Eleanor of Lancaster | |
|---|---|
| Lady Beaumont Countess of Arundel | |
The memorial effigy of Eleanor and Richard Fitzalan inChichester Cathedral | |
| Born | 11 September 1318 |
| Died | 11 January 1372(1372-01-11) (aged 53) Arundel |
| Buried | Lewes Priory,Sussex |
| Noble family | Lancaster |
| Spouses | |
| Issue | Henry Beaumont, 3rd Baron Beaumont Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl of Arundel John FitzAlan, 1st Baron Arundel Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury Joan Fitzalan, Countess of Hereford Alice Fitzalan, Countess of Kent Mary Fitzalan, Lady Strange of Blackmere Eleanor Fitzalan |
| Father | Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster |
| Mother | Maud Chaworth |
Eleanor of Lancaster, Countess of Arundel (sometimes calledEleanorPlantagenet;[1] 11 September 1318[2] – 11 January 1372) was the fifth daughter ofHenry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster andMaud Chaworth.[3]
Eleanor married, first, on 6 November 1330 John de Beaumont, 2nd Baron Beaumont (d. 1342).[4] He was the son ofHenry Beaumont, 4th Earl of Buchan, 1st Baron Beaumont (c. 1288 – 1340) by his wifeAlice Comyn (1289 – 3 July 1349). John died in a tournament on 14 April 1342. They had one son, born to Eleanor in Ghent whilst serving aslady-in-waiting to QueenPhilippa of Hainault:
In 1341, Eleanor was granted £100 yearly for life by the Exchequer, in recognition of her service toQueen Philippa.[4] In 1344 she went on pilgrimage toSantiago de Compostela, nominating attorneys in England to manage her estates.[4]
On 5 February 1345 at Ditton Church,Stoke Poges,Buckinghamshire, she marriedRichard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel.[6] The wedding was attended by King Edward III.[4] Richard's previous marriage, toIsabel le Despenser, daughter ofHugh le Despenser,[7] had taken place when they were children. It wasannulled by papal mandate as she, since her father'sattainder and execution, had ceased to be of any importance to him.Pope Clement VI obligingly annulled the marriage,bastardized their sonEdmund FitzAlan, and provided adispensation for FitzAlan's second marriage to Eleanor, with whom he had been living in adultery. The dispensation, dated 4 March 1345, was required because his first and second wives were first cousins.
The children of Eleanor's second marriage were:
Eleanor died atArundel in Jan 1371/2 and was buried atLewes Priory inLewes,East Sussex, England.[4]
Her husband survived her by four years, and was buried beside her; in his will Richard requests to be buried "near to the tomb of Eleanor de Lancaster, my wife; and I desire that my tomb be no higher than hers, that no men at arms, horses, hearse, or other pomp, be used at my funeral, but only five torches...as was about the corpse of my wife, be allowed."[citation needed]
The memorial effigies raised to Eleanor and her husbandRichard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel, now inChichester Cathedral, are the subject of the celebratedPhilip Larkin poem "An Arundel Tomb."[8]
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