Earl of Richmond rather than the English crown. It was then held either by members of the English royal families of Plantagenet and Tudor, or English nobles closely associated with the English crown. It was eventually merged into the English crown during the reign of Henry VII and has been recreated as a Dukedom. The title Earl of Richmond is associated with the now extinct Earldom, the earlier Lords of Richmond who held the Honour of Richmond, one of the most important fiefs in England, and eventually the Dukes of Richmond. The title Earl evolved from the French-Breton-Norman title Count ("Comte") from the
Edmund Sheffield, 1st Baron Sheffield Edmund Sheffield, 1st Baron Sheffield Edmund Sheffield, 1st Baron Sheffield, of Butterwick (22 November 1521 – 19 July 1549) was an English nobleman, the son of Sir Robert Sheffield (died 15 November 1531, son of Robert Sheffield and Helen Delves) and his second wife Jane Stanley, daughter of George Stanley, 9th Baron Strange and Joan le Strange, 9th Baroness Strange. Through his mother, he was a second cousin once removed of the reigning English monarch, King Henry VIII. Following his father's death in 1531, his wardship was granted to George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, the brother of Henry VIII's second wife,