English noblewoman
Lady Alice Holland, Countess of Kent
(c. 1350
[1]
? 17 March 1416),
LG
, formerly
Alice FitzAlan
, was an English noblewoman, a daughter of the
10th Earl of Arundel
, and the wife of the
2nd Earl of Kent
, the half-brother of King
Richard II
. As the maternal grandmother of
Anne de Mortimer
, she was an ancestor of kings
Edward IV
and
Richard III
, as well as King
Henry VII
and the
Tudor dynasty
through her daughter
Margaret Holland
. She was also the maternal grandmother of
Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots
.
She was appointed a
Lady of the Garter
in 1388.
Family
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]
Alice FitzAlan was born circa 1350 at
Arundel Castle
in Sussex, England,
[2]
the second daughter of the 10th Earl of Arundel, and
Eleanor of Lancaster
. She had six siblings who included
Richard Fitzalan
, later 11th Earl of Arundel, and
Joan FitzAlan
, later Countess of Hereford, Essex, and Northampton. She also had three half-siblings from her parents' previous marriages.
Her paternal grandparents were the
9th Earl of Arundel
and
Alice de Warenne
, and her maternal grandparents were the
3rd Earl of Lancaster
and
Maud Chaworth
.
Marriage and issue
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]
In 1354, at the age of four, Alice was betrothed to her father's
ward
Edmund Mortimer
who would in 1360 become the 3rd
Earl of March
. The marriage, however, did not take place. Alice married instead on 10 April 1364,
2nd Earl of Kent
, one of the half-brothers of the future King Richard II by his mother
Joan of Kent
's first marriage to Thomas
Lord Holland
. She received from her father a marriage portion of 4,000 marks.
[3]
Upon her marriage, she was styled
Lady Holland
. She did not, however, become Countess of Kent until 1381, when her husband succeeded his father as
Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent
.
Lord Holland was appointed captain of the English forces in
Aquitaine
in 1366, and in 1375, he was made a
Knight of the Garter
. Two years later in 1377, his half-brother Richard succeeded to the throne of England, as King Richard II. Alice's husband would become one of the young King's chief counsellors and exert a strong influence over his brother which led to the enrichment of Thomas and Alice. Alice was appointed a Lady of the Garter, an order of
chivalry
, in 1388.
Together Thomas and Alice had ten children:
[
citation needed
]
- Alianore Holland
(13 October 1370 ? October 1405), married, firstly,
Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March
, by whom she had issue, including
Anne Mortimer
and
Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March
; she married, secondly,
Edward Charleton, 5th Baron Cherleton
, by whom she had two daughters.
- Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey and 3rd Earl of Kent
(1374 ? 7 January 1400), married Lady Joan Stafford, a daughter of
Hugh de Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford
and
Philippa de Beauchamp
, but the marriage was childless.
- John Holland (died young)
- Richard Holland (died young)
- Elizabeth Holland (died 4 January 1423), married Sir John Neville, Lord Neville by whom she had issue.
- Joan Holland
(1380 ? 12 April 1434), married, firstly, as his second wife,
Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York
; married, secondly,
William Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby de Eresby
; married, thirdly,
Henry le Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham
, her fourth husband was Sir
Henry Bromflete
, Baron Vessy. All her marriages were childless.
- Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent
(6 January 1384 ? 15 September 1408), married
Lucia Visconti
(1372 ? 14 April 1424), but the marriage was childless. He fathered an illegitimate daughter,
Eleanor de Holland
(born 1406), by his mistress
Constance of York
.
[4]
- Margaret Holland
(1385 ? 30 December 1439), married, firstly,
John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset
, by whom she had issue including
John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset
and
Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scotland
; she married, secondly,
Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence
.
- Eleanor Holland
(1386 ? after 1413), married
Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury
, by whom she had one daughter,
Alice Montacute, 5th Countess of Salisbury
.
- Bridget Holland (died before 1416), a nun at
Barking Abbey
.
Later years
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]
Alice's husband died on 25 April 1397. In 1399, King Richard was deposed, and the throne was usurped by
Henry IV
, the son-in-law of her elder sister, Joan. In January 1400, Alice's eldest son Thomas, who had succeeded his father as the 3rd Earl of Kent, was captured at
Cirencester
and
beheaded
without a trial by a mob of angry citizens
[
citation needed
]
as a consequence of having been one of the chief conspirators in the
Epiphany Rising
. The rebels had hoped to seize and murder King Henry, and immediately restore King Richard to the throne. Less than three years earlier, her brother Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel and a
Lord Appellant
, had been executed for his opposition to King Richard.
Alice herself died on 17 March 1416 at the age of sixty-six.
Descendants
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]
Alice had many illustrious descendants which included English kings
Edward IV
,
Richard III
(and his consort Queen
Anne
) and
Henry VII
, from the latter of whom descended the
Tudor
monarchs. Alice was also an ancestress of Scottish king
James II of Scotland
and his successors, which included
Mary, Queen of Scots
and
James I of England
. Her other notable descendants include the last queen consort of
Henry VIII
,
Catherine Parr
;
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick
?known in history as
Warwick the Kingmaker
;
Cecily Bonville
;
John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester
and the scandalous
Anne Bourchier, 7th Baroness Bourchier
. Living descendants of Alice FitzAlan include the current
British royal family
.
Ancestry
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]
Ancestors of Alice Holland, Countess of Kent
|
---|
| | | | | | | | | John Fitzalan, 7th Earl of Arundel
| | | | | | | Richard Fitzalan, 8th Earl of Arundel
| | | | | | | | | | Isabella Mortimer
| | | | | | | Edmund Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel
| | | | | | | | | | | | Thomas I of Saluzzo
| | | | | | | Alice of Saluzzo
| | | | | | | | | | Luigia di Ceva
| | | | | | | Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey
| | | | | | | William de Warenne
| | | | | | | | | | Alice le Brun de Lusignan
| | | | | | | Alice de Warenne
| | | | | | | | | | | | Robert de Vere, 5th Earl of Oxford
| | | | | | | Joan de Vere
| | | | | | | | | | Alice de Sanford
| | | | | | | Alice Fitzalan
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Henry III of England
| | | | | | | Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster
| | | | | | | | | | Eleanor of Provence
| | | | | | | Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster
| | | | | | | | | | | | Robert I of Artois
| | | | | | | Blanche of Artois
| | | | | | | | | | Matilda of Brabant
| | | | | | | Eleanor of Lancaster
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Patrick de Chaworth
| | | | | | | Sir Patrick de Chaworth, Lord of Kidwelly
| | | | | | | | | | Hawise de Londres
| | | | | | | Maud Chaworth
| | | | | | | | | | | | William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick
| | | | | | | Isabella de Beauchamp
| | | | | | | | | | Maud FitzJohn
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Weir, Alison
(1999).
Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy
. London: The Bodley Head. p.93
- ^
Lundy, Darryl (1 December 2008).
"Alice FitzAlan"
. The Peerage.
cites:
Weir, Alison.
Britain's Royal Family
. p. 93.
- ^
R. R. Davies, Brendan Smith (2009).
Lords and lordship in the British Isles in the late Middle Ages
. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 153.
- ^
Bradley, Helen (1 January 1994).
"Lucia Visconti, Countess of Kent (d. 1424)"
. In Barron, Caroline; Sutton, Anne F. (eds.).
Medieval London Widows, 1300?1500
. London ; Rio Grande, OH, US: Hambledon Press. pp. 77?84.
ISBN
9781852850852
.
OCLC
741690179
,
939702568
.
External links
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]