Lord of the Isle of Wight
The Lord of the Isle of Wight was a title that began when William the Conqueror granted the Isle of Wight to William Fitz Osbern. It was a hereditary title.
The last Lord of the Island of Wight was actually not a lord but a lady. Countess Isabella de Fortibus acquired the lordship when her brother died in 1262. The countess had been widowed in 1261 and became the wealthiest female in the British Islands who was not a member of a royal family. Isabella dwelt in Carisbrooke Castle. She exercised her rights and privileges as feudal overlord of the Isle of Wight. In 1293, lying on her death bed, the countess sold the island to Edward I for 6,000 marks.
The Lordship thereafter became a royal appointment. The last Lord of the Isle of Wight was Edward Woodville, Lord Scales (d. 1488).
Lords of the Isle of Wight, 1st creation (1066)
- William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford (died 1071)
- Roger de Breteuil, 2nd Earl of Hereford (1075 seized)
Lords of the Isle of Wight, 2nd creation (1101)
- Richard de Redvers (died 1107)
- Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon (died 1155)
- Richard de Redvers, 2nd Earl of Devon (died 1162)
- Baldwin de Redvers, 3rd Earl of Devon (died 1188)
- Richard de Redvers, 4th Earl of Devon (died c. 1193)
- William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon (died 1217)
- Baldwin de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon (died 1245)
- Baldwin de Redvers, 7th Earl of Devon (died 1262)
- Isabella de Fortibus, Countess of Devon (died 1293)
Appointed Lords and Ladies of the Isle of Wight
- 1307: Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall (killed 1312)
- Edward, Earl of Chester (became King Edward III in 1327)
- 1385: William de Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury (died 1397)
- 4 June 1397: Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York (died 1415 in action)[1]
- 10 December 1415: Philippa de Mohun (died 1431 at Carisbrooke Castle)
- 1415 (presumably in reversion): Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (died 1447)
- Henry Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick (died 1446) is said to have been crowned "King of the Isle of Wight" in 1444 but never held the lordship.
- 1452: Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (died 1455)
- 1457: Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset (died 1464)
- 1474: Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers (died 1483)
Notes and references
- G. E. C., The Complete Peerage, vol. III (1890) p. 100, note f.
- http://www.thepeerage.com/p10198.htm#i101980, seen 28 July 2013