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 John Fitzalan, 6th Earl of Arundel, 3rd Baron Maltravers (1 August 138521 April 1421) was an English nobleman. Origins He was the son of John Fitzalan, 2nd Baron Arundel (1364-1390), by his wife Elizabeth le Despenser, daughter of Edward ...

(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. Beverst ...

. His elder brother

John Fitzalan, 7th Earl of Arundel John Fitzalan, 7th Earl of Arundel, 4th Baron Maltravers (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, fought ...

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

Humphrey Fitzalan, 8th Earl of Arundel Humphrey is both a masculine given name and a surname. An earlier form, not attested since Medieval times, was Hunfrid. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Medieval period :''Ordered chronologically'' *Hunfrid of Pr ...

, 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 a person with a better claim to the position in question. This is in contrast to an heir app ...

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 KG PC (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 ...

, 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 1388 – 3 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 Jo ...

, 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 ...

, and Alice FitzAlan. Alice was a daughter of

Richard FitzAlan, 4th Earl of Arundel Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl of Arundel, 9th Earl of Surrey (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 Lancast ...

, 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, ...

. William and Joan had five children: *

Thomas Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel Thomas Fitzalan otherwise Arundel, 10th Earl of Arundel, 7th Baron Maltravers (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 Alice Mon ...

(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 1267 ...

, 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 York ...

. He fought at the Battle of Ludford Bridge in 1459 for Lancaster, and later fought in the

Second Battle of St Albans The Second Battle of St Albans was fought on 17 February 1461 during the Wars of the Roses in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England (the First Battle of St Albans had been fought in 1455). The army of the Yorkist faction, under the Earl of War ...

(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 Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, 6th Earl of Salisbury (22 November 1428 – 14 April 1471), known as Warwick the Kingmaker, was an English nobleman, administrator, landowner of the House of Neville fortune and military c ...

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 England ...

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. The most senior order of knighthood in the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British honours system, it is outranked in ...

in 1471, probably in honour of his support during the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fo ...

. He was

Warden of the Cinque Ports Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports is the name of a ceremonial post in the United Kingdom. The post dates from at least the 12th century, when the title was Keeper of the Coast, but it may be older. The Lord Warden was originally in charge of the ...

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 nobility *06 *14

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

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