Alice of Saluzzo, Countess of Arundel (died 25 September 1292) also known as Alesia di Saluzzo, was a Savoyard noblewoman and an English countess. She was daughter of

Thomas I of Saluzzo Thomas I (1239–1296) was the fourth Marquess of Saluzzo from 1244 to his death. He was the son of Manfred III and Beatrice of Savoy. He succeeded his father Manfred III. He was also the grandson of Amadeus IV, Count of Savoy. Biography Unde ...

, and the wife of Richard Fitzalan, 8th Earl of Arundel. She assumed the title of Countess of Arundel in 1289.

Family

Alice was born on an unknown date in

Saluzzo Saluzzo (; pms, Salusse ) is a town and former principality in the province of Cuneo, in the Piedmont region, Italy. The city of Saluzzo is built on a hill overlooking a vast, well-cultivated plain. Iron, lead, silver, marble, slate etc. are fo ...

(present-day

Province of Cuneo Cuneo (Italian), or Coni (Piedmontese), is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ( departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Haut ...

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

); the second-eldest daughter of Thomas I, 4th Margrave of Saluzzo, and Luigia di Ceva, daughter of Giorgio, Marquis of Ceva. Alice had fifteen siblings. Her father was a very wealthy and cultured nobleman under whose rule Saluzzo achieved a prosperity, freedom and greatness it had never known previously. She was niece of Alasia of Saluzzo, who in 1247 had married an English nobleman,

Edmund de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract Edmund de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln (c.1230–1258) was an important landholder in Northern England, with a strategic manor at Stanbury which was important for east–west communication, and as Lord of the Honour of Pontefract he possessed Pontefract ...

, and was a more distant kinswoman of Eleanor of Provence, queen consort of

Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry a ...

Marriage and issue

Sometime before 1285, Alice married Richard Fitzalan,

feudal lord An overlord in the English feudal system was a lord of a manor who had subinfeudated a particular manor, estate or fee, to a tenant. The tenant thenceforth owed to the overlord one of a variety of services, usually military service or se ...

of Clun and Oswestry in the Welsh Marches, the son of

John Fitzalan, 7th Earl of Arundel John Fitzalan, 7th Earl of Arundel, 4th Baron Maltravers KG (14 February 140812 June 1435) was an English nobleman and military commander during the later phases of the Hundred Years' War. His father, John Fitzalan, 3rd Baron Maltravers, f ...

and

Isabella Mortimer Isabella Mortimer, Lady of Clun and Oswestry (born after 1247; died before 1 April 1292''Calendar of Fine Rolls,'' 1272-1307, p. 309) was a noblewoman and a member of an important and powerful Welsh Marcher family. Although often overshadowed in ...

. Richard would succeed to the title of Earl of Arundel in 1289, thus making Alice the 8th Countess of Arundel. Her marriage had been arranged by her kinswoman, the widowed queen consort Eleanor. Richard and Alice's principal residence was

Marlborough Castle Marlborough Castle, locally known and recorded in historical documents as ''The Mound'', was an 11th-century royal castle located in the civil parish of Marlborough, a market town in the English county of Wiltshire, on the Old Bath Road, the ol ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, but Richard also held Arundel Castle in Sussex and the castles of Clun and Oswestry in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

. Her husband was knighted by King Edward I in 1289, and fought in the Welsh Wars (1288–1294), and later in the

Scottish Wars The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of ...

. The marriage produced four children: *

Edmund FitzAlan, 2nd Earl of Arundel Edmund Fitzalan, 2nd Earl of Arundel (1 May 128517 November 1326) was an English nobleman prominent in the conflict between King Edward II and his barons. His father, Richard Fitzalan, 1st Earl of Arundel, died in 1302, while Edmund was still a ...

(1 May 1285 – 17 November 1326 by execution), married

Alice de Warenne Alice de Warenne, Countess of Arundel (15 June 1287 – 23 May 1338) was an English noblewoman and heir apparent to the Earldom of Surrey. In 1305, she married Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel. Family Alice, the only daughter of William d ...

, by whom he had issue. * John FitzAlan, a priest * Alice FitzAlan (died 7 September 1340), married Stephen de Segrave, 3rd Lord Segrave, by whom she had issue. * Margaret FitzAlan, married William le Botiller, by whom she had issue. * Eleanor FitzAlan, married

Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy of Alnwick (25 March 1273 – October 1314) was a medieval English magnate. He fought under King Edward I of England in Wales and Scotland and was granted extensive estates in Scotland, which were later retaken ...

, by whom she had issue. Alice died on 25 September 1292 and was buried in Haughmond Abbey, Shropshire. Alice's husband Richard died on 9 March 1302 and was buried alongside her. In 1341, provision was made for twelve candles to be burned beside their tombs. The abbey is now a ruin as the result of a fire during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arundel, Alice of Saluzzo, Countess of 13th-century births Year of birth unknown 1292 deaths People from Saluzzo Italian countesses English countesses Aleramici FitzAlan family Burials at Haughmond Abbey 13th-century English people 13th-century English women 14th-century Italian nobility 14th-century Italian women