The Dictionary of English History. Edited by S. J. L. ... and F. S. P

Preface

. AT a time when the systematic study of English history is every clay attracting the interest of an ever -widening circle of readers, it is somewhat remarkable that there should be no convenient handbook to the whole subject. The present publication is an attempt to supply this deficiency, so far as it can be supplied by a work which is intended to be useful rather than exhaustive. It is scarcely possible that everything relating directly or indirectly to a subject so vast apd so ill-defined as the history of a great people and a great empire could be included within the compass of eleven hundred moderate-sized pages. The compilers of a concise historical dictionary must be content to make a selection from the materials at their command. The present work is not an encyclopædia, and the editors are aware that many things are omitted from it which might have been included, had its limits been wider, and its aim more ambitious.

But they hope that the general reader, as well as the special student of the history of the British Empire, will find this volume a convenient auxiliary to his studies ; and they are sanguine enough to anticipate that it will . fill a gap on his bookshelves not at present occupied by any single book of reference. Dictionaries of biography already exist in abundance ; handbooks of dates and chronology are common and familiar things ; manuals of English history, political and constitutional, of all sizes and all degrees of merit, are at the easy command of the reading public ; and it is possible, by diligent search, to discover works on English bibliography, and even on the bibliography of English history. But if a great book is a great evil, a great many books are assuredly a greater. The most earnest student cannot be expected to read his history with a dozen manuals and works of reference at his elbow, in case he should be in doubt as to a fact, or should require to verify a date, to gain some information on a constitutional point, to satisfy himself as to the sequence of events at one of the epochs of our annals, or to find out the authorities for a particular period.

To produce a book which should give, as concisely as possible, just the information, biographical, bibliographical, chronological, and constitutional, that the reader of English history is likely to want, is what is here attempted. In deciding what should or should not find a place in these pages, the Editors have tried to keep in view the probable needs of modern readers. Practical convenience has guided them in the somewhat arbitrary selection they have been compelled to make ; and with a view to this end they have not hesitated to make some slight changes of plan which suggested themselves in the course of the work. In the biographical department names of purely personal and literary interest have been omitted, and the biographies have been written throughout from the historical standpoint.

No attempt is made to supplant other Dictionaries devoted solely to biography ; but the reader will, it is hoped, find sufficient information about every prominent personage to be of use to him in his historical studies, while the references to authorities which accompany all the more important articles will show him where to go if he desires to pursue his inquiries further. In the older " Helps to English History, "such as that of Heylin, space equal to the whole of this work is devoted to genealogies and to the lists of the holders of public offices and dignities. In the present volume relatively VI

PREFACE.

. little space is given to these subjects. The genealogies of the great families and the order of official succession are very fully worked out in many well-known and easily accessible works, A modern student is likely to have more occasion for the accounts of the growth of English institutions, and for the summaries of great epochs in our history, and of the relations of the country with foreign powers, which occupy a considerable portion of these pages. In these instances it is hoped also that the bibliographical notes supplemented by the special article on Authorities on English History (page 105), will be found of considerable value, even by those who can lay claim to some historical scholarship. It is perhaps necessary to say that though " English " on the title-page of this work is to be understood in its widest and least exact sense : and though the doings of Englishmen, Scotsmen, Irishmen, and Welshmen at all places and periods nostri est farrago libelli, yet that very much more attention is devoted to the history of England than to that of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and the Colonies.

Selection being inevitable if the book were not to sacrifice its chief recommendation, that of practical utility, it is felt that the rule adopted, though illogical, is that likely to promote the greatest convenience of the greatest number of readers. It has been thought advisable to bring the book down to our own day ; but very recent events have been treated more briefly than those of more remote periods, and only those living and recently deceased statesmen have been included concerning whose right to figure in a Dictionary of English History there can be no reasonable doubt. For obvious reasons no articles on living historians have been given, though it is hoped that full justice is done to their works in the bibliographical notes. To save space, and to secure somewhat more adequate treatment, it has often been thought better to group the various divisions of a large subject into one article, rather than to discuss them separately in a number of short ones.

