Earl of Salisbury Earl of Salisbury Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in English and British history. It has a complex history, being first created for Patrick de Salisbury in the middle twelfth century. It was eventually inherited by Alice, wife of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. When the Earl of Lancaster lost his titles and was executed for treason in 1322, the Countess surrendered all of her titles to the King, and the titles lapsed. The title was created for a second time in 1337 for William Montacute of the Noble House of Montagu. It was inherited
The Country Wife poets, playwrights, and men of wit, such as John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset, and William Wycherley. Wycherley had no title or wealth, but had by 1675 already recommended himself by two well-received comedies and had been admitted to the inner circle, sharing the conversation and sometimes the mistresses of Charles, who "was extremely fond of him upon account of his wit". In 1675, at age 35, he created a sensation with "The Country Wife", greeted as the bawdiest and wittiest play yet seen on the English stage. Like Charles II, Wycherley had spent some Commonwealth