John Fitzalan, 1st Baron Arundel (c. 1348 – 1379), also known as Sir John Arundel, was an English soldier.

Lineage

He was born in

Etchingham Etchingham is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex in southern England. The village is located approximately southeast of Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent and northwest of Hastings, on the A265, half a mile west o ...

, Sussex,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to Richard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel (c. 1313 – 1376), and his second wife

Eleanor of Lancaster Eleanor of Lancaster, Countess of Arundel (sometimes called Eleanor Plantagenet; 11 September 1318 – 11 January 1372) was the fifth daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster and Maud Chaworth. First marriage and issue Eleanor married first on 6 ...

(1318–1372), 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 widow of John, 2nd Baron Beaumont. His brother was

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. His sister was Joan Fitzalan, Countess of Hereford.

High office

John was appointed

Lord Marshal of England Earl marshal (alternatively marschal or marischal) is a hereditary royal officeholder and chivalric title under the sovereign of the United Kingdom used in England (then, following the Act of Union 1800, in the United Kingdom). He is the eighth ...

by Richard II in 1377, and summoned to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

on 4 August 1377, by writ directed ''Johanni de Arundell''. He served as Lord Marshal until 1379. On 26 July 1379 he was given licence to

crenellate A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...

(i.e., permission to fortify) a stone castle on the site of an 11th-century earthwork fortress in Surrey. Over the years since then the structure was rebuilt and remodelled and its remains are now known as

Betchworth Castle Betchworth Castle is a mostly crumbled ruin of a fortified medieval stone house with some tall, two-storey corners strengthened in the 18th century, in the north of the semi-rural parish of Brockham. It is built on a sandstone spur overlooking ...

Naval victory

Being in command of a naval expedition in aid to the

Duke of Brittany This is a list of rulers of the Duchy of Brittany. In different epochs the sovereigns of Brittany were kings, princes, and dukes. The Breton ruler was sometimes elected, sometimes attained the position by conquest or intrigue, or by hereditary r ...

, he defeated the French fleet off the coast of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

Death at sea

Commanding a force with the purpose of bringing relief to the

, Sir John was compelled to wait for stronger winds. During this wait he decided to take refuge in a nunnery, where his men "took no notice of the sanctity of the place and... violently assaulted and raped"Thomas Walsingham, "Chronica Maiora" those they found inside. Further to this Sir John "allowed his men to ransack the countryside as they liked and to impoverish the people". When the force eventually set out to sea, carrying with them goods stolen from a nearby church and under a pronouncement of excommunication from the wronged priests, the expedition was caught in a storm. Thomas Walsingham reports that during the panic of the storm, Sir John murdered those of his men who refused to make for shore for fear of being shipwrecked upon the rocks. Subsequently, after safely arriving on an island off the Irish coast, Sir John and his boat captain were swept back into the sea and drowned. According to Thomas Walsingham's story, FitzAlan's men profaned a convent at or near

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, and abducted many of its occupants. The fleet was then pursued by a violent tempest, when the wretched nuns who had been carried off were thrown overboard to lighten the ships. The vessels were, however, wrecked on the Irish coast, near

Scarriff Scarriff Central Statistics Office, Census 2002Population of Towns ordered by County and size, 1996 and 2002 or Scariff () is a large village in east County Clare, Ireland, situated in the midwest of Ireland. The town is on the West end of Loug ...

according to some authorities, but at Cape Clear Island according to others. Sir John Arundell, together with his esquires, and other men of high birth, were drowned, and twenty-five ships were lost with most of their crews.

Froissart Jean Froissart ( Old and Middle French: '' Jehan'', – ) (also John Froissart) was a French-speaking medieval author and court historian from the Low Countries who wrote several works, including ''Chronicles'' and ''Meliador'', a long Arthuria ...

's account of the event differs essentially from Walsingham's, in the omission of the story of the desecration of the convent.

Burial

He was buried in Lewes, Sussex.

Marriage and children

On 17 February 1358, FitzAlan married

Eleanor Maltravers Eleanor Maltravers, or Mautravers, ( 1345 – January 1405) was an English noblewoman. The granddaughter and eventual heiress of the first Baron Maltravers, she married two barons in succession and passed her grandfather's title to her grandson ...

(Mautravers) (1345 – 10 January 1404 or 1406), daughter of

John Maltravers, 1st Baron Maltravers John Maltravers, 1st Baron Maltravers (1290?–1364) was an English nobleman and soldier. Early life He was son of Sir John Maltravers (1266–1343?) of Lytchett Matravers, Dorset, born by his first wife Eleanor, about 1290. He was knighted, as ...

and Gwenthin. They had at least five children (some references list more): *Joan FitzAlan (D' Arundel) (c. 1360 – 1 September 1404. She married first William de Brien (one son) and secondly Sir William de Echingham. *

John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel, 2nd Baron Maltravers ''jure matris'', also called John de Arundel (30 November 1364 – 14 August 1390), of Buckland, Surrey, was the son and heir of John FitzAlan, 1st Baron Arundel by his wife Eleanor Maltr ...

(3 November 1364 – 14 August 1390), who married Elizabeth le Despenser. *Richard FitzAlan (c. 1366 – 3 June 1419). His daughter Joan married Thomas Willoughby of Parham, a grandson of Alayne FitzAlan, daughter of

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 ...

. *Sir William Arundel (c. 1369 – 1400). He was a

Knight of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...

. *Margaret (1372 – 7 July 1439) married

William Ros, 6th Baron Ros William Ros, 6th Baron Ros (c. 1370 – 1 November 1414) was a medieval English English peerage, nobleman, politician and soldier. The second son of Thomas Ros, 4th Baron Ros and Beatrice Stafford, William inherited his father's Feudal baron, ...

of Hamlake and had descendants

Ancestry

Notes

References

* * * 'The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, 1376-1422', ed. & trans. J. Taylor, W. Childs & L. Watkiss * ''Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700'' by Frederick Lewis Weis, Lines 9–33, 21–31, 21–32, 59–34, 212–34 {{DEFAULTSORT:Arundel, John FitzAlan, 1st Baron 1340s births 1379 deaths 11 Burials at Lewes Priory Deaths by drowning Deaths due to shipwreck Earls Marshal English soldiers

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

Lord Marshals of England Peers created by Richard II People from Etchingham Younger sons of earls