Here, again, the rule followed is somewhat arbitrary. But a reference to the Index will generally show the reader where to look in case he does not find the title he is in search of in its proper place according to the alphabetical order. Such merits as this volume may be found to possess are due in great measure to the able staff of contributors who have given it their invaluable aid. To all of them the Editors have to render their grateful thanks. For many useful suggestions and much kindly interest displayed in the progress of the work, they have to acknowledge their obligations to Professor Creighton ; Professor Eowley, University College, Bristol ; Mr. Arthur L. Smith, Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford; Mr. Lloyd Sanders, M.A. ; Mr. W. J. Ashley, B.A., and Mr. T. A. Archer, B.A. Their special thanks are due to Mr. T. F. Tout, M.A., Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, and Professor of History at St. David's College, Lampeter, whose assistance throughout has been of the greatest value, and who has constantly and most kindly placed the benefits of his extensive knowledge of modern history at the service of the Editors.

PRINCIPAL CONTRIBUTORS. T. A. ARCHEB, B.A. J. F. BASS MULLINGER, M.A., Lecturer and Librarian of St. John's College, Cambridge. W. J. ASHLEY, B.A., late Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford. R. L. POOLE, M.A., Ph.D. Leipzig; formerly of the Department of MSS. in the British Museum. C. E. D. BLACK, Private Secretary to the Secretary of State, Home Department. OSCAR BROWNING, M.A., Fellow of King's College, Cambridge ; University Lecturer on History. F. S. PULLING, M.A., late Professor of History, Yorkshire College, Leeds. REV. HASTINGS RASHDALL, M. A., Tutor iu the University of Durham. REV. MANDELL CREIGHTON, M.A., Honorary Canon of Newcastle ; Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Cambridge. H. R. REICHEL, M.A., Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford ; Principal of the University College of North Wales.

REV. JOHN EARLE, M.A., Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Oxford. J. E. THOROLD ROGERS, M.A., M.P., Professor of Political Economy, King's College, London. H. ST. CLAIR FEILDEN, M.A. JAMES ROWLEY, M.A., Professor of EngUsh Literature and History, University College, Bristol. CHARLES H. FIRTH, M.A., late Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford. J. WOULFE FLANAGAN, M.A, LLOYD C. SANDERS, M. A., late Exhibitioner of Christ Church, Oxford. MRS. S. R. GARDINER. W. R SHELDON. M.A. B. C. SKOTTOWE, M.A. DAVID HANNAY. REV. WM. HUNT, M.A., late Examiner in the School of Modem History, Oxford. ARTHUR L. SMITH, M.A., Fellow and Tuto of Balliol College, Oxford. CHAS. F. KEARY, F.S.A. T. F. TOUT, M.A., Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford ; Professor of English Literature and Modem History, St. David's College, Lampeter.

S. L. LEE, B.A., late Exhibitioner of Balliol College, Oxford, SIDNEY J. LOW, B.A., Lecturer on Modem History, King's College, London, BERNHARD RINGROSE WISE, M.A., Barrister-at-Law of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia. MISS M. MACARTHUR. THE Dictionary of English History. Abbeville, Treaty of (May 20, 1259), was concluded between Louis IX. of France and Henry III. of England, after the abortive attempt of the latter to recover the pro vinces which John had lost. By this treaty the English king relinquished all claims to Normandy, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, and Poitou ; but was guaranteed the possession of Guienne, which he was to continue to hold as a fief from the French crown. His territories in the south of France were to be further in creased by the three bishoprics of Limoges, Perigueux, and Cahora ; and he was to receive from Louis a grant of money sufficient to maintain five hundred knights for two years. to be feared as lord as well as loved as father.

No one was allowed to act without his orders, and the whole management of the monastery ultimately depended on him. But Bene dictine abbots were restricted in various ways by their obligation to observe the rule of their founder. The practical limitations to the power of the abbot were: (a) the prior; (b) the decani and ct'ntenarii chosen by the monks ; (c) the general chapter of the monas tery (by the rule of St. Benedict, the abbot was obliged to take counsel with all the monks, junior as well as senior, though the final right of decision rested with him, and not with the brethren) ; (d) the bishop, though exemption, after the 12th century, generally took away this check ; (e) the adrocatus, an influential layman, who was appointed owing to the inability of the abbot to interfere in person in civil suits, and who consequently largely limited the power of the abbot over the property of the abbey and secular matters generally.

