Lord High Steward
The position of Lord High Steward is the first of the Great Officers of State in England, nominally ranking above the Lord Chancellor.
The office has generally remained vacant since 1421, and is now an ad hoc office that is primarily ceremonial and is filled only for a coronation.
At coronations of the British monarch, the Lord High Steward bears St Edward's Crown. The Lord High Steward has the sole legal power to preside over impeachment trials of peers. The trial of peers by their peers was abolished in 1948. In general, but not invariably, the Lord Chancellor was deputised in the felony trials. There was a "Court of the Lord High Steward" which served this purpose when Parliament was not in session.
Initially the position was largely an honorary one. It grew in importance until its holder became one of the most powerful men of the kingdom. From the late 12th century, the office was considered to be bound with the Earldom of Leicester. When the House of Lancaster ascended the throne in 1399, Henry IV made his second son, Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence, Lord High Steward. He held the post until his death in 1421.
The equivalent offices in Scotland and Ireland respectively are the Great Steward of Scotland and the Lord High Steward of Ireland.Lord High Stewards of England, 1154–1421
- 1154–1168: Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester
- 1168–1190: Robert de Beaumont "Blanchemains", 3rd Earl of Leicester
- 1190–1204: Robert de Beaumont "FitzPernel", 4th Earl of Leicester
- 1206–1218: Simon IV de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester
- 1218–1239: uncertain, probably vacant
- 1239–1265: Simon V de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester
- 1265–1296: Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Leicester and of Lancaster
- 1296–1322: Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster and of Leicester
- 1322–1324: uncertain, probably vacant
- 1324–1345: Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster and of Leicester
- 1345–1361: Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, 4th Earl of Leicester
- 1362–1399: John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, 6th Earl of Leicester jure uxoris
- 1399: Henry Bolingbroke, 2nd Duke of Lancaster, 7th Earl of Leicester
- 1399–1421: Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence
Lord High Stewards of England, 1422–present
Incomplete before 1660.Coronations
Trials of Peers
