House Mowbray
The descendants of Nigel D’Aubigny
who defined our family’s lives in the twelfth century
There is a
separate Chronology which also provides
source material.
The House of
Mowbray was an Anglo-Norman noble house, with its ancestral homes at Montbray in Normandy. It was founded by Nigel d'Aubigny.
Following
the Norman conquest, Geoffrey de Montbray, Bishop of Coutances, was given some 280 English manors. His heir, the
son of his brother Roger, was Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria.
Nigel d’Aubigny (1070 to 21 November 1129)
Nigel d’Aubigny was the son of Roger d’Aubigny
and Avice de Mowbray.
His first
marriage was to Matilda L’Aigle who had previously
been married to Robert de Mowbray. However in 1095
Robert de Mowbray had rebelled against William Rufus (William II, 1087 to
1100). Robert’s lands were confiscated and he was
forced to divorce his wife, Matilda and his Mowbray lands and Matilda’s hand
were given to the loyal Nigel d'Aubigny.
Nigel was
the founder of the House of Mowbray.
Henry I was
William the Conqueror’s younger son. When William Rufus died, in order to
secure support he agreed in his coronation charter
that he would restore the laws of Edward the Confessor and he married Matilda
in a sign of restoration of the more ancient line of kings. However the early
part of Henry I’s reign was dominated by struggle with his older brother Robert
Curtose, which took him to Normandy. He left Matilda
and Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, to administer the English Kingdom.
Henry I
defeated his elder brother and rival Robert Curthose at the Battle of Tinchebrai in 1106. Nigel was rewarded for his support
with extensive landholdings including the lands of Robert de Stuteville who had
followed the cause of Robert Curtose. The Mowbray
honour became one of the wealthiest estates in Norman England. Nigel’s brother
William was made king's butler, and was father of William d'Aubigny,
1st Earl of Arundel.
Nigel was
"one of the most favoured of Henry's 'new men'".
From 1107 to
about 1118, Nigel served as a royal official in Yorkshire and Northumberland.
In the last decade of his life he frequently travelled
with Henry I, probably as one of the King's trusted military and administrative
advisors.
In 1118,
having borne no children with Matilda, and the death of Matilda’s brother left
Nigel’s claim to the Mowbray House secure, Nigel repudiated his first marriage
and married Gundreda de Gournay, daughter of Gerard
de Gournay and granddaughter of William de Warenne, 1st
Earl of Surrey. They had a son Roger de Mowbray.
Nigel died
whilst in Normandy on 21 November 1129. It is said that be became a monk
shortly before he died. He was buried at the Priory of Bec.
Roger de
Mowbray (1120 to
1188)
On Nigel d’Aubigny’s death Roger became a ward of the Crown and Gundreda administered the estate on his behalf.
Things got
complicated in England after the death of Henry I in 1135 led to a succession
crisis. There was sporadic conflict between the daughter of Henry I and dowager
empress of Germany, Matilda and Stephen of Blois, William I’s grandson. This
period of breakdown in Royal authority is known as ‘The Anarchy’. King Stephen
reigned precariously from 1135 to 1154.
It was Roger’s mother Gundreda, administering the estate on behalf
of her under aged son Roger de Mowbray, who had made a grant of lands which
included Middelhoved in Farndale to the sons of St Ecclesiff. The exact date of this grant is unclear from the
Rievaulx Chartulary where it is recorded, but it must have been prior to 1138
when Roger took his majority.
Gundreda, wife of Nigel de Albaneius, greetings to all
the sons of St. Ecclesiff. Know that I have given and
… confirmed, with the consent of my son, Eogeri de Moubrai, God and St. Marise Eievallis
and the brothers there. . . for the soul of my husband Nigel de Albaneius, and for the safety of the soul of my son, Roger
de Molbrai, and of his wife, and of their children,
and for the soul of my father and mother, and of all my ancestors, whatever I
had in my possession of cultivated land in Skipenum,
and, where the cultivated land falls towards the north, whatever is in my fief
and that of my son, Roger de Moubrai, in the forest
and the plain, and the pastures and the wastins,
according to the divisions between Wellebruna and Wimbeltun, and as divided from Wellebruna
they tend to Thurkilesti, and so towards Cliveland, namely Locum and Locumeslehit,
and Wibbehahge and Langeran,
and Brannesdala, and Middelhoved,
as they are divided between Wellebruna and Faddemor, and so towards Cliveland.
