Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 3.djvu/450

 430 CORNWALL Henry Fitz-Count, or Fitz-Earl ("filius Comitis"), bastard son of Reynold (de Dunstanville), Earl of Cornwall, by Beatrice de Vannes, ^.before 1 175, was Constable ofTotnes Castle 1209; Gov. of Porchester Castle 121 1 ; Sheriff of Cornwall, Constable of Launceston Castle and Warden of the Stannaries 12 15, and had, in that year, a grant of the county of Cornwall from King John, to farm till the realm should be at peace. This grant was renewed by Henry III, by patent dat. at Gloucester 7 Feb. 121 6/7, with the words that he should hold the same sicut Reginaldus Comes Cornubie pate?- suns ilium tenuit, but, though he is called Earl of Cornwall in a charter to the Priory of St. Nicholas, Exeter,(^) such a grant can hardly be regarded as carrying with it the Earldom. C') He resigned the said County to the King in 1220, when he took the cross, and d. a Crusader in I222.("^) II. 1227. I. Richard,^) 2nd s. of King John, by Isabel, da. and h. of Aymar Taillefer, Count of Angouleme, was b. 5 Jan. 1209; was Constable of Wallingford Castle, 12 16; knighted 2 Feb. 1224/5 ^y his '^•5 Henry III, who, a few days afterwards, 13 Feb. 1224/5, granted him, as Richard the King's brother, the county of Cornwall during pleasure-C) This grant, which resembles that to Henry FitzCount above, can hardly be held to have conferred the Earldom; nevertheless, not long after, viz. 21 Aug. 1227, he is officially styled EARL OF CORN- WALL,Q and must be assumed to have been invested with the Earldom in or shortly before that year. He was Count of Poitou before 18 Aug. 1225. (=) Lieut, of Guienne, 1226-27; Chief Commissioner for making a truce with France, 1230; Keeper of the Honour of Wallingford, 1230-31; of the Honour of Knaresborough, 1235; took the Cross, 1236; was on an Embassy to the Emperor Friedrich, 1237; Lord of the forest of Dartmoor, 1239; Com. in Chief of the Crusaders, 1240-41, when he entered into a truce with the Soldan of Babylon. Joint Plenipotentiary to France, and Ambassa- C) "No. 120. C. Henrici filii Comitis Com. Cornubie." {Index to the Cartulary of St. Nicholas's Priory, in Coll. Top. et Gen., vol. i, p. 186). V.G. ('') See an article by Vicary Gibbs in Genealogist, N.S., vol. xx, pp. 10, 11, which collects the evidence as to whether or not he ever was Earl of Cornwall. Brooke and Mills ignore the Earldom, Dugdale and J. H. Round are of opinion that no Earldom passed by the grant, Planche calls it "a nice point," Vincent calls him "Earl of Cornwall as I conceive." In the Close and Patent Rolls between 1 21 7 and 1220 he is never otherwise styled than "Filius Comitis" or "Filius Reginaldi." V.G. [') Brooke, uncontradicted by Vincent, says that he d. in Gascony. {^) See note "d " on preceding page. ('') The Comitatus of Cornwall was given by charter, 10 Aug. 1231, "habendum et tenendum de nobis et heredibus nostris ipsi Comiti et heredibus suis." (') Close Roll oi that date, and Charter Roll, 20 Oct. 1227. No precise date can be given when he became Earl. V.G. (g) Close Roll. V.G.