Person Page - 1288

     Philip IV of France (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called the Fair (French: le Bel), son and successor of Philip III, reigned as King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was King of Navarre (as Philip I) and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305. The nickname Philip "the Fair" or "the Handsome" comes from his appearance; it had nothing to do with his actions as king.

A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born at the Palace of Fontainebleau at Seine-et-Marne, the son of King Philip III and Isabella of Aragon. Philip was nicknamed the Fair (le Bel) because of his handsome appearance, but his inflexible personality gained him other epithets, from friend and foe alike. His fierce opponent Bernard Saisset, bishop of Pamiers, said of him, "He is neither man nor beast. He is a statue."[1]

His education was guided by Guillaume d'Ercuis, the almoner of his father.

As prince, just before his father's death, he negotiated the safe passage of the royal family out of Aragon after the unsuccessful Aragonese Crusade.¹

     Philip III (30 April 1245 – 5 October 1285), called the Bold (French: le Hardi), was the King of France, succeeding his father, Louis IX, and reigning from 1270 to 1285. He was a member of the House of Capet.

Born in Poissy, to Louis IX (the later Saint Louis) and Margaret of Provence, Philip was prior to his accession Count of Orleans. He accompanied his father on the Eighth Crusade to Tunisia in 1270. His father died at Tunis and there Philip was declared king at the age of 25. Philip was indecisive, soft in nature, timid, and apparently crushed by the strong personalities of his parents and dominated by his father's policies. He was called "the Bold" on the basis of his abilities in combat and on horseback and not his character. He was pious, but not cultivated. He followed the dictates of others, first of Pierre de la Broce and then of his uncle Charles I of Sicily.

After his succession, he quickly set his uncle on negotiations with the emir to conclude the crusade, while he himself returned to France. A ten-year truce was concluded and Philip was crowned in France on 12 August 1271. On 21 August, his uncle, Alfonso, Count of Poitou, Toulouse, and Auvergne, died returning from the crusade in Italy. Philip inherited his counties and united them to the royal demesne. The portion of the Auvergne which he inherited became the "Terre royale d'Auvergne," later the Duchy of Auvergne. In accordance with Alfonso's wishes, the Comtat Venaissin was granted to the Pope Gregory X in 1274. Several years of negotiations yielded the Treaty of Amiens with Edward I of England in 1279. Thereby Philip restored to the English the Agenais which had fallen to him with the death of Alfonso. In 1284, Philip also inherited the counties of Perche and Alençon from his brother Pierre.

Philip all the while supported his uncle's policy in Italy. When, after the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, Peter III of Aragon invaded and took the island of Sicily, pope Martin IV excommunicated the conqueror and declared his kingdom (put under the suzerainty of the pope by Peter II in 1205) forfeit. He granted Aragon to Charles, Count of Valois, Philip's son. Philip intervened in the Navarrese succession after the death of Henry I of Navarre and married his son, Philip the Fair, to the heiress of Navarre, Joan I.

In 1284, Philip and his sons entered Roussillon at the head of a large army. This war, called the Aragonese Crusade from its papal sanction, has been labelled "perhaps the most unjust, unnecessary and calamitous enterprise ever undertaken by the Capetian monarchy."[1] On 26 June 1285, Philip the Bold entrenched himself before Gerona in an attempt to besiege it. The resistance was strong, but the city was taken on 7 September. Philip soon experienced a reversal, however, as the French camp was hit hard by an epidemic of dysentery. Philip himself was afflicted. The French retreated and were handily defeated at the Battle of the Col de Panissars. The king of France himself died at Perpignan, the capital of his ally James II of Majorca, and was buried in Narbonne. He currently lies buried with his wife Isabella of Aragon in Saint Denis Basilica in Paris.¹

     Elizabeth Despencer, 3rd Baroness Burghersh (ca. 1342 – August, 1402) was an English noblewoman born to Bartholomew de Burghersh, 2nd Baron Burghersh and Cicely Weyland. She married Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer and they had six children.

Children
Margaret Despencer (died 3 November 1415) married Robert Ferrers, 5th Baron Ferrers of Chartley
Elizabeth Despencer (died 10 April or 11 April 1408) married (1) John d'Arundel (2) William la Zouche, 3rd Baron Zouche
Thomas le Despencer, 1st Earl of Gloucester (22 September 1373 – 13 January 1400) married Constance Langley
Hugh Despencer
Cicely Despencer
Anne Despencer (died 30 October 1426 married (1) Hugh Hastings (2) Thomas de Morley, 4th Baron Morley.¹

     2nd Baron Burghersh.

     3rd Baron Zouche.

     Lady Arundel. Eleanor Maltravers, Lady Arundel (Mautravers) (1345 – 12 January 1405), was an English noblewoman and heiress during the reigns of King Edward III of England and his successors.

The younger daughter of John Maltravers (Mautravers) and his wife Gwenthin, she was co-heiress in 1350 to her brother, Henry Maltravers. She married Sir John Fitzalan (D'Arundel), 1st Lord of Arundel.

They were parents to five children:

Joan Fitzalan (c. 1360 - 1 September 1404). She was married first to Sir William de Echingham and secondly to William de Brien.
John Fitzalan, 2nd Lord Arundel (3 November 1364 - 14 August 1390), who married Elizabeth le Despenser.
They had three sons:
John Fitzalan, 13th Earl of Arundel (1385 - 1421).
Edmund Fitzalan.
Sir Thomas Fitzalan of Beechwood (d. 1430). He was married to Joan Moyns.
Richard Fitzalan (c. 1366 - 3 June 1419).
William Arundel (c. 1369 - 1400). He was a Knight of the Garter.
Margaret Fitzalan (c. 1372 - 3 July 1438). She was married to William de Ros, 7th Baron de Ros.
Eleanor was a legatee in the 1375 will of her step-grandmother, Agnes, Lady Maltravers. She was sole heiress in or after 1383 to her sister, Joan Maltravers, wife of Robert Roos, by which she became Lady Maltravers. Sir John Fitzalan died at sea on 15 December 1379.

