4i6 DORSET Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury (consecrated 1078, d. 1099), is said by some writers to have been cr. Earl of Dorset or of Somerset about 1070. There is, however, no evidence of such creation. (*) "William de Mohun, of Dunster Castle, Somerset {d. in or before 1 155), was cr. an Earl by the Empress Maud. Some have called him Earl of Dorset, but there is no doubt that his creation was as Earl of Somerset. See that title. John, Earl of Gloucester, afterwards King of England (i 199), received grants of the counties of Dorset, Somerset, and Cornwall from his brother, Richard I, but there is no evidence to show that he was ever considered to be Earl oi Dorset. See Gloucester, Earldom. MARQUESSATE. John (Beaufort), Earl of Somerset (so cr. , 10 Feb. i'i^(>ll), eldest of the legitimated sons of to John,() styled "of Gaunt," Duke of Lancaster, was, 29 Sep. 1397, cr. in Pari. MARQUESS(=) OF ^°9- DORSET, but inasmuch as the enrolment of this creation on the Charter Roll is crossed out (with the remark, Vacat, quia nihil inde 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 more correct designation. As Marquess o( Dorset, however, he was sum. to Pari, by writs 5 Nov. (1398) 22 Ric. II to 30 Sep. (1399) I Hen. IV; and his wife, under the style oi " Marchioness of Dorset, was one of the ladies for whom Garter robes were provided for the Feast of that Order in I399.('^) He was, however, degraded(^) from the Marquessate, 3 Nov. 1399, by the Pari, (i Hen. IV), and ever afterwards considered as Earl of Somerset, and though, on 6 Nov. 1402, the Commons petitioned the King to restore him to the name and rank of Marquess, he himself was opposed to their request on the ground of the name being strange, or foreign, "estrange," in this realm,(') and nothing further was done in the matter. He d. 21 Apr. i4io.(^) For fuller particulars of him, see " Somerset," Earldom, cr. 1397, under the ist Earl. {f) A. R. Maiden {Canonization of Si. Oimund, Wilts Record Soc, 1901) states that he was "nephew of William the Conqueror, being son of Henry, Count of Seez, by Isabella, daughter of Robert, Duke of Normandy," and that William created him Earl of Dorset. He gives no authority, however, for any of these statements, nor does any exist. V.G. C") As to his supposed name of " Plantagenet," see vol. i, p. 183, note "c." V.G. ("=) See vol. V, Appendix H, as to this being the proper mode of spelling the title of " Marchio" when translated into English. (<i) See vol. ii, Appendix B. («) At the same time John (Holand), Duke of Kent, Edward, Duke of Aumale [afterwards, 1402, Duke of York], and Thomas (Holand), Duke of Surrey, were similarly degraded. (^ See vol. V, Appendix H. (8) Not 1409, as in Diet. Nat. Biog. V.G.
