Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence

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English Royalty
House of Plantagenet

Armorial of Plantagenet
Edward III
   Edward, Prince of Wales
   Lionel, Duke of Clarence
   John, Duke of Lancaster
   Edmund, Duke of York
   Thomas, Duke of Gloucester
   Joan of England
   Isabella, Countess of Bedford
Grandchildren
    Richard II
    Philippa, Countess of Ulster
    Philippa, Queen of Portugal
    Elizabeth, Baroness Fanhope and Milbroke
    Henry IV
    Catherine, Queen of Castile
    Edward, Duke of York
    Richard, Earl of Cambridge
    Constance of York
    Anne, Countess of Eu

Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence (November 29, 1338October 7, 1368) was the second son of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. He was so called because he was born at Antwerp, Belgium.

Betrothed when a child to Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster (d. 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.

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, 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 1367, he dropped the task in disgust and returned to England.

Lionel's wife died in Dublin in 1363, leaving behind a daughter, Philippa, whose descendants would one day claim the throne for the House of York. A second marriage was arranged for Lionel with Yolande or Violante, daughter of Galeazzo Visconti, lord of Pavia (d. 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. There was strong speculation at the time that he had been poisoned by his father-in-law [1] although this has never been proven.

His only child, Philippa Plantagenet, married in 1368 Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March (1351-1381). They were grandparents to Anne Mortimer, great-grandparents to Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and great-great-grandparents to Edward IV and Richard III.

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

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Frances Stonor Saunders - Hawkwood: The Diabolical Englishman (2004).

[edit] References

Preceded by
(new creation)
Duke of Clarence
1362-1368
Succeeded by
(extinct)
Preceded by
William Donn de Burgh
Earl of Ulster
1347-1368
Succeeded by
Roger Mortimer