MARQUESS

marquess, or marquis (fr. _marquis_, ital. _marchese_; from med. lat. _marchio_, _marchisus_, i.e. _comes marchiae_, "count of the march"), a title and rank of nobility. in the british peerage it is the second in order and therefore next to duke. in this sense the word was a reintroduction from abroad; but lords of the welsh and scottish "marches" are occasionally termed _marchiones_ from an early date. the first marquess in england was robert de vere, the 9th earl of oxford, who was created marquess of dublin by richard ii. on the 1st of december 1385 and assigned precedence between dukes and earls. on the 13th of october following the patent of this marquessate was recalled, robert de vere then having been raised to a dukedom. john de beaufort, earl of somerset, the second legitimate son of john of gaunt, was raised to the second marquessate as marquess of dorset on the 29th of september 1397, but degraded again to earl in 1399. the commons petitioned for the restoration of his marquessate in 1402, but he himself objected because "le noun de marquys feust estraunge noun en cest roialme." from that period this title appears to have been dormant till the reign of henry