But, with all these deductions, the abbot held a most imposing position. As practical landlord of a large district, he had much social influence and political considera tion. In England the position of the abbot was especially important ; for, introduced by monks, English Christianity had from the first a monastic aspect. Thus half the English cathedrals became Benedictine abbeys, of which the canons were monks and the bishop abbot. As magnates, or as king's chaplains, a few abbots sat in the Witenagemot : and, after the Conquest, many of them attended the Great Council, as holders of feudal baronies, and were ranked after the lords spiritual. Under the early Norman kings, Norman abbots were set over the English monasteries, and in man)' cases met with determined resistance from their monks.

They organised the monastic system more strictly than before ; and each new order found a home in England during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Some abbots were called mitred, because they received from the Pope the right of wearing the mitre and other vestments proper to the episcopal office. This did not, however, affect their constitutional position, for abbots were summoned to Parliament as holding baronies under the crown. The smaller The text of the treaty is given in Rymer, Fcedera, i. 675 (ed. of 1704). See also ib. 688 ; and Pearson, Hist, of Eng. during the Early and Middle Ages, ii. 192, 228. Abbey. [Monasticism.] Abbot (abbas, literally " father ") was a title of respect applied in early times to all monks, but was afterwards specifically re stricted to the superior of a monastery.

The abbot was elected by the brethren of the monastery, subject to varying and ill-defined rights of the crown and the bishop ; but, on the whole, as the position of abbot was one of comparatively small political importance, freedom of election was allowed to a degree very rare in bishoprics, and the power and influence of the great orders freed them also in most cases from episcopal jurisdiction. Thus chosen, the abbot held office for life, unless canonically deprived by the bishop. In the earliest days of the English Church, the abbots, like other monks', were very commonly laymen, but later it became usual for them to receive priest's orders ; and an early instance of a series of presbyter abbots is to be found in the great foundation of Iona. In Ire land, abbots were either themselves bishops, or usurpers of episcopal functions.

In the monastic cathedrals which form such a peculiar feature in English Church history, the bishop was also abbot. The power of the abbot varied with the order to which he belonged, but it was always very high, ln theory, as the name denotes, it was paternal ; and, in early times, this paternal authority is the same as absolute power. The abbot was B18T.-1 Abb Abb 2 history of some monastery, such as Walsing ham's Gesta Abbatam Monasteries S. Albanl, ed. Kiley, 1863—72. The constitutional questions concerning abbots are discussed in the Lords Report on the Dignity of a Peer, 1829. See also art. Abbot, by Mr. Haddon, in the .Diet, of Christian Antiquities ; Montalembert, Die Monks of the West ; and, for the Celtic abbots, Skene, Celtic Scotland, vol. ii., and Dr. Beeves, nan. [M. CJ abbots felt attendance at Parliament to be a strain on their resources, and during the fourteenth century many of them executed deeds declaring that they did not hold their estates by any tenure that involved the duty of parliamentary attendance.

In Edward I.'s model Parliament of 1295 there were present 67 abbots and priors ; but this number rapidly declined, and in 1341 the number had become 27, which seems to have remained fixed. The abbots summoned in 1483 may be mentioned as showing the chief amongst the body. They were : Peterborough, St. Edmunds, Colchester, Abingdon, Waltham, Shrewsbury, Cirencester, Gloucester, Westminster, St; Albans, Bardney, Selby, St. Benedict of Hulme, Thorney, Evesham, Ramsey, Hyde, Glastonbury, Malmesbury, Crowland, Battle, AVinchcombe, Reading, St. Augustine's, St. Mary's York, and the priors of Coventry and St. John of Jerusalem. As the average number of lay lords attending Parliament was about 40, the proportion of 27 abbots was large. The monasteries, however, represented the influence of the papacy as against the bishops, and were left unmolested both by pope and king.

The elections of abbots were rarely interfered with by the crown, and in the later middle ages abbots did not take much part in political affairs. They were chiefly busy with the administration of the secular business of their monasteries. When once the work of civilisation had been accomplished, monasticism drifted apart from the general current of national life, and its abuses became in creasingly manifest. The religious reformers found little difficulty in calling attention to the sloth and uselessness of the smaller monasteries, and in 1536 the temporalities of all that did not exceed £200 a year were given by Act of Parliament to the king: their number was computed at 380. The greater monasteries followed by process of compulsory surrender, and by 1540 all had been suppressed. They took no common action to avert their doom ; the abbots in the House of Lords did not raise their voices against the measure for vesting in the crown the property of monasteries which should be suppressed.

