Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 1.djvu/75

 ALBANY— ALBEMARLE. 53 Mnv 1881 was cr. BARON ARKLOW, EARL OF CLARENCE. AND DUKE OF ALBANY. Appointed Col. in tlie Army awl Hon. Col. 3rd Seaforth Highlanders, 1882. He m. 27 April 1882 at St. George's Chapel. Windsor, &6lene-Fred6rique> Auguste. 4th da. of George-Victor, reigning l'uiNci: of Waldeck and Pyr'Ioxt, by Hclene-Vilhelniine-Henriette-Patiline-Mariamie, da. of William, Di'KF. OF Nassau. In the prime of a most useful and active life, to the great grief of all the nation, he d. suddenly, s.p.m.l") at the Villa Nevada. Cannes, in the South of Frauce, 28 March 1SS4, in his 31st year, and was bur, 5th April in St. George'* Chapel, Windsor.( b ) His widow- was 6. 17 Feb. 1881, ALBEMARLE. ( c ) " The origin of this title is probably to be found in the possessions held by Eudo de Blob, Count of Champagne, at Albemarle in Normandy, whose wife Adeliza, tmtf- uister( d ) of William the Conqueror, obtained large grants of laud at the conquest of England, subsequently known as the Fee or Honor of Albemarle : in the Domesday Survey sin' is called ' Cninitissa de Albamarle,' and her son Stephen is, at an after period, styled ' de Albemarle, 1 or 'Comes' only, but in r. charter by which he founded the Abbey of St. Martin ' beyond his Castle of Albemarle in Normandy,' he is called ' Stcphanus, Albcmarlensis Comes,' but whether this description refer to him as Count, of Albemarle in Normandy or Earl of Albemarle in England, ( c ) it would now be vain to attempt to discover ; it may, however, be presumed that the Norman Counts who accompanied the Conqueror to England would not deem their dignity augmented by the acquisition of a title taken from the Saxon Ealdormen or Earls, and, Normandy being united to England, the Counts of the former (no longer aliens in the country they had conquered) were probably considered during the reigns of the Conqueror arid his successors for several generations, as having the same rank with those ' Comites ' or Earls of England, who derived their titles exclusively from their ( a ) It is possible that a posthumous s. and h. to his honours may yet (June, 1884) be born. ( b ) In the loading article of " the Times " newspaper, 29 March, 1884, occurs the following notice of him: — "Though young in years and not arrived at the age at which most men born in high station feel constrained to concern themselves much with the grave aspects and circumstances of life, Prince Leopold had long ago, by unmistakable signs, announced what was to be the colour and tenour of liis avocations. The career which was plainly marked out for him, and which he had already made his own, was not unworthy for any English Prince, however ambitious, to aspire to. His tastes were, for the most part, those of the scholar. In all his speeches was heard a rare note of culture, refinement, and reflection. He delighted in the pursuits which his Father had followed: and, English by birth, he was able to throw himself completely into our literary and social movements." " His services, we all know, were cheerfully given whenever they could advance the literary, scientific, and philanthropic objects which he had so much at heart ; and on those subjects he uniformly spoke with a clearness and force which promised that 'when, with full experience, his faculties had mellowed, he would be a potent power and influence for good. What nobler and more useful career could bo conceived than that designed for him by common consent ?" {') " The ancient town of Albemarle, or, as it was afterwards called Aubemarlc and Aumarlc, now softened into Auiw'tlc, is situated upon the river Bresla. at the distance of four leagues north from the high road to Rouen, and carries on a considerable manufactory of stuft's called Aumale Sergei, which are much worn by the common people in Frauce. Near the site of the old castle stands the Benedictine Abbey of St. Martin d'Acy, built partly on the same Spot where the ancient parochial church of St. Martin d'Acceio, or d'Acey, formerly stood. It owes its primary foundation to Adeliza, Countess of Albemarle." See Ducarel's " Ang. Norm. Antiq.," p. 0. The title of Due n'AuMALU (in France) was conferred by Louis Philippe, King of the French (1830-48) on his 4th s. Henri, 4. 16 Jan. 182'-'. (*) She appears however to have been his whole sister, being (tho' illegit.) by the Sane parents. (°) The Kings of England, as Dukes of Normandy, or titular Kings of France, appear occasionally to have cr. an English Peerage, the title of which was taken from some place in their foreign territory, such as ALBEMARLE hi 1385, 1397, 1411, 1423, I860, anil 1097 ; as also (perhaps) Tankkhvii.le in 1695 and 1714, the two respective grantees of which last title were descended from Sir John Grey, or. Earl of Tas- Xf.uyillb in Normandy, by Hen. VI.