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PERCY (FAMILY)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 135 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PERCY (See also:FAMILY) . This family, whose deeds are so prominent in See also:English See also:history, was founded by See also:William de Perci (c. 1030-r096), a follower of the Conqueror, who bestowed on him a See also:great See also:fief in See also:Yorkshire and See also:Lincolnshire. The See also:register of See also:Whitby See also:Abbey, which he founded anew, and in later days the heralds, were responsible for the fabulous origin and See also:pedigree of the family which are still current. By Emma, daughter of See also:Hugh de See also:Port, a great See also:Hampshire See also:baron, William was See also:father of several sons, of whom Alan the eldest succeeded him. His See also:grandson William was the last of the See also:house in the See also:direct See also:line, and See also:left two sisters and coheiresses, Maud countess of See also:Warwick, who died childless, and See also:Agnes. Agnes de Perci had married Josceline, styled See also:brother of the See also:queen " (i.e. Adeliza of See also:Louvain, second wife of See also:Henry I.), whose See also:legitimacy has been questioned, and from this See also:marriage descended the second house of Percy (which name it assumed), till its own extinction in the male line five centuries later (1670). By it was brought into the family the great Petworth See also:estate in See also:Sussex, which Josceline had obtained from his See also:sister, who was holding See also:Arundel and its fief. His son See also:Richard (c. 1170-1244) and Richard's See also:nephew William (c. 1183-1245) were among the barons who See also:rose in arms against See also:John, but the latter made his See also:peace with Henry III., and had his lands restored to him.

Richard de Percy was one of the twenty-five barons appointed to enforce the observance of Magna Carta. The next important member of the family is William's grandson Henry de Percy (c. 1272-1315), whom See also:

Edward I., after the deposition of John See also:Baliol, appointed See also:governor of See also:Galloway, and who was one of his most active agents in the subjugation of See also:Scotland till the success of See also:Robert See also:Bruce drove him out of Turnberry See also:Castle, and made him withdraw into See also:England. He was rewarded by Edward II. with the barren See also:title of See also:earl of Carrick, declared to be forfeited by the Scottish See also:hero; and the same See also:king appointed him governor of the castles of See also:Bamburgh and See also:Scarborough. But in 1309 he himself made his position strong in the See also:north of England by purchasing lands from See also:Anthony See also:Bek, See also:bishop of See also:Durham, among which was the See also:honour of See also:Alnwick, the See also:principal seat of the family 'ever since. The Percies had chiefly resided till then at Spofforth in Yorkshire, and their connexion with See also:Northumberland See also:dates from this acquisition. Henry's son, another Henry (c. 1299-1352), took See also:part in the See also:league against Edward II.'s favourites the Despensers, was in favour with Edward III., and obtained from Edward Baliol as king of Scotland grants of Lochmaben, Annandale and Moffatdale, which he surrendered to the English king for the castle and constableship of See also:Jedburgh, or Jedworth, with the See also:forest of Jed-See also:worth and some neighbouring towns. A few years later, in See also:fuller recompense of the unprofitable See also:gift of Baliol, a See also:grant of 500 marks a See also:year was made to him out of the old customs at See also:Berwick; and in 1346 he did splendid service to his See also:sovereign by defeating and taking prisoner See also:David II., king of Scotland, at the See also:battle of See also:Neville's See also:Cross. To him succeeded another Henry Percy (1322-1368), a feudal baron like his predecessors, who fought at See also:Crecy during his father's lifetime and whose brother See also:Thomas Percy (1333–1369) was bishop of See also:Norwich from 1356-1369. The next See also:head of the Percys was Henry's son, another Henry, who was made earl of Northumberland at the See also:coronation of Richard II., and whose younger brother Thomas (d. 1403) was created earl of See also:Worcester in 1397.

The 1st earl of Northumberland, father of the famous Hotspur, See also:

Sir Henry Percy (q.v.), was killed at Bramham See also:Moor in 1408, while in arms against the king, and his title and estates were forfeited. But, by an See also:act no less gracious than politic, Henry V. restored them in 1414 to this earl's grandson, Henry (1394-1455), then a prisoner with the Scots, whose liberation he had no difficulty in procuring from the See also:duke of See also:Albany during the See also:time of See also:James I.'s captivity. From that See also:day the See also:loyalty of the family to the house of See also:Lancaster was steadfast and undeviating. The 2nd earl died fighting for Henry VI. at the first battle of St Albans in 1455; the 3rd, Henry (1421–1461), was slain on the bloody See also:field of See also:Towton; the 4th, Henry (1446–1489), was killed in quelling an insurrection in the time of Henry VII. So strong was the Lancastrian feeling of the family that even Sir See also:Ralph Percy (1425-1464), a brother of the earl who See also:fell at Towton, though he had actually submitted once to Edward IV., turned again, and when he fell at Hedgley Moor in See also:April 1464 consoled himself with the thought that he had, as he phrased it, " saved the See also:bird in his bosom." No wonder, then, that in Edward IV.'s days the title and estates of the family were for a time taken away and given to John Neville See also:Lord See also:Montagu, brother of Warwick the king-maker. But the north of England was so accustomed to the See also:rule of the Percys that in a few years Edward saw the See also:necessity of restoring them, and did so even at the cost of alienating still further the powerful family of the Nevilles, who were then already on the point of See also:rebellion. A crisis occurred in the fortunes of the family in the reign of Henry VIII. on the See also:death of Henry, the 6th earl (c. 1502–1J37), whose See also:brothers Sir Thomas and Sir Ingelram Percy, much against his will, had taken part in the great insurrection called the See also:Pilgrimage of See also:Grace. A thriftless See also:man, of whom it is recorded that in his youth he was smitten with the charms of See also:Anne See also:Boleyn, but was forced to give her up and marry a woman he did not love, he died childless, after selling many of the family estates and granting the others to the king. The title was forfeited on his death, and was granted by Edward VI. to the ambitious John See also:Dudley, earl of Warwick, who was attainted in the succeeding reign. It was restored in the days of Queen See also:Mary to Thomas Percy (1528-1572), a nephew of the 6th earl, who, being a stanch See also:Roman See also:Catholic, was one of the three earls who took the See also:lead in the celebrated rising of 1572, and was beheaded at See also:York. His brother Henry (c.

