The Complete Peerage

The Complete Peerage
Name	The Complete Peerage
Author	Various editors (Vicary Gibbs; H. A. Doubleday; Lord Howard de Walden; G. E. Cokayne; Vicary Gibbs; others)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Subject	British peerage, genealogy, heraldry
Publisher	St Catherine Press; reprints and new editions by Alan Sutton; Gloucester; Oxford University Press (select volumes)
Media type	Print

The Complete Peerage is a multi-volume reference work documenting the titled aristocracy of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom from medieval origins through modern peerages. Compiled, edited, and revised across generations, it is used by historians, genealogists, heralds, and librarians as an authoritative source for creation dates, successions, pedigrees, and territorial designations associated with peerage dignities. The work synthesizes archival sources, parliamentary records, chancery rolls, visitation pedigrees, and monument inscriptions to establish lineage and precedence.

Background and Publication History

The project began in the late 19th century under editors associated with institutions such as the College of Arms, the British Museum, and the Public Record Office and was undertaken amid contemporary antiquarian activity alongside publications like the Victoria County History and the Dictionary of National Biography. Initial editorial leadership included figures tied to societies such as the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries of London, while printers and publishers operated from hubs like London and Oxford. Volumes appeared progressively from the era of Edward VII into the interwar period and postwar decades, reflecting changing archival access following reforms to repositories like the National Archives (United Kingdom).

Scope and Content

Entries cover creations by monarchs from Norman conquest onward, detailing summons to Parliament of England, writs and letters patent, territorial designations, and extinction or dormancy events such as attainder or forfeiture in contexts including the Wars of the Roses, the English Civil War, and the Glorious Revolution. The work treats major families—examples include the House of Lancaster, the House of York, the Stuart dynasty, the Percy family, the Howard family, the Fitzgerald family, the Cavendish family, and the Seymour family—and relates them to estates like Arundel Castle, Chatsworth House, Blenheim Palace, and Hever Castle. It integrates material from heraldic visitations, Domesday Book studies, chancery rolls such as the Patent Rolls, court proceedings like the Court of Chivalry, and burial monuments in cathedrals such as Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral.

Editorial Process and Contributors

Editorial contributors included genealogists, antiquaries, legal scholars, and heralds with connections to institutions including the College of Arms, the Society of Antiquaries of London, and universities such as Oxford University and Cambridge University. Primary compilers drew on source collections at the British Library, archives at county record offices like Norfolk Record Office and Northumberland Archives, manuscript collections such as the Coxe manuscripts, and private family papers of houses like the Dukes of Norfolk and the Marquesses of Salisbury. Notable editorial names are associated with the project alongside correspondents from the Linnean Society and active antiquarian networks that included figures who also contributed to works such as the Burke's Peerage and the Alumni Oxonienses.

Revisions and Supplementary Works

Subsequent revisions and supplements were issued to correct pedigrees, add newly discovered source material from repositories such as the Public Record Office and to address peerage creations of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Later editorial efforts paralleled scholarship represented in journals like the English Historical Review and the Antiquaries Journal and intersected with genealogical series such as the Burke's Landed Gentry and national registers maintained by the College of Arms. Reprints, corrected editions, and condensed versions appeared from presses including Alan Sutton Publishing and university presses responding to demand from academic libraries, county societies, and family historians.

Reception and Scholarly Impact

Scholars in fields tied to aristocratic studies, medieval history, and legal history have cited the work in examinations of parliamentary summons, inheritance law, and noble patronage during periods covered by studies of the Plantagenets, the Tudors, and the Hanoverians. Historians publishing in venues such as the Journal of British Studies and the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research have used it alongside archival citations from the National Archives (United Kingdom) and manuscript holdings at the Bodleian Library. Librarians at institutions like the British Library and the Bodleian Library regard it as a standard reference for provenance and citation in cataloguing noble manuscripts and family collections.

Usage in Genealogy and Heraldry

Genealogists, heralds, and antiquaries employ the volumes to trace descent for families including the Earls of Warwick, the Dukes of Marlborough, the Marquesses of Winchester, and the Viscounts of Hereford and to verify arms, crests, and cadency in consultations with the College of Arms or the Court of the Lord Lyon. Family historians cross-check entries with parish registers, wills probated in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, and monumental inscriptions recorded at sites such as St Paul's Cathedral and county churches for families like the Percys and the Howards.

Criticisms and Controversies

Critics have noted occasional transcription errors, contested interpretations of writs versus patents in peerage law, and debates over precedence resolved by later legal cases and inquiries such as proceedings judged by the House of Lords Committee for Privileges. Scholars have compared its entries with competing sources such as Burke's Peerage and regional county histories like the Victoria County History, pointing to instances where modern archival discoveries in collections at the National Archives (United Kingdom) or private deposits altered accepted pedigrees. Editorial decisions on legitimacy, attainder reversals, and presumed successions have invited reassessment in specialized studies of families tied to events like the Jacobite rising of 1715 and the Jacobite rising of 1745.

Category:Reference works about nobility