Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/102

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Fitzalan
96
Fitzalan

described as Richard Fitzalan, but in 1292 he is called Earl of Arundel in his pleas, in answer to writs of quo warranto (Placita de quo warranto, pp. 681, 687). It is said, without much evidence, that he had been created earl in 1289 (Vincent, Discovery, p. 25), when he was knighted by Edward I. But the title was loosely and occasionally assigned to his father and grandfather also, though certainly without any formal warranty, for the doctrine of the act of 11 Henry VI, that all who possessed the castle of Arundel became earls without other title, was certainly not law in the thirteenth century (Lords' Report on the Dignity of a Peer, but cf. Dugdale, Baronage, i. 315). In 1292 his zeal to join the army was the excuse for a humiliating submission to Bishop Gilbert of Chichester, after a quarrel about his right of hunting in Houghton forest (Tierney, pp. 203-7, from Bishop Rede's Register). In 1294 he was again spoken of as earl in his appointment to command the forces sent to relieve Bere Castle, threatened by the Welsh insurgent Madoc (Parl. Writs, i. 599). In all subsequent writs he equally enjoys that title, though his absence in Gascony prevented his being summoned to the model parliament of 1295. In 1297 he again served in Gascony. In 1298, 1299, and 1300 he held command in Scotland, and in the latter year appeared, a 'beau chevalier et bien amé' and 'richement armé,' at the siege of Carlaverock (Nicolas, Siege of Carlaverock, p. 50). His last attendance in parliament was in 1301 at Lincoln, where he was one of the signatories of the famous letter to the pope. His last military summons was to Carlisle for 24 June 1301. He died on 9 March 1302 (Doyle, i. 70).

Fitzalan married Alice or Alisona, daughter of Thomas I, marquis of Saluzzo (Muletti, Memorie Storico-diplomatiche di Saluzzo, ii. 508), an alliance which is thought to point to a lengthened sojourn in Italy in his youth. By her he left two sons, of whom the elder, Edmund Fitzalan [q. v.], succeeded him, while the younger, John, was still alive in 1375 (Nicolas, Testamenta Vetusta, p. 94). Of their two daughters, one, Maud, married Philip, lord Burnell, and the other, Margaret, married William Botiler of Wem (Dugdale, i. 315).

[Parliamentary Writs, i. 599-600; Calendarium Genealogicum, ii. 622; Nicolas's Le Siège de Carlaverock, pp. 50, 283-5; Doyle's Official Baronage, i. 69-70; Dugdale's Baronage, i. 315; Eyton's Shropshire, iv. 122, 123, vii. 260-1; Lords' Report on the Dignity of a Peer, pp. 420, 421; Tierney's Hist. of Arundel, pp. 201-12.]

T. F. T.

FITZALAN, RICHARD II, Earl of Arundel and Warenne (1307?–1376), son of Edmund Fitzalan, earl of Arundel [q. v.], and his wife, Alice Warenne, was born not before 1307. About 1321 his marriage to Isabella, daughter of the younger Hugh le Despenser, cemented the alliance between his father and the favourites of Edward II. In 1326, however, his father's execution deprived him of the succession both to title and estates. In 1330, after the fall of Mortimer, he petitioned to be reinstated, and, after some delay, was restored in blood and to the greater part of Earl Edmund's possessions (Rot. Parl. ii. 50). He was, however, forbidden to continue his efforts to avenge his father by private war against John Charlton, first lord Charlton of Powys [q. v.] (ib. ii. 60). In 1331 he obtained the castle of Arundel from the heirs of Edmund, earl of Kent. These grants were subsequently more than once confirmed (ib. ii. 226, 256). In 1334 Arundel received Mortimer's castle of Chirk, and was made justice of North Wales, his large estates in that region giving him considerable local influence. The justiceship was afterwards confirmed for life. He was also made life-sheriff of Carnarvonshire and governor of Carnarvon Castle. Arundel took a conspicuous part in nearly every important war of Edward III's long reign. After surrendering in 1336 his 'hereditary right' to the stewardship of Scotland to Edward for a thousand marks (Fœdera, ii. 952), he was made in 1337 joint commander of the English army in the north. Early in 1338 he and his colleague Salisbury incurred no small opprobrium by their signal failure to capture Dunbar (Knighton, c. 2570; cf. Liber Pluscardensis, i. 284, ed. Skene). On 25 April he was elevated to the sole command, with full powers to treat with the Scots for truce or peace (Fœdera, ii. 1029, 1031), of which he availed himself to conclude a truce, as his duty now compelled him to follow the king to Brabant (Chron. de Melsa, ii. 385), where he landed at Antwerp on 13 Dec. (Froissart, i. 417, ed. Luce). In the January parliament of 1340 he was nominated admiral of the ships at Portsmouth and the west that were to assemble at Mid Lent (Rot. Parl. ii. 108). On 24 June he comported himself 'loyally and nobly' at the battle of Sluys, and was one of the commissioners sent by Edward from Bruges in July to acquaint parliament with the news and to explain to it the king's financial necessities (ib. ii. 118 b). Later in the same year he took part in the great siege of Tournay (Luce, Chronique des Quatre Premiers Valois, p. 4, ed. Soc. de l'Histoire de France). In 1342