With the disappearance of the abbots from the House of Lords, the preponderance of lay over spiritual peers was established, and the subsequent work of the Reformation of the Church was rendered more easy. Lay abbots, or advocati ecclesice, were common in the abbeys of Irish origin from the 8th to the 12th cen turies. They were commonly the descendants of the founder or of a neighbouring lord, and were originally the lessees of the abbey lands. In some cases, the coarb, or abbot, chosen by the monks retained his spiritual position, but, in temporal matters, he was quite superseded by the advocatus. [Cathedral ; Monasti cism.] Abbot, Charles. [Colchester, Lord.] Abbot, George {b. 1562, d. 1633), Arch bishop of Canterbury, 1611 — 1633, was born of humble parents in Guildford ; studied at Balliol College, Oxford, of which he became fellow in 1582 ; was elected Master of Uni versity College in 1597, and made Dean of Winchester m 1599, Bishop of Lichfield in 1609,and translated to theSee of London, 1610.

He owed his appointment as archbishop (161 1) to his union of Calvinistic theology with a de sire to maintain the authority of the crown in ecclesiastical matters. Such a position coin cided with the wishes of James I. ; but Abbot, though a man of earnest piety, was narrow minded, stern, and lacking in geniality. He was in theological matters the conspicuous opponent of Laud, who represented the re action against Calvinism. His conscientious ness was shown by his determined refusal to comply with the wishes of the king in for warding the divorce of the Countess of Essex from her husband, that she might marry the favourite, Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset. In 1621, at a staghunt at Bramzil Park, Abbot accidentally shot a keeper. This raised the question among canonists whether, in consequence of having shed blood, he had become legally incapacitated from the epis copal office.

A commission of bishops and judges appointed to determine this point were divided in opinion, but advised the king that it was desirable that the archbishop should ask for pardon. Though Abbot was greatly shaken by this untoward event, he still was bold enough to express his disapproval of the Spanish marriage of Prince Charles. On the accession of Charles I., Abbot found that his influence at court was gone, and that Laud was the favourite. In 1627he incurred Charles I.'s displeasure by manfully refusing to license a sermon by Dr. Robert Sibthorpe, in favour of passive obedience. He was ordered by the king to betake himself to his house at Ford, in Kent, and there remain in confine ment, while the archbishopric was put into tbe hands of a commission, with Laud at the head. He was, however, restored to some degree of royal favour next year ; but. suffering from disease, and embittered in temper, he was helpless against the influence of Laud.

His last years were spent in the indolence of sickness and despair, and his death made way for the undisputed power of his rival. He was buried in Trinity Church, Guildford, where his monument still remains. Abbot was munificent in his benefactions, and built The ecclesiastical and social position of an abbot can best be gathered by reference to the Abb 3 Abe a hospital at Guildford, which bears his name. He was a worthy man, but had neither knowledge, large-heartedness, nor tact sufficient for his office. and accepted the chief command in Scotland, whence he was called to serve again in the disastrous expedition to Holland under the Duke of York. In 1801 he was appointed to command the expedition against the French in Egypt. With wonderful skill and daring he disembarked his forces at Aboukir in the face of the French army.

On March 21, the two armies met near Alexandria. Abercromby gained a complete victory ; but the battle, which saved Egypt from the French, cost the English the life of their commander. In acknowledgment of Sir Ralph Abercromby's services, his widow was created a Peeress of the United Kingdom, with the style and title of Baroness Abercromby of Aboukir. The title descended to her eldest son. Her third son, James, Judge-Advocate-General, 1827, Speaker of the House of Commons, 1835 — 39, was created Lord Dunfermline of Dunfermline in 1839. [Alexandria, Battle op.] Heylin, Cyprianus Anglicanus; Spelman's Apologie for Archbishop Abbot, 1727 ; Abbot's Narrative in Rushwortb, Historical Collections, vol. i. See also Hook, Lilies of the Archbishops, vol. v., new series. Thtre is a good portrait in the hall of University College, Oxford. [M. C] Abbott, Charles. [Tenterden, Lord.]