Eleanor married secondly (as his second wife) Sir Reynold Cobham, 2nd Lord Cobham of Sterborough (died 6 July 1403), but in 1384 they were divorced on account of their consanguinity and subsequently allowed to remarry with proper dispensation. On her death, Eleanor was buried with her first husband, John Fitzalan.¹ 2nd Baroness Maltravers.

     Baron Mautravers.

     14th Earl of Arundel.

     Alice of Saluzzo, Countess of Arundel (died 25 September 1292)[1], also known as Alesia di Saluzzo, was an Italian-born noblewoman and an English countess. She was a daughter of Thomas I of Saluzzo, and the wife of Sir Richard Fitzalan, 8th Earl of Arundel. Alice was one of the first Italian women to marry into an English noble family. She assumed the title of Countess of Arundel in 1289.

Alice was born on an unknown date in Saluzzo, today in the Province of Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy. She was the second eldest daughter of Thomas I, 4th Margrave of Saluzzo, and Luigia di Ceva (died 22 August 1291/1293).[2]Alice had fifteen siblings. Her father was a very wealthy and cultured nobleman under whose rule, Saluzzo achieved a prosperity, freedom, and greatness it had never known previously.

Alice's paternal grandparents were Manfred III of Saluzzo and Beatrice of Savoy. Her maternal grandparents were Giorgio, Marquis of Ceva[3] and Menzia d'Este.

Sometime before 1285, Alice married Richard Fitzalan, feudal Lord of Clun and Oswestry in the Welsh Marches, the son of John Fitzalan, 7th Earl of Arundel and Isabella Mortimer. Richard would succeed to the title of Earl of Arundel in 1289, thus making Alice the 8th Countess of Arundel. Along with her aunt, Alasia of Saluzzo who married Edmund de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln in 1247, Alice was one of the first Italian women to marry into an English noble family. Her marriage had been arranged by the late King Henry III's widowed Queen consort Eleanor of Provence.

Richard and Alice's principal residence was Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire, but Richard also held Arundel Castle in Sussex and the castles of Clun and Oswestry in Shropshire. Alice's husband was knighted by King Edward I in 1289, and fought in the Welsh Wars (1288-1294), and later in the Scottish Wars.

The marriage produced four children:[4]

Edmund Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel (1 May 1285- 17 November 1326 by execution), married Alice de Warenne, by whom he had issue.
John Fitzalan, a priest
Alice Fitzalan (died 7 September 1340), married Stephen de Segrave, 3rd Lord Segrave, by whom she had issue.
Margaret Fitzalan, married William le Botiller, by whom she had issue.
Alice died on 25 September 1292 and was buried in Haughmond Abbey, Shropshire. Her husband Richard died in 1302 and was buried alongside Alice. In 1341, provision was made for twelve candles to be burned beside their tombs.[5]The Abbey is now a ruin as the result of a fire during the English Civil War.

Her many descendants included the Dukes of Norfolk, Anne Boleyn, Sir Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales.¹

     Countess of Arundel, Lady of Clun and Ostwestry.

     7th Earl of Arundel. John FitzAlan, 7th Earl of Arundel (14 September 1246 – 18 March 1272) was an English nobleman. He was also feudal Lord of Clun and Oswestry in the Welsh Marches.

He was the son of John FitzAlan, 6th Earl of Arundel (d. 1267), and Maud le Boteler, daughter of Theobald le Botiller (or Boteler) and Rohese (or Rohesia) de Verdun. His paternal grandparents were John Fitzalan, Lord of Oswestry and Isabel d'Aubigny. Through his father, FitzAlan was also descended from Alan fitzFlaad, and Llywelyn the Great[citation needed].

Lord Arundel married Isabella Mortimer (died 1292), daughter of Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Wigmore and Maud de Braose in 1260. They had a son Richard FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel.¹

     Humphrey (VI) de Bohun (c. 1249 at an unknown age – 31 December 1298), 3rd Earl of Hereford and 2nd Earl of Essex, was an English nobleman known primarily for his opposition to King Edward I over the Confirmatio Cartarum.[1] He was also an active participant in the Welsh Wars and maintained for several years a private feud with the earl of Gloucester.[2] His father, Humphrey (V) de Bohun, fought on the side of the rebellious barons in the Barons' War. When Humphrey (V) predeceased his son, Humphrey (VI) was left as heir to his grandfather – Humphrey (V)'s father – Humphrey (IV). At Humphrey (IV)'s death in 1275, Humphrey (VI) inherited the earldoms of Hereford and Essex. He also inherited major possessions in the Welsh Marches from his mother.

Bohun's spent most of his early career reconquering Marcher lands captured by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd during the Welsh war in England. This was finally accomplished through Edward I's war in Wales in 1277. Hereford also fought in Wales in 1282–83 and 1294–95. At the same time he also had private feuds with other Marcher lords, and his conflict with Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, eventually ended with the personal intervention of King Edward himself. Hereford's final years were marked by the opposition he and Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, mounted against the military and fiscal policy of Edward I. The conflict escalated to a point where civil war threatened, but was resolved when the war effort turned towards Scotland. The king signed the Confirmatio Cartarum – a confirmation of Magna Carta – and Bohun and Bigod agreed to serve on the Falkirk Campaign. Bohun died in 1298, and was succeeded by his son, Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford.¹ 3rd Earl of Hereford and 2nd Earl of Essex.