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| Available on Amazon |
Hello, happy readers! We are in for a treat today. Regina Jeffers is back and she has another new release, The Earl Claims His Comfort: Book 2 in the Twins’ Trilogy. Isn't that exciting news! I always love knowing this author has a new book. Today, Regina talks to us about inheriting a Peerage during Regency times. I love her research and found this post fascinating and informative. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Speaking of enjoyment...wait until you read the excerpt she brought with her! I for one, am ready for more of this book! Thank you, Regina Jeffers, for giving us a teaser! Now, I'll turn the post over to you,
Inheriting
a Peerage During the Regency
The manner in which a peerage is
passed from one generation to the next depends upon how it was created. A
peerage/title can be created by a writ of summons, which means the individual
is summoned to Parliament to present himself before the House of Lords to prove
he is the proper heir, or by letters patent, which actually creates a new
peerage and names the dignity in question. Peerages originally created by writ
are generally baronies. A feudal barony was the highest degree of feudal land
tenure. William the Conqueror established his favored followers as barons by
enfeoffing them as tenants-in-chief with great fiefdoms. There were none of the
other titles invented when baronies (except earls, which then were exclusively
sons or cousins of the sovereign) were first established. The ones which
survive are naturally the most ancient titles. A writ entitled the peerage to
pass to the "heirs general," not the "heirs male" as
specified in almost all Letters Patent peerages.
Although some peerages are created
for life and cannot be inherited, most peerages are created to be hereditary,
to be passed from father to son or to another appropriate heir. The person
holding the title cannot will it to another, even if, for example, he despised
his eldest son, the son would still receive the title/peerage after his
father’s death. [Remember this has nothing to do with wealth or unentailed
property. The father could leave his despised son a debt-ridden estate and
title, while leaving his wealth to whomever he pleased.] The terms of the
original creation determines how the peerage passes from one individual to
another. Generally, it passes from father to son.
Yet, what happens if there is no
son available to succeed the man? Let us look at the perfect scenario to
explain this situation. William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of
Devonshire (May 1790 - January 1858) was known as the “Bachelor Duke.” He
intended to marry Lady Caroline Ponsonby, but she chose William Lamb, 2nd
Viscount Melbourne, over him; therefore, he never married. Without a legitimate
son to succeed the 6th Duke, upon his passing, those in charge had to go back
one generation, to the 6th Duke’s father, William Cavendish, 5th Duke of
Devonshire (1748 -1811) and trace the next eldest direct lineal descendant.
Oops! Guess what? Although he was
married twice (first to Lady Georgiana Spencer and then to Lady Elizabeth
Foster - you remember that whole mess from the movie “The Duchess”) the 5th
Duke of Devonshire had only the one legitimate son, William Cavendish, who was
the 6th Duke of Devonshire.
Therefore, those seeking the 6th
Duke’s successor had to go back one more generation to the 4th Duke of
Devonshire, another William Cavendish (1720 - 1764). Now, the 4th Duke had two
sons: William, who was the 5th Duke, and Lord George Cavendish. Lord George
died while his nephew William served as the 6th Duke; otherwise upon William’s
death, Lord George would have become the 7th Duke. However, Lord George
produced a son, Mr. William Cavendish (1783-1812), who also died during the 6th
Duke’s lifetime, but that particular Mr. William Cavendish produced a son,
another Mr. William Cavendish (1808 - 1891), who was 50 years of age when the
6th Duke of Devonshire passed. That William Cavendish became the 7th Duke of
Devonshire. [Note: If Lord George had no son or grandson, those in power would
have continued to search through the descendants of the 3rd Duke, 2nd Duke, and
1st Duke of Devonshire to find an heir. The line passes from through the eldest
of the title holders sons and then through his other sons and surviving
legitimate male issue.] If there are no legitimate surviving male descendants,
then the title becomes “extinct.”
“However, if there was a legitimate
surviving male descendant of his father, the 3rd Earl of
Devonshire, then that person would inherit the earldom. In this way
distant cousins can sometimes inherit lesser titles while the highest peerage
dies out. What's most important to remember is that if a man inherits a peerage,
it is because he is the eldest surviving legitimate male who can trace a direct
(father to son) lineage back to an earlier holder of the peerage. In other
words, he doesn't inherit because he was the brother or the cousin or the uncle
of his predecessor, but because his own father, or grandfather, or
great-grandfather, or great-great-grandfather, etc., was an earlier holder of
the peerage. ["Eldest" in this context doesn't mean that he happens
to be the oldest of several different living men who can trace a direct line back to an earlier holder of the
peerage, but rather that his line is the eldest, i.e., eldest
son of eldest son; all other lines senior to his have died out.]”
(“Hereditary Peerages” https://www.chinet.com/~laura/html/titles03.html)
Letters patent customarily state
the order of descent, usually through the male line. Only legitimate children
(meaning the parents are married at the time of the child’s birth—not
necessarily the time of his conception) are permitted to succeed to a peerage.
Edward IV introduced a procedure in
which the eldest son of a peer with multiple titles can sit in the House of
Lords by virtue of one of his father’s titles. This is called a writ of acceleration.