Abdication. [Crown.] Abel, Thomas (d. July 30, 1540), chaplain to Catherine of Arragon, strongly opposed the divorce of that princess ; and was attainted for his share in the affair of Elizabeth Barton, and found guilty of misprision of treason. He was subsequently imprisoned and executed for denying the king's supremacy, and affirm ing the legality of the marriage with Cathe rine. He carved the famous punning inscrip tion (an A upon a bell) on the walls of the Beauchamp Tower in the Tower of London. Lord Dunfermline, Sir R. Abercromby : a Memoir, 1861 ; Alison, History of Europe. [W. R. S.] xiii. 93. Aberdeen, was an important place even before its elevation to a city in the twelfth century. It was made a royal burgh by William the Lion, and received a charter fiom Robert Bruce in 1319. The University was founded in 1494 by Bishop Elphinstone, and Marischal College by George Keith, Earl Marischal, about a century later.

They were united in 1860. In 1336 the greater portion of the town was burnt by the English, and when rebuilt was called New Aberdeen. Abercorn, Peerage of. In 1603 James Hamilton, Master of Paisley, grandson of James Hamilton, second Earl of Arran and Duke of Chatelherault [Douglas ; Hamilton], was created Baron Abercorn, and in 1606 Earl of Abercorn. John James, ninth Earl, was created Marquis of Abercorn in 1790, and his successor James (b. 1811), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1866—68, and 1874—76; was created Duke of Abercorn and Marquis of Hamilton, Aug. 10, 1868. The title is derived from the Castle of Arercorn in Linlithgow shire, a stronghold of the Douglases, taken by James II. in the Douglas rebellion of 1455. Abercorn was the seat of one of the earliest monasteries in Scotland, and of a Pictish bishopric.

Aberdeen, Peerage of. In 1682 Sir John Gordon of Haddo, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, was created Earl of Aberdeen in the peerage of Scotland. George, fourth Earl, was made a peer of the United Kingdom in 1813, and in 1818, on his marriage with Lady Catherine Hamilton, assumed the additional surname and arms of Hamilton. Abercromby, SirRalph (4. 1734, <f. 1801), born at Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, entered the army as cornet in a dragoon regiment in 1756, and was gazetted to a colonelcy in 1781. He had, however, seen scarcely any active service, on account of his opposition to the government while in the House of Commons, and the sympathy hemanifested for the Ameri can Colonies. In 1 793 he commanded a brigade under the Duke of York in Holland, and was wounded at Nimeguen. In tho winter of 1794 — 5 he showed great skill in protecting, as far as possible, the British forces during their disastrous retreat.

After the close of this expedition, he was appointed commander in-chief of the forces in the West Indies. He returned in 1797, and held the chief command in Ireland during that and the following year. There he showed much talent in re-organising an undisciplined army, as well as statesman like tact. Thwarted, however, by the Irish government, he reluctantly resigned his office, Aberdeen, George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of (b. 1784, d. 1860),in 1801 began his diplomatic life as attache to Lord Cornwallis at Paris when engaged in negotiating the peace of Amiens. In 1806 he was elected a representative peer of Scotland. In 1813 he was employed on a mission to induce Austria to break with Napoleon, and in this he was highly successful. He followed the allied armies ; was present at Lutzen, Bautzen, and Leipzig ; was employed to detach Murat from Napoleon ; and was the colleague of Lord Castlereagh at the Con gress of Chatillon.

He took no further share in public life until 1827—28, when he was offered the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster by the Duke of Wellington with a seat in the Cabinet, and shortly after was pro moted to the Foreign Office. In this capacity he took a prominent share in the management of the Greek question, and the formation of the Hellenic Kingdom, recognised by the Abi Abe 4 branch of the Neville family on the marriage of Sir Edward Neville (second son of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, by Joan, daughter of John of Gaunt) with Elizabeth, heiress of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Wor cester, Baron Bergavenny. George, fifteenth Baron, was created Earl in 1784, aud William, fifth Earl, was advanced to the dignity of Marquis in 1876. [Neville.] Porte in 1829. In general, however, he was in favour of a policy of neutrality in continental questions.

