Kings Earls and Dukes of Cornwall
Kings Earls and Dukes of CornwallHomepage - People

1100BC-Laws based on the code of Brutus.

Cloton Duke of Cornwall.

450BC- Molmutius. Son of Cloton Duke of Cornwall.

elinus.

British King Arviragus (Caractacus)

705-King Geraint of Cornwall. This could also be Gerennius that is thought to be St Gerrans.

Traditionally, there has always been an Earldom or Dukedom of Cornwall and Geoffrey of Monmouth recorded as long ago as the twelfth century in his (Histories of the Kings of Britain) how Corineus, who accompanied Brutus the Trogan to Britain, was granted that a share of the land which is now called Cornwall (Cornubia), whether from being as it is the cornu horn of Britain or from the corruption of the name Corineus.

1086-Robert of Mortain half brother of William the Conqueror.

Land under William the Conqueror was granted on certain conditions. Initially, to keep the King supplied with soldiers in wartime. They were required to train their tenants in military skills. Earl Robert readily embraced this means of keeping a standing army always available, building castles at Trematon and Dunheved, Launceston, to defend his properties against marauders. For centuries Launceston was regarded as the capital of Cornwall with succeeding Earls and later Dukes maintaining the castle there to protect their richly endowed lands in the Westcountry.

1090-William of Mortain (son of the above mentioned Robert) as he is referred to as Fitz Robert there is a possibility that he was illegitimate. William saw very little of his Cornish estates, having been refused Kent in addition to Cornwall he supported Duke Robert of Normandy in his claim to the English throne, in Tinchebria 1106 the rebellion was broken and William captured, he was condemned to lifelong imprisonment. However freed shortly afterwards and became a monk at Bermondsey where he died about 1140.

Henry took the Earldom for himself.

1140-Earl Reginald, (illegitimate) a son of Henry I.

King Steven quelled a revolt by Earl Reginald (illegitimate son of Henry I) and makes Count Alan of Brittany earl of Cornwall.

At present not known when Earl Reginald regained the title Earl of Cornwall.

1175-The title reverted to the crown on the death Earl Reginald

John Earl of Cornwall became King in 1199.

1225-Richard, third or fourth Earl of Cornwall son of king John.

1272-Earl Richard was succeeded by his son Edmund.

1299-Edmund died and the Earldom of Cornwall reverted to the Crown.

1307- Piers Gaverston.

1328-1336 Edward II's son John of Eltham Earl of Cornwall. He was only a child at the time and could take little interest in his Cornish estates and castles, untenanted by any earl since the death of the great builder Edmund thirty years before, and now crumbling away. A host of officials under a steward, a most desirable office, administered the earldom, but at this time nobody seems to have paid much attention to the buildings. Tintagel's great hall was roofless and ruinous, and even Restormel was decaying. Though John Kendell was appointed its keeper for life with a salary of 3d a day and an annual robe.

1337 16th March-Edward the Black Prince son of King Edward III created the first Duke of Cornwall on the 16th of March. He was in fact the first Duke England had ever known. It is important to note that the county and the Duchy are not the same thing. The Duchy is merely a number of estates in Cornwall and elsewhere which belong to the Duke, the eldest son of the sovereign.

On the death of the Black Prince the Duchy and its revenues reverted to the Crown. The title remained dormant during the childless reign of Richard I.

1399-The title Duke of Cornwall was revived, when Henry IV seized the crown and invested his eldest son the future Henry V with the title.

1506-1508-Arther Duke of Cornwall son of Henry VII. he married Catherine of Aragon, but died six months later.

Leaving his younger brother Henry heir to the throne. According to the original charter the Duchy of Cornwall should have reverted to the Crown, as the Dukedom was limited to the eldest son of the king. A little characteristic of Tudor pressure, however, persuaded lawyers that Edward III had really meant "the eldest surviving son" and so Prince Henry succeeded his brother.

1537-Jane Seymour presented King Henry VIII with a son so Cornwall had a Duke again. henry took the opportunity to consolidate the Duchy estates, adding to them the forfeited Courtenay inheritance and another fifteen manors of which the monasteries of Tywardreath and Lauceston had been relieved. Until this time most of the Duchy estates had been to the east, but many of the new ones were in the centre of the county and even west, the Isles of Silly themselves becoming Duchy property.

There was no Duke during Elizabeth Tudor's reign. However the offices of the |Duchy were filled by local gentry.

1601-Elizabeth at her wit's end for money had sold eighteen of the Duchy's manors including Trematon, Tintagle, and Restormel, this she had done without the consent of Parliament.

When James I Stuart came to the throne he invoked the power of parliament and, recovered the alienated estates. His first son Henry became Duke. Two years after which he died.

1630-29th May James following the precedent of Henry VII, transferred the dukedom to his second son Charles.

Under Cromwell England was a republic, there was no longer a King, Prince of Wales or Duke of Cornwall, the Duchy was abolished and an act passed for the sale of "the honours, Manors lands

heretofore belonging to the Late King, Queen and Prince.

At the restoration the Duchy was re-established, those who had bought the estates being either ejected or allowed to remain as tenants.

1952-H.R.H Charles Philip Arthur George was made Duke of Cornwall at the death of his grandfather King George VI.

The Duchy owns and manages nearly 129,000 acres in the West Country, possessions of feudal proportions:

Cornwall-26,000 acres

Isles of Scilly-4,100 acres

Devon-72,085acres

Somerset- 16,460 acres

Dorset-3,840 acres

Wiltshire-3,960

Gloucestershire-1,240

The Duchy is also proprietor of 45 acres of Kennington in London including the Oval cricket- ground.