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| Edmund Sheffield, 2nd Earl of Mulgrave | |
|---|---|
| Name | Edmund Sheffield, 2nd Earl of Mulgrave |
| Birth date | c. 1611 |
| Death date | 24 October 1658 |
| Occupation | Nobleman, politician, soldier |
| Known for | Peerage, role in English Civil War |
Edmund Sheffield, 2nd Earl of Mulgrave was an English peer and Royalist figure of the seventeenth century who succeeded to the earldom during the reign of Charles I of England and lived through the turbulent period of the English Civil War and the Interregnum. As a member of the aristocratic Sheffield family with ties to Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, he navigated relationships with prominent figures such as Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey, and William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle. His career intersected with institutions including the House of Lords, the Privy Council of England, and various county administrations.
Born circa 1611, he was the eldest son of Edmund Sheffield, 1st Earl of Mulgrave and Grace Belasyse, linking him to notable houses such as the Sheffield family and the Belasyse family. His maternal and paternal networks connected him to figures like Thomas Belasyse, 1st Viscount Fauconberg, Conyers Darcy, 1st Earl of Holderness, and the Lincolnshire gentry around Normanton-on-Soar and Whitby. Educated in the milieu of aristocratic clients who patronised Trinity College, Cambridge and the Inns of Court such as Gray's Inn, his upbringing reflected the customary connections between county magnates and royal administration under James I and Charles I of England.
He inherited the title of 2nd Earl of Mulgrave upon the death of his father, inheriting associated dignities including the Baron Sheffield title and estates that had been established under earlier monarchs such as Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. His seat in the House of Lords placed him among peers who debated matters involving the Petition of Right, the Ship Money controversies, and parliamentary confrontations with John Pym and other leaders of the Long Parliament. The earldom tied him to the network of northern nobility alongside families like the Percy family, the Neville family, and the Clifford family.
As a peer he served in capacities that brought him into contact with central and regional governance, including county commissions and commissions of array, drawing him into interactions with the Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire, the Sheriff of Yorkshire, and local magnates such as Sir John Hotham, 1st Baronet and Sir Thomas Fairfax, 1st Baron Fairfax of Cameron. His tenure overlapped with ministers and advisors to the crown including William Laud, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, and later royalists like Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon. Debates in which he was implicated concerned the Grand Remonstrance, the role of the Star Chamber, and disputes that involved Oliver Cromwell, Henry Vane the Younger, and members of the Committee of Safety during the breakdown of royal authority.
During the First English Civil War he was aligned with the royal cause, interacting with commanders such as Prince Rupert of the Rhine, James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, and William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle. His loyalties placed him on the Royalist side in campaigns that involved theatres in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, engaging in the contest against Parliamentarian leaders like Sir Thomas Fairfax, Philip Skippon, and Oliver Cromwell. The conflict over control of strategic towns—exemplified by sieges at York, Hull, and Beverley—shaped the fates of peers who led local militias or raised troops under commissions of array and involved him in networks that included George Goring, 1st Earl of Norwich and John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse.
He married into families that reinforced aristocratic alliances, connecting him by marriage to lineages such as the Cecil family, the Cavendish family, and the FitzWilliam family through kinship ties common among peers of his rank. His household management and patronage reflected the expectations of gentry provenance seen in correspondence with figures like Roger North, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, and county magnates recorded in the papers of Sir Marmaduke Rawdon and Sir Henry Slingsby. Such marital and familial links placed him in the same social sphere as peers who frequented court life at Whitehall Palace, engaged with the Royalist exile community on the Continent, and navigated restitution under the Restoration of the Monarchy.
The Mulgrave estates encompassed manors and lands in Yorkshire and parts of Lincolnshire, producing income from agricultural rents, mineral rights, and local market towns such as Whitby and nearby ports on the North Sea. Management of these properties involved stewardship akin to practices recorded in estate books of other noble houses like the Percy family at Alnwick Castle or the Vane family in County Durham, and required engagement with regional legal institutions including the Court of Quarter Sessions and the Exchequer. Like many peers, he faced financial pressures from wartime levies, sequestration under the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents, and interactions with creditors and agents operating in hubs such as London and York.
He died on 24 October 1658 during the Interregnum, preceding the Restoration of the Monarchy and leaving his titles and unsettled estates to successors who would navigate the political settlements under Charles II. His life is recorded in peerage chronicles alongside contemporaries such as Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, John Evelyn, and Samuel Pepys who documented the era’s turmoil. The Mulgrave title and family connections continued into the later eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, intersecting with figures like John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby and contributing to the landed aristocracy represented in debates in the House of Commons and House of Lords during the Georgian era.
Category:17th-century English nobility Category:Earls in the Peerage of England