Thomas De Mowbray and Elizabeth FitzAlan

Thomas De Mowbray and Elizabeth FitzAlan


born c. 1366
died Sept. 22, 1399, Venice [Italy]

Sir Thomas De Mowbray was a Knight of the Garter, Duke of Norfolk, and Earl of Nottingham. He was the son of John De Mowbray and Elizabeth De Segrave. He married Elizabeth FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel, by his wife Elizabeth de Bohun.

He succeeded his father, John De Mowbray, as 6th Baron Mowbray, 10 February 1382. Not long thereafter, he was made Earl of Nottingham. In 1385-86 he was appointed Earl Marshal of England, and in that capacity he fought against the Scots an the French.

In 1387, some of King Richard's nobles called the Lords Appellant, deposed some of Richard's favorites. Thomas De Mowbray was among these Lords Appellant.

In 1397, King Richard's uncle, Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, who was imprisoned at Calais, was killed. It was probably Thomas De Mowbray who carried out the king's order to have him killed, as he was the Captain there. It was only a few weeks later that he was given the title, Duke of Norfolk.

In 1398, he became involved in a quarrel with Henry of Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford. And they were both banished. When Henry of Bolingbroke came back from exile, he seized the throne and with his new power, stripped Thomas of his title of Duke of Norfolk.

Thomas De Mowbray died of the plague in Venice, Italy, 22 September 1399.


He is a character in Shakespeare's Richard II.

Thomas had a first marriage to Elizabeth le Strange, Baroness Strange, but there were no children from this marriage.

His marriage to Elizabeth FitzAlan produced the following children:

1.Thomas, 4th Earl of Norfolk (b. 17 September 1385)
2.John, 5th Earl of Norfolk, (b. 1392)
3.Margaret, married Sir Robert Howard
4.Isabel de Mowbray, married James Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley

Elizabeth FitzAlan was born in 1372 in Derbyshire, England, about 1366. She was the daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel and Elizabeth De Bohun.(some sources say Eleanor was daughter of Henry Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy gives her as Eleanor de Bohun). She died at Hoveringham in 1424.

Her first marriage (before Dec 1378) was to William de Montagu, Earl of Salisbury.

Her second marriage (Jul 1384) was to Thomas de Mowbray. When he died in 1399 at Venice she married his esquire,

Sir Robert Gousell of Hoveringham (died in 1404) before August, 1401. They had the following children:

1.Elizabeth Gousell (1396–1491)
2.Joan Gousell

Elizabeth married 3rd Sir Gerard Afflete before 1411.

She then married a 4th time (before 3 Jul 1414) to Sir Gerard Ufflete/Usflete.




A history of the castles, mansions, and manors of western Sussex‎ - Page 17
by Dudley George Cary Elwes, Charles John Robinson - 1876

Arundel Castle

The history of Arundel Castle might very readily be made to include the mediaeval history of England, for its successive owners have occupied the first place in the annals of our country, and contributed in no slight degree to render them illustrious. But to execute such a task would be as much above our power as it is beyond our scope, and we shall therefore confine ourselves to giving a very succinct account of the families in whom the lordship has been vested, and describing what, perhaps, we may be allowed to call the growth of the Castle. Those who desire to see these subjects more adequately treated are referred to the exhaustive History of Arundel from the pen of the erudite Mr. Tierney, to whose labours we ourselves are largely indebted.
There can be little doubt that Arundel, including some sort of residence, was enjoyed by the great King Alfred, and bequeathed by him to his nephew, Athelm, and that from the latter it passed to Godwin and his son Harold, Earls of Sussex. The Norman Conquest, of course, placed the manor at the disposal of King William, who, after enlarging its proportions and converting it into an Honour, bestowed it upon his kinsman and follower Roger de Monte Gomerico or Montgomery. He had command of the centre division of the army at the battle of Hastings, and for his share in that victory received not merely the immense property we have mentioned, but estates of equal magnitude in Shropshire and other counties, and the twofold title of Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury. He seems to have made the latter place his chief residence, and from his Castle there was able to overawe and keep in check the insubordinate Welsh, from whom (in recognition of tardy, yet timely allegiance to William Rufus) he was permitted to win for himself the territory still known by the name of Montgomeryshire. The last years of his life were spent in retirement, and in 1094 he died within the walls of the Abbey, which he had founded at Shrewsbury, and of which he had just become an inmate. Four years afterwards his second son, Hugh, who had succeeded him in his titles and estates in England, was interred beside him, having been slain by an arrow while successfully repelling the invasion of Anglesea by Magnus, King of Norway. The earldom then passed, on payment of a sum of three thousand pounds, to Robert de Belesme, the eldest son