“In remainder” means
the person is a possible heir to a peerage. A title becomes extinct (the opposite
to extant, alive) when all possible heirs (as outlined by the original
letters patent) have died out. In other words, there is nobody in remainder at the death of the
holder. A title becomes dormant if nobody has claimed the title, or if no claim has been
satisfactorily proven to the Committee on Privileges of the House of Lords. A
title goes into abeyance if there is more than one person equally entitled to be
the holder.
A peerage can become
“extinct.” It can become extinct “by attainder,” which means the king/queen revokes the peerage. This forfeiture
of the peerage comes under Acts of Parliament and are the result of treason on
the part of the title holder. The descendants of the person committing treason
are considered “tainted by blood,” and, therefore, they cannot inherit the
title. However, if all the descendants of the attainted peer die out, then an
heir from a different branch of the family tree—one not affected by the
accusations of treason—could inherit the title/peerage. An extinct peerage
reverts to the Crown. The king/queen can choose to present the title to a
member of a different family—either another branch of the the original title
holder’s family or to a completely unconnected family. This new creation would
require new letters patent and a new line of descent.
_____________________________
Introducing The EarlClaims His Comfort: Book 2 in the Twins’ Trilogy, releasing September 16, 2017, from Black Opal Books
- a 2016 Hot Prospects finalist in Romantic Suspense
Hurrying home to
Tegen Castle from the Continent to assume guardianship of a child not his, but
one who holds his countenance, Levison Davids, Earl of Remmington, is shot and
left to die upon the road leading to his manor house. The incident has
Remmington chasing after a man who remains one step ahead and who claims a
distinct similarity—a man who wishes to replace Remmington as the rightful
earl. Rem must solve the mystery of how a stranger’s life parallels his, while
protecting his title, the child, and the woman he loves.
Comfort Neville
has escorted Deirdre Kavanaugh from Ireland to England, in hopes that the Earl
of Remmington will prove a better guardian for the girl than did the child’s
father. When she discovers the earl’s body upon a road backing the castle, it
is she who nurses him to health. As the daughter of a minor son of an Irish
baron, Comfort is impossibly removed from the earl’s sphere, but the man claims
her affections. She will do anything for him, including confronting his
enemies. When she is kidnapped as part of a plot for revenge against the earl,
she must protect Rem’s life, while guarding her heart.
________________________________
Excerpt...
“Cannot recall
the last time I slept in my own bed,” he murmured to no one in particular as he
stood to gain
his bearings. The room
swirled before his eyes, but Rem shook off the feeling. Of late, it was common
for him to know a dull vibrating sound marring his thinking.
Levison Davids,
the 17th Earl of Remmington,
set the glass down harder than he intended. He had consumed more alcohol than
he should on this evening, but as his home shire often brought on a case of
maudlin, he had drowned his memories. He turned toward the door, attempting to
walk with the confidence his late father always demanded of his sons. Lev was
not trained to be the earl. His father had groomed Rem’s older brother Robinson
for the role, but Fate had a way of spitting in a man’s eye when he least
expected it.
Outside, the
chilly air removed the edge from the numbness the heavy drink provided him, and
for a brief moment Rem thought to return to the common room to reinforce the
black mood the drink had induced. A special form of “regret” plagued his days
and nights since receiving word of his ascension to the earldom some four years
prior, and he did not think he would ever to be comfortable again.
“Storm comin’,”
the groom warned when he brought Rem’s horse around.
“We’re in Yorkshire,”
Remmington replied. “We are known for the unpredictable.”
Customarily, he
would not permit the groom to offer him a leg up, but Rem’s resolve to reach
his country estate had waned. He had received a note via Sir Alexander Chandler
that Rem’s presence was required at the Remmington home seat, and so he had set
out from France, where he had spent the last year, to answer a different call
of duty.
Sir Alexander
offered little information on why someone summoned Rem home, only that the
message had come from the estate’s housekeeper. Not that it mattered who had
sent for him. Tegen Castle was his responsibility. The journey from France had
required that Rem leave an ongoing investigation behind, a fact that did not
please him, even though he knew the others in service to Sir Alexander were
excellent at their occupations. Moreover, the baronet had assured Rem that
several missions on English shores required Remmington’s “special” skills, and
he could return to service as quickly as his business knew an end.
He caught the
reins to turn the stallion in a tight circle. Tossing the groom a coin, Rem
kicked Draco’s sides to set the horse into a gallop.
As the dark
swallowed them up, Rem enjoyed the feel of power the rhythm of the horse’s gait
provided. He raced across the valley before emerging onto the craggy moors. At
length, he skirted the rocky headland.
He slowed Draco
as the cliff tops came into view. When he reached Davids’ Point, he urged the
stallion into a trot. Rem could no longer see the trail, but his body knew it
as well as it knew the sun would rise on the morrow. After some time, he jerked
Draco’s reins hard to the left, and, as a pair, they plunged onto the
long-forgotten trail. He leaned low over the stallion’s neck to avoid the tree
limbs before he directed Draco to an adjacent path that led upward toward the
family estate, which sat high upon a hill overlooking the breakwaters.
