Lord of the Isle of Wight

The Lord of the Isle of Wight was a feudal title, at times hereditary and at others by royal appointment in the Kingdom of England, before the development of an extensive peerage system.

William the Conqueror granted the lordship of the Isle of Wight to his relative and close counsellor William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford in 1066. He died in 1071 and was succeeded by his son Roger de Breteuil, 2nd Earl of Hereford, whose surname was taken from his father's lordship of Breteuil in Normandy. Roger is known to history for his role in the Revolt of the Earls, for which he was deprived of his lands and titles and imprisoned in 1075.

The next creation of the title was by Henry I in 1101 for Richard de Redvers, who had been one of his principal supporters in the struggle against his brother Robert Curthose for control of the English throne. On his death in 1107 he was succeeded by his son Baldwin, who was created Earl of Devon in 1141. The lordship of the Isle of Wight was thereafter held with the earldom by the de Redvers family. The last holder of both titles was Isabella de Fortibus nee de Redvers, 8th Countess of Devon, who inherited them on the death her brother Baldwin in 1262. Widowed the previous year, she became the wealthiest woman in the British Isles who was not a member of a royal family. She lived in Carisbrooke Castle on the island and exercised her rights and privileges as feudal overlord. On her deathbed, she sold the island to Edward I for 6,000 marks.

The Lordship thereafter became a royal appointment. Its holders were usually close confidants of, or closely related to, the monarch. For example, in the fourteenth century Edward II appointed his favourite Piers Gaveston. Edward's son Edward, Earl of Chester, afterwards King Edward III was also appointed as were the latters' grandson Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York. In the fifteenth century Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester "son, brother and uncle of kings" was appointed, as were members of the Beaufort and Woodville families during the Wars of the Roses. The last appointee, Edward Woodville, styled Lord Scales, who had supported Henry VII in that conflict, died in 1488.