George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland

Sir George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, KG

Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

(8 August 1558 – 30 October 1605) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

peer, as well as a naval commander and courtier

Courtier

A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...

in the court of Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

Background

Clifford was born at Brougham Castle

Brougham Castle

Brougham Castle is a medieval building about south-east of Penrith, Cumbria, England. It is a Scheduled Monument and open to the public. Founded by Robert de Vieuxpont in the early 13th century on the site of a Roman fort, it sits near the confluence of the rivers Eamont and Lowther...

in Westmorland

Westmorland

Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...

. Son of the 2nd Earl of Cumberland, Henry Clifford

Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland

Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland was a member of the Clifford family which held the seat of Skipton from 1310 to 1676. He was married to Lady Eleanor Brandon, a niece of Henry VIII of England.-Family:...

, he was orphaned by his father's death in 1570. Clifford subsequently succeeded to his father's titles. His guardianship was granted to the second Earl of Bedford

Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford

Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, KG was an English nobleman, soldier and politician and godfather to Sir. Francis Drake.-Early life:...

, who married the young Clifford to his daughter Lady Margaret Russell

Margaret Clifford, Countess of Cumberland

Margaret Clifford , Countess of Cumberland was an English noblewoman and maid of honor to Elizabeth I. Lady Margaret was born in Exeter, England to Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford and Margaret St. John...

in 1577. The Clifford family

Baron de Clifford

Baron de Clifford is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1299 for Robert de Clifford. The title was created by writ, which means that it can descend through both male and female lines. The de Clifford family settled in England after the Norman conquest and were a notable family in...

was traditionally based in the north with lands in Westmorland

Westmorland

; however, life at court meant that George Clifford spent an increasing amount of time in southern England, away from his family's estates. As a result Brougham Castle

Brougham Castle

, one of his properties in the north, was neglected and abandoned.

Life at court

Clifford rose in the world as an accomplished jouster

Jousting

Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two knights mounted on horses and using lances, often as part of a tournament.Jousting emerged in the High Middle Ages based on the military use of the lance by heavy cavalry. The first camels tournament was staged in 1066, but jousting itself did not...

, becoming Queen Elizabeth's second champion on the retirement of Sir Henry Lee

Henry Lee of Ditchley

Sir Henry Lee KG , of Ditchley, was Master of the Ordnance under Queen Elizabeth I of England.-Life:Lee became Queen Elizabeth I’s champion in 1570 and was appointed Master of the Royal Armouries in 1580, an office which he held until his death...

. She made him a Knight of the Garter in 1592 and he sat as a peer

Peerage

The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...

in the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots. He turned to sailing as a career at some point, commanding a ship in the Anglo-Spanish War

Anglo-Spanish War (1585)

The Anglo–Spanish War was an intermittent conflict between the kingdoms of Spain and England that was never formally declared. The war was punctuated by widely separated battles, and began with England's military expedition in 1585 to the Netherlands under the command of the Earl of Leicester in...

. He had little success during the war but was later renowned for his naval battles against the Spanish fleet, and particularly Spanish shipping, in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

. To aid him in this endeavour, he had his own 38-gun ship built, the Scourge of Malice
Red Dragon (1595)
Scourge of Malice or Malice Scourge or Mare Scourge was a 38-gun ship ordered by George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland. It was built and launched at Deptford Dockyard in 1595. The Earl used it as his flagship during raids on the Spanish Main, where it provided additional force to support his...

. He is famous for his short lived 1598 capture of Fort San Felipe del Morro
Fort San Felipe del Morro
Also known as Fort San Felipe del Morro or Morro Castle, is a 16th-century citadel located in San Juan, Puerto Rico.- Rundown :Lies on the northwestern-most point of the islet of San Juan, Puerto Rico...

, the citadel protecting San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...

. He arrived in Puerto Rico on June 15, 1598, but by November of that year, Clifford and his men had fled the island due to harsh civilian resistance.
His buccaneer

Buccaneer

The buccaneers were privateers who attacked Spanish shipping in the Caribbean Sea during the late 17th century.The term buccaneer is now used generally as a synonym for pirate...

ing earned him quite a lot of money, but it seems that he lost so much at jousting and horse racing that he was eventually obligated to sell his inherited lands. Clifford died at The Savoy in Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

. Although he had two sons, Robert and Francis, they died before reaching the age of 5. He had only one surviving child, his daughter Anne Clifford, who inherited the barony and to whom he left £15,000 at his death. He left the vast majority of his estate to his brother Francis Clifford

Francis Clifford, 4th Earl of Cumberland

Francis Clifford, 4th Earl of Cumberland was a member of the Clifford family which held the seat of Skipton from 1310 to 1676....

, who also inherited the earldom.

A cabinet minitaure

Portrait miniature

A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolour, or enamel.Portrait miniatures began to flourish in 16th century Europe and the art was practiced during the 17th century and 18th century...

by Nicholas Hilliard

Nicholas Hilliard

Nicholas Hilliard was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some larger cabinet miniatures, up to about ten inches tall, and at least two famous...

, c. 1590, commemorates Clifford's appointment as the Queen's champion, showing him in tilting attire with the Queen's glove as her favor pinned to his hat.

Armour

George Clifford's tournament armour survives; it is considered the finest surviving garniture from the Tudor period. Holding the title of Queen's Champion, Clifford's armour would have to have been unrivaled in beauty. It was made at the Greenwich workshop originally established by King Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

, and a drawing of it is included in the "Jacob Album," a book of designs for 29 different armors for various Elizabethan gentlemen. Clifford's armour , as it is part of a garniture, includes many pieces of exchange, including a grandguard, an extra helmet, a shaffron and several lance guards. These extra pieces allowed for Clifford to modify his armour for different forms of tournament combat. The armour is of blued

Bluing (steel)

Bluing is a passivation process in which steel is partially protected against rust, and is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish. True gun bluing is an electrochemical conversion coating resulting from an oxidizing chemical reaction with iron on the surface...

steel and etched and inlaid with elaborate gilded designs, incorporating columns of alternating Fleurs-de-lis and Tudor rose

Tudor rose

The Tudor Rose is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the Tudor dynasty.-Origins:...

s, as well as the letter E (for Queen Elizabeth I.) it is currently located in the Armor Court at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...

, next to the two armour of Sir James Scudamore

Sir James Scudamore

Sir James Scudamore was a gentleman usher at the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Born at Holme Lacy, Herefordshire, he was the eldest son of Sir John Scudamore, Custos Rotulorum of Herefordshire and his first wife Eleanor Croft, daughter of former Lord Deputy of Ireland James Croft...

which were also made at the Greenwich armory.

In literature

In Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf

Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....

's novel "Orlando: A Biography

Orlando: A Biography

Orlando: A Biography is an influential novel by Virginia Woolf, first published on 11 October 1928. A semi-biographical novel based in part on the life of Woolf's lover Vita Sackville-West, it is generally considered one of Woolf's most accessible novels...

", The 'Earl of Cumberland' discovers Orlando and his lover asleep amongst his cargo; he believes them to be ghosts sent to punish him for his buccaneering. In his terror, the Earl vows to mend his ways and, in repentance, founds a row of almshouses. Although not explicitly stated, the period of the episode in the novel (shortly after the death of Queen Elizabeth I) would suggest that the Earl referred to is the 3rd Earl.

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