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Sir George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, 13th Baron de Clifford, 13th Lord of Skipton (8 August 155830 October 1605), was an English peer, naval commander, and
courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the officia ...
of Queen
Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...
. He was notable at court for his
jousting Jousting is a medieval and renaissance martial game or hastilude between two combatants either on horse or on foot. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The term is derived from Old French , ultim ...
, at the
Accession Day Tilt The Accession Day tilts were a series of elaborate festivities held annually at the court of Elizabeth I of England to celebrate her Accession Day, 17 November, also known as Queene's Day. The tilts combined theatre, theatrical elements w ...
s, which were highlights of the year at court. Two famous survivals, his
portrait miniature A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting from Renaissance art, usually executed in gouache, Watercolor painting, watercolor, or Vitreous enamel, enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illumin ...
by
Nicholas Hilliard Nicholas Hilliard ( – before 7 January 1619) was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some l ...
(c. 1590, now
National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...
) and a garniture of Greenwich armour (now at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
), reflect this important part of his life. In contrast, he neglected his estates in the far north of England and left a long succession dispute between his heirs.


Early life and wardship

George Clifford was born on 8 August 1558 at Brougham Castle in
Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...
, the son and heir of Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland (d. January 1570) by his second wife, Anne Dacre, daughter of William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre. The Barons de Clifford, a junior branch of the Clifford feudal barons of Clifford of
Clifford Castle Clifford Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Clifford which lies 2.5 miles to the north-east of Hay-on-Wye in the Wye Valley in Herefordshire, England (). It was the '' caput'' of the feudal barony of Clifford, a Marcher Lordship (owi ...
in Herefordshire, had established themselves in the late 13th century at Appleby Castle in
Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...
, in the north of England. George succeeded as Earl of Cumberland and Baron de Clifford when his father died in 1570, leaving George a minor, aged 12. His valuable wardship and marriage was granted by Queen Elizabeth I to
Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford ( – 28 July 1585) of Chenies in Buckinghamshire and of Bedford House in Exeter, Devon, was an English nobleman, soldier, and politician. He was a godfather to the Devon-born sailor Sir Francis Drake. He ...
, KG (died 1585), who in 1577, married George off to his daughter Lady Margaret Russell (1560–1616). The marriage had been arranged in their infancy by their respective fathers, which later did not prove to be a happy one.


Life at court

Life at court meant that George spent an increasing amount of time in southern England, away from his family's estates. As a result, Brougham Castle, one of his properties in the north, was neglected and abandoned. Although in 1589, he built the original Londesborough Hall, an Elizabethan country house located in
East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...
. George's fellow courtier commented on his northern upbringing, writing to the steward of
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (; 10 November 1565 – 25 February 1601) was an English nobleman and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during th ...
, that he disliked Clifford as "the rudest Earll by reson of his northerly bringen up". George Clifford was described as a man of great personal beauty, strong and active, accomplished in all knightly exercises, splendid in his dress, and of romantic valour. On the other hand, he was a gambler and a spendthrift, a faithless husband, and later, for several years before his death, was separated from his wife.


Queen's Champion and KG

Clifford rose in the world as an accomplished jouster, and became Queen Elizabeth's second Champion on the retirement of Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley. A
portrait miniature A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting from Renaissance art, usually executed in gouache, Watercolor painting, watercolor, or Vitreous enamel, enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illumin ...
by
Nicholas Hilliard Nicholas Hilliard ( – before 7 January 1619) was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some l ...
, around 1590, commemorates the appointment, showing him in tilting attire with the Queen's glove, set in diamonds, pinned as a plume to his hat as a sign of her favour. The Queen made him 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. The most senior order of knighthood in the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British honours system, it is outranked in ...
in 1592, and he sat as a Peer in the trial of
Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...
. Clifford was also involved in the formation of the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
.


