Eleanor of Lancaster, Countess of Arundel (sometimes called Eleanor

Plantagenet The House of Plantagenet () was a royal house which originated from the lands of Anjou in France. The family held the English throne from 1154 (with the accession of Henry II at the end of the Anarchy) to 1485, when Richard III died in ...

; 11 September 1318 – 11 January 1372) was the fifth daughter of

Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster Henry, 3rd Earl of Leicester and Lancaster ( – 22 September 1345) was a grandson of King Henry III of England (1216–1272) and was one of the principals behind the deposition of King Edward II (1307–1327), his first cousin. Origins He wa ...

and

Maud Chaworth Maud de Chaworth (2 February 1282 – 3 December 1322) was an English noblewoman and wealthy heiress. She was the only child of Patrick de Chaworth. Sometime before 2 March 1297, she married Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, by whom she had seven c ...

First marriage and issue

Eleanor married first on 6 November 1330 John de Beaumont, 2nd Baron Beaumont (d. 1342), son of

Henry Beaumont, 4th Earl of Buchan Henry may refer to: People * Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal ...

, 1st Baron Beaumont (c.1288-1340) by his wife Alice Comyn (1289-3 July 1349). He died in a tournament on 14 April 1342. They had one son, born to Eleanor in Ghent whilst serving as lady-in-waiting to Queen

Philippa of Hainault Philippa of Hainault (sometimes spelled Hainaut; Middle French: ''Philippe de Hainaut''; 24 June 1310 (or 1315) – 15 August 1369) was Queen of England as the wife and political adviser of King Edward III. She acted as regent in 1346,Stricklan ...

: *Henry Beaumont, 3rd Baron Beaumont, (4 April 1340 – 25 July 1369), the first husband of Lady

Margaret de Vere Margaret de Vere (died 16 June 1398) was an English noblewoman, a daughter of John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford and his wife Maud de Badlesmere. Background Margaret was a daughter of John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford and his wife Maud de Badles ...

(d. 15 June 1398), the daughter of

John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford (c. 12 March 1312 – 24 January 1360) was the nephew and heir of Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford who succeeded as Earl of Oxford in 1331, after his uncle died without issue. John de Vere was a trusted capta ...

by his wife Maud de Badlesmere. Henry and Margaret had one son,

John Beaumont, 4th Baron Beaumont John Beaumont, 4th Baron Beaumont KG (1361–1396) was an English military commander and Admiral who served in the Hundred Years' War against the partisans of Antipope Clement VII. Origins Beaumont was born in 1361 at Folkingham Castle, Li ...

KG (1361-1396).

Second marriage

On 5 February 1345 at Ditton Church,

Stoke Poges Stoke Poges () is a village and civil parish in south-east Buckinghamshire, England. It is centred north-north-east of Slough, its post town, and southeast of Farnham Common. Etymology In the name Stoke Poges, ''stoke'' means " stockaded (pl ...

, Buckinghamshire, she married Richard FitzAlan, 3rd Earl of Arundel.also called Richard de Arundel His previous marriage, to Isabel le Despenser, had taken place when they were children. It was

annul Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost ...

led by Papal mandate as she, since her father's

attainder In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditar ...

and execution, had ceased to be of any importance to him.

Pope Clement VI Pope Clement VI ( la, Clemens VI; 1291 – 6 December 1352), born Pierre Roger, was head of the Catholic Church from 7 May 1342 to his death in December 1352. He was the fourth Avignon pope. Clement reigned during the first visitation of the Bl ...

obligingly annulled the marriage,

bastard Bastard may refer to: Parentage * Illegitimate child, a child born to unmarried parents ** Bastard (law of England and Wales), illegitimacy in English law People People with the name * Bastard (surname), including a list of people with that na ...

ized the issue, and provided a dispensation for his second marriage to the woman with whom he had been living in adultery (the dispensation, dated 4 March 1345, was required because his first and second wives were first cousins). The children of Eleanor's second marriage were: #

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

(1346–1397), who succeeded as

Earl of Arundel Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and is used (along with the Earl of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title. The ...

# John Fitzalan (bef 1349 - 1379) #

Thomas Arundel Thomas Arundel (1353 – 19 February 1414) was an English clergyman who served as Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of York during the reign of Richard II, as well as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1397 and from 1399 until his death, an outspoken op ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury (c. 1353 - 19 February 1413) #

Lady Joan FitzAlan Joan de Beauchamp, Baroness Bergavenny ( FitzAlan; 1375 – 14 November 1435) was an English noblewoman, and the wife of William de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Bergavenny of the Welsh Marches. Family and lineage Lady Joan FitzAlan was born in 1375, ...

(1347/1348 - 7 April 1419), married

Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, 6th Earl of Essex, 2nd Earl of Northampton, KG (March 25, 1342–January 16, 1373) was the son of William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton, and Elizabeth de Badlesmere, and grandson of Humphrey de Bohun, ...

# Lady Alice FitzAlan (1350 - 17 March 1416), married

Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent (135025 April 1397) was an English nobleman and a councillor of his half-brother, King Richard II of England. Family and early life Thomas Holland was born in Upholland, Lancashire, in 1350. He was the eldest s ...

(Thomas Holand) #Lady Mary FitzAlan (died 29 August 1396), married John Le Strange, 4th Lord Strange of Blackmere, by whom she had issue #Lady Eleanor FitzAlan (1348 - d 29 Aug 1396) married Sir Anthony Browne.

Later life

Eleanor died at Arundel and was buried at

Lewes Priory Lewes Priory is a part-demolished medieval Cluniac priory in Lewes, East Sussex in the United Kingdom. The ruins have been designated a Grade I listed building. History The Priory of St Pancras was the first Cluniac house in England and h ...

in Lewes, East Sussex, England. Her husband survived her by four years, and was buried beside her; in his will Richard requests to be buried "''near to the tomb of Eleanor de Lancaster, my wife; and I desire that my tomb be no higher than hers, that no men at arms, horses, hearse, or other pomp, be used at my funeral, but only five torches...as was about the corpse of my wife, be allowed''." The memorial effigies raised to Eleanor and her husband Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel, now in

Chichester Cathedral Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, England. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of ...

, are the subject of the celebrated

Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, ''The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, ''Jill'' (1946) and ''A Girl in Winter'' (1947 ...

poem " An Arundel Tomb."

Ancestry

Sources

*Fowler, Kenneth. ''The King's Lieutenant'', 1969 * Nicolas, Nicholas Harris. ''Testamenta Vetusta'', 1826. *Weis, Frederick Lewis, ''Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700'', Lines: 17-30, 21-30, 28-33, 97-33, 114-31

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eleanor Of Lancaster 1318 births 1372 deaths House of Plantagenet Burials at Lewes Priory House of Brienne FitzAlan family 14th-century English women 14th-century English people Arundel Daughters of British earls