Richard FitzAlan, "Copped Hat", 5th Earl of Arundel (9th Earl of Arundel per Ancestral Roots) (c. 1306 – January 24, 1376) was an English nobleman and medieval military leader.
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Lineage
Fitzalan was the eldest son of Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel (8th Earl of Arundel per Ancestral Roots), and Alice de Warenne. His maternal grandparents were William de Warenne, 8th Earl of Surrey and Joan de Vere. William was the only son of John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey. He was born 1306 in Sussex, England and died Jan. 24, 1376 in Sussex, England.
Alliance with the Despensers
Around 1321, FitzAlan's father allied with King Edward II's favorites, Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester and his namesake son, and Richard was married to Isabel le Despenser, daughter of Hugh the Younger. Fortune turned against the Despenser party, and on November 17, 1326, FitzAlan's father was executed, and he did not succeed to his father's estates or titles.
Gradual Restoration
However, political conditions had changed by 1330, and over the next few years Richard was gradually able to reacquire the Earldom of Arundel as well as the great estates his father had held in Sussex and in the Welsh Marches. Beyond this, in 1334 he was made Justice of North Wales (later his term in this office was made for life), Sheriff for life of Caernarvonshire, and Governor of Caernarfon Castle. He was one of the most trusted supporters of Edward the Black Prince in Wales.
Military Service in Scotland
Despite his high offices in Wales, in the following decades Arundel spent much of his time fighting in Scotland (during the Second Wars of Scottish Independence) and France (during the Hundred Years' War). In 1337, Arundel was made Joint Commander of the English army in the north, and the next year he was made the sole Commander.
Notable Victories
In 1340 he fought at the Battle of Sluys, and then at the siege of Tournai. After a short term as Warden of the Scottish Marches, he returned to the continent, where he fought in a number of campaigns, and was appointed Joint Lieutenant of Aquitaine in 1340. Arundel was one of the three principal English commanders at the Battle of Crécy. He spent much of the following years on various military campaigns and diplomatic missions.
Great Wealth
In 1347 he succeeded to the Earldom of Surrey (or Warenne), which even further increased his great wealth. (He did not however use the additional title until after the death of the Dowager Countess of Surrey in 1361.) He made very large loans to King Edward III but even so on his death left behind a great sum in hard cash.
Marriages
Arundel married twice. His first wife (as mentioned above), was Isabel le Despenser. He repudiated her, and had the marriage annulled on the grounds that he had never freely consented to it. After the annulment he married Eleanor of Lancaster, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster and Maud Chaworth.
Children
By his first marriage he had one son, Edmund Arundel, who was bastardized by the annulment. This son married Sybil, a daughter of William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury. By the second he had 3 sons: Richard, who succeeded him as 6th Earl of Arundel (10th Earl of Arundel per Ancestral Roots); John Fitzalan,1st Baron Maltravers, who was a Marshall of England, and drowned in 1379; and Thomas Arundel, who became Archbishop of Canterbury. He also had 2 surviving daughters by his second wife: Joan, who married Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, and Alice, who married Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent.
References
- Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Lines: 8-31, 17-30, 21-30, 28-33, 60-32, 97-33
| Peerage of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Edmund FitzAlan |
Earl of Arundel 1331 - 1376 |
Succeeded by Richard FitzAlan |
