The Worlds of Katherine Kurtz

Katherine Kurtz and Scott MacMillan => Katherine's Corner => Q&A with Katherine => Topic started by: Bynw on January 20, 2017, 09:09:26 AM

Title: Question on Rhendall and Claibourne
Post by: Bynw on January 20, 2017, 09:09:26 AM
Philip van Lidth de Jeude asks: "I remember that the Earl of Rhendall is the heir of the Duke of Claibourne, it being established that way when Cinhil first created Sighere I Duke of Claibourne with Ewan as Earl of Rhendall, the earldom to be the possession of the heir of Claibourne and to revert to the Duke upon accession to the primary title when no heir as yet existed. At this point, Saer de Traherne, who I understand is the son of Brion de Traherne and a Countess of Rhendall, is the Earl of Rhendall. Is he then the grandson of Duke Ewan, the hereditary Marshall of Gwynedd, and thus the future Duke of Claibourne? Or has the Earldom of Rhendall been made independent of the Duchy of Claibourne with the accession of the de Traherne family to it through inheritance via a daughter of the ducal family?"


Katherine replies: "The Earldom of Rhendall was, indeed first established as a secondary title of the Duke of Claibourne, to be held by his heir. However, the wars of 948 claimed the lives of both Graham Third Duke of Claibourne and his son Ewan, Earl of Rhendall and Master of Claibourne, Ewan dying first. (Hence, he was never duke.) Accordingly, Graham's heirs were his minor grandchildren, Ewan junior, who became the fourth duke, and a daughter called Gillian. Because both children were so young, aged seven and six respectively, the king determined to separate the two titles and, in 951, married off both children to suitable spouses: Ewan to Marielle of Sheele, four years his senior, and the nine-year-old Gillian to Sir Brion Treharne, aged twenty-one, by which marriage Sir Brion became Earl of Rhendall. It is from this union that Saer de Treharne descends, and also his sister Meraude, who married Prince Nigel Haldane."