Thomas, Duke of Clarence, KG, 2nd son of Henry IV. [Magna ChartaSureties]
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DUKEDOM of CLARENCE (II) 1412 to 1421
Thomas, styled "of Lancaster", 2nd son of Henry IV, by his 1st wife,Mary, daughter and coheir of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, was b.29 Sep 1388; on 4 Oct 1399 he was appointed Seneschal of England, but onaccount of his youth the Earl of Worcester was appointed Deupty Steward;KB, 12 Oct 1399; KG, circa 1400; Chief Governor of Ireland, under thestyle of "Thomas of Lancaster", 1401-13; though frequently absent. LordHigh Admiral under the style "King's Admiral", 1405-6; Member of theCouncil 1411. Constable of Hawarden Castle, Chester, and of MohautCastle, Flint, in reversion 2 Feb 1411/2, and in possession 27 Apr 1415.On 9 Jul 1412 he was created EARL OF AUMALE and DUKE OF CLARENCE,Lieutenant of Aquitaine, 1412-13; High Steward of Chester, 1415. Hepresided at the trial for treason in 1415, of Richard, Earl of Cambridgeand Henry, Lord Scrope of Masham. Constable of the Army, 1417; andLieutenant General of the Army in France and Normandy, 1417-21. He wasin command at the siege of Rouen, which lasted 6 months and ended in itscapture, 19 Jan 1418/9.
He m. 1411 (Papal Disp. to m. 10 Nov 1411), Margaret, widow of JohnBeaufort, Marquess of Somerset (and of Dorset), daughter of Thomas deHoland, 2nd Earl of Kent, by Alice, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, Earl ofArundel. He dsp. legit, aged 31, being slain, while in command, by SirJohn de la Croise, at the battle of Bauge, in Anjou, 22 Mar 1420/1, whenall his honours became extinct. Will dated 10 Jul 1417, probated 23 Nov1423 at Lambeth. His body was conveyed to England, and buried (near hisfather) in Canterbury Cathedral. His widow, who in 1428 desiring "tolead a celibate life and putting aside worldly pomps", was living hard bythe Augustinian Monastery of St. Saviour's, London, d. 30 Dec 1439, andwas there buried under a magnificent monument to herself and her twohusbands. [Complete Peerage III:258-60]
Thomas Plantagenet |