EXEQUATUR, the letter patent, issued by a foreign office and signed by a sovereign, which guarantees to a foreign consul the rights and privileges of his office, and ensures his recognition in the state in which he is appointed to exercise them. If a consul is not appointed by commission he receives no exequatur; and a notice in the Gazette in this case has to suffice. The exequatur may be withdrawn, but in practice, where a consul is obnoxious, an opportunity is afforded to his government to recall him.
EXETER, EARL, MARQUESS AND DUKE OF. These
English titles have been borne at different times by members
of the families of Holand or Holland, Beaufort, Courtenay and
Cecil. The earls of Devon of the family of de Redvers were
sometimes called earls of Exeter; but the 1st duke of Exeter
was John (c. 1355–1400), a younger son of Thomas Holand,
earl of Kent (d. 1360). John’s mother, Joan (d. 1385), a descendant
of Edward I., married for her third husband Edward the
Black Prince, by whom she was the mother of Richard II., and
her son John was thus the king’s half-brother, a relationship
to which he owed his high station at the English court. He
married Elizabeth (d. 1426), a daughter of John of Gaunt, duke
of Lancaster, and was constantly in Richard’s train until 1385,
when his murder of Ralph Stafford disturbed these friendly
relations. John then went to Spain as constable of the English
army under John of Gaunt; but after his return to England in
1387 he was created earl of Huntingdon, was made admiral of
the fleet and chamberlain of England, and was again high in the
king’s favour. He was Richard’s chief helper in the proceedings
against the lords appellant in 1397, was created duke of Exeter
in September of this year, and went with the king to Ireland in
1399. After the accession of his brother-in-law, Henry IV.,
Holand was tried for his share in the events of 1397, and was
reduced to his earlier rank of earl of Huntingdon. He was
soon plotting against Henry’s life, and after the projected
rising in 1400 had failed he was captured and was probably
beheaded at Pleshey in Essex on the 16th of January 1400.[1]
He was afterwards attainted and his titles and lands were
forfeited.
In 1416 Thomas Beaufort, earl of Dorset, was created duke of Exeter; but this dignity was only granted for his life, and consequently it expired on his death in 1426.
In 1416 John (1395–1447), son of John Holand, the former duke of Exeter, was allowed to take his father’s earldom of Huntingdon. This nobleman rendered great assistance to Henry V. in his conquest of France, fighting both on sea and on land. He was marshal of England, admiral of England and governor of Aquitaine under Henry VI.; was one of the king’s representatives at the conference of Arras in 1435; and in 1443 was created duke of Exeter. When he died on the 5th of August 1447 his titles passed to his son Henry (1430–1473), who, although married to Anne (d. 1476), daughter of Richard, duke of York, fought for Henry VI. during the Wars of the Roses. After having been imprisoned by York at Pontefract, he was present at the battle of Towton, sailed with Henry’s queen, Margaret of Anjou, to Flanders in 1463, and was wounded at Barnet in 1471. In 1461 he had been attainted and his dukedom declared forfeited, and he died without sons, probably in 1473.
Coming to the family of Courtenay the title of marquess of Exeter was borne by Henry Courtenay (c. 1496–1538), earl of Devon, who was made a marquess in 1525. A grandson of Edward IV., Courtenay was a prominent figure at the court of Henry VIII. until Thomas Cromwell rose to power, when his high birth, his great wealth and his independent position made him an object of suspicion. Some slight discontent in the west of England gave the occasion for his arrest, and he was tried and beheaded on the 9th of December 1538. A few days later he was declared a traitor and his titles were forfeited; although his only son, Edward (c. 1526–1556), who was restored to the earldom of Devon in 1553 and was a suitor for the hand of Queen Mary, is sometimes called marquess of Exeter.
The title of earl of Exeter was first bestowed upon the Cecils (see Cecil: Family) in 1605 when Thomas, 2nd Lord Burghley (1542–1623), the eldest son of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, was made earl of Exeter by James I. Thomas had been a member of parliament during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who knighted him in 1575, and had fought under the earl of Leicester in the Netherlands. After his father’s death in 1598 he became president of the Council of the North and was made a knight of the Garter. He died on the 7th or 8th of February 1623. His direct descendants continued to bear the title of earl of Exeter, and in 1801 Henry (1754–1804), the 10th earl, was advanced to the dignity of marquess of Exeter, the present marquess being his lineal descendant. It may be noted that the 1st marquess is Tennyson’s “lord of Burghley.”
See G. E. C(okayne), Complete Peerage (1887–1898).
EXETER, a city and county of a city, municipal, county and
parliamentary borough, and the county town of Devonshire,
England, 172 m. W.S.W. of London, on the London & South
Western and the Great Western railways. Pop. (1901) 47,185.
The ancient city occupies a broad ridge of land, which rises
steeply from the left bank of the Exe. At the head of the ridge
is the castle, on the site of a great British earthwork. The High
Street and its continuation, called Fore Street, are narrow, but
very picturesque, with many houses of the 16th and 17th
centuries. There is a maze of lesser streets within the ancient
walls, the line of which may be traced. All the gates have
disappeared. The suburbs, which have greatly extended since
the beginning of the 19th century, contain many good streets,
terraces and detached villas. The surrounding country is rich,
fertile and of great beauty. Extensive views are commanded in
the direction of Haldon, a stretch of high moorland which may
be regarded as an outlier of Dartmoor. The lofty mound of the
castle is laid out as a promenade, with fine trees and broad walks.
The cathedral, although not one of the largest in England, is unsurpassed in the beauty of its architecture and the richness of its details. With the exception of the Norman transeptal towers, the general character is Decorated, ranging from about 1280 to 1369. Transeptal towers occur elsewhere in England only in the collegiate church of Ottery St Mary, in Devonshire, for which Exeter cathedral served as a model. The west front is of later date than the rest (probably 1369–1394), and the porch is wholly covered with statues. Within, the most noteworthy features are the long unbroken roof, extending throughout nave and choir, with no central tower or lantern; the beautiful sculpture of bosses and corbels; the minstrel’s gallery, projecting from the north triforium of the nave; and the remarkable manner in which the several parts of the church are made to correspond. The window tracery is much varied; but each window answers to that on the opposite side of nave or choir; pier answers to pier, aisle to aisle, and chapel to chapel, while the transeptal towers complete the balance of parts. A complete restoration under Sir G. G. Scott was carried out between 1870 and 1877. The modern stall work, the reredos, the choir pavement of tiles, rich marbles and porphyries, the stained glass and the sculptured pulpits in choir and nave are meritorious. The episcopal throne, a sheaf of tabernacle work in wood, was erected by Bishop Stapeldon about 1320, and in the north transept is an ancient clock. The most interesting monuments are those of bishops of the 12th and 13th centuries, in the choir and lady chapel. Some important MSS., including the famous book of Saxon poetry given by Leofric to his cathedral, are preserved in the chapter-house. The united sees of Devonshire and Cornwall were fixed at Exeter from the installation there of Leofric (1050) by the Confessor, until the re-erection of the Cornish see in 1876. The bishop’s palace embodies Early English portions. The diocese covers the greater part of Devonshire, with a very small part of Dorsetshire.
The guildhall in the High Street is a picturesque Elizabethan building, which contains some interesting portraits; among them being one of General Monk, who was a native of Devon,
- ↑ There is some difference of opinion about the place and manner of the earl’s death, and this question has an important bearing upon the privilege of trial by peers of the realm. See L. W. Vernon-Harcourt, His Grace the Steward and Trial of Peers (1907).