Naval career

Clifford was a man of irregular life, and having run through a great part of his very handsome property, seized on the opportunity offered by the war with Spain to re-establish himself. In 1588, he commanded the galleon '' Elizabeth Bonaventure'' in the Anglo-Spanish War, during which he had had some success. His portrait was included in the Armada Tapestries. He led and invested in a number of expeditions, but many were turned back due to storms or lack of prizes. His first success was an expedition to the Azores in 1589, taking a number of Portuguese and Spanish prizes. He suffered losses in the Battle of Berlengas Islands in 1591, and in 1592 he helped to prepare an expedition with
Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebell ...
, which led to the Battle of Flores, and the capture of the richly laden Portuguese ship, Madre de Deus, off Flores Island in the Azores. At the end of 1593, Clifford financed three ships for a further expedition to the Azores, which resulted in the action of Faial between the English and a joint Iberian/Portuguese fleet. Clifford later commissioned the building of his own ship, the 38-gun ''
Scourge of Malice ''Scourge of Malice'' is the third studio album by the symphonic black metal band Graveworm, released in 2001 through Last Episode. Their cover of Iron Maiden's Fear of the Dark has been famously wrongly credited to Cradle of Filth or Children o ...
''. During the Battle of San Juan in 1598, he achieved fame for having briefly captured ''
Fort San Felipe del Morro Castillo San Felipe del Morro ( English: Promontory Castle of Saint Philip), most commonly known as ''El Morro'' (The Promontory), is a large fortress and citadel in the Old San Juan historic quarter of San Juan, the capital municipality of Pue ...
'', the citadel protecting
San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...
. Clifford and his force of men had arrived in Puerto Rico on 15 June 1598, but by November of that year had fled the island due to severe bouts of
dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...
which started to plague his men. Clifford was often spoken of as a sort of nautical Quixote, a title curiously unsuitable to the courtier, gambler, and buccaneer, in all of which guises history presents him. His love of adventure was strong, and he staked his money on the success of his cruises in much the same spirit that he did on the speed of his horses or the turn of his dice. And he spared his body no more than his purse. His courage was unimpeachable, and the temper which he showed in times of difficulty, won him both credit and popularity. All the great wealth he gained from his
buccaneer Buccaneers were a kind of privateer or free sailors, and pirates particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from the Restoration in 1660 u ...
ing, he lost in jousting and horse racing, and was eventually obliged to sell his inherited lands. In April 1600, the Admiralty Court heard evidence that the ''Swann'', a pirate vessel that seized a French trade ship in 1599, was owned by the Earl. England and France were at peace, and the Earl didn't have Letters of Reprisal from the Admiralty, but it's unknown if any action was taken against him.


Marriage, children and succession dispute

In 1577, George married Lady Margaret Russell (1560–1616), a daughter of his guardian
Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford ( – 28 July 1585) of Chenies in Buckinghamshire and of Bedford House in Exeter, Devon, was an English nobleman, soldier, and politician. He was a godfather to the Devon-born sailor Sir Francis Drake. He ...
and Margaret St John. Earl Russell had acquired his valuable wardship, as well as the right to marry George off to whomsoever he chose. By his wife Margaret, George had the following children: *Robert Clifford (21 September 158524 May 1591), died young before the age of 5. *Francis Clifford (15848 December 1589), died young before the age of 5. *
Lady Anne Clifford Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery, ''suo jure'' 14th Baroness de Clifford (30 January 1590 – 22 March 1676) was an English peeress. In 1605 she inherited her father's ancient barony by writ and became ''suo jure'' ...
, ''
suo jure ''Suo jure'' is a Latin phrase, used in English to mean 'in his own right' or 'in her own right'. In most nobility-related contexts, it means 'in her own right', since in those situations the phrase is normally used of women; in practice, especi ...
'' 14th Baroness de Clifford (30 January 159022 March 1676), his daughter and sole heiress, and wife of Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset. Clifford's two sons, Robert and Francis, had both died young, before the age of 5, thus his only surviving child and daughter Anne became his sole heiress. She inherited the title
Baron de Clifford Baron de Clifford is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1299 for Robert de Clifford (''c.''1274–1314), feudal baron of Clifford in Herefordshire, feudal baron of Skipton in Yorkshire and feudal baron of Appleby in Westmo ...
''suo jure'', having been created by
writ In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...
in 1299 to be able to descend in the female line. She also inherited £15,000. The vast majority of his estate, however, Clifford bequeathed to his brother
Francis Clifford, 4th Earl of Cumberland Francis Clifford, 4th Earl of Cumberland (15594 January 1641) was a member of the Clifford family which held the seat of Skipton from 1310 to 1676. He was the second son of Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland and Anne Dacre and inherited h ...
, who also inherited the earldom, which by the letters patent of its creation was precluded from passing to a female, as was usual. After lengthy litigation, Clifford's daughter Anne won much of the land, including Brougham and Appleby castles. ''The Great Picture'' is a large
triptych A triptych ( ) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all m ...
group portrait, measuring 8 ft 5" high and 16 ft 2" wide, commissioned in 1646 by Lady Anne Clifford, attributed to Jan van Belcamp (1610–1653). It formerly hung in Appleby Castle and is now displayed at the Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal, Cumbria. It depicts Lady Anne as a girl, on the left, and as a mature woman, on the right. The central panel shows her parents and her small brothers. The painting is replete with significant elements, referring to her life and to her succession to her paternal inheritance, gained after a lengthy legal dispute, only settled in 1617. The
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
postponed the hearing of the matter of the barony, which remained dormant until 1678, when Nicholas Tufton, 3rd Earl of Thanet, was allowed to claim the peerage and become the fifteenth Baron de Clifford. The 3rd and 4th Earls of Cumberland are frequently erroneously associated with the progenitors of the Clifford name in early New England; neither man emigrated to the new world, nor did other known members of the Cumberland Branch of Cliffords.