of the first Earl. He sided with Robert Curthose in his attempt to wrest the English crown from Henry I., and paid the penalty of failure. Driven from castle to castle he was at length brought to bay at Shrewsbury, and compounded for his life by the surrender of all his possessions in England. He then retired to Normandy, where he spent some years, opposing, openly or by intrigue, the sovereignty of Henry, who ultimately captured him, and incarcerated him in Wareham Castle, where he died May 1, 1118.
Arundel, which, of course escheated to the Crown through the treason of Robert Belesme, was settled by King Henry upon his wife Adeliza, daughter of Godfrey of Lorraine. She came into full enjoyment of the estate upon the death of her royal husband in 1135, and, soon afterwards marrying William de Albini* conveyed it to him, who thereupon became, jure uxoris, Earl of Arundel. He was on the whole a consistent supporter of King Stephen, and was chiefly instrumental in procuring the settlement of the Crown upon Prince Henry,-f- who, on his accession to the throne, showed himself mindful of Albini's services. One of his , first acts was to confer upon his friend and his heirs for ever those honours and
possessions which till then he had held only as the dower of his wife. To these he added the further title of Earl of Sussex, and various privileges and posts of honour. In diplomacy, as well as in martial prowess, Albini attained no little distinction, and we may reasonably conjecture that his illustrious marriage was as much the result as the cause of the important position that he occupied. He died in 1176, and was succeeded in the Earldom, but not in the possession of Arundel Castle,* by his eldest son William. Neither he nor his three successors in the title played any prominent part in public affairs, and upon the death of Hugh de Albini, 5th Earl, in 12,43, without issue, the Earldom of Sussex fell into abeyance between his four surviving sisters, and the territorial title, derived from the possession of Arundel, devolved to John Fitzalan, son of John Fitzalan, lord of Clun and Osvvaldestre by his wife Isabel, sister and coheir of the above Hugh de Albini.
The family of Fitzalan, which thus became possessed of Arundel Castle, was in no degree inferior to either of the two great Norman houses which had been previously associated with it. We find no fewer than eight of its members among the Knights of the Garter, and scarcely one who was not conspicuous in the battle field or council chamber. If the blood of two wearers of the coronet^
was shed upon the scaffold, this fact must be accepted less as evidence of their treason than of the troublous character of the times in which they lived. Few, if any, families have surpassed the Fitzalans in the splendour of their marriages, and it is sufficient to mention the names of Mortimer, Warren, le Despencer, Plantagenet, Bohun, Maltravers, Berkeley, Lovell, Nevill, Percy, and Grey, to show that the possessors of Arundel throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were allied to nearly all. of the most powerful houses in England. Possibly this fact, among others, might have influenced Henry Fitzalan, 14th and last Earl of Arundel,* to aspire to the hand of Queen Elizabeth. He was Dudley's most formidable rival in her affections, and for his sacrifice of conscience and fortune in the cause of his royal mistress, deserved some better treatment at her hands than he appears to have received. Excluded from public life, and bereft of the consolations of wife and children, he passed his last years in utter loneliness, and his death, which took place in February, 1580, is scarcely noticed elsewhere than upon his own monument. His only son, Lord Maltravers, " who in his tyme was worthely esteemed the paragon of this realme", died without issue, while on an embassy in the year 1556 ; and his elder daughter, Joan, wife of John, Lord Lumley, also predeceased him, leaving no children. Thus the representation of the family became vested in the issue of the younger daughter, Mary, who had married (while yet a child) Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and happily died before her ill-fated husband ascended the scaffold.
With Arundel Castle the house of Howard has now been connected for more than three centuries. By that connection^ its wealth has been augmented and its influence proportionately increased, but its rise to importance dates from a still earlier alliance with the Fitzalans, through the daughter of Thomas de Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk.^ It will be sufficient to add that the honours then acquired, though sometimes forfeited or for awhile obscured, have descended unimpaired to their present possessor, Henry Fitzalan Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Arundel, Surrey, and Norfolk, Baron Fitzalan, Clun, Oswaldestrie, and Maltravers, Earl Marshal of England. He is premier Duke and Earl in the British Peerage, and takes rank immediately after the princes of the blood royal.
* It has been sometimes alleged that the place mentioned in Alfred's will is Crundel, in Hampshire, and not Arundel; but it is easier to suppose that the copyist was careless in the formation of the initial letter of the word than that a place in another county should be mentioned in conjunction with Aldingboumc, Compton, and Deeding, all which are in the immediate neighbourhood of Arundel.
t In Alfred's will it is simply styled a manor, but at the Conquest the Honour of the Castle of Arundel comprehended the two Rapes of Chichester and Arundel—an area calculated to contain eighty-four knights' fees and a-half, or 57,460 acres.
J This is the account given by Orderic and Brompton—the most trustworthy chroniclers—but other authorities state that he died in 1091, and at Cardiff Castle (Mills), or " in battle somewhere between Cardiff and Brecon " (Poicel).
* William de Alhini, was eldest son of William de Albini, a companion of the Conqueror, by his wife Maud, daughter of Roger Bigod.
f According t:o Gervasc, Albini's powers of persuasion prevailed upon Stephen, when on the point of giving battle to Prince Henry at Wallingford, to consent to a reconciliation, and save the country from a civil war. The deed of settlement mad; a few months afterwards, was witnessed by Albini, whose signature as " William, Earl of Chichcster," was placed before that of the barons.
J The Castle was in the hands of the King as late as 1189, and, says Mr. Tierncy, "was most probably never surrendered until the necessities of Richard, in 1191, compelled the Chancellor to release it for a sum of 2000 marks."
J Edmund Htzalan, 4th Earl, was beheaded at Hereford, i;th Nov., 1326, as a partizan of the unfortunate King Edward II. His grandson, Richard Fitzalan, suffered the like fate, 21st Sep., 1397, having together with his brother Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, joined the Duke of Gloucester in the commission which virtually destroyed the kingly authority of Richard II. The charge of treason was groundless, but the effect of the commission was to make tl.e wearer of the Crown " a mockery King of Snow."
Sir Robert Howard m. Margaret, elder dau. of Thomas de Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, by Elizabeth, his wife, dau. and coh. of Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, and cousin and coheir of John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. Through the Mowbrays and the heiress of Thomas Plantagenet (son of Edward I.) the Howards inherited the office of Earl Marshal of England, which had also been enjoyed by Roger de Montgomerie, the first grantee of the Castle.



