The Earl of Shrewsbury (pronounced "shrows-bree") is the senior Earl on the Roll in the Peerage of England (the more senior Earldom of Arundel being held by the Duke of Norfolk). The title was created for a second time in 1442 for John Talbot, an English general in the Hundred Years' War.
The first creation occurred in 1074 for Roger de Montgomerie, one of William the Conqueror's principal counselors. The title was forfeit in 1102 after the 3rd Earl, Robert of Bellême rebelled against Henry I and joined Robert Curthose's invasion of England in 1101. These earls were sometimes styled Earl of Shropshire.
The 1st Earl of Shrewsbury was also created Earl of Waterford, in the Peerage of Ireland, and Hereditary Lord High Steward of Ireland, in 1446, and the two earldoms have remained united ever since. The Earldom of Waterford is sometimes called the "Premier Earldom of Ireland on the Roll", as the oldest Irish Earldom, that of Kildare, has been a subsidiary title of the Duke of Leinster for centuries and the Earl held the oldest Irish earldom held by anyone ranked as an earl. If Viscount Mountgarret proves his presumed claim to the 1328 Earldom of Ormonde, the Earls of Shrewsbury would lose this distinction, but they derive higher precedence from their English earldom in any event.
In 1856 the Earldoms of Shrewsbury and Waterford passed to a branch of the family who also hold the titles of Earl Talbot and Viscount Ingestre, both created 1784, and Baron Talbot of Hensol, created 1733, in the Peerage of Great Britain.
At the Coronation of the British Monarch the Earl of Shrewsbury is allowed to bear a white staff, as Lord High Steward of Ireland.
The seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury was once Alton Towers until it was sold to The Tussauds Group. Their seat is now at Wanfield Hall in Staffordshire.
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