Maud of Lancaster (4 April 1340 – 10 April 1362), also known as Matilda, Countess of Hainault, was a 14th-century English noblewoman who married into the Bavarian ducal family. The eldest daughter of

Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster (– 23 March 1361) was an English statesman, diplomat, soldier, and Christian writer. The owner of Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, Grosmont was a member of the House of Plantagenet, which was ruling o ...

and

Earl of Leicester Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837. Early creatio ...

, and his wife Isabel de Beaumont, she was born at

Bolingbroke Castle Bolingbroke Castle is a ruined castle in Bolingbroke (now Old Bolingbroke) in Lincolnshire, England. Construction Most of the castle is built of Spilsby greenstone, as are several nearby churches. The local greenstone is a limestone that pr ...

Lindsey Lindsey may refer to : Places Canada * Lindsey Lake, Nova Scotia England * Parts of Lindsey, one of the historic Parts of Lincolnshire and an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 ** East Lindsey, an administrative district in Lincolnshire, ...

Marriages

She was married firstly to Ralph Stafford, son of

Ralph Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford, 2nd Baron Stafford (24 September 1301 – 31 August 1372), KG, of Stafford Castle and Madeley Castle in Staffordshire, was an English nobleman and a notable soldier during the Hundred Years' War agai ...

, whilst still a child. Following his death, she married secondly, in 1352, to

William I, Duke of Bavaria William I, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing (Frankfurt am Main, 1330–1389, Le Quesnoy), was the second son of Emperor Louis IV and Margaret II of Hainaut. He was also known as William V, Count of Holland, as William III, Count of Hainaut and ...

, a member of the

Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate ...

Bavarian royal family.

Inheritance

The Duchy of Lancaster (First Creation) became extinct upon her father's death in 1361, however Maud became co-heiress, with her sister

Blanche of Lancaster Blanche of Lancaster (25 March 1342 – 12 September 1368) was a member of the English royal House of Plantagenet and the daughter of the kingdom's wealthiest and most powerful peer, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster. She was the first w ...

, to her father's estates and remaining titles. The title Earl of Leicester passed to her second husband who was confined due to insanity from 1358 until death in 1389, whilst the Earldom of Lancaster passed to her younger sister's husband, John of Gaunt. Maud died a year later without surviving issue (her only child, a daughter by William V, having died in 1356), so the remainder of her father's inheritance passed to Blanche and John of Gaunt upon her death. That inheritance provided the political and financial foundation of the House of Lancaster, with the Lancastrian King Henry IV of England being Maud's nephew.

Ancestry

References

Citations

Sources

* Mosley, Charles (ed.) ''Burke's Peerage and Baronetage'', 106th edition. (Crans: Burke's Peerage, 1999) vol. 1, p. 228. * Weir, Alison. ''Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy'' (London: The Bodley Head, 1999), p. 76. 1339 births 1362 deaths Maud Maud Leicester Daughters of English dukes Maud Countesses of Holland Countesses of Hainaut 14th-century German women 14th-century German nobility 14th-century English nobility 14th-century English women {{England-earl-stub