The young
Roger and his mother lived mainly at the Mowbray castle at Thirsk and Roger
reached his majority in 1138. He took title to the family lands including
substantial holdings in Yorkshire and around Melton and in Normandy including Montbray.
Almost at
once, the Scots took advantage of the Anarchy, but were defeated at the Battle
of the Standard, named after a wagon carrying a crucifix and silver pyx.
The young Roger took part in the battle and Aelfred of Rievaulx wrote that he fought
bravely. The House Brus had joined
the Scots, but most of the Norman barony remained loyal to Stephen. With his
mother Roger had sheltered the monks of Calder, fleeing before the Scots in
1138.
Roger was a
significant benefactor and supporter of several religious institutions in
Yorkshire including Fountains Abbey. He supported the establishment of Byland
Abbey in 1143. In 1147, he facilitated their relocation to Coxwold.
However in
1141 Roger, by then a great lord of a
hundred knight’s fees, was captured with the King at the Battle
of Lincoln in 1141.
Soon after
his release, Roger married Alice de Gant, the widow of Ilbert de Lacy and
daughter of Walter de Gant. Roger and Alice had two sons, Nigel and Robert.
They also had a daughter, and he donated his lands at Granville to the Abbaye
aux Dames in Caen when she became a nun there.
In 1147, he
was one of the few English nobles to join Louis VII of France on the Second
Crusade. He gained further acclaim, according to John of Hexham, defeating a
Muslim leader in single combat
By 1154
Matilda’s son, Henry II was recognised as Matilda’s future heir to the royal
throne. This saw the end of Norman rule,
and the start of a period of rule in England by the House of Anjou, generally
referred to as the Angevins or more usually, the Plantagenets.
In 1154, as the Plantagenets started their long dynasty,
Roger granted a wood in Farndale called Midelhoved, and another wood called Duvanesthuat to the new Cistercian Abbey of Rievaulx.
Roger
of Molbrai, to all the faithful, both his own
and strangers. Let it be known that I have granted . .
to the Rievallis brothers, in perpetual alms,
Midelhovet - scil. that meadow in Farnedale
where Edmund the Hermit dwelt, and another meadow called Duvanesthuat,
and the common pasture of the same valley - scil., Farnedale: and in the forest wood for material, and for the
own uses of those who remained there, save the salvage.
In 1173,
Henry II (1154 to 1189), following the controversial death of Thomas Becket in
1170, faced the Great Revolt, an uprising by his eldest sons and rebellious
barons, supported by France, Scotland and Flanders. Bernard de Balliol and
Robert de Stuteville captured the Scottish King at Alnwick and imprisoned him
at Richmond Castle.
Roger
supported the Revolt and fought with his sons, Nigel and Robert, but they were
defeated at Kirkby Malzeard, a castle held by the
Mowbray family. The castle was besieged by the Bishop
elect of Lincoln, and Mowbray surrendered it, together with Thirsk Castle, to
the King. Both castles were demolished.
By 1175 the
revolt had ended and Robert de Stuteville supervised
the building of new castles at Edinburgh and Scarborough. The rising Stuteville
family had recovered much of their former estates, including Kirkbymoorside.
Roger left
for the Holy Land again in 1186, but encountered further misfortune being
captured at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. His ransom was met by the Templars,
but he died soon after and, according to some accounts, was buried at Tyre in
Palestine.
Nigel
(“Nele”) de Mowbray (1146
to 1191)
Nigel lived
most of his life in his father's shadow. He married Mabel de Clare in about
1170. They had four sons, William (Nigel’s successor), Philip (ancestor of the
Scottish Mowbrays of Barnbougle), Robert, and Roger
(ancestor of the Mowbrays of Kirklington)
Nigel took
over his father's estates in England and Normandy in 1188. In 1189 he attended
the coronation of Richard I The Lionheart.
In 1191 he
set off for Palestine but died on the journey and was buried at sea.
William
de Mowbray (1173 to
1224)
William
married Agnes D'Aubeney, daughter of William D'Aubeney, the 2nd Earl of Arundel. They had two sons, Nele
and Roger.
It is said
that William was with Richard I returning from
Palestine, and witnessed a charter of the King at Spiers in Germany 20 November
1193, when Richard spent his second Christmas in captivity.
William
received livery of his lands in 1194 after a payment of £100. He was then
called to pay more for Richard's ransom, and was a
witness to the treaty with Flanders in 1197.
After
Richard's death he swore allegiance to King John and remained loyal to John
after the loss of Normandy in 1205 when he lost all his Norman holdings,
including Montbray, to the French king forever.
