Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester

Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, KG (c. 1460 – 15 March 1526) was an English nobleman and politician. He was the legitimised bastard son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset by his mistress Joan Hill.

Charles Somerset
Earl of Worcester
Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester holding white staff of Lord Chamberlain of the Household to King Henry VIII
Born	1460
Died	15 March 1526 (aged 65–66)
Noble family	Beaufort
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
Father	Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset
Mother	Joan Hill

Arms of Sir Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, KG, showing the arms of Beaufort with baton sinister, with escutcheon of pretence of Herbert, circumscribed by the Garter

Garter stall plate of Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, showing the arms of Beaufort with baton sinister impaling Per pale azure and gules, three lions rampant argent (Herbert, for his first wife, shown here apparently with field inverted as Per pale gules and azure)

Origins

He was born in about 1460, an illegitimate son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset[1] by his mistress Joan Hill.[2]

Career

He was invested as a Knight of the Garter in about 1496. On his marriage in 1492 he was styled Baron Herbert in right of his wife, and in 1506 he was created Baron Herbert of Ragland, Chepstow and Gower.[3] On 1 February 1514, he was created Earl of Worcester and was at some time appointed Lord Chamberlain of the Household to King Henry VIII.[4] As Lord Chamberlain, Somerset was largely responsible for the preparations for the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520.

Marriages and children

He married three times, although his second marriage is uncertain:

• Firstly on 2 June 1492, to Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert (died before March 1513), daughter of William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, 2nd Baron Herbert, in right of whom he was created Lord Herbert.[5] By Elizabeth Herbert he had the following children:
  • Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester,[6] only son and heir
  • Elizabeth Somerset, his only daughter, wife successively of Sir John Savage and Sir William Brereton.
• Secondly to Elizabeth West, daughter of Sir Thomas West, 8th Baron De La Warr. His supposed marriage to Elizabeth West, however, may be an error made by Dugdale, repeated by later writers.[7] By Elizabeth West he supposedly had the following children:
  • Sir Charles Somerset
  • Sir George Somerset
  • Lady Mary Somerset of Worcester, wife successively of William Grey, 13th Baron Grey de Wilton and of Robert Carre.
• Thirdly to Eleanor Sutton, daughter of Edward Sutton, 2nd Lord Dudley.[8]

Death and burial

Somerset died on 15 March 1526 and was buried with his first wife at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

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.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Worcester, Earls and Marquesses of". Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 820.
4. Chisholm 1911.
5. Burke, 207.
6. McClain, Molly, Beaufort: the duke and his duchess, 1657-1715, (Yale University Press, 2001), xxi
7. Jonathan Hughes, "Somerset [formerly Beaufort], 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)
8. Burke, 207

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 1486–1509	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