Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent

Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent (1350–1397) was an English nobleman and a councillor of his half-brother Richard II. Thomas was the son of Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent and Joan of Kent. His mother was a daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent and Margaret Wake. Edmund was in turn a son of Edward I of England and his second Queen consort Marguerite of France, and thus a younger half-brother of Edward II of England. When his father died in 1360 Thomas became Baron Holand. His mother was still Countess of Kent in her own right. At sixteen, in 1366, Holland was appointed captain of the English forces in Aquitaine. He fought in various campaigns over the following years, and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1375. Richard II became king in 1377, and soon Holland acquired great influence over his younger half-brother, which he used for his own enrichment. In 1381 he was created Earl of Kent.

Marriage and issue

Holland married Alice Fitzalan, daughter of Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster. They had eight children:

• Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey, who succeeded him
• Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent, married Constance of York
• John Holland
• Joan Holland, married Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York
• Alianore Holland, married first Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March and second Edward Cherleton, 5th Baron Cherleton
• Margaret Holland, married first John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset and second Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence
• Elizabeth Holland, married Sir John Neville (eldest son of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmoreland)
• Eleanor Holland, married Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury

Through the marriages of his daughters, he became the ancestor of many of the prominent figures in the Wars of the Roses, including Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and Warwick the Kingmaker.