14G DORSET. [William de Moltun of Dunster Castle, co. Somerset, &c, s. ami h. of William de Molnm, of the same, by Agnes, his wife, distinguished himself in the cause of the Empreis Maud, of whose forces 1139-1111, he was Commander and is said to have been cr. EARL OF DORSET or SOMERSET, about 1140, calling himself ]VUl'us de Moync, Comes Somcrsetcnsis in the charter of the foundation of Brenton Abbey, co. Somerset, in 1112. He IK. before 1130 and d. before 1165. The title however never appears to have been confirmed to him and William de Mohun (Le Meschinp)), his s. and h. was never deemed entitled thereto. ( b ) The counties of Dorset and Somerset, were in 1 ISO, bestowed with that of Cornwall, by King Richard I on his br. John (Plantaoenet), Earl of Gloucester, who is sometimes considered thereby to have become (inter alia) EARL OF DORSET or SOMERSET.(«) On G April 1199, he ascended the throne, as King John, when all his lionours merged in the Crown. See fuller account, under " Gloucester," Earldom of.] Vincent (p, 474) quotes a charter 14 Aug. (1217), 1 Hen. Ill, whereby it appears that the county of Somerset was given to William (Longespee), Earl of Salisbury, and queries whether he is not shewn to be EARL OF SOMERSET (Qy. Dorset, or Somerset ?), by the wording thereof. Marquessate. John (Beaufort), Earl of Somerset (so cr. lo Feb. I. 11197 1396/7), eldest of the legitimated sons of John {PnOTAGMMT, Styled to ' "of Gaunt"), Dcke or Lancaster, was, 29 Sep. 1397, cr. in Pari. 1 ono MARQUESS ( d ) OF DORSET, but inasmuch as the enrolment of this creation on the Charter Roll is crossed out (with the remark, " Vacat, quia nichil indc actum est), and his creation, by a charter of the same date, as MARQUESS OF SOMERSET, appears a little lower down, the latter would appear to be his most correct designation. As Marquess of Djrsct, however, he was sum. to Pari, by writs 5 Nov. (1323), 22 Ric. II, to 30 Sep. (1399), 1 Hen. IV ; and his wife, under the style of " Marchioness of Dorset," was one of the ladies for whom Garter robes were provided at the feast of that Order in 1399( u ). He was however, dtgrtukd!*) from the Marquessite, 6 Oct. 1399, by the Pari. (1 Hen. IV), and ever afterwards considered as Earl of Somerset, and tho', on 6 Nov. 1402, the Commons petitioned the King to restore him to the name and rank of Mar.jucss, he, himself, was opposed to their request on the ground of the name being strange, or foreign ("estrange") in this realm(B), and nothing further was done in the matter. He d. 21 April 1410. For fuller particulars of him, see " Somerset," Earldom, cr. 1397, under the 1st Earl. (■) i.e. " The younger " see vol. ii, p. 223, note " a," sub " Chester." (•') According to Milles' " Catalogue of Honour," Reginald de Mohun of Dunster (great grandson and h. of the above, who sue. his father in 1213, being then a minor), "received his grandfather's [sic] dignity of Somerset, which his great-grandfather [sic] before had possessed, and was made the second EARL OF SOMERSET, by gift of the Pope, who in King John's time might do what he list in England. The seal or chart of this Reginald hath been seen, concerning the foundation of the Abbey of Nyweham, in which he calleth himself Reginald d* Mohun, Earl of Somerset ami Lord of Dunstere ; this was done in the year 12U0, 45 Hen. III. But when he died, the honour, which the Pope gave him, died with him, and John de Mohun, his son and heir [was] content with the Barony of Duuster." Reginald, the so styled Earl of Some] set, according to "Brooke" (uncontradicted by" Vincent") "lost his title of Earl in siding with the Barons against King Henry III," and d. (1258-59) 43 Hen. Ill and was bur. in the Abbey of Newham. His s. and h. John was the ancestor of the Lords Mohun (of Dunster), 1299-1376. ( c ) See p. 66, note " a," su'j " Derby," as to the various Earldoms supposed to have been conferred by the grant of 1189. ( J ) See a note, sub " Dublin," as to this being the proper mode of spelling the title of Marchio" when translated into English. (°) See Beltz's " Order of the Garter," p. 255. ( f ) At the same time John (Holand), Duke of Kent, Edward ( Plantageuet), Duke of Albemarle [afterwards, 1402, Duke of York], and Thomas (Holand), Duke of Surrey, were similarly degraded. (8) See the curious entry on the Rolls of Pari, respecting this matter in Cotir- thope 's " Observations on Dignities," p. lx. There had been but one such creation
