Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster

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Thomas
Alice de Lacy, 4th Countess of Lincoln (m. 1294; div. c. 1318)
FatherEdmund Crouchback
MotherBlanche of Artois

Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster (c. 1278 – 22 March 1322) was an English nobleman of the first

Edward II
.

Early life and marriage

Thomas was the eldest son of Edmund Crouchback and Blanche of Artois, Queen Dowager of Navarre and niece of King Louis IX of France. Crouchback was the son of King Henry III of England.[1] Through his mother, Thomas was a half-brother of Queen Joan I of Navarre.

His marriage to

Canford, Dorset, by Richard de St Martin, a knight in the service of John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey
. This incident caused a feud between Lancaster and Surrey; Lancaster seized two of Surrey's castles in retaliation. King Edward then intervened, and the two earls came to an uneasy truce. Thomas continued to hold the powerful earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury. This was due to the marriage contract the two families had agreed; upon the death of his father-in-law, Thomas would hold these earldoms in his own right, not, as would be expected, in right of his wife.

Earl of Lancaster

Arms of Thomas: Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale or, armed and langued azure, overall a label of three points azure, each point charged with three Fleur-de-lis or

On reaching full age he became hereditary

Edward I in Scotland, leaving the shrievalty in the care of deputies. He was present at the Battle of Falkirk
in 1298 as part of Edward I's wing of the army.

He served in the

Piers Gaveston, who mocked him as "the Fiddler",[3]
and swore revenge when Gaveston demanded that the king dismiss one of Lancaster's retainers.

Lancaster was one of the

Lords Ordainers who demanded the banishment of Gaveston and the establishment of a baronial oligarchy
. His private army helped separate the king and Gaveston, and Lancaster was one of the "judges" who convicted Gaveston and saw him executed in 1312.

After the disaster at Bannockburn in 1314, Edward submitted to Lancaster, who in effect became ruler of England. He attempted to govern for the next four years, but was unable to keep order or prevent the Scots from raiding and retaking territory in the North. In 1318 his popularity with the barons declined and he was persuaded "to accept a diminished authority."[4]

Death

The new leadership, eventually headed by

Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester, and his son Hugh Despenser the Younger, proved no more popular with the baronage, and in 1321 Lancaster was again at the head of a rebellion. This time he was defeated at the Battle of Boroughbridge on 16 March 1322, and taken prisoner.[1]

Lancaster was tried by a tribunal consisting of, among others, the two

Edmund Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel; and King Edward. Lancaster was not allowed to speak in his own defence, nor was he allowed to have anyone to speak for him. He was convicted of treason and sentenced to death. Because of their kinship and Lancaster's royal blood, the king commuted the sentence to beheading, as opposed to being hanged, drawn and beheaded,[5] and Lancaster was executed on 22 March 1322 near Pontefract Castle
.

Upon his death, his titles and estates were forfeited, and the Scots, whom Lancaster gained aid from in his rebellion, mainly to weaken the English in their war, seized the opportunity to take his inheritance in the Great Raid of 1322. In 1323, his younger brother Henry successfully petitioned to take possession of the earldom of Leicester, and in 1326 or 1327 Parliament posthumously reversed Thomas's conviction, and Henry was further permitted to take possession of the earldoms of Lancaster, Derby, Salisbury and Lincoln.

Soon after Thomas's death, miracles were reported at his tomb at Pontefract, and he became venerated as a

canonisation, and popular veneration continued until the reformation.[1]

On 23 March 1822, Thomas's remains were discovered in a large stone coffin buried in a field in the parish of Ferry Fryston.[6] In 1942 it was reported by E. J. Rudsdale that some of Thomas's bones had been found in a box at Paskell's auctioneers in Colchester, Essex, having been removed from Pontefract Castle in 1885.[7]

Titles and lands

Thomas of Lancaster's main possessions (Maddicott)

From his father, Thomas inherited the

. By
Lord of Bowland upon the death of his father-in-law in 1311. Master of five earldoms, he was one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in England.[8] Thomas was in possession of many key fortresses, including Clitheroe Castle, particularly in northern England. He was responsible for the extension of Pontefract Castle and in 1313 he began the construction of Dunstanburgh Castle, a massive fortress in Northumberland
.

Arms

Inherited from his father, Thomas bore the arms of the kingdom,

Genealogical table

Thomas was closely related to both the

kings of England. His contemporaries commented that "as each parent was of royal stock, he was clearly of nobler descent than the other earls".[10]

Henry III of EnglandEleanor of Provence
Edward I of EnglandHenry I of NavarreBlanche of ArtoisEdmund Crouchback
Philip IV of FranceJoan I of NavarreThomas of LancasterHenry of Lancaster
Edward II of EnglandIsabella of FranceLouis X of FrancePhilip V of FranceCharles IV of France
Edward III of England

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c Maddicott 2008.
  2. ^ Warner, Kathryn (2018). Blood Roses (1st ed.). Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. p. 120.
  3. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
    , 3 January 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  4. . Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  5. ^ Maddicott 1970, p. 312.
  6. ^ GENUKI: The Ancient Parish of FERRY FRYSTON. Accessed 31 January 2023.
  7. ^ Rudsdale, E. J. "WW2: A Civilian in the Second World War: 31st January 1942: The Earl of Lancaster's Bones".
  8. ^ Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, English Monarchs, Retrieved 13 September 2015
  9. ^ "marks of cadency in the British royal family". heraldica.org.
  10. ^ Maddicott 1970, p. 3.

References

Further reading

Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster
Born: c. 1278 Died: 22 March 1322
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord High Steward
1296–1322
Succeeded by
Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Lancaster and Leicester
1296–1322
Succeeded by