54<S
Constitutional History.
[chap.
The fortunes of the Nevilles and Percies were the result of a
long series of well-chosen marriages, and were in no way in-
ferior to those of the dukes and marquesses. In the later part
of the period the duke of Buckingham rivalled, in the number
of his estates and dignities, the honours of John of Gaunt or
Henry IV. The kingmaker Warwick was content to remain an
Resnit of tiɪe earl. The result of the multiplication of dignities was not
Hiultiplica- _
tιon of ranks, altogether wholesome; they might not have much meaning as
denoting political power or property, but they involved, what
in a half-barbarous society was almost as precious, certain signs
cf precedence; and thus they added occasions for personal
jealousies and rivalries of which there were too many already.
Taken in the aggregate the landed possessions of the baronage
were more than a counterpoise to the whole influence of the
crown and the other two estates of the realm : fortunately for
public liberty their influence was in great measure nullified by
personal and family rivalries.
Amedievai 468. It would be an easy task, if we possessed a map of
map wanted. t . i
feudal or medieval England, to determine the amount of local
influence possessed by the great houses, and to see how the line
taken in the hereditary and dynastic quarrels was affected and
illustrated by their relations to one another. In default of
Local influ- such a guide we must content ourselves with generalities 1. Of
earldoms, θ the earls, as they were at the beginning of the fifteenth cen-
tury, the titles in many cases still point to their chief centres
of interest. The strength of the Courtenays lay in Devon, that
of Arundel in Sussex, that of the earl of Salisbury in Wiltshire
and Dorsetshire, that of the earl of Warwick in Warwick-
shire. But this rule was not without exceptions ; the strength
of the earl of Oxford was in Essex, and that of the earl of
Kent in the lordship of the Wakes in Yorkshire and Lincoln-
shire. Nor was the local influence of the earls at all confined
to their chief seats of power ; the Percy was dominant not only
in Northumberland, but in Yorkshire, and in Sussex also, where
the lord of Petworth was a match for the lord of Arundel. In
1 These statements may be verified by Dugdale’s Baronage and the
Inquisitiones post mortem,’ published by the Kecord Commission.
XXi.] Distribution of the Peerage. 547
Essex again the earl of Oxford was strong, but the earldom of
the Bohuns was strong also. There was a marked difference stronger
, 1 .π 1.1 . andweιkeι
between the stronger earldoms like those of the Bohuns, the earidoɪns.
Clares and the Bigods, on which the dukedoms were founded,
and the smaller accumulations of the Veres and Montacutes of
Oxford and Salisbury ; and no doubt similar influences affected
the baronies, although in less conspicuous degrees.
Of all the counties, Yorkshire, as might be expected, con- Locaidis-
. ηιι∙ τ tributlθn of
taɪned the greatest number of the great lordships : there, not the great
to mention minor cases, were Kichmond the chief seat of the lordshιps'
Breton earls ; Topcliffe the honour of the Percies, Thirsk of the
Mowbrays, Tanfield of the Marmions, Skipton of the Cliffords,
Middleham of the Fitz-Hughs and Nevilles, Helmsley of the
Roos, Masham and Bolton of the two Scropes1 Sheffield of the
Furnivals and Talbots, and Wakefield of the duke of York;
there too were numerous castles and honours that united to
form the great Lancaster duchy. In Lincolnshire were the
homes of Cromwell1 Willoughby and Wells. Further north
Cumberland supplied the baron of Greystoke1 Durham the lords
of Lumley and Raby1 besides its palatine bishop, to the list of
Northern lords. The southern counties were thickly sown with
smaller lordships ; Sussex was the home of Camoys, Dacre, and
la Warr ; from Kent came the lord of Cobham, from Gloucester
Berkeley, from Cornwall Botreaux and Bonneville, from Somerset
Hungerford1 Beauchamp1 Montacute. Along the Welsh march
the greater English earldoms long retained their old fighting
grounds ; the lords of Lancaster at Monmouth and Kidwelly,
the Bohuns at Brecon and Hereford, the Mortimers of Chirk
and Wigmore. In the middle of England the baronage was
less strong ; the crown and the duchy of Lancaster were very
powerful : and with the exception of the duchy of Buckingham
the other lordships were neither many nor large. On the east
the duke of Norfolk, gathering in the Mowbray dignities of
Nottingham and the Marshallship1 was almost supreme, and
before the battle of Bosworth-Held he had acquired the earldom
of Surrey. Although both the great earldoms and the more
important baronies retained a sort of corporate identify derived