rocksavage or Rock Savage was an Elizabethan mansion, which served as the primary seat of the Savage family. The house now lies in ruins, at in Clifton (now a district of Runcorn), Cheshire, England. Built for Sir John Savage, MP in 1565–15 ...

, whose mother was Elizabeth Somerset, daughter of

Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, KG (c. 146015 March 1526) was an English nobleman and politician. He was the legitimised bastard son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset by his mistress Joan Hill. Origins He was born in about ...

by his wife Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert. She was the grandmother of Thomas Savage, 1st Viscount Savage and the great-grandmother of John Savage, 1st Earl Rivers and was the great-great-grandmother of Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton. *Isabel Manners, died young.

Death and burial

{{Unreferenced section, date=April 2012 He died on 20 September 1543 and was buried in Bottesford Church,

. His body was embalmed with spices purchased in Nottingham and a surgeon encased it in wax. A plumber then encased it in a close-fitting leaden shell.

Monument

His surviving

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that include ...

chest tomb Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and com ...

in the chancel of St Mary's Church, Bottesford, Leicestershire, was created by Richard Parker of Burton-on-Trent with John Lupton (rough mason) and his father, over a period of six days, the floor having been strengthened to the weight of the tomb. Thomas Richard Parker "the alabaster man" was paid £20 for the sculpture and the supervision of its positioning. Surviving accounts at Belvoir Castle record in considerable detail the arrangements for this work and the funeral. As well as commemorating the 1st Earl of Rutland and his wife this monument also marks the first of the future burials in the church of eight earls and four dukes over a period of almost 250 years.

Description

The Earl's effigy is dressed in

chain mail Chain mail (properly called mail or maille but usually called chain mail or chainmail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common military use between the 3rd century BC and ...

and full plate armour with a loose military tabard over which he wears the mantle of the

Order 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 Georg ...

while on his left leg is the Garter itself. His head wears a basic form of

coronet A coronet is a small crown consisting of ornaments fixed on a metal ring. A coronet differs from other kinds of crowns in that a coronet never has arches, and from a tiara in that a coronet completely encircles the head, while a tiara doe ...

and rests on his tilt-heaume on top of which is the Manners crest of ''a peacock in pride'' on a Cap of Maintenance. The feet rest on a

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

, from which the horn is now missing. The effigy of the countess is dressed in a gown and a short cape and wears an ermine-trimmed mantle fastened by a cordon whose ends reach almost to her feet, under which is a griffon. Tasselled cushions support her head. The base of the tomb is decorated with corner pilasters, tasselled swags and "weeper" figures representing knights, ladies and others.

Ancestry

{{ahnentafel , collapsed=yes , align=center , boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; , boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; , boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; , boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; , boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe; , 1= 1. Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland , 2= 2. George Manners, 11th Baron Ros , 3= 3. Anne St Leger , 4= 4. Sir Robert Manners , 5= 5. Eleanor Ros , 6= 6. Sir Thomas St Leger , 7= 7. Anne of York , 8= 8. Sir Robert Manners , 9= 9. Joan Ogle , 10= 10. Thomas Ros, 9th Baron Ros , 11= 11. Eleanor Tiptoft , 12= 12. Sir John St Leger , 13= 13. Margery Donnet , 14= 14.

, 15= 15. Cecily Neville

References

{{Reflist, 30em

Attribution

*{{DNB, wstitle=Manners, Thomas , first=William Arthur Jobson, last= Archbold, volume=36

External links

Thomas Manners
Retrieved 17 May 2009 * Burke, John, and Bernard Burke. ''A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland, and Scotland.'' Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co, 1977
googlebooks
Retrieved 30 October 2007
familysearch.org
Retrieved 30 October 2007 * ''The Encyclopædia Britannica; A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information.'' Vol. XXIII, New York: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1910. (p. 943
googlebooks
Retrieved 17 May 2009 {{S-start {{s-legal {{succession box , title=

Justice in Eyre In English law, the justices in eyre were the highest magistrates, and presided over the ''court of justice-seat'', a triennial court held to punish offenders against the forest law and enquire into the state of the forest and its officers ('' eyr ...

north of the Trent , before= The Earl of Essex , after= Sir Anthony Browne , years=1540–1543 {{s-reg, en {{s-new, creation {{s-ttl, title = Earl of Rutland , years = 1525–1543 {{s-aft, rows = 2 , after = Henry Manners {{s-bef, before = George Manners {{s-ttl, title = Baron de Ros , years = 1513–1543 {{S-end {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Rutland, Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of 1490s births 1543 deaths 01 12 T 16th-century English nobility