Editing Earl (section)

=== Plantagenets ===
[[File:Hedingham Castle - panoramio.jpg|thumb|[[Hedingham Castle]], seat of the Earls of Oxford, is in Essex where most of the earl's land was concentrated]]
[[File:Earls Procession to Parliament.jpg|thumb|The royal procession to the [[Parliament of England]] at [[Westminster]] on 4 February 1512. Left to right: The [[Marquess of Dorset]] (second from left), [[Earl of Northumberland]], [[Earl of Surrey]], [[Earl of Shrewsbury]], [[Earl of Essex]], [[Earl of Kent]], [[Earl of Derby]], [[Earl of Wiltshire]]. From Parliament Procession Roll of 1512.]]

It fell to Stephen's successor [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] ({{reign | 1154 | 1189}}) to again curtail the power of earls. He confiscated or demolished illegal castles.{{Sfn|Starkey|2010|pp=166 & 175}} He [[List of earls in the reign of Henry II of England|reduced the number of earldoms]] by allowing them to die with their holders and did not create new ones. During his reign, "the title became a mark of rank, rather than a substantive office: the real power lay with the king's sheriffs and justices."{{Sfn|Green|2017|p=62}}

The real power possessed by any individual earl in this period depended on the amount of land and wealth he possessed that could be translated into patronage and influence. The more land and resources concentrated in a region, the more influence an earl had. The most powerful were the earls of Chester, who [[List of earls in the reign of Henry III of England|by the middle of the 13th century]] were described as [[Earls Palatine|earls palatine]]. Their power derived from owning most of the land in Cheshire. As a result, the shire court and the earl's [[Manorial court|honour court]] were identical, and the sheriff answered to the earl. The [[earl of Oxford]] possessed less than an acre of land in Oxfordshire (most of his land was in Essex), and therefore possessed no power in the county.{{Sfn|Crouch|1992|pp=62–63}}

An earldom along with its land was inherited generally according to [[primogeniture]]. If the only heirs were female, then the land would be partitioned equally between co-heirs with the eldest co-heir receiving the title. In 1204, [[Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester]], died without children. His heirs were his sisters, [[Amice, Countess of Rochefort|Amice]] and Margaret. Amice's son, [[Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester|Simon de Montfort]], succeeded as earl of Leicester, and Margaret's husband, [[Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester|Saer de Quincy]], was created the [[earl of Winchester]] in 1207. This was the first new hereditary earldom created since the reign of Stephen.{{Sfn|Powell|Wallis|1968|p=111}}

An earldom could be dramatically impacted upon by multiple partitions. In 1232, [[Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester]] died childless. His lands were divided between his four sisters with the title going to the eldest's son, [[John of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon]]. John died in 1237, and once again the estate had to be divided between five co-heirs (the two daughters of his eldest sister and his three surviving sisters). Before the land could be divided, King [[Alexander II of Scotland]] claimed the earldom of Huntingdon. While the king's council dismissed this claim, the Scottish king was granted the lands attached to Huntingdon but not the title. This reduced the land available to John's co-heirs and created the possibility of an earl who was virtually landless. Earl Ranulf had been the greatest landholder in England, but after two partitions in five years, the land granted to each co-heir was small. [[William de Forz, 4th Earl of Albemarle|William de Forz]], husband of the senior co-heir, argued that as a county palatine the earldom of Chester should not be partitioned, but this argument was rejected by the king's court. Ultimately, the king himself gained possession of all the lands attached to the Chester earldom through a series of land exchanges with the co-heirs.{{Sfn|Powell|Wallis|1968|pp=162–166}}

In 1227, [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] ({{reign|1216|1272}}) granted his [[justiciar]] and [[List of English chief ministers|chief minister]], [[Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent|Hubert de Burgh]], the earldom of Kent. The terms of inheritance were unprecedented: the earldom was to pass to Hubert's son by his third wife [[Margaret of Scotland, Countess of Kent|Margaret of Scotland]], thereby passing over his eldest son by his first wife. It may have been thought that Margaret's royal blood made her children more worthy of inheritance.{{Sfn|Powell|Wallis|1968|p=147}}

By the 13th century earls had a social rank just below the king and princes, but were not necessarily more powerful or wealthier than other noblemen. The only way to become an earl was to inherit the title or to marry into one—and the king reserved a right to prevent the transfer of the title. By the 14th century, creating an earl included a special public ceremony where the king personally tied a sword belt around the waist of the new earl, emphasizing the fact that the earl's rights came from him.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}

Earls still held influence and, as "companions of the king", generally acted in support of the king's power. They showed their own power prominently in 1327 when they deposed King [[Edward II of England|Edward II]]. They would later do the same with other kings of whom they disapproved.  In 1337 [[Edward III of England|Edward III]] declared that he intended to [[List of earls in the reign of Edward III of England|create six new earldoms]].{{Sfn|Ayton|2013}}