Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence

Lionel of Antwerp
Duke of Clarence
Lionel, Duke of Clarence. 19th-century drawing of bronze statuette on south side of tomb of his father King Edward III
Earl of Ulster
Predecessor	William Donn de Burgh
Successor	Philippa with Roger Mortimer
co-Ruler	Elizabeth de Burgh
Born	(1338-11-29)29 November 1338 Antwerp, Belgium
Died	7 October 1368(1368-10-07) (aged 29) Alba, Piedmont
Burial	Clare Priory, Suffolk
Spouse	Elizabeth de Burgh m. 1352; dec. 1363 Violante Visconti m. 1368; wid. 1368
Issue	Philippa of Clarence, 5th Countess of Ulster
House	House of Plantagenet
Father	Edward III of England
Mother	Philippa of Hainault

Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, jure uxoris 4th Earl of Ulster and 5th Baron of Connaught, KG (29 November 1338 – 7 October 1368) was the third son, but the second son to survive infancy, of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. He was so called because he was born at Antwerp. Prince Lionel was a true Fleming; born in Flanders of a Flemish mother and the grandson of William I, Count of Hainaut. He grew to be nearly seven feet in height and, being athletic in proportions, was a champion of whom any country might be proud.

First marriage

Betrothed when a child to Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster (died 1363), daughter and heiress of William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster (d. 1332), he was married to her in 1352, but before this date he had entered into possession of her great Irish inheritance. He was called Earl of Ulster from 1347.

Ireland

Having been named as his father's representative in England in 1345 and again in 1346, Lionel joined an expedition into France in 1355, but his chief energies were reserved for the affairs of Ireland.

Appointed governor of that country, he landed at Dublin in 1361, and in November of the following year was created Duke of Clarence, the second Dukedom created in England, while his father made an abortive attempt to secure for him the crown of Scotland. His efforts to secure an effective authority over his Irish lands were only moderately successful; and after holding a parliament at Kilkenny, which passed the celebrated Statute of Kilkenny in 1366, he dropped the task in disgust and returned to England.

The poet Geoffrey Chaucer was at one time a page in Lionel's household.

Second marriage

Elizabeth having died in 1363, a second marriage was arranged for Lionel with Violante (c. 1353 – November 1386), daughter of Galeazzo Visconti, lord of Pavia (died 1378); the enormous dowry which Galeazzo promised with his daughter being exaggerated by the rumour of the time. Journeying to fetch his bride, Lionel was received in great state both in France and Italy, and was married to Violante at Milan in June 1368. Some months were then spent in festivities, during which Lionel was taken ill at Alba, where he died on 7 October 1368. There was strong speculation at the time that he had been poisoned by his father-in-law although this has never been proven.

Issue

He had only one child, Philippa, daughter of his first wife Elizabeth. In 1368 she married Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March (1351–1381). Their granddaughter and eventual heir, Anne Mortimer, married into the Yorkist branch of the English Royal family. The House of York based its claim to the throne on this line of descent.

Ancestry

Family of Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence

16. Henry III of England 8. Edward I of England 17. Eleanor of Provence 4. Edward II of England 18. Ferdinand III of Castile 9. Eleanor of Castile 19. Jeanne of Dammartin 2. Edward III of England 20. Philip III of France (=28) 10. Philip IV of France 21. Isabella of Aragon (=29) 5. Isabella of France 22. Henry I of Navarre 11. Joan I of Navarre 23. Blanche of Artois 1. Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence 24. John I, Count of Hainaut and Lord of Avesnes 12. John II, Count of Holland 25. Adelaide of Holland 6. William I, Count of Hainaut 26. Henry V, Count of Luxembourg 13. Philippa of Luxembourg 27. Margaret of Bar 3. Philippa of Hainault 28. Philip III of France (=20) 14. Charles of Valois 29. Isabella of Aragon (=21) 7. Joan of Valois 30. Charles II of Naples 15. Marguerite of Anjou and Maine 31. Maria of Hungary

One reputed version of Lionel's coat of arms

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Arms

Lionel's arms were at some point those of the kingdom, differenced by a label argent of five points, with each point bearing a cross gules, thus presenting the flag of England's Saint George's cross on each point There are also suggestions, such as the above image, that at some point he bore a differentiating label argent of three points, each bearing a canton gules.

References

• Ormrod, W. M. (January 2008) [2004]. "Lionel, duke of Clarence (1338–1368)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16750. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Attribution

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: P.C.Y. (1911). "Clarence, Dukes of". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 247–248.

Further reading

• Tout, Thomas Frederick (1893). "Lionel of Antwerp" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 33. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 335–338.