Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent
Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent KG ( May 5, 1314 - December 26, 1360 in Rouen , Normandy , France ) was an English nobleman and military commander of the Hundred Years War .
Life
He came from the Holland family and was the second son of Robert de Holand, 1st Baron Holand (around 1285-1328) from his marriage to Maud de la Zouche, a daughter of Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby .
In 1340 he took part in the English campaign in Flanders ; two years later he was sent to Bayonne under Sir John D'Artevelle to defend the Gascognian frontier against the French. In 1346 he accompanied King Edward III. and was part of the immediate entourage of Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick . During the conquest of Caen , Raoul II. De Brienne , the Connétable of France , and the Count of Tancarville surrendered as his prisoners. At the Battle of Crécy (August 28, 1346) he was one of the chief commanders under the 16-year-old Prince of Wales Edward of Woodstock ; after the battle of Crécy he took part in the siege of Calais (1346/47). Like his younger brother Otho Holland , he was accepted as a founding member of the Order of the Garter in April 1348 .
At the time of his first campaign, but perhaps also before that, he secretly married the 12-year-old Princess Joan of Kent (1328–1385), daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent and Margaret Wake , thus granddaughter of King Edward I. During his campaign in France, Joan got a second marriage to William Montague, Earl of Salisbury , in whose household Thomas Holland had been seneschal . This marriage was annulled in 1349 when the first marriage was established.
When his brother-in-law John, 3rd Earl of Kent , died in 1352, he took over his estate in Kent from the rights of his wife . For the first time with Writ of Summons on March 15, 1354 he was appointed to parliament and thereby raised to hereditary Baron Holand . In 1354 he was governor of the king with John V , Duke of Brittany and in 1359 co-captain general for the English possessions on the continent. On November 20, 1360 he was given the title of Earl of Kent again, but he died only a few days later before he could attend a meeting of Parliament as Earl.
His son Thomas inherited his title of nobility. Another son, John , was later promoted to Earl of Huntingdon and Duke of Exeter .
progeny
From his marriage to Joan of Kent he had five children:
- Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent ⚭ Lady Alice FitzAlan;
- Edmund Holland (1352-1353);
- John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter ;
- Joan Holland († 1384) ⚭ Johann V , Duke of Brittany;
- Maud Holland († 1392) ⚭ (1) Sir Hugh Courtenay, ⚭ (2) Walram III. of Luxembourg , Count of Ligny and Saint-Pol;
Individual evidence
- ^ Charles Mosley: Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage. Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, Wilmington (Delaware) 2003, Volume 3, p. 4288.
Web links
- Kent, Earl of (E, 1360-1408) at Cracroft's Peerage
- Thomas de Holand, 1st Earl of Kent on thepeerage.com
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| New title created |
Baron Holand 1354-1360 |
Thomas Holland |
| New title created |
Earl of Kent 1360 |
Thomas Holland |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Holland, Thomas, 1st Earl of Kent |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kent, Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English nobleman and military commander of the Hundred Years War |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 5, 1314 |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 26, 1360 |
| Place of death | Rouen |