Sussex archaeological collections relating to the history and antiquities of ...‎ - Page 201
by Sussex Archaeological Society - 1896

Richard FitzAlan, 14th Earl of Arundel, born c. 1350, married Eleanor, daughter of Henry Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster. He was Admiral of England, and in 1387 gained a glorious victory at Sluys over the combined fleets of France and Spain; he was also a distinguished general, and commanded the second division of our army at Crecy. He was put to death by Richard II on September 21st, 1397, and his estates were forfeited. He was the idol of the people, and miracles were said to be wrought at his tomb in Austin Friars (see P.S. No. 1, p 208, post).His Sussex property was given to his son-in-law, Thomas de Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, then created Duke of Norfolk. On the Duke taking possession the Prior and Monks of Lewes obtained from him a charter, confirming the charters of the 1st and 2nd Earls of Warenne, and promising that the Priory should continue to enjoy the estates and tithes &c. conferred upon it by its founders. The “decimam de Kukefelda” is one of those mentioned. At the revolution of 1399, when Henry IV succeeded to the throne, the title and estates were restored to Thomas FitzAlan, son of Richard, who then became 15th Earl of Arundel. He married Beatrix, daughter of John, King of Portugal, and the Cuckfield and other estates were settle upon her. His name occurs in the Subsidy Roll of 13 Henry IV, as holding the manor of Cuckfield, and having to pay thereon xxx. x. Two years after this, in September, 1415, he joined Henry V in his Agincourt campaign, taking with him 95 men-at-arms and 300 archers from his Sussex and Welsh estates. He was taken ill at Honfleur, and returned to England to die in a few days. He was buried at Arundel, where his beautiful monument (engraved and described by Blore) still remains. His wife survived him for 20 years, the lady of our manor, and, although buried in Lincoln, her effigy is placed by his side on his tomb.

Among his followers in the French War is mentioned Geoffrey Homewoode, an archer from Cuckfield.

Thomas left no children, and his sisters were recognized as co-heiresses by the Court of Chancery in 4th Henry VI (1426). The eldest sister, Elizabeth, born 1372, was married four times, 1st William, eldest son of the Earl of Salisbury; 2nd, to Thomas de Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, who arrested his father-in-law and acquired his lands; on his death, at Venice in 1399, she married 3rd, his esquire, Sir Robert Goushill, of Hoveringham, in 1400; he died in 1404, and then she married 4th, Sir Gerard Ufflete. She spent her later years at Hoveringham, and died there in 1424. On her monument in the church she lies grasping the hand of her third husband. By her second husband she had a son, John de Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and by her third husband, a daughter, Joan, who married Sir Thomas Stanley, created Baron Stanley in 1456.