He recognised Louis Philippe im mediately ; he refused to employ the English power to dispossess Don Miguel of the crown of Portugal ; and he strongly objected to the Quadruple Alliance which Lord Pal merston negotiated. His first tenure of office ended in 1830. He was Colonial Secretary under Sir R. Peel in 1834 — 35, and Foreign Secretary to the same statesman in 1841. He assisted in carrying the repeal of the Corn Laws and the commercial reforms of Peel, and on the death of that statesman he became the acknowledged head of his party. When in succession both Whigs and Tories had failed to carry on the government, and there was no course left but to apply to the Peelites, Lord Aberdeen was invited to form a government, 1852. He. formed a coalition ministry, em bracing " men of all parties, from the extreme Tory to the extreme Radical."

It was his misfortune to be met by the complications in foreign politics which led to the Crimean War. It was thought at the time, and the opinion has been frequently expressed since, that a greater display of vigour on the part of the ministry might have averted the war. The mismanagement of the campaign com pleted the unpopularity of the ministry. On January 25th, 1855, Mr. Roebuck moved for a select committee to inquire into the state of the army and the conduct of the war. On the motion being carried Lord Aberdeen resigned, and during the remainder of his life took no further share in public affairs. In his home policy Lord Aberdeen represented the advanced section of the Conservatives, regarding Catholic Emancipation and the repeal of the Corn Laws as advantageous measures rather than as necessary evils.

In foreign politics he was the advocate of the principles of friendship with foreign powers, and non-intervention, which he perhaps at tempted to apply too indiscriminately. Lord Aberdeen, "the travelled thane, Athenian Aberdeen," of Byron's EngUsh Bards and Scotch Reviewers, was an accomplished scholar, specially learned in Hellenic antiquities. Abergavenny, George Neville, 3rd Baron (d. 1536), was one of the nobles arrested in 1502 on suspicion of being engaged in a conspiracy with Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk. He was, however, soon restored to liberty, and eventually came into great favour with Henry VII. and Henry VIIL During the Cornish revolt of 1497, it was partly owing to Lord Abergavenny's local influence that the insurgents met with no encouragement from the people of Kent.

Abergavenny, Henry Neville, 4th Baron (d. 1587), who was supposed to favour the insurgents in 1554, finally declared for Mary, and defeated the rebels at "Wrotham Heath (q.v.). He was one of the commissioners at the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1586. Abhorrers (1679), was the name given to the adherents of the court party, who, on petitions being presented to the king, praying him to summon Parliament for January, 1680, signed counter-petitions, expressing abhor rence for those who were attempting to en croach on the royal prerogative. [See Peti tioners.] It is said that the names Whig and Tory, as party designations, were first used in the disputes between the Petitioners and Abhorrers. Burnet, History of His Own Time, ii. 238; Eapin, Hist, of Eng. h. 712; Macaulay, Hist. of Eng. i. 258.

Abingdon Abbey Chronicle, The, is a well-preserved record which narrates the history of the great Benedictine monastery of Abingdon. It extends from the foundation of the abbey in 675 to the accession of Richard I. in 1189. It is specially useful for the light it throws on social history, on the relations of the clergy to the laity, on the state of society be fore the Norman Conquest, and on the details of the changes produced by that event. The policy and administration of Lord Aber deen are discussed in Kinglake, Invasion of the Crimea, esp. ii. 62. Aberdeen Doctors, was the name given, in 1638 — 9, to six clergymen of Aber deen — John Forbes, Robert Bacon, Alexander Ross, William Leslie, Alexander Scrogie, and James Sibbold — who strenuously opposed the compulsory administration to all persons of the oath to preserve the Solemn League and Covenant.

The Chronicon Mor.asterii de Abingdon has been printed in the Rolls Series, 1858, with valuable introductions by Mr. Stevenson. Abingdon, Peerage of. In 1572 Sir Henry Norris, who was ambassador to France the preceding year, and son of the Sir Henry Norris beheaded in 1536 for alleged criminality with Anne Boleyn, was created Baron Norris of Ryecote. He was the father of the distinguished military commander Sir John Norris. His grandson, Francis, was created Earl of Berkshire in 1620, but died the same year, and the Berkshire peerage Spalding, Memorials, i. 98, &c. ; and Burton, Hist, of Scotland, vi. cap. lxxii. Abergavenny, Peerage of. Nov. 23, 1392, William Beauchamp was summoned to Parliament by writ as Lord Bergavenny or Abergavenny. The peerage passed to a Abi 5 Abs expired. The Norris peerage descended by the female line to James Bertie, who was created Earl of Abingdon in 1682.