Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester

Charles Somerset
Earl of Worcester
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert Elizabeth West Eleanor Sutton
Issue
Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester Elizabeth Somerset Charles Somerset George Somerset Mary Somerset, Baroness Grey de Wilton
Noble family	House of Beaufort
Father	Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset
Mother	Joan Hill
Born	1460
Died	15 March 1526

Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester (c. 1460 – 15 March 1526) was the legitimised son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset and Joan Hill.

Biography

He was born around 1460 to Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset^[1] and Joan Hill.^[2] He may have married three times, firstly to Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert, daughter of William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, 2nd Baron Herbert, secondly to Elizabeth West, daughter of Sir Thomas West, 8th Baron de la Warr, and thirdly to Eleanor Sutton, daughter of Edward Sutton, 2nd Lord Dudley.^[3] His supposed marriage to Elizabeth West, however, may be an error made by William Dugdale, repeated by later scholars.^[4]

In right of his wife he was created Lord Herbert.^[5] On 1 February 1514, he was created the 1st Earl of Worcester. He was invested as Knight, Order of the Garter (K.G.) around 1496. Lord Chamberlain of the Household of Henry VIII of England. As Lord Chamberlain, Somerset was largely responsible for the preparations of the Field of Cloth of Gold. Elizabeth died bef. March 1513. Somerset died on 15 April 1526 and was buried with his first wife at St. George's Chapel.

With Elizabeth Herbert, whom he married on 2 June 1492, he had one son, Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester,^[6] his heir and successor and one daughter Elizabeth, wife of Sir John Savage, Knt., and Sir William Brereton.

With Elizabeth West, he had Charles, Knt., and George, Knt., and one daughter Lady Mary Somerset of Worcester, wife of William Grey, 13th Baron Grey de Wilton and of Robert Carre.

Notes

1. ^ Burke, John, Burke's genealogical and heraldic history of peerage, baronetage and knightage, (G.P.Putnam's Sons:New York, 1914), 207.
2. ^ Gurney, E. Henry, Reference handbook for readers, students, and teachers of English history , (Ginn & Company:Boston, 1890), 55.
3. ^ Burke, 207
4. ^ Jonathan Hughes, "Somerset , Charles, first earl of Worcester (c.1460–1526)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edition, January 2007 [accessed 1 Sept 2010] (Subscription required for online version)
5. ^ Burke, 207.
6. ^ McClain, Molly, Beaufort: the duke and his duchess, 1657-1715, (Yale University Press, 2001), xxi.

References

• Burke, John, Burke's genealogical and heraldic history of peerage, baronetage and knightage, G.P.Putnam's Sons:New York, 1914.
• Gurney, E. Henry, Reference handbook for readers, students, and teachers of English history , Ginn & Company:Boston, 1890.
• McClain, Molly, Beaufort: the duke and his duchess, 1657-1715, Yale University Press, 2001.

Political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Oxford	Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard 1488–1514	Succeeded by Sir Henry Guilford
Preceded by Giles Daubeny	Lord Chamberlain 1508–1526	Succeeded by The Earl of Arundel
Peerage of England
Preceded by New Creation	Earl of Worcester 1514–1526	Succeeded by Henry Somerset

Persondata
Name	Somerset, Charles, 1st Earl of Worcester
Alternative names
Short description	Earl of Worcester
Date of birth	c. 1460
Place of birth
Date of death	15 April 1526
Place of death