Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent

Thomas Holland
Earl of Kent Baron Holand
coat of arms of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent
Earl of Kent
Predecessor	Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent
Spouse(s)	Alice FitzAlan
Issue Alianore Holland Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey Joan Holland John Holland Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent Margaret Holland Elizabeth Holland Eleanor Holland Bridget Holland[1]
Father	Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent
Mother	Joan of Kent
Born	1350[1] or 1354[2] Upholland, Lancashire, England
Died	April 25, 1397(1397-04-25) (aged around 47) Arundel Castle, Sussex, England
Buried	Bourne Abbey, Lincolnshire

Thomas Holland (also known as de Holland),^[1] 2nd Earl of Kent, 3rd Baron Holand KG (1350/1354 – 25 April 1397) was an English nobleman and a councillor of his half-brother, King Richard II of England.

Family and early Life

Thomas Holland (or de Holand)^[1] was born in Upholand, Lancashire, in 1350^[1][3] or 1354^[2][4] (sources differ on his birth year). He was the eldest surviving son of Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent, and Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent".^[5] His mother was a daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, and Margaret Wake. Edmund was in turn a son of Edward I of England and his second Queen consort Marguerite of France, and thus a younger half-brother of Edward II of England.
His father died in 1360, and later that year, on 28 December, Thomas became Baron Holand.^[3] His mother was still Countess of Kent in her own right, and in 1361 she married Edward, the Black Prince, the son of King Edward III.

Military career

At sixteen, in 1366, Holland was appointed captain of the English forces in Aquitaine.^[6] Over the next decade he fought in various campaigns, including the Battle of Nájera, under the command of his stepfather Edward, the Black Prince. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1375.^[6]

Richard II became king in 1377, and soon Holland acquired great influence over his younger half-brother, which he used for his own enrichment. In 1381, he succeeded as Earl of Kent.^[6]

Later years and death

Prior to his death, Holland was appointed Governor of Carisbrooke Castle.^[6] Holland died at Arundel Castle, Sussex, England on 25 April 1397.^[1]

Marriage and issue

Holland married Lady Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster on 10 April 1364.^[1][2] They had nine children:

1. Alianore Holland (1373 – October 1405), married first Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, and second Edward Charleton, 5th Baron Cherleton
2. Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey (1374 – 7 January 1400), who succeeded him
3. Joan Holland (ca. 1380–12 April 1434), married Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York
4. John Holland
5. Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent (6 January 1384 – 15 September 1408), had a child by Constance of York
6. Margaret Holland (1385 – 31 December 1439), married first John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, and second Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence
7. Elizabeth Holland, who married Sir John Neville (c.1387 – before 20 May 1420), eldest son and heir of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, and by him had three sons, Ralph Neville, 2nd Earl of Westmorland, John Neville, Baron Neville, and Sir Thomas Neville, and a daughter, Margaret Neville.^[7]
8. Eleanor Holland (1386- after 1413) married Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury
9. Bridget Holland, who became a nun^[1]

Through the marriages of his daughters, he became the ancestor of many of the prominent figures in the Wars of the Roses, including Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (father of Kings Edward IV and Richard III), Henry Tudor (later King Henry VII), and Warwick the Kingmaker, father of queen consort Anne Neville. He was also an ancestor of queen consort Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII.

References

• Dictionary of National Biography, Vol.27, Ed. Sidney Lee, Smith, Elder & Co., 1851.