Josceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland

Josceline (or Joceline) Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland, 5th Baron Percy (4 July 1644 – 31 May 1670), of Alnwick Castle, Northumberland and Petworth House, Sussex, was an English peer.[1]

Josceline Percy
Earl of Northumberland
Josceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland, portrait c.1670/1673 by Sir Peter Lely (1618–1680), collection of National Trust, Petworth House
Born4 July 1644
Died31 May 1670
Noble familyHouse of Percy
Spouse(s)Lady Elizabeth Wriothesley
IssueHenry Percy, Lord Percy
Lady Elizabeth Percy
FatherAlgernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland
MotherElizabeth Howard

Origins

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Percy was the eldest son of Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland (1602–1668), KG, by his second wife, Elizabeth Howard, daughter of Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk (1584–1640), KG.

Career

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He served as a Page of Honour at the coronation of King Charles II on 23 April 1661 and on 4 November 1661 entered the Inner Temple for legal training.[1]

Marriage and children

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On 23 December 1662 he married Lady Elizabeth Wriothesley, 3rd daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton,[1] by whom he had children as follows:

Principal estates

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  • Topcliffe Castle, Yorkshire, recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as held by William de Percy (died 1096), whom it served as the caput of the feudal barony of Topcliffe. The Percy family's most ancient English seat.
  • Petworth, Sussex, acquired by Joscelin of Louvain (died 1180), husband of Agnes de Percy, one of the two daughters and co-heiresses of William de Percy (died 1174/5), feudal baron of Topcliffe in Yorkshire (grandson of William de Percy (died 1096)). Jocelin's younger son Richard "de Percy" (died 1244) adopted the surname "de Percy" and inherited his father's estate of Petworth and a moiety of his maternal barony of Topcliffe. Richard died without children when his estates descended to his nephew William "de Percy" (1197–1245), grandson of Jocelin de Louvain, who had inherited the other moiety of Topcliffe from his great-aunt Maud de Percy.[2]
 
Canting arms of Lucy of Cockermouth Castle: Gules, three lucies hauriant argent

Following the death of his grandson Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset in 1750, the former Percy estates were split between the Smithson (later "Percy", Duke of Northumberland) and Wyndham (Earl of Egremont) families.

Death and succession

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Following his death in 1670, without a male heir, the earl's titles became extinct and his estates reverted to the Crown. King Charles II awarded the estates to his (illegitimate) son, the Duke of Monmouth.[6] The Countess of Northumberland successfully sued for the estates to be returned to the late Earl's only daughter and sole heiress, Lady Elizabeth Percy (1667–1722).

Lady Elizabeth married Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset (1662–1748), thus forming one of the most wealthy couples in England.[7] The title Earl of Northumberland was re-created in 1748 for his daughter's son Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset (1684–1750), with special remainder to the latter's son-in-law Sir Hugh Smithson, 4th Baronet (1715–1786), later created Duke of Northumberland, who changed his surname to Percy and inherited the ancient Percy seat of Alnwick Castle. The 7th Duke of Somerset was also created Earl of Egremont in 1749, with special remainder to his nephew Sir Charles Wyndham, 4th Baronet (1710–1763), who inherited the other part of the Percy estates, namely Petworth House in Sussex and Egremont Castle in Cumbria.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Doyle, James William Edmund (1886). The official baronage of England: showing the succession, dignities, and offices of every peer from 1066 to 1885. Vol. 2. Longmans, Green. p. 665. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  2. ^ Sanders, I.J., English Baronies, Oxford, 1960, p.148, Topcliffe, Yorkshire
  3. ^ Sanders, I.J., English Baronies, Oxford, 1960, p.103, Alnwick, Northumberland
  4. ^ Daniel Lysons and Samuel Lysons, 'Cockermouth', in Magna Britannia: Volume 4, Cumberland (London, 1816), pp. 40–45 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/magna-britannia/vol4/pp40-45
  5. ^ "Egremont Castle, Cumbria and the Lake District".
  6. ^ "Journal of the House of Lords: Volume 13, 1675-1681". British History Online. His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1767-1830. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  7. ^ "Petworth House and Park: History". National Trust. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
Honorary titles
English Interregnum Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland
jointly with The Earl of Northumberland 1660–1668

1660–1670
Succeeded by
Preceded by Custos Rotulorum of Hampshire
1667–1670
Succeeded by
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Sussex
1668–1670
Succeeded by
Custos Rotulorum of Sussex
1668–1670
Succeeded by
Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Northumberland
1668–1670
Extinct