Upon his death in 1347, the earldom was extinct, and the barony became dormant.
The viscountcy was used as a courtesy title by the heir apparent to the earldom.
His earldom was not hereditary; it merely meant that he was the king's chief man in the county in the way that the sheriff later became.
To lose a dukedom and a marquisate and to be left with only two earldoms seems like carelessness, even though it took a number of centuries to do it!
From-then on, all peerages were personal and ceased to be dependent upon the ownership of the lordship or earldom.
He is not in fact out receiving his earldom; he is actually attending a wedding.
In the old days, one was given a dukedom or an earldom.
But they did not have to give up the title of an earldom, marquisate or dukedom to which they might have succeeded.