1532–1585), who succeeded him, was no less unhappy. Involved in Throgmorton's See also:

conspiracy, he was committed to the See also:Tower of See also:London, and was supposed to have shot himself in See also:bed with a See also:pistol found beside him; but there were See also:grave suspicions that it had been discharged by another See also:hand. His son, Henry (1567–1632), the next earl, suffered like his two predecessors for his See also:attachment to the See also:religion of his forefathers. The See also:Crown lawyers sought in vain to implicate him in the See also:Gunpowder See also:Plot, but he was imprisoned for fifteen years in the Tower and compelled to pay a See also:fine of !30,000. Algernon (1602-1668), the son who next succeeded, was a See also:parliamentary See also:general in the See also:Civil See also:War. At length, in 167o, the male line of this illustrious family became See also:extinct, at least in the direct line, about five See also:hundred years after the marriage of Agnes de Perci with Josceline of Louvain. The See also:representation of the earlier Percys had passed away through the daughters of Earl Thomas, beheaded in 1572, but his earldom of Northumberland (created anew for him in 1557) had passed to his brother Henry, under a See also:special See also:remainder, and appears to have become extinct in 167o, though persistentlyclaimed by James Percy, " the See also:trunk-maker. " The last earl's daughter See also:Elizabeth, a great heiress, was See also:mother by See also:Charles See also:Seymour, 6th duke of See also:Somerset, of Algernon, 7th duke, who was summoned (in See also:error) as Lord Percy in 1722 and created earl of Northumberland in 1749. On the duke's death in 1750 his earldom of Northumberland passed under a special remainder, with the See also:main See also:inheritance of the Percys, to Sir Hugh See also:Smithson, See also:Bart. (1715–1786), who had married his daughter and eventual heiress in 1740, and was created duke of Northumberland and Earl Percy in 1766. From this marriage descends the See also:present ducal house, which bears the name of Percy in lieu of Smithson, and owns vast estates in Northumberland. Alnwick Castle, their See also:chief seat, where much See also:state is still kept up, has been described by Mr See also:Clark as " probably the finest extant example of a See also:Norman castle of this type, having an open keep and a See also:complete See also:enceinte." It had been hardly occupied and in decay for some two centuries when the present family succeeded to it, but was restored by them to its former splendour between 1750 and 1786.

" Princely Petworth," however, the seat of the later Percys, with their See also:

ancient Sussex estates and those in Yorkshire (Leconfield) and See also:Cumberland (See also:Cockermouth), all passed away in 1750 with the earldom of See also:Egremont and See also:barony of Cockermouth to Charles See also:Wyndham, nephew of the 7th duke of Somerset, and these estates are now held by Lord Leconfield. The actual representation in See also:blood of the later Percys (i.e. from 1572) passed in 1865, on the death of the 4th duke, to the See also:dukes of See also:Atholl, who in virtue of it are Lords Percy, under the See also:writ of 1722, the See also:oldest of the family titles now remaining. The ancient London See also:residence of the Percys, Northumberland House, Charing Cross, was removed to make way for Northumberland See also:Avenue. Above it stood the Percy See also:crest, a (See also:blue) See also:lion with stiffly extended tail; but the famous badge of the house was the See also:white See also:crescent or See also:half See also:moon—" the Half–Moone shining all soe faire " of " the See also:Northern Rising " ballad—with a pair of manacles. Their coat of arms was a blue lion rampart on a yellow ground—" Jaune o un bleu See also:lyon rampart " of the Carlaverock See also:roll, stated, but wrongly, to have been derived from the dukes of Louvain and See also:Brabant. With it they quartered the " Luces " coat of the Lucys of Cockermouth after succeeding to their estates, whence the lines in The Battle of Olterbourne: " The Lucetts and the Cressaunts both, The Skotts fought them agayne." See E. B. De See also:Fonblanque, See also:Annals of the House of Percy (1887), and G. Heenan, History of the House of Percy (edited by W. A. See also:Lindsay, 1902), both somewhat adulatory and needing See also:critical revision; See also:Tate, History of Alnwick (1866); Hartshorne's See also:paper on the Percys and their Castles in the See also:Newcastle See also:volume of the Archaeological See also:Institute (1852); E. A.

See also:

Freeman, " The Percy Castles " (1875) in English Towns and Districts; G. T. Clark, See also:Medieval Military See also:Architecture (1884) ; G. E. C (okayne), Complete See also:Peerage (1895) , vol. vi. ; Bishop Percy, Northumberland See also:Household See also:Book. See also the See also:article Northumberland, Earls and Dukes of. (J. GA.; J. H.

End of Article: PERCY (FAMILY)

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