NORTHUMBERLAND, EARLS AND DUKES OF. The earldom, and later the dukedom, of Northumberland, are fa mous in English history by their connection with the house of Percy (q.v.).
In the year 1377 Henry de Percy, 4th Baron Percy, officiated as marshal of England at the coronation of Richard II. and was created earl of Northumberland. With his son Sir Henry Percy, the celebrated "Hotspur," the earl played a leading part in the history of the period, especially in bringing about the de position of Richard II. and the accession of Henry IV. The quarrel of Northumberland and his son with King Henry over the ransom of their Scottish prisoners taken at Homildon Hill on Sept. 14, 1402 has been immortalized by Shakespeare; and in consequence of their rebellion all the earl's honours were for feited in 1406. He was not himself present at the battle of Shrews bury in July 1403, when Hotspur was killed, but he was slain, heading a fresh rebellion, at Bramham Moor on Feb. 19, 1408.
The 1st earl of Northumberland was succeeded by his grand son, Hotspur's son, HENRY (c. 1394-1455), who was restored to the earldom and the estates of the Percies in 1414 and was killed at the battle of St. Albans in May 1455. The title then descended in the male line till the death of the 6th earl in 1537. During the Wars of the Roses the Percies took the Lancastrian side, which led to the attainder of Henry the 3rd earl (1421-1461) during the time of the Yorkist triumph, his forfeited title being conferred in 1464 by Edward IV. on John Neville, Lord Montagu (see the separate article, p. 538), by a patent which was cancelled a few years later. The earldom, together with the barony of Poynings which his father had obtained by marriage, was restored in to Henry Percy, son of the 3rd earl, who attached himself to Edward IV., acquiesced in the accession of Richard III., and submitted to Henry VII., by whom he was received into favour. His grandson Henry, the 6th earl (c. 1502-1537), left no direct heir, and the latter's nephew, Thomas Percy, was debarred from the succession by an attainder passed on his father for his par ticipation in the Pilgrimage of Grace. In 1549, however, Thomas was restored in blood, and in 1557 he became by a new creation earl of Northumberland, 7th of his line. Meantime, in 155i, John Dudley, earl of Warwick, was created duke of Northumberland (see the separate article, p. 537), his title being, however, forfeited
by attainder in 1553.
The earldom restored to the house of Percy by the creation of 1557 continued without interruption in the male line till 1670. The 7th earl was beheaded in 1572 for sharing in a conspiracy in which he was joined by the earl of Westmorland with the object of securing the release of Mary Queen of Scots and the free exercise of the Catholic religion. By the earl's attainder the baronies of Percy and of Poynings and the earldom of Northum berland of the older creation were forfeited, but owing to a clause in the patent the newer earldom of Northumberland and the other honours conferred in 1557 passed to his brother Henry (c. 1532 1585), who is usually known as the 8th and not the 2nd earl.
Henry's grandson, ALGERNON PERCY, loth earl of Northumber land (1602-1668), son of Henry the 9th earl (1564-1632), became a peer in his father's lifetime as Baron Percy in 1626. North umberland played a distinguished part in the Civil War. He was a friend of Strafford, and gave evidence at his trial which, though favourable on the important point of bringing the Irish army to England, was on the whole damaging; and he afterwards leaned more and more towards the popular party, of which he soon be came leader in the House of Lords. He was a member of the committee of safety, and later of the committee of both king doms; and he took an active part in the attempts to come to terms with the king, whom he visited at Oxford for that purpose in 1643 and at Uxbridge two years later. Northumberland helped to organize the new model army; and in 1646 he was entrusted by parliament with the charge of the king's younger children. He led the opposition in the House of Lords to the proposal to bring Charles I. to trial, and during the Commonwealth he took no part in public affairs. At the Restoration he was called to the privy council by Charles II., and with his habitual modera tion deprecated harsh proceedings against the regicides. His second wife, Elizabeth (d. 1705) daughter of Theophilus Howard, 2nd earl of Suffolk, brought him Northumberland House in the Strand, London, which was demolished in 1874 to make room for Northumberland avenue. On the death of his son Joceline, the 11th earl, in 1670, the male line became extinct.