Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster

Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and Leicester (c. 1278 – 22 March 1322) was an English nobleman. A member of the House of Plantagenet, he was one of the leaders of the baronial opposition to his first cousin, Edward II of England.

"Thomas of Lancaster" redirects here. For a brother of Henry V of England, see Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence.

Thomas
Earl of Lancaster
Arms of Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster: 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
Earl of Lancaster and Leicester
Predecessor	Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl
Successor	Henry, 3rd Earl
Detail Titles and styles The Earl of Lancaster The Earl of Lincoln
Born	c. 1278
Died	(1322-03-22)22 March 1322 (aged c. 43–44) Pontefract, Yorkshire
Noble family	Plantagenet
Spouse(s)	Alice de Lacy, 4th Countess of Lincoln (m. 1294; div. c. 1318)
Father	Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster
Mother	Blanche of Artois

Life

See also: Despenser War

Thomas was the eldest son of Edmund Crouchback and Blanche of Artois, Queen Dowager of Navarre and niece of King Louis IX of France by her father Robert I Earl of Artois. Crouchback was the son of King Henry III of England.[1]

His marriage to Alice de Lacy was not successful. They had no children together, while he fathered, illegitimately, two sons named John and Thomas.[2] In 1317 Alice was abducted from her manor at 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.

On reaching full age he became hereditary Sheriff of Lancashire, but spent most of the next ten years fighting for 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 coronation of his cousin, King Edward II of England, on 25 February 1308, carrying Curtana, the sword of Edward the Confessor. At the beginning of the King's reign, Lancaster openly supported Edward, but as the conflict between the king and the nobles wore on, Lancaster's allegiances changed. He despised the royal favourite, 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."

The new leadership, eventually headed by Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester, and his son Hugh the younger Despenser, 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 Despensers, 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 hung, drawn and beheaded,[4] and Lancaster was executed on 22 March 1322 near Pontefract Castle.

Upon his death his titles and estates were forfeited, but 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 martyr and saint. In 1327 the Commons petitioned Edward III to ask for his canonisation, and popular veneration continued until the reformation.[1]

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.[5]

Titles and lands

Thomas of Lancaster's main possessions (Maddicott)

From his father Thomas inherited the Earldoms of Lancaster, Leicester, and a Ferrers earldom of Derby. By his marriage to Alice de Lacy, Countess of Lincoln, daughter and heiress of Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln, he became Earl of Lincoln, Earl of Salisbury, 11th Baron of Halton and 7th 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.[6] 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, differenced by a label France of three points (that is to say azure three fleur-de-lys or, each).[7]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster[8]

16. Henry II of England 8. King John of England 17. Eleanor of Aquitaine 4. Henry III of England 18. Aymer of Angoulême 9. Isabella of Angoulême 19. Alice of Courtenay 2. Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster 20. Alfonso II, Count of Provence 10. Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence 21. Garsenda of Sabran 5. Eleanor of Provence 22. Thomas I of Savoy 11. Beatrice of Savoy 23. Marguerite of Geneva 1. Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster 24. Philip II of France 12. Louis VIII of France 25. Isabelle of Hainaut 6. Robert I of Artois 26. Alfonso VIII of Castile 13. Blanche of Castile 27. Eleanor of England 3. Blanche of Artois 28. Henry I, Duke of Brabant 14. Henry II, Duke of Brabant 29. Mathilde of Flanders 7. Matilda of Brabant 30. Philip of Swabia 15. Maria of Swabia 31. Irene Angelina of Byzantium

Footnotes

1. Maddicott 2008.
2. Warner, Kathryn (2018). Blood Roses (1st ed.). Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. p. 120.
3. Hamilton, J. S. "Gaveston, Piers, earl of Cornwall", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 3 January 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
4. Maddicott, J. R. (1970). Thomas of Lancaster 1307–1322. London: Oxford University Press. p. 312.
5. 31 January 1942: The Earl of Lancaster's Bones
6. Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, English Monarchs, Retrieved 13 September 2015
7. Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family
8. Watson 1895, pp. 30, 79, 141.

References

• Maddicott, J.R. (2008). "Thomas of Lancaster, second earl of Lancaster". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online). doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27195. Archived from the original on 16 February 2019.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Watson, G.W. (1895). "The Seize Quartiers of the Kings and Queens of England". In H.W. Forsyth Harwood (ed.). The Genealogist. New Series. 11. Exeter: William Pollard & Co.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

• Given-Wilson, Chris (1 June 1994). "Richard II, Edward II, and the Lancastrian Inheritance". The English Historical Review. 109 (432): 553–571. doi:10.1093/ehr/CIX.432.553. JSTOR 572908.
• Maddicott, J. R. (1970). Thomas of Lancaster, 1307–1322: A study in the reign of Edward II. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-821837-1.
• Mortimer, Ian (2003). The Greatest Traitor. ISBN 978-0-224-06249-7.

External links

• Thomas, 2nd earl of Lancaster at the Encyclopædia Britannica

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