Earl of Carrick

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Earl of Carrick is a hereditary British title of nobility bestowed many times in the Peerage of Scotland and twice in the Peerage of Ireland .

Scottish awards

For the first time the title ( Gaelic also Mormaer of Carrick ) was created in 1186 by King Wilhelm I for Donnchadh , when, after the death of his father Gilla Brigte von Galloway, he was excluded from the succession to his inheritance in the former Kingdom of Galloway and with the possession of the counts The Carrick region with its headquarters in Turnberry Castle in southwest Scotland was compensated. The region is now part of South Ayrshire .

When Donnchadh's son Niall died , his daughter Marjorie succeeded him , who brought the title to Clan Bruce through her marriage to Robert de Brus . Her son, Robert the Bruce, inherited her as Earl of Carrick in 1292 and was crowned King of Scotland as Robert I in 1306, whereby the earl title became extinct by merging with the crown. After his rule seemed secured in 1313, he bestowed the title on his younger brother Edward Bruce . In 1316 he rose to the rank of High King of Ireland and led an uprising by the Irish against the supremacy of the English King Edward II . On October 14, 1318 he fell childless in the battle of Faughart against the English. His titles expired.

In 1328 King Robert I re-created the title for his four-year-old son David . When he was crowned king as David II in 1329, the earldom merged with the crown. Around 1330 he gave the title to his half-brother Alexander de Bruce . When he fell at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 without leaving any sons, the title became extinct again, was re-awarded in 1361 to Sir William de Cunynghame of Kilmaurs , the husband of his only daughter Eleanor, and was extinguished on his childless death in 1364.

The next bestowal was on June 22, 1368 to John Stewart , who was ruler of Scotland at the time. In 1389 he was raised to the Duke of Rothesay and in 1390 as Robert III. crowned king, thereby merging his titles with the crown. When he ascended the throne, he gave the title to his son David Stewart on April 19, 1390 , who died childless in 1402.

As a result, the earl title was always awarded as a subordinate title together with the title Duke of Rothesay to the respective eldest son and heir to the throne of the Scottish king, for example on December 10, 1404 to James Stewart (from 1406 King James I), on December 16 , 1404 . October 1430 to Alexander Stewart (died on the same day), then on October 16, 1430 to his twin brother James Stewart (from 1437 King James II) and on July 20, 1451 to James Stewart (from 1460 King James III). Although the title was still formally bestowed as a regular hereditary title, with the last four titleholders a tradition of passing the title on to the respective Scottish heir to the throne had developed.

The Scottish Parliament finally passed an Act of Parliament in 1469 that legalized and codified this practice. Since then, the title of Earl of Carrick , like the title of Duke of Rothesay, has forever belonged exclusively to the eldest legitimate son of the King of Scotland. The title is therefore no longer hereditary. If the monarch's eldest son dies childless, the title falls to his next younger brother, if he leaves an heir, the title does not fall to him, but merges with the crown. Underlying principle is that the Earl of Carrick never a grandson, but always a son of the monarch must be, even if the grandson heir ( Heir apparent ) should be. A woman can never be Countess of Carrick, even if she is the prospective heiress to the throne ( Heiress Presumptive ) . This legal basis remained in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom as the legal successor to the Kingdom of Scotland and is still in force today. The current title holder is Prince Charles .

Carrick of Orkney

On July 22, 1628, another parallel Earl title of Carrick was created in the Peerage of Scotland, namely for John Stuart, 1st Lord Kincleven , a son of Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney , himself the illegitimate son of King James V. Mit the title was associated with lands on the Orkney Islands, particularly Eday , where the Earl built the Carrick House as his residence. He had already been raised to Lord Kincleven on August 20, 1607 . Both titles expired with his childless death in 1652.

Irish awards

The Irish title Earl of Carrick refers to Carrick-on-Suir in County Tipperary .

For the first time, King Edward II awarded the title with letters patent from September 1, 1315 to the royal cupbearer ( Chief Butler of Ireland ) Edmund Butler , in recognition of his services in the fight against the Irish High King Edward Bruce (also Scottish Earl of Carrick ). The award deed also included the transfer of the castle and estate in Carrick-on-Suir, but apparently contained no effective inheritance regulation with regard to the earl title, in any case the title expired on his death in 1321 instead of being passed on to his son James Butler . Instead, he was made Earl of Ormonde in 1328 .

In the second bestowal , the title was recreated on June 10, 1748 for Somerset Butler, 8th Viscount Ikerrin . He was a descendant of the earl's first bestowal out of the line of his second son. He had inherited the title Viscount Ikerrin as early as 1721 , which was given to his ancestor Pierce Butler on May 12, 1629 in the Peerage of Ireland . His descendants, the 7th Earl was in the Peerage of the United Kingdom the title in 1912, Baron Butler awarded, of Mount Juliet in the County of Kilkenny, whereby the Earl to 1999 are entitled to a seat in the British House of Lords received . Today's title holder has been Thomas Butler, 11th Earl of Carrick , since 2008 .

List of Earls of Carrick (Peerage of Scotland)

traditional coat of arms of the Scottish Earldom of Carrick

Earls of Carrick, first bestowal (1186)

Earls of Carrick, second bestowal (1313)

  • Edward Bruce , High King of Ireland, 1st Earl of Carrick (1275-1318)

Earls of Carrick, third bestowal (1328)

Earls of Carrick, fourth bestowal (1330)

Earls of Carrick, fifth bestowal (1361)

Earls of Carrick, sixth bestowal (1368)

Earls of Carrick, seventh bestowal (1390)

Earls of Carrick, eighth bestowal (1404)

Earls of Carrick, ninth bestowal (1430)

Earls of Carrick, tenth award (1431)

  • James Stewart , Earl of Carrick (1430-1460), crowned as James in 1437 . II

Earls of Carrick, eleventh award (1452)

  • James Stewart (around 1451–1488), crowned as James in 1460 . III

Earls of Carrick, non-hereditary bestowal (1469)

Coat of arms of the Earl of Carrick (1628)

Earls of Carrick (bestowed 1628)

List of Earls of Carrick (Peerage of Ireland)

Coat of arms of the Irish Earls of Carrick

Earls of Carrick, first bestowal (1315)

Viscounts Ikerrin (1629)

Earls of Carrick, second bestowal (1748)

Title heir ( Heir Presumptive ) is the brother of the current title holder, Piers Butler (* 1979).

Literature and web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 389.
  2. ^ AAM Duncan: Bruce, Edward, earl of Carrick (c. 1280-1318). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004