Alianore Holland, Countess of March

Alianore Holland, Countess of March (1373 – October 1405) was an English noblewoman, and the wife of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March the heir presumptive of her half-uncle King Richard II of England, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. She was the mother of Anne Mortimer, and Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March. Through Anne, Lady Alianore was the great-grandmother of Yorkist kings, Edward IV and Richard III. She held the post of Governess to Queen consort Isabella of Valois.

Family

Lady Alianore was born in Upholland, Lancashire, England in 1373, the eldest child of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent and Lady Alice FitzAlan, sister of Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel. Alianore had nine younger siblings, including Eleanor Holland, who shared her name. It is probable that at the time of Eleanor's birth, Alianore was not expected to live, which was why her sister was given the name of Eleanor.^[1] Her father was one of King Richard II's uterine half-brothers. Her paternal grandparents were Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent and Joan of Kent, mother of King Richard by her second marriage to Edward, the Black Prince, and her maternal grandparents were Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster.

Marriages and issue

The appointed successor to King Richard II was Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, and the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland^[2] He was the son of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March and Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster. Roger was a ward of the crown, and his guardian was Alianore's father, who also purchased the rights to choose young Roger's bride. He arranged a marriage between Roger and Alianore, and they were wed on 7 October 1388,^[3] when they were both in their mid-teens. Alianore would accompany her husband on his visits to Ireland, and together they had five children:^[4]

• Anne Mortimer (New Forest, Westmeath, Ireland 27 December 1390- King's Langley, Hertfordshire 21 September 1411), married Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, by whom she had two children, Isabel of Cambridge, Countess of Essex and Richard, 3rd Duke of York.
• Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March (6 November 1391- 18 January 1425), married Anne Stafford, but the marriage was childless.
• Roger Mortimer (died c.1409)
• Eleanor Mortimer (died 1418), married Sir Edward de Courtenay, eldest son and heir-apparent of Edward de Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon. Their marriage was childless.
• Alice Mortimer

On 20 July 1398, Alianore's husband was killed at the Battle of Kells in a skirmish with an Irish clan. Alianore and her family returned to England, burying Roger in Wigmore Abbey. She was appointed Governess to Isabella of Valois, the nine-year old Queen consort of King Richard, and was in charge of the Queen's household.^[5]

She married secondly after 19 June 1399^[6] Edward Charleton, 5th Baron Cherleton by whom she had two daughters:

• Joan de Charleton (1400- 17 September 1425), married Sir John Grey, 1st Earl of Tancarville, by whom she had issue.
• Joyce de Charleton (1403- 22 September 1446), married Sir John Tiptoft, 1st Baron Tiptoft, by whom she had issue.

Alianore died in childbirth in October 1405 at the age of thirty-two years. She had numerous descendants including Yorkist kings Edward IV and Richard III, and Anne Bourchier, 7th Baroness Bourchier.

Ancestry

References

1. Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Earls of Kent 1352-1408 (Holand)
2. Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Earls of March 1328-1425 (Mortimer)
3. Thomas B. Costain,The Last Plantagenets, published by Popular Library, New York, 1962, originally published by Doubleday and Co., Inc.