Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey

Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey, 3rd Earl of Kent, KG, Earl Marshal (8 September 1372 – 7 January 1400) was an English nobleman and courtier.

Thomas Holland
Duke of Surrey, Earl of Kent
Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey, in the chronicle of Jean Creton, circa 1405
Born	8 September 1372
Died	7 January 1400 (aged 27) Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Burial	Mount Grace Priory, Yorkshire
Spouse	Joan Stafford (m. 1392)
House	Holland
Father	Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent
Mother	Alice FitzAlan

Early life and family

Arms of Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey, before 1397

Born on 8 September 1372,^[1] Thomas Holland was the eldest son and heir of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent (1350–1397), and Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 3rd Earl of Arundel. His father was a maternal half-brother of King Richard II, and the younger Thomas had two brothers and six sisters.^[2]

Shortly after 20 October 1392,^[3] Thomas Holland married Joan Stafford, daughter of Hugh, Earl of Stafford. They had 2 children.^[4] In 1394 he and his father accompanied the king to Ireland.^[5]

Arms of Thomas Holland, 1399^[6]

On his father's death in 1397 he succeeded him as 3rd Earl of Kent and 4th Baron Holland. At that time Kent's uncle King Richard II was removing the Duke of Gloucester and his associates from power, and sent Kent to arrest his own uncle, the Earl of Arundel. In reward he received a share of the forfeited estates, and on 29 September 1397 was created Duke of Surrey. Another uncle, the Earl of Huntingdon, was created Duke of Exeter on that day as well. In 1398 he founded Mount Grace Priory in Yorkshire.^[7]

Last years and execution

Surrey, along with many of King Richard II's advisors, was arrested after the King's deposition by King Henry IV in 1399. In the end he had to forfeit the honours and estates he had gained after the arrests of Gloucester and Arundel, in particular the Dukedom of Surrey, although he retained the Earldom of Kent.

Early in 1400, Kent, along with his uncle, the Earl of Huntingdon (no longer Duke of Exeter), plotted to kill King Henry IV and free King Richard II from prison and return him to the throne. This "Epiphany Rising" failed and Kent was captured and executed.

He was succeeded as Earl of Kent by his brother Edmund.^[8]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey

8. Robert Holland, 1st Baron Holand[i] 4. Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent[i] 9. Maud la Zouche[i] 2. Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent 10. Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent[ii] 5. Joan, 4th Countess of Kent[i] 11. Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake[ii] 1. Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey 12. Edmund FitzAlan, 2nd Earl of Arundel[iii] 6. Richard FitzAlan, 3rd Earl of Arundel 13. Alice de Warenne[iii] 3. Alice FitzAlan 14. Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster[iv] 7. Eleanor of Lancaster[iv] 15. Maud Chaworth[iv] References: Stansfield 1987, p. 310 Stansfield 1987, p. 312 Given-Wilson, C. (2004). "Fitzalan, Edmund, second earl of Arundel (1285–1326)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online) (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9529. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) Mortimer, Ian (2007). The Fears of Henry IV: The Life of England's Self-made King. London: Jonathan Cape. p. 460. ISBN 978-0-224-07300-4.