EARLDOM of CORNWALL
Henry Fitz-Count or Fitz-Earl ("filius Comitis"), bastard son of Reynold de Dunstanville, Earl of Cornwall, by Beatrice de Vannes, b. before 1175, was Constable of Totnes Castle 1209; Governor of Porchester Castle 1211; Sheriff of Cornwall, Constable of Launceston Castle, and Warden of the Stannaries 1215, and had, in that year, a grant of the county of Cornwall from King John, to farm till the realm should be at peace. This grant was renewed by Henry III, by patent dated at Gloucester 7 Feb 1216/7, with the words that he should hold the same sicut Reginaldus Comes Cornubie pater suus illum tennit, but though he is called Earl of Cornwall, in a charter to the Priory of St. Nicholas, Exeter, such a grant can hardly be regarded as carrying with it the Earldom. He resigned the said County to the King in 1220, when he took the cross, and d. a Crusader in 1222. [Complete Peerage III:430]