When he reached
the main road again, he pulled up on the reins to bring the animal to a halt.
Rem patted Draco’s neck and stared through the night at
his childhood home, which was framed against the rising moonlight. It often
made him sad to realize how much he once loved the estate as a child and how
much he now despised it.
“No love left in
the bricks,” he said through a thick throat. “Even the dowager countess no
longer wishes to reside here. How can I?”
It was not
always so. Although he was a minor son, Rem always thought to share Tegen
Castle with his wife and children—to live nearby and to relate tales of happier
days.
“But after Miss
Phillips’s betrayal and then, likewise, that of Miss Lovelace, I possess no
heart to begin again.”
In truth, of the
two ladies, Rem had only loved Miss Delia Phillips.
“Fell in love
with the girl when I was but fourteen and she, ten.”
He crossed his
arms over the rise of the saddle to study the distant manor house.
“Perhaps Delia
could find no solace here,” he murmured aloud.
Even today, it
bothered him that Delia had not cared enough for him to send him a letter
denying their understanding. He had learned of Delia’s marrying Baron Kavanagh
from Sir Alexander, with whom Rem had served upon the Spanish front. Sir
Alexander’s younger brother delivered the news in a cheeky letter.
“I suppose Delia
thought being a baroness was superior to being Mrs. Davids. Little did she know
I would claim the earldom. More is the pity for her.” A large raindrop plopped
upon the back of his hand. “If we do not speed our return to the castle, my
friend, we will arrive with a wet seat.”
He caught up the
loose reins, but before he could set his heels into Draco’s sides, a shot rang
out. By instinct, Rem thought to dive for the nearby ditch. Yet, the heavy
drink slowed his response, and before he could act, Remmington knew the sharp
sting of the bullet in his thigh.
Draco bolted
forward before Rem had control of the stallion’s reins. He felt himself
slipping from the saddle, but there was little he could do to prevent the
impact. He slammed hard into the packed earth just as the heavens opened with a
drenching rain. The back of his head bounced against a paving stone, and a
shooting pain claimed his forehead. Even so Rem thought to sit up so he might
take cover, but the effort was short coming. The piercing pain in his leg and
the sharp sting claiming his vision fought for control. The blow to his head
won, and Rem screwed his eyes closed to
welcome the darkness. |
| Available on Amazon |
- a 2017
Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense finalist
-a SOLA’s
Eighth Annual Dixie Kane Memorial Award finalist for Historical Romance
Huntington McLaughlin, the Marquess of Malvern, wakes in a
farmhouse, after a head injury, being tended by an ethereal "angel,"
who claims to be his wife. However, reality is often deceptive, and Angelica
Lovelace is far from innocent in Hunt's difficulties. Yet, there is something
about the woman that calls to him as no other ever has. When she attends his
mother's annual summer house party, their lives are intertwined in a series of
mistaken identities, assaults, kidnappings, overlapping relations, and murders,
which will either bring them together forever or tear them irretrievably apart.
As Hunt attempts to right his world from problems caused by the head injury
that has robbed him of parts of his memory, his best friend, the Earl of
Remmington, makes it clear that he intends to claim Angelica as his wife. Hunt
must decide whether to permit her to align herself with the earldom or claim
the only woman who stirs his heart--and if he does the latter, can he still
serve the dukedom with a hoydenish American heiress at his side?
_________________________
Meet
Regina Jeffers
With 30+ books to her credit, Regina
Jeffers is an award-winning author of historical cozy mysteries, Austenesque
sequels and retellings, as well as Regency era-based romantic suspense. A
teacher for 40 years, Jeffers often serves as a consultant for Language Arts
and Media Literacy programs. With multiple degrees, Regina has been a Time
Warner Star Teacher, Columbus (OH) Teacher of the Year, and a Martha Holden
Jennings Scholar and a Smithsonian presenter.
Every Woman Dreams: https://reginajeffers.wordpress.com
Website: http://www.rjeffers.com
Austen Authors: http://austenauthors.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/reginajeffers
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Regina-Jeffers/e/B008G0UI0I/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1479079637&sr=8-1
Also
on Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google+.
Now
for the GIVEAWAY. I have two eBook copies of The Earl Claims His Comfortavailable to those who comment below. The giveaway will end at midnight EDST on
Monday, September 25.
My dear, Regina Jeffers, how could you do that to us? How could you leave us with such a cliff hanger? UGH! As I was reading, I said, "No, no, no! You cannot leave us there!" But you did! Shame on you. LOL It was good even if it did leave us hanging!
Thanks so much for stopping by and for having a giveaway. Two eBooks! Isn't that fantastic, Readers! Whoever wins, you may have to drop in after reading and tell us about this book! Not spoilers, just some good enticing tidbits! :)
Leave us a comment and tell us what you think about the Peerage or the excerpt or both. Your share in the conversation is always welcome. As a reminder, the giveaway ends at midnight Eastern Standard Time on Monday, September 25th. Good luck to all!
