11 june 1689 - House of Lords dismisses claims by James Percy (1619–1690?), a trunkmaker from Dublin that he is descended from the Earl of Northumberland and hence entitled to inherit the title and estates. He had first made the claim on the death of the eleventh Earl in 1670, and pursued it for almost twenty years. The lords decided "the pretensions of James Percy to the earldom were groundless false and scandalous and that he should be brought before the four courts of law in Westminster Hall wearing upon his breast a paper on which these words shall be written - The false and impudent pretender to the Earldom of Northumberland". Although he was unable to provide proof, contemporary opinion felt that it was plausible.