County and duchy of Aumale


The County of Aumale, later elevated to a Duchy, was a medieval fief in the Duchy of Normandy, disputed between France and England during parts of the Hundred Years' War.

Norman nobility

was a medieval fief in the Duchy of Normandy and, after 1066, of the King of England.
According to Chisholm, the fief of Aumale was granted by the archbishop of Rouen to Odo, brother-in-law of William the Conqueror, who erected it into a countship.
Thompson wrote that it was given to Adelaide, William's half-sister, as a dower by her first husband Enguerrand; it then passed jure uxoris to her second and third husbands, Lambert and Odo. In the Domesday Book of 1086, Adelaide is recorded as the Countess of Aumale, with holdings in Suffolk and Essex. In 1087 Odo received the Lordship of Holderness, and at some time before 1090 Adelaide's holdings were passed to their son, Stephen. In 1102 the fief, with Odo's lands in Holderness, passed to their son, Stephen.

Lords

Norman counts:
  • Guerinfroi, lord before 996–?
  • Guerinfroi Aymard ?–1048
  • Bertha of Aumale 1048–1052
  • *Hugh II, Count of Ponthieu 1048–1052
  • Enguerrand I of Aumale
  • Adelaide of Normandy 1053–1087 with
  • *Lambert of Boulogne 1053–1054

    Counts

Anglo-Norman counts:
  • Odo of Troyes 1069–1115
  • Stephen of Aumale before 1070–1127
  • William le Gros 1127–1179
  • Hawise of Aumale 1179–1194 with her husbands as Counts jure uxoris:
  • *William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex 1180–1189
  • *William de Forz 1189–1194
  • *Baldwin of Béthune 1195–1196
  • ''confiscated; to French royal domain. The English kings continued to recognise the title, as Earl of Albemarle''

    French nobility

In 1196, Philip II of France captured the castle of Aumale, and granted the title of "Count of Aumale" to Renaud de Dammartin. It was later held by the houses of Castile, Harcourt, and Lorraine.
After several extinctions the title was re-created in 1547 for Francis, then styled Count of Aumale by courtesy. On his accession as Duke of Guise, he ceded it to his brother Claude, Duke of Aumale. It was later used as a title by Henri d'Orléans, the youngest son of Louis-Philippe, King of the French and Duke of Orléans.
, the titleholder is a grandson of the late Henri, Count of Paris, Orléans heir, and his wife, Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza of Brazil. Prince Foulques, Duke of Aumale, son of Prince Jacques, Duke of Orléans and the duchess, née Gersende de Sabran-Pontèves, added it to his title of Comte d'Eu.

Counts (House of Dammartin)

French Counts:
Through the end of the Hundred Years' War, the kings of England at various times ruled Aumale, through their claims to be dukes of Normandy and later, kings of France. The title of Count or Duke of Aumale was granted several times during this period.

Earls (1095)

In 1196, Philip II of France captured the castle of Aumale. The kings of England continued to claim the Duchy of Normandy, and to recognize the old line of Counts or Earls of Aumale. These were:
File:Seal 1 WilliamDeForz 4thEarlOfAlbemarle Died1260.jpg|thumb|100px|Seal of William de Forz, 4th Earl of Albemarle. Arms: A cross patonce
Aveline married Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, in 1269, but she died without issue in 1274. A claim upon the inheritance by John de Eston was settled in 1278 with the surrender of the earldom to the Crown.

Dukes, first creation (1385)

  • Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, fifth son of Edward III, was created Duke of Aumale by writ of summons on 3 September 1385, but was also made Duke of Gloucester very soon after, and seems never to have used the former title. It was almost certainly forfeit upon his murder while awaiting trial for treason.
''Note: This creation is not listed in several sources such as "The Complete Peerage", which indicates the creation shown below as the 1st.''

Dukes, second creation (1397)

  • Edward of Norwich, 1st Earl of Rutland, first son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, was created Duke of Aumale shortly after Woodstock's murder, but was deprived of the title by Henry IV Bolingbroke in 1399. Edward is referred to in Shakespeare's Richard II as the "Duke of Aumerle"

    Earls (1412)

  • Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, second son of Henry IV Bolingbroke, was created Earl of Aumale along with his dukedom of Clarence, and carried both titles until his death without issue.

    Counts (1422)

  • Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, military commander under Henry V in France, was created Count of Aumale for life only.
In further creations in the English peerage after the Hundred Years' War, Aumale was spelled in the Latinised form Albemarle. For these, see Duke of Albemarle and Earl of Albemarle.