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Margaret Holland, Duchess of Clarence

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Margaret Holland
Countess of Somerset
Duchess of Clarence
Born1385
Died30 December 1439 (aged 54)[1]
Bermondsey Abbey, London, England
BuriedCanterbury Cathedral, Kent, England
FamilyHolland family
SpouseJohn Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (m. 1397, died 1410)
Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence (m. 1411, died 1421)
Issue
FatherThomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent
MotherAlice FitzAlan

Margaret Holland (1385 – 30 December 1439) was a medieval English noblewoman and a member of the powerful Holland family. Through her marriages she became Countess of Somerset and Duchess of Clarence. She was "at the very centre of royal power and prestige" throughout her lifetime.[2]

Early life

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Margaret was a daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, who was the son of Joan "the Fair Maid of Kent" (granddaughter of Edward I of England, wife of Edward the Black Prince and mother of Richard II of England). Margaret's mother was Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster.

Marriages and issue

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Margaret married John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, son of John of Gaunt and his mistress Katherine Swynford. They had six children:[3]

In 1399, she was invested as a Lady Companion, Order of the Garter (L.G.).[4]

After her husband John Beaufort died in 1410, she married his half nephew Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence (1387–1421), the son of King Henry IV. They had no children, although Thomas was stepfather to her six children from her first marriage, who were his first cousins.[4]

Later life and Death

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In 1419 she travelled to Normandy with her sons to be with her husband there, leaving her daughters in the care of the Prioress of Dartford.[5] Her husband died on 22 March 1421 fighting at the Battle of Baugé, Anjou, France.[6] She was an executrix of his will alongside executors John Colvylle of Neuton, Cambridgeshire, knight, and Henry Merston of Westminster, clerk.[7]

In 1430 a book about the life of St. Jerome was made for her by Symon Wynter of Syon Abbey.[8]

Margaret retired to St. Saviour's Abbey, Bermondsey, London, where she died on 30 December 1439.[4]

Margaret and both her husbands are buried together in a carved alabaster tomb in Canterbury Cathedral that she commissioned.[9] The monument shows her lying in repose between her two husbands, which is extremely rare.[10] Her husbands had been buried in the Trinity Chapel and were exhumed to be reburied alongside Margaret.[11]

Descendants

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Through her son John, the 1st Duke of Somerset, and his wife Margaret Beauchamp, Lady Margaret is an ancestress to the Tudor monarchs.[4]

Ancestry

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Connor 2007, p. 388, per John Stone's Chronicle.
  2. ^ Barker, Jessica (2020). Stone Fidelity: Marriage and Emotion in Medieval Tomb Sculpture. Boydell & Brewer. p. 178. ISBN 978-1-78327-271-6.
  3. ^ Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, page 220.
  4. ^ a b c d Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), pg 102, 103.
  5. ^ Licence, Amy (15 April 2014). Cecily Neville: Mother of Kings. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-2132-6.
  6. ^ Neillands, Robin (1990). The Hundred Years War. Internet Archive. London; New York : Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-00148-9.
  7. ^ Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; CP 40 / 677; http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H6/CP40no677/aCP40no677fronts/IMG_0116.htm; second entry, as defendants.
  8. ^ Connolly, Margaret; Mooney, Linne R. (2008). Design and Distribution of Late Medieval Manuscripts in England. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 265. ISBN 978-1-903153-24-6.
  9. ^ Barker, Jessica (2020). Stone Fidelity: Marriage and Emotion in Medieval Tomb Sculpture. Boydell & Brewer. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-78327-271-6.
  10. ^ Barker, Jessica (2020). Stone Fidelity: Marriage and Emotion in Medieval Tomb Sculpture. Boydell & Brewer. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-78327-271-6.
  11. ^ Woodman, Francis (27 January 2023). The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral. Taylor & Francis. p. 255. ISBN 978-1-000-81741-6.
  12. ^ a b c d e Stansfield 1987, p. 310.
  13. ^ a b Richardson II, pp. 185–187.
  14. ^ Richardson II, pp. 392–394, 485–486.
  15. ^ a b Stansfield 1987, p. 312.
  16. ^ a b Richardson II, pp. 178–179.
  17. ^ a b Richardson II, pp. 526–527.

References

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