Margaret Holland, Duchess of Clarence

Margaret Holland (1385 – 30 December 1439) was a medieval English noblewoman and a member of the powerful Holland family. Through her marriages she became Countess of Somerset and Duchess of Clarence. She was "at the very centre of royal power and prestige" throughout her lifetime.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Early life

Margaret was a daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, who was the son of Joan "the Fair Maid of Kent" (granddaughter of Edward I of England, wife of Edward the Black Prince and mother of Richard II of England). Margaret's mother was Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster.

Marriages and issue

Margaret married John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, son of John of Gaunt and his mistress Katherine Swynford. They had six children:<ref>Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, page 220.</ref>

• Henry Beaufort, 2nd Earl of Somerset (1401–1418).
• Joan Beaufort (d. 1445), who married James I of Scotland and Sir James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn.
• John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset (1404–1444), who married Margaret Beauchamp.
• Thomas Beaufort, Count of Perche (c. 1405–1431). Died at the Siege of Louviers.
• Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (c. 1406–1455) who married Eleanor Beauchamp, daughter of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, by his first wife Elizabeth de Berkeley.
• Margaret Beaufort (c. 1408–1449), who married Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon.

In 1399, she was invested as a Lady of the Order of the Garter (LG).<ref name="weir">Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy (London, UK: The Bodley Head, 1999), pg 102, 103.</ref>

After her husband John Beaufort died in 1410, she married his half-nephew Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence (1387–1421), the son of King Henry IV. They had no children, although Thomas was stepfather to her six children from her first marriage, who were his first cousins.<ref name="weir"/>

Later life and Death

In 1419 she travelled to Normandy with her sons to be with her husband there, leaving her daughters in the care of the Prioress of Dartford.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Her husband died on 22 March 1421 fighting at the Battle of Baugé, Anjou, France.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She was an executrix of his will alongside executors John Colvylle of Neuton, Cambridgeshire, knight, and Henry Merston of Westminster, clerk.<ref>Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; CP 40 / 677; http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H6/CP40no677/aCP40no677fronts/IMG_0116.htm; second entry, as defendants.</ref>

In 1430 a book about the life of St. Jerome was made for her by Symon Wynter of Syon Abbey.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Margaret retired to St. Saviour's Abbey, Bermondsey, London, where she died on 30 December 1439.<ref name="weir"/>

Margaret and both her husbands are buried together in a carved alabaster tomb in Canterbury Cathedral that she commissioned.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The monument shows her lying in repose between her two husbands, which is extremely rare.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Her husbands had been buried in the Trinity Chapel and were exhumed to be reburied alongside Margaret.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Descendants

Through her son John, the 1st Duke of Somerset, and his wife Margaret Beauchamp, Lady Margaret is an ancestress to the Tudor monarchs.<ref name="weir"/>

References

• Template:Cite journal Template:Open access
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite ODNB
• Template:Cite thesis

External links

• Margaret Holland profile, our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com. Accessed 23 November 2022.