Counts and dukes of Aumale

The County of Aumale, later elevated to a duchy, was a medieval fief in Normandy, disputed between France and England during parts of the Hundred Years' War.

Norman nobility

Aumale was a medieval fief in the Duchy of Normandy and, after 1066, of the King of England. According to Chisholm, the fief of Aumale was granted by the archbishop of Rouen to Odo, brother-in-law of William the Conqueror, who erected it into a countship.[1] Thompson wrote that it was given to Adelaide, William's half-sister, as a dower by her first husband Enguerrand; it then passed jure uxoris to her second and third husbands, Lambert and Odo.[2] In the Domesday Book of 1086, Adelaide is recorded as the Countess of Aumale, with holdings in Suffolk and Essex.[3] In 1087 Odo received the Lordship of Holderness, and at some time before 1090 Adelaide's holdings were passed to their son, Stephen. In 1102 the fief, with Odo's lands in Holderness, passed to their son, Stephen.

Lords

Norman counts:

  • Guerinfroi, lord before 996–?
  • Guerinfroi Aymard (son) ?–1048
  • Bertha of Aumale (daughter) 1048–1052
    • Hugh II, Count of Ponthieu 1048–1052 (married to Bertha)
  • Enguerrand I of Aumale (married Adelaide of Normandy, who retained the lordship after her husband's death)
  • Adelaide of Normandy 1053–1087 with
    • Lambert of Boulogne 1053–1054 (married to Adelaide)

Counts

Coat of arms of the Counts of Aumale, adopted late 12th century, at start of age of heraldry

Anglo-Norman counts:

  • Odo of Troyes 1069–1115 (married to Adelaide)
  • Stephen of Aumale before 1070–1127
  • William le Gros 1127–1179
  • Hawise of Aumale 1179–1194 with her husbands as Counts jure uxoris:
    • William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex 1180–1189
    • William de Forz 1189–1194
    • Baldwin of Béthune 1195–1196
  • confiscated; to French royal domain. The English kings continued to recognise the title, as Earl of Albemarle (see English peerage section below)

French nobility

In 1196, Philip II of France captured the castle of Aumale, and granted the title of "Count of Aumale" to Renaud de Dammartin. It was later held by the houses of Castile, Harcourt, and Lorraine. After several extinctions the title was re-created in 1547 for Francis, then styled Count of Aumale by courtesy. On his accession as Duke of Guise, he ceded it to his brother Claude, Duke of Aumale. It was later used as a title by Henri d'Orléans, the youngest son of Louis-Philippe, King of the French and Duke of Orléans.

As of 2019, the titleholder is a grandson of the late Henri, Count of Paris, Orléans heir, and his wife, Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza of Brazil. Prince Foulques, Duke of Aumale, son of Prince Jacques, Duke of Orléans and the duchess, née Gersende de Sabran-Pontèves, added it to his title of Comte d'Eu.

Counts (House of Dammartin)

French Counts:

Counts (House of Castile)

  • Ferdinand I 1239–1252 (married to Joan)
  • Ferdinand II, Count of Aumale 1252–1260 (son of Joan and Ferdinand I)
  • John I 1260–1302 (son of Ferdinand II)
  • John II 1302–1343 (married to Catherine of Artois, daughter of Philip of Artois and Blanche of Brittany)
  • Blanche of Ponthieu 1343–1387 with

Counts (House of Harcourt)

  • John III 1343–1356 (husband of Blanche)
  • John IV 1356–1389 (son)
  • John V 1389–1452 (son)
    • John VI, de facto 1415–1424 (son)
  • Mary, de facto 1424–1452, de jure to 1476 (sister), with

Counts (House of Lorraine-Vaudémont)

Coat of Arms of the Dukes of Guise
  • Antoine, Count of Vaudémont 1452–1458 (married to Marie)
  • John VI 1458–1473 (son of Antoine and Marie)
  • René 1473–1508 (nephew of John)
  • Claude I 1508–1547

Dukes

Coat of Arms of the Dukes of Aumale of the Lorraine family

English peerage

Through the end of the Hundred Years' War, the kings of England at various times ruled Aumale, through their claims to be dukes of Normandy and later, kings of France. The title of Count or Duke of Aumale was granted several times during this period.

Earls (1095)

In 1196, Philip II of France captured the castle of Aumale (and, subsequently, the remainder of Normandy). The kings of England continued to claim the Duchy of Normandy, and to recognize the old line of Counts or Earls of Aumale. These were:

  • see above for Counts before 1196
  • Hawise of Aumale, 2nd Countess of Aumale (died 1214), married, bef. 1196:
    • Baldwin of Bethune (died 1212), Count of Aumale jure uxoris
Seal of William de Forz, 4th Earl of Albemarle. Arms: A cross patonce
  • William de Forz, 3rd Earl of Albemarle (died 1242), son of the 2nd Countess by her second husband William de Forz (died 1195)
  • William de Forz, 4th Earl of Albemarle (died 1260), son of the 3rd Earl
  • Thomas de Forz, 5th Earl of Albemarle (died 1269), son of the 4th Earl
  • Aveline de Forz, Countess of Albemarle (died 1274), daughter of the 4th Earl

Aveline married Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, in 1269, but she died without issue in 1274. A claim upon the inheritance by John de Eston (de Ashton) was settled in 1278 with the surrender of the earldom to the Crown.[1]

Dukes, first creation (1385)

also: Duke of Gloucester (1385–1397), Earl of Essex (1376–1397), Earl of Buckingham (1377)

Note: This creation is not listed in several sources such as "The Complete Peerage", which indicates the creation shown below as the 1st.

Dukes, second creation (1397)

also: Duke of York (1385), Earl of Cambridge (1362–1414), Earl of Rutland (1390–1402), Earl of Cork (c. 1396)

Earls (1412)

also: Duke of Clarence (1412)

Counts (1422)

also: Earl of Warwick (1088)

In further creations in the English peerage after the Hundred Years' War, Aumale was spelled in the Latinised form Albemarle. For these, see Duke of Albemarle and Earl of Albemarle.

References

  1. Chisholm 1911, p. 492.
  2. Kathleen Thompson, 'Being the Ducal Sister: The Role of Adelaide of Aumale', Normandy and its Neighbours 900–1250; Essays for David Bates, ed. David Crouch, Kathleen Thompson (Brepols Publishers, Belgium, 2011), p. 72
  3. Powell-Smith, Anna. "Countess of Aumale (Adelaide) - Domesday Book".
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