The protracted duration and alternated reverses of the contest between the houses of Lancaster and York, added to the rancorous inveteracy indispensably inherent in a barbarous age, will account for the comparatively rare sprinkling of the immediate descendants of the followers and councillors of the Plantagenets in our present house of peers. In France, on the other hand, the contemporary struggle for the throne laid between an indisputed native prince, Charles VII. and a foreign competitor, our Henry VI. The courtesies of war (imperfect even as they existed in those days) were allowed fairer play, and those who escaped the immediate edge of the foeman’s sword were not handed over to the axe of the executioner.
The awful mortality which befell one eminent branch of our gallant Plantagenets at the period in question, is recorded in emphatic terms by their animated and faithful chronicler, Shakspeare:—
“Two of thy name, both dukes of Somerset,
Have sold their lives unto the house of York,
And thou shalt be the third, if this sword hold.”
List of English Peerages now existing on the Roll, of which the Date of Creation is prior to the Accession of Henry VII.
- Duke of Norfolk.
- Duke of Beaufort, as Baron de Botetourt.
- Marquis Townshend, as Baron de Ferrars.
- Marquis of Hastings, as Baron Hastings.
- Earl of Shrewsbury.
- Earl of Berkeley, as Baron Berkeley.
- Earl Delawarr, as Baron Delawarr and West.
- Earl of Abergavenny, as Baron Abergavenny.
- Baroness de Roos.
- Baron Le Despencer.
- Baron de Clifford.
- Baron Audley.
- Baron Clinton.
- Baron Dacre.
- Baron de la Zouche.
- Baroness Willoughby d’Eresby.
- Baroness Grey de Ruthyn.
- Baron Stourton.
List of Families now invested with the Dignity of Peerage, whose Ancestors in the Male Line, enjoyed the Peerage before the Accession of Henry VII.
Where a well-grounded doubt exists, an asterisk is prefixed to the name.
- Howard
- * Spencer
- * Montagu
- Clinton
- Talbot
- Stanley
- Hastings
- Grey
- Berkeley
- Windsor
- Lumley
- West
- Neville
- Devereux
- Courtenay
- Stourton
- Clifford
- Willoughby
- * Basset