Coat of Arms of Sir William FitzAlan, 16th Earl of Arundel, KG

William Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel, 6th Baron Maltravers (23 November 1417 – 1487) was an English nobleman. Born on 23 November 1417, William was the second son of John Fitzalan, 6th Earl of Arundel (1385–1421), and Eleanor Berkeley (d. 1455), daughter of John Berkeley of

Beverston Beverston is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 132, decreasing to 129 at the 2011 census. The village is about two miles west of Tetbury. Bevers ...

. His elder brother

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, fou ...

, died on 12 June 1435. The title passed to William's nephew

Humphrey Fitzalan, 8th 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, fo ...

, who was only a six-year-old with no descendants. William thus became the

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...

and, when Humphrey died three years later on 24 April 1438, he succeeded to the title.

Marriage and issue

He married Joan Neville, eldest daughter of

Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury (1400 – 31 December 1460) was an English nobleman and magnate based in northern England who became a key supporter of the House of York during the early years of the Wars of the Roses. He was the ...

, and Alice Montagu, ''suo jure'' Countess of Salisbury. Alice was a daughter of

Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury, KG (13 June 13883 November 1428) of Bisham in Berkshire, was an English nobleman and one of the most important English commanders during the Hundred Years' War. Origins He was the eldest son of John Mont ...

, and Eleanor Holland. Eleanor was a daughter of

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 ...

, and Alice FitzAlan. Alice was a daughter of

Richard FitzAlan, 4th Earl of Arundel Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl of Arundel, 9th Earl of Surrey, KG (1346 – 21 September 1397) was an English medieval nobleman and military commander. Lineage Born in 1346, he was the son of Richard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of ...

, and

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 ...

. William and Joan had five children: *

Thomas Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel Thomas Fitzalan otherwise Arundel, 10th Earl of Arundel, 7th Baron Maltravers KG (145025 October 1524) was the son of William Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel, and Joan Neville, eldest daughter of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, and Alic ...

(1450–1524). * William Fitzalan, who had issue. * George Fitzalan. * John Fitzalan. * Mary Fitzalan. William was summoned to the Great Council of February 1458, (and indeed, he was instructed to stop foot-dragging and attend).Maurer, H.E., ''Margaret of Anjou: Queenship and Power in Late Medieval England'', Woodbridge 2003, p.153n He was one of the few nobles to fight first for the

House of Lancaster The House of Lancaster was a cadet branch of the royal House of Plantagenet. The first house was created when King Henry III of England created the Earldom of Lancasterfrom which the house was namedfor his second son Edmund Crouchback in 126 ...

, and then change to supporting the

House of York The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of Yor ...

. He fought at the

Battle of Ludford Bridge The Rout of Ludford Bridge was a largely bloodless confrontation fought in the early years of the Wars of the Roses. It took place on 12 October 1459, and resulted in a setback for the Yorkists. Although this seemed to be a triumph for the riva ...

in 1459 for Lancaster, and later fought in the Second Battle of St Albans (17 February 1461) as a supporter of the house of York. The Yorkists were commanded by his brother-in-law

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick 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 'stron ...

Edward IV of England Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in Englan ...

named him 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 ...

in 1471, probably in honour of his support during the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the throne of England, English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These w ...

. He was Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1471 and from 1483 to 1487.

Notes

References

External links

William Fitzalan, ninth Earl of Arundel
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Arundel, William Fitzalan, 9th Earl Of 1417 births 1487 deaths 15th-century English people *06 *14

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Knights of the Garter People of the Tudor period People of the Wars of the Roses