Some of the
Yorkshire barons who held no continental lands, including by then William, had
little interest in John’s overseas interests. William de Mowbray and Peter de
Brus refused to join the overseas adventure to Poitou or to pay war taxes in
1214. These barons were prominent amongst the northern barons who forced the
Magna Carta on John in 1215.
William
joined the confederacy of barons against the King at Stamford at Easter 1215.
He was one of the
council of 25 barons elected to guarantee the observance of the Magna
Carta, signed by King John on 15 June 1215.
Magna Carta included
a resolution of countless grievances of the day, but it also embraced some
fundamental legal principles which have passed through to contemporary legal
doctrine, including that No Freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned … but by
lawful judgment of his peers. It imposed restraints on monarchy; might be
taken as the first example of a written constitution; and represented a
contract between monarchy and the community of the realm, a new concept which
started to emerge as a distinct legal entity to the Crown.
The twenty five barons, including William, were ex-communicated
by Pope Innocent III on 16 December 1215 for their actions against the King.
William was
taken prisoner at the Battle of Lincoln 20 May 1217, but managed to redeem his
lands by the surrender of the Lordship of Bensted,
Surrey to Hubert de Burgh. William was also present at the siege of Bitham Castle in Lincolnshire in 1221.
William died
shortly before 25 March 1224 and was buried at Newburgh Abbey. Agnes was living
as a nun at Buckland in 1232.
Sir Roger
de Mowbray, Baron of
Thirsk (1210 to 1266)
Roger was
the younger son of Sir William de Mowbray.
After 13
April 1237 (the date of their marriage grant) he married the daughter of Thomas
de Furnival of Worksop and Bertha de Ferrers. They had two daughters, Joan and
Elizabeth.
By 1257 he
had married Maud de Beauchamp, eldest daughter of Sir William de Beauchamp.
They had a son, Roger.
Sir Roger
was granted a market and faire at Hoveringham
in 1252. He was summoned for service in Scotland in 1258, and against the Welsh
in 1260.
Roger de
Mowbray, 1st
Baron Mowbray (1257 to 1297)
Roger
married Rose de Clare, after 15 July 1270. She was the daughter of Sir Richard
de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford. They had seven sons and three
daughters including Sir John Lord Mowbray.
Roger came
of age in 1278.
Sir Roger
was summoned for military service against the Welsh in 1282 and 1283, against
the Scots in 1291, and to Gascony in 1294 and summoned to Parliament in 1295 as
Rogero du Mubray.
In 1296 he
obtained a charter of free warren, allowing him to hunt freely in his demesne
lands, which were ultimately held by the King. He was summoned to parliament by
Edward I and became the first Lord Mowbray.
Sir Roger
died at Ghent in Flanders shortly before 21 November 1297 and was buried at
Fountains Abbey.
Sir John
de Mowbray I, 2nd
Baron Mowbray (1286 to 1322)
When his
father died the young John found himself a royal ward, and his wardship was
purchased by William de Braose, the Lord of Gower. John found himself betrothed
to William's six year old daughter Aline de Braose.
John and
Aline were married in about 1298 in Swansea.
He was
knighted on the 22 May 1306, and after attending the coronation of Edward II in
1308 John appears to have remained a loyal supporter of the new king, and was appointed to a succession of offices as well
as serving in the now traditional summer campaigns against the Scots each year
until 1319.
However he
joined Thomas of Lancaster's revolt and was captured at Boroughbridge and
hanged. He joined in besieging the King's castle of Tickhill near Doncaster in 1321 to 1322, after which
orders were issued for his arrest.
He
accompanied the Earl of Lancaster in his march south, They retreated from
Burton-on-Trent to Boroughbridge, where the Battle
of Boroughbridge was fought on 16 March 1322. John was captured and, with
two dozen or so barons, he was condemned as a traitor. On 23 March 1322,
together with Roger de Clifford, John was drawn by three horses through the
streets of York on his way to the scaffold.
There he was hung in chains. His body was left to hang at York for the next three
years before Edward II finally relented and allowed his remains to be taken
down and buried at the church of the Friars Preachers in York.
Since John
de Mowbray had died as a condemned traitor all the de Mowbray lands fell into
the possession of Edward II, who also imprisoned both John's widow Aline and
his son John in the Tower of London. There they remained until the deposition
of Edward II in January 1327. In 1323, Hugh
Despenser released Aline but forced her to sign over all her rights to her
lands granted to her from her father, including the castle and manor of
Bramber.
