Earl of Northumberland - Percy Family

Percy Family

The Percys, who hailed from the village of Percy in Normandy, had modest estates in Yorkshire, bestowed by the Conqueror on the first of the name to arrive in England in his train, William de Percy, 1st Baron Percy. The family, however, was represented by an only heiress, Agnes de Percy, in the reign of Henry II. Queen Adeliza of Louvain, the widowed and remarried second wife of King Henry I and a daughter of the Duke of Brabant, thought Agnes, with her wide possessions, a suitable match for her own young half-brother, Joscelin of Louvain. The marriage took place and the match produced the line of Henry Percys who played such a large role in the history of both England and Scotland. As nearly every Percy was a Warden of the Marches, Scottish doings concerned them more or less intimately—indeed, often more so than English affairs.

It was the third Henry Percy who purchased Alnwick Castle in 1309 from Antony Bec, Bishop of Durham and guardian of the last De Vesci, and from that time the fortunes of the Percys, though they still held their Yorkshire estates, were linked permanently with the little town on the Aln, and the fortress which commanded and defended it. The fourth Henry Percy began to build the castle as we see it now; but to call him "the fourth" is a little confusing, as he was the second Henry Percy, Lord of Alnwick. On the whole, it will be clearer to begin the enumerations of the various Henry Percys from the time they became Lords of Alnwick. It was, then, Henry Percy the second, Lord of Alnwick, who began the re-building of the castle; he also was jointly responsible for the safety of the realm during the absence of Edward III in the French wars, and in this official capacity he helped to win the battle of Neville's Cross. His son, Henry, married a sister-in-law of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster.