'Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland' (
23 September,
1526 -
September 17,
1563) was the son of
Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland. He also held the title of 14th
Baron de Ros of Hamlake, a title to which he acceded in
1543.
The Earl's mother was
Eleanor Paston. On
July 3,
1536, he married
Margaret Neville, daughter of
Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland, and they had three children:
★
Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland
★
John Manners, 4th Earl of Rutland
★ Elizabeth Manners (c. 1553 – c. 1590) she married Sir William Courtenay of Powderham Castle.
After Margaret's death, he married Bridget, the widow of Richard Morrison. Her third husband was
Francis Russell%2C 2nd Earl of Bedford.
Like his father, Earl Henry held many offices. As Warden of the
Scottish Marshes he sacked the town of
Haddington in
1549, and as Captain-general of the cavalry at the siege of St Quentin under
Mary I of England. Under
Elizabeth I he served successfully and she made him Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire and
Rutland, Knight of the Garter and
President of the North. Not long before his death he completed the building of
Belvoir Castle.
He is buried at
Bottesford Church in
Leicestershire. His tomb, in the centre of the chancel next to that of his father, is of
alabaster and considered unique. The effigies lie beneath a decorated example of an Elizabethan dining table on heavy carved legs, suggesting an attempt to represent a
communion table. Earl Henry is depicted in armour of conventional pattern except that the breast plate is made up of laminated plates. He wears a coronet and his head is supported on a tilt-heaume. He is wearing a chain nearly reaching his thighs, and the
Order of the Garter is on the left leg. He holds a closed book in his right hand and a sword in his left. At his feet is a hornless
unicorn. His wife, Margaret, also wears a coronet and is dressed in the style of the time, with an
ermine-trimmed mantle. Her head rests on a scroll and her feet on a lion.
References
★
familysearch.org Accessed June 2, 2007
★
stirnet.com Accessed June 2, 2007