After Edward
III became king and the
fall of the Despensers, Aline recovered her
inheritances in 1327, and married for a second time, to Sir Richard de Peshale, Sheriff of Salop and Stafford. Sir Richard later
had complaints against her son, including the carrying away of his oxen, mowing
of his crops and fishing in his stream.
John de
Mowbray II, 3rd
Baron Mowbray (1310 to 1361)
John was the
only son and heir to Sir John de Mowbray and Aline de Braose. He was baptised
at Hoveringham, and betrothed to Maud de Holand,
daughter of Sir Robert de Holand and Maud de la Zouche at an early age, but the
marriage never took place. At his father's execution in 1322, John was twelve.
He and his mother were imprisoned at the Tower of London by the Despensers. When Edward III became King, they were
released, their lands and properties returned. John was summoned to Parliament
in 1327 and served in the Scottish and French wars.
He married
the Plantagenet Joan of Lancaster, youngest daughter of Henry of Lancaster and
Maud de Chaworth between 1327 and 1328 and they had
one son and two daughters.
Sir John was
one of the commanders of the English Army at the Battle of Neville's Cross,
Durham in 1346, where the chronicler Lanercost
recorded: "He was full of grace and kindness - the conduct both of
himself and his men was such as to resound to their perpetual honour."
He was also present at the siege of Calais in 1347.
Before 4 May
1351 he married Elizabeth de Vere, but they had no children.
In 1354 his
title to Gower was contested by Thomas Beauchamp, the Earl of Warwick, and the
Court of Common Pleas settled in favour of Warwick.
Sir John
witnessed the surrender of Balliol of the Scottish crown in favour of Edward in
1356.
John died of
the pestilence at York and was buried at the
Church of Friars Minor at Bedford. Elizabeth later remarried to Sir William
Cossington of Kent, and she died 16 August 1375.
Sir John
de Mowbray III, 4th
Baron Mowbray (1340 to 1368)
John married
Elizabeth Segrave in 1349.
John de
Mowbray and twenty-six others were knighted by King Edward III of England in
July 1355 while English forces were at the Downs, before sailing to France.
In 1356, he
served in a campaign in Brittany.
He had
livery of his lands on 14 November 1361.
He was
killed in Constantinople in 1368 whilst en route to
the Holy Land.
Sir John
de Mowbray IV, 1st
Earl of Nottingham, 5th Baron Mowbray (1365 to 1383)
Sir John was
the elder son of John de Mowbray.
John and his
brother Thomas were granted to their great aunt Blanche Wake, a sister of their
grandmother, Joan of Lancaster.
He was
knighted on 23 April 1377. John was created Earl of Nottingham on 16 July 1377,
when Richard II was crowned. As joint tenants of the estates of William
Beauchamp of Bedford, he and William Latimer, 4th Baron Latimer successfully
claimed the right to serve as Almoner at the coronation.
John died
before 12 February 1383, aged seventeen and unmarried, and was buried at the
Whitefriars in Fleet Street, London. The earldom of Nottingham became extinct
at his death. He was succeeded in the barony of Mowbray by his younger brother,
Thomas de Mowbray.
Thomas
Mowbray I, 1st Duke
of Norfolk, Earl of Nottingham and Norfolk, Baron Segrave and 6th Baron Mowbray
(1367 to 1399)
The brother
of John Mowbray, Thomas Mowbray I became Earl of Nottingham on 12 January 1386
by a new creation of the earldom.
Thomas was a
favourite with King for a while and was vested as a Knight of the Garter in
1383.
He married
Elizabeth Le Strange and later Elizabeth Fitzalan, daughter of Richard, 11th
Earl of Arundel. Thomas and Elizzabeth Fitzalan had four children, Lady
Margaret (Howard), Thomas Mowbray II, the Second Duke, John de Mowbray and Lady
Isabel Mowbray.
Richard II
created him Earl of Nottingham, a title held by his dead brother, and made him
Marshal of England for life.
Thomas
Mowbray appointed Earl Marshall by Richard II in 1390
Later he was
present when
Gloucester was arrested at Pleshey, and Froissart
says that Thomas Mowbray actually beheaded Arundel (his brother-in-law)
himself. Gloucester was entrusted to his keeping at Calais, and in September
1397 he reported that his prisoner was dead. The duke had been murdered, and
Nottingham was probably responsible, although the evidence against him is not
conclusive. As a reward he received most of Arundel's lands in Surrey and Sussex, and was created Duke of Norfolk.
