PERCY, This is the name of a noble Normen family who accompanied the con queror to England. and whose head, William de Percy, obtained from his sovereign thirty linialit's fees^in the n. of England. The representation of the house devolved (temp. Henry 1.) on Agnes, daughter of the 3d baron, who married Josceline of Lovain, brother-in law of the Idng. only Oil condition that be adopted either the surname or the arms of Percy; he chose to retain his paternal arms and to assume the Percy name. The head of the family at the time was one of the chief barons who extorted Magna Charts from king .John; and the 9th feudal lord (temp. Edward I.) showed a Arndt* spirit towards the pope, against whose demands he maintained. with others of the greater barons, the spiritual independence of the English crown. This nobleinalfS great-grand -son was a distinguishe.I military commander under Edward 111., and, actiug as marshal of England at the coronation of Richard II., was created earl of Northumberland. He subsequently, however, took up arms against Richard, and placed the crown on the head of Henry of Lancaster, who became Henry IV. Again dissatisfied with the government, he joined in rebellion with his son Hotspur, for the purpose of transferring the crown to Mortimer, earl of March. The earl, with the other leaders of this rebellion, fell at Branham Moor (1407-08), and his titles became forfeited. These, however, were revived in favor of his grandson, 'who became lord high .constable of England, and who was
;killed at the battle of St. Alban's. This earl's son anti successor (the third earl) met a like fate on Towton field, fighting in the van of the Lancastrian. army. The 4th earl (who obtained a reversal of his father's attainder) was murdered by the pop place in Northumberland, when ordered by the avarice of Henry VII. to enforce a subsidy. The executions of the 6th and 7th earls by Edward VI. and Elizabeth are part of the history of England. The 8th earl was committed to the tower, on a charge of being concerned in at plot in favor of Mary queen of Scots, and died a violent death in prison. The 10th earl fought in the civil wars against Charles I., though he took no part with the regi cities, and eventually joined in the general effort to bring about the restoration. The 11th earl left an only child, who succeeded to the barony of Percy, and marry ing Charles, duke of Somerset, became the mother of Algernon, duke of Somerset, who was created earl of Norlhumberland, with remainder to his son-in-law, sir Hugh Smith son, of Stanwick, in the county of York, a gentleman of respectable lineage. Sir to the earldom, obtained in 176G hisadvancement to the dukedom of North umberland, which title is now held by Algernon-geo•ge Percy, born in 1810, who succeeded to the dukedom in 1867.