The Cliffords were one of the families , along with the Percys and the Nevilles, who dominated the north in the Tudor period, but how did they gain their lands and power?
Discover how the Cliffords, a minor set of gentry from Herefordshire in the Welsh Marches, made it to Skipton, North Yorkshire, through winning renown in the Welsh and Scottish campaigns of Kings Edward I and Edward II. How they nearly lost it all, through backing the losing side in the Wars of the Roses, and how they rose to prominence under the first Tudor king Henry VII.
By 1525 the Cliffords had been created Earls of Cumberland, but with that honour came great expense. George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, tried to make ends meet by becoming a pirate and privateer, but his death in 1605 led to a bitter legal wrangle over the Clifford estates.
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