The
relationship between Henry Bolingbroke and Richard II had come to a crisis in
1398. A remark about Richard's rule by Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk,
was interpreted as treason by Henry, who reported it to the king. The two dukes
agreed to undergo a duel of honour at Gosford Green near Caludon
Castle, Mowbray's home in Coventry. However before the
duel could take place, Richard decided to banish Henry Bolingbroke from the
kingdom (it is said, with the approval of Henry's father, John of Gaunt), although
it is unknown where he spent his exile, to avoid further bloodshed. Mowbray was
exiled for life.
How long
a time lies in one little word!
Four lagging
winters and four wanton springs
End in a
word; such is the breath of kings.
(Henry
Bolingbroke, the future Lancastrian Henry IV reacts to Richard II’s banishment,
Richard II, William Shakespeare, Act 1, Scene 3)
Mowbray got
to keep his estates but had to leave country. He lived in Paris until treaty
was signed between England and France. He died in Venice where he was buried at
St George's Abbey.
Thomas
Mowbray II, 4th Earl
of Norfolk, Earl of Nottingham, Baron Segrave and 7th Baron Mowbray (1385 to
1405)
Upon the
death of his father in Venice, Thomas Mowbray II succeeded him as Earl of
Norfolk and Nottingham, but not as Duke of Norfolk. He also received his
father's title of Earl Marshal, but on a strictly honorary basis, the military
rank being held by Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, as the Marshal of
England.
He was
betrothed to Constance Holland, daughter of John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter,
then a child, but the marriage was never consummated.
He became
involved with the rebellion of the Percies in the
north, and raised an army with Richard le Scrope,
Archbishop of York. He was later deserted by the Earl of Northumberland,
and brought to justice on Shipton Moor by a large royal army under John
of Lancaster and the Earl of Westmorland. Seeking a parley, they were arrested
as soon as they disbanded their followers. When Chief Justice Sir William
Gascoigne refused to pass sentence upon them before they were tried by their
peers. However Henry IV had both Norfolk and Scrope summarily beheaded in York on 8 June 1405.
This
conspiracy is the main historical context for Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2,
and the execution is described with the words:
Some
guard these traitors to the block of death,
Treason's
true bed and yielder up of breath.
John
Mowbray V, 2nd Duke
of Norfolk, Earl of Norfolk, Baron Segrave and 8th Baron Mowbray (1392 to 1432)
John Mowbray
was the second son of Thomas Mowbray I.
When still a
youth, he married Katherine de Neville, daughter of Ralph de Neville and Joan Beaufort, grand daughter of King Edward III. They had a son, John 3rd
Duke of Norfolk.
He fought in
the Hundred Years' War in France. His first campaign was in 1415 with Henry V,
but he fell badly ill with dysentery and had to return to England. For this
reason, he missed the Battle of Agincourt.
Henry V
and John Mowbray
When Henry V
died in 1422, Mowbray remained a leading commander of the armed forces in
France for the new boy-king, Henry VI. He continued campaigning there for the
next five years, and, when parliament decided it was time to crown the new
young king, in both Westminster Abbey and in France, Mowbray acted as both
royal bodyguard and councillor. He also took part in Humphrey, Duke of
Gloucester's personal campaign in Hainaut, which appears for once to have been
profitable to him.
When his
mother died in 1425 he inherited her large share of
his father's estates, and he also received promotion from Earl of Norfolk to
Duke of Norfolk.
John Mowbray
was buried at Epworth, where his father had founded a priory.
John
Mowbray VI, 3rd Duke
of Norfolk, Earl of Nottingham and Norfolk, Baron Segrave and 9th Baron Mowbray
(1415 to 1461)
John married
Eleanor Bourchier, the daughter of William Bourchier and Anne of Gloucester, the daughter of Thomas of
Woodstock (youngest son of King Edward III) and Countess of Buckingham. They
had one son, John Mowbray, the 4th Duke of Norfolk.
He succeeded
to the office of Hereditary Sheriff of Norfolk after his father's death in 1432
at the age of sixteen, placed under the protection of Humphrey of Lancaster,
Duke of Gloucester.
John
supported Richard, the Duke of York at the beginning of the War of The Roses in 1455, but
swore allegiance to the Lancastrians in 1459, only to switch sides back to
Henry VI by 1461 for the Second Battle of St Albans. Mowbray's movement during
the Battle of Towton, the bloodiest battle on English soil, swayed the victory
to the Yorkists. John served as Earl Marshal at King Edward IV's coronation
June 1461.
