Rev. J. W. Dunn on Warkworth. 45 



barony of Warkworth to Henry de Percy and his heirs for the 

 accustomed service, in lieu of a fee of 500 marks, which the 

 king had engaged to pay to the said Henry de Percy, during 

 his life, out of his possessions in Berwick. 



Then comes the sad story of the revolt of the father of Hot- 

 spur, the death of the latter before Shrewsbury, in 1403, and 

 of the former, the first Earl of Northumberland, at Bramham 

 Moor, in 1408. Shortly before this, Warkworth Castle, 

 which appears to have been the principal residence of the 

 Percys, was besieged by the king, reduced, and finally be- 

 stowed upon Sir Robert Umfreville, in whose possession it 

 continued until 1415, when it was restored to the son of Hot- 

 spur by Henry V., and who fell on the side of the Red rose, 

 at St. Albans, in 1454, " and there lyeth in his grave in our 

 Lady's Chapel of the Abbey Church, with other noblemen in 

 like manner slain." 



It would be painful to trace the tangled career of this brave 

 but unfortunate family in further detail. The next owner 

 was killed on the bloody field of Towton, and Warkworth was 

 again confiscated. The next was murdered at Coxlodge. 

 After this, one was beheaded, another shot mysteriously in 

 the Tower, another attainted. Amidst such disasters of those 

 troublous times the eye rests with pleasure upon the page 

 which records the magnificence and splendour of the 5 th Earl 

 of Northumberland, who at the marriage of Margaret with 

 the king of the Scots, " for the richness of his coat, and for 

 the costly apparel of his henchmen, and gallant trappers of 

 their horses exceeded all the nobility present, and was esteem- 

 ed, both of the Scots and Englishmen, more like a prince than 

 a subject." His household book is still in existence, and con- 

 tains a curious and minute account of his vast establishment. 



In 1670 the earldom became extinct on the death of Josce- 

 line,* the 11th earl, without male issue, and Warkworth, 



* Josceline, the eleventh Earl, married the daughter of the Earl of South- 

 ampton, and died at Turin, in 1670, leaving two daughters, Elizabeth and 

 Henrietta, the latter of whom died young. 



Elizabeth thus inherited the splendid fortunes and ancient baronies of the 

 family. 



She was married three times while a minor. First to Henry Cavendish, Earl 

 of Ogle, — next to Thomas Thynne, Esq., who was assassinated by some ruffi. 

 ans hired by Count Coningsmark, whose object was to marry the widow. Her 

 third husband was the Duke of Somerset, by whom she had seven sons and six 

 daughters. 



Algernon Seymour, Duke of Somerset, eldest son of the above, was created 

 Earl of Northumberland, whose only daughter Elizabeth became his heiress in 

 1744. She was married to Sir Hugh Smithson in 1740. 



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