Death and burial

George Clifford died on 30 October 1605 at the duchy house of the
Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...
in London. His body was embalmed and buried in the family vault at Skipton Castle in Craven, Yorkshire, his family seat, where a black marble altar tomb to his memory was erected by his daughter, Lady Anne Clifford. Also, his chest tomb monument survives in Holy Trinity church,
Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Aire and the Leeds ...
, adjacent to the castle. It is profusely decorated with
heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...
, showing the arms of Clifford quartering Vipont (the feudal barons of Appleby, from whom the Cliffords inherited Appleby Castle and vast estates in
Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...
), impaling the arms of Russell as well as the wives of Clifford's paternal predecessors: Beauchamp, de Roos, Percy, Dacre, Berkeley, Neville, etc.


Suit of armour

George Clifford's tournament armour survives and is considered the finest surviving garniture of the Tudor period. As Queen's Champion, Clifford's armour has been unrivalled in beauty. It was made at the Greenwich armoury established 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 known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...
, and a drawing of it is included in the Jacob Album, a book of designs for 29 different armours for various Elizabethan gentlemen. Clifford's armour, being part of a garniture, includes many pieces of exchange, including a grandguard, an extra helmet, a shaffron, and several lance guards. These extra pieces allowed the wearer to modify his armour for different forms of tournament combat. The armour is of
blued steel Blued may refer to: * Bluing (steel), a type of finish * blued (macOS) * Blued (app) See also

* * Bluing (disambiguation) * Blues (disambiguation) * Bluey (disambiguation) * Blue (disambiguation) {{disambig ...
and is etched and inlaid with elaborate gilded designs, incorporating columns of alternating fleurs-de-lis and Tudor roses, with the letter E for Queen Elizabeth I. It is on display in the Armor Court at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
in New York, next to the two suits of armour of Sir James Scudamore, which were also made at the Greenwich armoury. The design of the New York armour is very different to the one he wears in the famous full-length
portrait miniature A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting from Renaissance art, usually executed in gouache, Watercolor painting, watercolor, or Vitreous enamel, enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illumin ...
by Nicolas Hilliard, which Hilliard perhaps invented.


In literature

In
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...
's novel '' Orlando: A Biography'', the "Earl of Cumberland" discovers Orlando and his lover asleep amongst his cargo and believes them to be ghosts sent to punish him for buccaneering. In his terror, the Earl vows to mend his ways and, in repentance, founds a row of
almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable organization, charitable public housing, housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the povert ...
. Although not explicitly stated, the Earl referred to must be the 3rd Earl, due to the relevant action in the novel occurring shortly after the death of
Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...
. File:Armor Garniture of George Clifford (1558–1605), Third Earl of Cumberland MET DT259974.jpg, The full armour in New York Nicholas Hilliard 003.jpg, A full-body portrait of Clifford File:George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland by William Rogers.jpg, Engraved portrait by William Rogers File:Arms of Clifford.svg, Arms of de Clifford: ''Chequy or and azure, a fesse gules''


Ancestry

Neither George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, other members of the Cliffords of Cumberland branch, nor any of the earl's offspring, are known progenitors of the early New England settlers of the same surname. Much genealogical confusion has occurred due to the frequent repetition of first names amongst the various branches of the House of Clifford.


References


vieuxpont.co.uk
Retrieved 28 October 2007 ;Bibliography * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cumberland, George Clifford, 3rd Earl Of 1558 births 1605 deaths 16th-century Royal Navy personnel 3 Knights of the Garter Lord-lieutenants of Cumberland English privateers Lord-lieutenants of Northumberland Lord-lieutenants of Westmorland 16th-century English nobility 17th-century English nobility George High sheriffs of Westmorland English people of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) Barons de Clifford