Maud, Countess of Leicester

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Maud, Countess of Leicester (4 Apr 1339 – April 10, 1362), also known as Matilda, Countess of Hainault, was a 14th century English noblewoman who married into the Bavarian royal family.

The eldest daughter of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Earl of Leicester, and his wife Isabel de Beaumont, she was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lindsey.

She was married firstly to Ralph Stafford, whilst still a child. Following his death, she married secondly, in 1352, to William V, Count of Hainault, a member of the Wittelsbach Bavarian royal family.

The Duchy of Lancaster (First Creation) became extinct upon her father's death in 1361, however Maud became co-heiress, with her sister Blanche of Lancaster, to her father's estates and remaining titles. The title Earl of Leicester was held by her second husband, whilst the Earldom of Lancaster passed to her sister's husband, John of Gaunt. Maud died a year later without male issue from either marriage, and her father's entire inheritance passed to Blanche and John of Gaunt. Maud's only child, a daughter by William V, died in 1356. Henry IV of England was her nephew.

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