John
Mowbray VII, 4th Duke
of Norfolk, Earl of Nottingham, Norfolk, Surrey and Warenne,
Baron Segrave and 10th Baron Mowbray (1444 to 1476)
John married
Elizabeth Talbot (1442-1510), daughter of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
(1384-1453) and they had a daughter, Anne Mowbray (1472-1481).
On 24 March
1451 the earldoms of Surrey and Warrenne were revived
in his favour. They had become extinct on the death in 1415 of Thomas, Earl of
Arundel, whose sister, Elizabeth Fitzalan, married his great-grandfather,
Thomas Mowbray, 1st duke of Norfolk (1366-1399).
The fourth
duke featured in the Paston
Letters. Maintaining his father's baseless claim to Caistor Castle, he
besieged and took it in September 1469, during the confusion of that year, and
kept possession, with a short interval during the Lancastrian restoration of
1470 to 1471, until his sudden death on 17 January 1476, when it was recovered
by the Pastons.
Anne de
Mowbray, 8th
Countess of Norfolk, Baroness Segrave and 11th Baroness Mowbray (1472 to 1481)
Anne de
Mowbray, the last of her line, was married on 15 January 1478 in St. Stephen's
Chapel, Westminster to the four year old Richard, Duke
of York, second son of Edward IV, who had been created Earl of Nottingham, Earl
Warrenne, and Duke of Norfolk. The young Richard was
murdered in the Tower before the marriage was consummated, aged only 10.
It is
generally assumed that Anne then joined the Queen's household, dying three
years later at the royal residence in Greenwich, three weeks before her ninth
birthday. She was given a state funeral and was laid to rest in a lead coffin
in the Chapel of St. Erasmus of Formiae in
Westminster Abbey. When the chapel was demolished in 1502 to make way for the
Henry VII Lady Chapel, Anne's coffin was moved to the Abbey of the Minoresses
without Aldgate, where her mother later took up residence. In 1964, Anne's vault
was rediscovered after almost 450 years when workmen broke down a wall eleven
feet underground on a site near St Clair Street, London. The Museum of London
was called in to examine the coffin and its contents which were duly identified
as the red-haired young Duchess. On 31 May 1965 Anne's remains were reinterred
at Westminster after lying in state in the Jerusalem Chamber in a ceremony
attended by the current Lord and Lady Mowbray.
House
Mowbray after 1481
The Mowbray
and other baronies fell into abeyance between the descendants of her great
grandaunts Margaret and Isabel, daughters of Thomas de Mowbray, first duke of
Norfolk. Margaret had married Sir Robert Howard, and their son, John Howard,
the 'Jockey of Norfolk,' was created Duke of Norfolk and Earl Marshal of
England on 28 June 1483. Isabel de Mowbray married James Berkeley, 1st Baron
Berkeley (d. 1462), and her son William, created Earl of Nottingham (28 June
1483) and Marquis of Berkeley (28 January 1488), sold the Axholme
and Yorkshire estates of the Mowbrays to Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby. His
descendants, the earls of Berkeley, called themselves Barons of Mowbray,
Segrave, and Breuse of Gower.
So the
following heirs of the Mowbrays were the Howards and the Berkeleys,
representing the two daughters of the first duke of Norfolk. Between them were
divided the estates of the house, the Mowbray dukedom of Norfolk and earldom of
Surrey being also revived for the Howards (1483), and the earldom of Nottingham
(1483) and earl marshalship (1485) for the Berkeleys.
Both
families assumed the baronies of Mowbray and Segrave, but Henry Howard was
summoned in his father's lifetime (1640) as Lord Mowbray, which was deemed a
recognition of the Howards' right.
Their
co-heirs, from 1777, were the Lords Stourton and the
Lords Petre, and in 1878 Lord Stourton was summoned
as Lord Mowbray and Segrave.
The dignity
of the Mowbray House is claimed as the premier barony, though De Ros ranks
before it. Lord Stourton's son claimed, but
unsuccessfully, in 1901–1906 the earldom of Norfolk (1312), also through the
Mowbrays. Of the Mowbray estates the castle and lordship of Bramber is still
vested in the Dukes of Norfolk.
The
Mowbrays’ lion rampant coat of arms was adopted by the Hospital of Burton St
Lazars alongside their more usual green cross.
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