Margaret Holland, Duchess of Clarence

English noblewoman

FatherThomas Holland, 2nd Earl of KentMotherAlice FitzAlan

Margaret Holland (1385 – 30 December 1439) was a medieval English noblewoman and a member of the powerful Holland family. Through her marriages she became Countess of Somerset and Duchess of Clarence. She was 'at the very centre of royal power and prestige' throughout her lifetime.^[2]

Early Life

Margaret was a daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, who was the son of Joan "the Fair Maid of Kent" (granddaughter of Edward I of England, wife of Edward the Black Prince and mother of Richard II of England). Margaret's mother was Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster.

Marriages and issue

Margaret married John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, son of John of Gaunt and his mistress Katherine Swynford. They had six children:^[3]

Henry Beaufort, 2nd Earl of Somerset (1401–1418).
Joan Beaufort (d. 1445), who married James I of Scotland and Sir James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn.
John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset (1404–1444), who married Margaret Beauchamp.
Thomas Beaufort, Count of Perche (c. 1405–1431). Died at the Siege of Louviers.
Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (c. 1406–1455) who married Eleanor Beauchamp, daughter of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, by his first wife Elizabeth de Berkeley.
Margaret Beaufort (c. 1408–1449), who married Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon.

In 1399, she was invested as a Lady Companion, Order of the Garter (L.G.).^[4]

After her husband John Beaufort died in 1410 (in the Tower of London), she married his nephew Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence (1387–1421), the son of King Henry IV. They had no children, although Thomas was stepfather to her six children from her first marriage, who were his first cousins.^[4]

Later life and Death

In 1419 she travelled to Normandy with her sons to be with her husband there, leaving her daughters in the care of the Prioress of Dartford.^[5] Her husband died on 22 March 1421 fighting at the Battle of Baugé, Anjou, France.^[6] She was an executrix of his will alongside executors John Colvylle of Neuton, Cambridgeshire, knight, and Henry Merston of Westminster, clerk.^[7]

In 1430 a book about the life of St. Jerome was made for her by Symon Wynter of Syon Abbey.^[8]

Margaret retired to St. Saviour's Abbey, Bermondsey, London, where she died on 30 December 1439.^[4]

Margaret and both her husbands are buried together in a carved alabaster tomb in Canterbury Cathedral that she commissioned.^[9] The monument shows her lying in repose between her two husbands, which is extremely rare.^[10] Her husbands had been buried in the Trinity Chapel and were exhumed to be reburied alongside Margaret.^[11]

Descendants

Through her son John, the 1st Duke of Somerset, and his wife Margaret Beauchamp, Lady Margaret is an ancestress to the Tudor monarchs.^[4]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Margaret Holland, Duchess of Clarence

8. Robert de Holland, 1st Baron Holand^[12]

4. Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent^[12]

9. Maud la Zouche^[14]

2. Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent^[12]

10. Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent^[15]

5. Joan, 4th Countess of Kent^[12]

11. Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell^[15]

1. Margaret Holland

12. Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel^[16]

6. Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel^[13]

13. Alice de Warenne^[16]

3. Alice FitzAlan^[12]

14. Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster^[17]

7. Eleanor of Lancaster^[13]

15. Maud Chaworth^[17]

Footnotes

^ Connor 2007, p. 388, per John Stone's Chronicle.
^ Barker, Jessica (2020). Stone Fidelity: Marriage and Emotion in Medieval Tomb Sculpture. Boydell & Brewer. p. 178. ISBN 978-1-78327-271-6.
^ Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, page 220.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), pg 102, 103.
^ Licence, Amy (15 April 2014). Cecily Neville: Mother of Kings. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-2132-6.
^ Neillands, Robin (1990). The Hundred Years War. Internet Archive. London ; New York : Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-00148-9.
^ Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; CP 40 / 677; http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H6/CP40no677/aCP40no677fronts/IMG_0116.htm; second entry, as defendants.
^ Connolly, Margaret; Mooney, Linne R. (2008). Design and Distribution of Late Medieval Manuscripts in England. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 265. ISBN 978-1-903153-24-6.
^ Barker, Jessica (2020). Stone Fidelity: Marriage and Emotion in Medieval Tomb Sculpture. Boydell & Brewer. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-78327-271-6.
^ Barker, Jessica (2020). Stone Fidelity: Marriage and Emotion in Medieval Tomb Sculpture. Boydell & Brewer. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-78327-271-6.
^ Woodman, Francis (27 January 2023). The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral. Taylor & Francis. p. 255. ISBN 978-1-000-81741-6.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Stansfield 1987, p. 310.
^ ^a ^b Richardson II, pp. 185–187.
^ Richardson II, pp. 392–394, 485–486.
^ ^a ^b Stansfield 1987, p. 312.
^ ^a ^b Richardson II, pp. 178–179.
^ ^a ^b Richardson II, pp. 526–527.

References

Connor, Meriel (2007). "The Political Allegiances of Christ Church Priory 1400–1472: the Evidence of John Stone's Chronicle". Archaeologia Cantiana. 127: 383–406.
Richardson, D. (2011). Kimball G. Everingham (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry. Vol. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1-4499-6638-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Shaw, R.L.J. (2009). "Holland [married name Beaufort], Margaret, duchess of Clarence". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/98133. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Stansfield, M.M.N. (1987). The Hollands, Dukes of Exeter, Earls of Kent and Huntingdon, 1352–1475 (PDF) (PhD). Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2018.