Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel

Richard FitzAlan
Earl of Arundel Earl of Surrey
The tomb effigy of Richard Fitzalan and his second wife Eleanor of Lancaster in Chichester Cathedral
Spouse(s)	Isabel le Despenser Eleanor of Lancaster
Noble family	FitzAlan
Father	Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel
Mother	Alice de Warenne
Born	1306 Sussex
Died	24 January 1376(1376-01-24) Sussex

Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and 8th Earl of Surrey (9th Earl of Arundel per Ancestral Roots) (c. 1306 – 24 January 1376) was an English nobleman and medieval military leader.

Family and early life

He was born 1306 in Sussex, England 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 and Joan de Vere. William was the only son of John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey.

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 17 November 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 Justiciar of North Wales (later his term in this office was made for life), High Sheriff of Caernarvonshire for life 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

Arms of Richard Fitzalan (1306-1376)

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 and children

By his first marriage to Isabel le Despenser (living 1356), he had:

• Edmund de Arundel, (who was bastardized by the annulment), married Sybil, daughter of William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury. Their daughter, Philippa de Arundel, married Sir Richard Sergeaux, Knt, of Cornwall.

By the second marriage to Eleanor of Lancaster, he had 3 sons and 3 surviving daughters:

• Richard, who succeeded him as 11th Earl of Arundel.
• John Fitzalan, 1st Baron Maltravers, who was a Marshall of England, and drowned in 1379.
• Thomas Arundel, who became Archbishop of Canterbury
• Joan (1348 - 7 April 1419) who married Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford.
• Alice (1350 - 17 March 1416), who married Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent.
• Eleanor Fitzalan (1356 - before 1366).

Death and legacy

Richard died on 24 January 1376 in Sussex, England.

Richard Fitzalan and his second wife Eleanor of Lancaster's tombstones are in Chichester Cathedral and famously the subject of the poem "An Arundel Tomb" by Philip Larkin.

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

See also

• An Arundel Tomb

Peerage of England
Preceded by Edmund FitzAlan	Earl of Arundel 1331–1376	Succeeded by Richard FitzAlan
Preceded by John de Warenne	Earl of Surrey (1st creation) 1347–1376