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 progeny

On 10 April 1364 Holland married Lady Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel by his wife Eleanor of Lancaster .^[1][2] By his wife he had progeny three sons and six daughters. All the sons died without legitimate progeny, whereupon the daughters and their issue became co-heiresses to the House of Holland. The progeny were as follows:

Sons

1. Thomas Holland, 3rd Earl of Kent, 1st Duke of Surrey (1374 – 7 January 1400), eldest son and heir, created Duke of Surrey. Died without progeny.
2. Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent (6 January 1384 – 15 September 1408), heir to his elder brother. Died without legitimate progeny, but had an illegitimate child by his mistress Constance of York.
3. John Holland, died without progeny

Daughters

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. His daughters were as follows:

1. Eleanor I Holland (1373 – October 1405), (who bore the same first name as her younger sister, alias Alianore) married twice:
   1. Firstly to Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (1374-1398), heir presumptive to his mother's first cousin King Richard II (1377-1399). Her only child and sole heiress to the Mortimer claim was Anne Mortimer. Following the deposition of Richard II in 1399 by his own first-cousin the Lancastrian Henry Bolingbroke (who ruled as King Henry IV (1399-1413)), Anne Mortimer's claim to the throne of England was pursued by her son Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (1411-1460) which drawn-out struggle formed the basis of the Wars of the Roses.
   2. Secondly she married Edward Charleton, 5th Baron Cherleton
2. Joan Holland (ca. 1380–12 April 1434), married Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York
3. Margaret Holland (1385 – 31 December 1439), married first John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, and second Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence
4. 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]
5. Eleanor II Holland (1386- after 1413), (who bore the same first name as her eldest sister, alias Alianore) married Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury
6. Bridget Holland, who became a nun^[1]

References

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