Earl of Salisbury explained

Earldom of Salisbury subsidiary of Marquessate of Salisbury since 1789
Creation Date:	1149 (first creation) 1337 (second creation) 1472 (third creation) 1478 (fourth creation) 1512 (restoration) 1605 (sixth creation)
Heir Apparent:	Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne
Remainder To:	Heirs male of the first earl's body lawfully begotten
Extinction Date:	1322 (first creation) 1471 (second creation) 1478 (third creation) 1484 (fourth creation) 1539 (fifth creation)

Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in English and British history. It has a complex history and is now a subsidiary title to the marquessate of Salisbury.

Background

The title was first created for Patrick de Salisbury in the middle twelfth century. In 1196 the title passed to Patrick’s granddaughter, Ela, who married William Longespée, an illegitimate son of Henry II the same year. Ela was predeceased by husband, son and grandson, and was succeeded by her great-granddaughter, Margaret Longespée. Margaret married Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln, and their daughter Alice eventually became Countess of Salisbury, in 1310, and of Lincoln, in 1311. Alice had married Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, in 1294. When the Earl of Lancaster lost his titles and was executed for treason in 1322, the Countess surrendered all of her titles to the King, and the titles lapsed.

The title was created for a second time in 1337 for William Montacute of the noble House of Montagu. This line ended in the sole heiress, Alice Montacute, and her husband Richard Neville took up the earldom 'by right of his wife'.^{[1] [2]}

After Richard's death at the Battle of Barnet, in 1471, the title was granted in 1472 to George, Duke of Clarence, who was married to Richard's eldest daughter. When the Duke of Clarence was executed in 1478 for treason (supposedly by being drowned in a vat of Malmsey wine), the title was forfeit. It was then granted to Edward of Middleham (who was his nephew via the Duke's brother Richard), who died in 1484 at the age of 10.

It was restored to two of George of Clarence's children: to his son Edward in 1485 until his execution for treason in 1499, and to Edward's sister, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, in 1513 until she was also executed, and the title again forfeited, in 1539.

In 1605 the title was given to Robert Cecil, a close advisor to James I. Cecil was a son of Queen Elizabeth I's chief advisor, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, and half-brother to Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter. In 1789 James Cecil, the 7th Earl, was created the Marquess of Salisbury by George III.

Titleholders

First creation (1145)

• Patrick of Salisbury, 1st Earl of Salisbury (c. 1122-1168)
• William of Salisbury, 2nd Earl of Salisbury (d. 1196)
• Ela of Salisbury, 3rd Countess of Salisbury (1187–1261)
  • William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury jure uxoris (c. 1176–1226)
• Margaret Longespée, 4th Countess of Salisbury (d. 1310)
  • Henry de Lacy, Earl of Salisbury jure uxoris (d. 1311)
• Alice de Lacy, 5th Countess of Salisbury (1281–1348) (forfeit 1322)

Second creation (1337)

• William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury (1301–1344)
• William Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury (1328–1397)
• John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury (1350–1400) (forfeit 1400)
• Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury (1388–1428) (restored 1421, although styled and summoned to parliament as such from at least 1409)
• Alice Montacute, 5th Countess of Salisbury (1407–1462)
  • Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury jure uxoris
• Richard Neville, 6th Earl of Salisbury (1428–1471) and jure uxoris 16th Earl of Warwick ("Warwick the Kingmaker") by his wife Anne Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick (reverted to the crown 1471; by modern law it might, with his other titles, be abeyant).

Third creation (1472)

• George Plantagenet, 1st Earl of Salisbury (1449–1478) (forfeit 1478); son-in-law of the last Neville earl

Fourth creation (1478)

• Edward of Middleham, later Prince of Wales (1476–1484); nephew to George Plantagenet and grandson of the last Neville earl (extinct 1484)

Restoration of second or third creation (1512)

• Some sources call Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick (1475–1499) also Earl of Salisbury, but "there is no reason to suppose that he ever enjoyed that dignity".^{[3] [4]}
• Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury (1473–1541) (restored or created 1512; forfeit 1539), only sister of the above; sources differ on whether the Earldom of Salisbury restored to her was her father's (the third creation) or her grandfather's (second).

Fifth creation (1605)

• Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury (1563–1612)
• William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury (1591–1668)
• James Cecil, 3rd Earl of Salisbury (1648–1683)
• James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury (1666–1694)
• James Cecil, 5th Earl of Salisbury (1691–1728)
• James Cecil, 6th Earl of Salisbury (1713–1780)
• James Cecil, 7th Earl of Salisbury (1748–1823) (created Marquess of Salisbury in 1789)
• see Marquess of Salisbury for further history

Notes and References

1. Complete Peerage records (XI, p. 395, note (o)) that Parliament agreed to this until the king came of age. The question then is whether this was or was not a creation of a new line. Complete Peerage did not think so and treated all earls up to and including Margaret Plantagenet as part of the one line created in 1337. Certainly the earldom was inherited later by Richard Neville the Kingmaker, upon whose death the title went into abeyance because multiple individuals were entitled to inherit it. However in those days the modern doctrine of abeyance had not been formulated, certainly on Richard the Kingmaker's death there were only his two daughters and daughters were always regarded as equal in status unlike sons where the first son was always first in status and inheritance; so without a Royal initiative it was impossible to say to which daughter the title should go, not to mention that Richard earl of Warwick and Salisbury had been in rebellion against the sovereign and died in battle.
2. Complete Peerage vol XI, pp.395-399
3. [Complete Peerage]
4. Edward was son of George of Clarence above, and the other grandson of the last Neville earl; if the modern doctrine of abeyance were retroactively applied to earldoms - as it has not been - he would have inherited the Earldom of Salisbury in 1484; unless the creation of 1472 would be the termination of the abeyance. After 1485 he was kept in custody and did not attend the House of Lords under any title; in the intervening months, he was too young to sit. He was executed and attainted in 1499 at the age of 24, at which point all his titles, whatever they may have been, were forfeit. It is possible, however, that he had used it as a courtesy title, as it was a subsidiary title of his father.