Lionel (Plantagenet) of Antwerp KG (1338 - 1368)

Born 29 Nov 1338 in Antwerpen, Flanders, Belgium

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Burgh) de Burgh — married 15 Aug 1342 in Tower of London, Middlesex, England

Husband of Violante (Visconti) Clarence — married 1368 in Milan, Italy

Descendants

Died 17 Oct 1368 at age 29 in Alba, Piedmont, Cuneo, Italy

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Medieval Project WikiTree [send private message]

Lionel (Plantagenet) of Antwerp KG is managed by the Medieval Project. Pre-1500 certified? Join: Medieval Project Discuss: Medieval

Biography

Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence was the third, but second surviving, son of Edward III, King of England. He was born on 29 November 1328 in Antwerp, and so is typically styled of "Lionel of Antwerp."

As a child, he was made Guardian of England from 1 July 1345 to 25 June 1346. He was nominated a Knight of the Garter in 1361. He was Chief of Governor of Ireland from 1361 to 1365, and part of 1367.

He was married on 15 August 1342 at the Tower of London to Elizabeth de Burgh when he was only 3 years old and she was 10 years old. The marriage was consummated in 1352 when he was 14 years old. The marriage made him the Earl of Ulster and Baron of Connaught in the right of his wife, and bought him vast estates in Ireland. However, he was not able to gain possession of the land due the prevalence of the right of the heir male in the kingdom of Ireland.

He died 17 Oct 1368 in Italy leaving only a daughter. The title of Duke of Clarence became extinct. The Earldom of Ulster and Barony of Connaught continued through his daughter in the right of his first wife.

Birth

Born: 29 November 1328 at St Michael's Abbey in Antwerp, Belgium.

Marriages and Children

Married: 1st- Elizabeth de Burgh, daughter and sole heir William de Burgh, 3rd earl of Ulster, on 15 August 1342 at the Tower of London in London, England. She was born 6 July 1332. She died 10 December 1363.

Married: 2nd - Violante Visconti. They had no children.

Children of Lionel of Antwerp and Elizabeth de Burgh:

1. Philippa of Clarence.

Death

Died: 17 October in 1368 Alba, Cuneo, Italy.

Will: Dated 3 October 1368; proved 8 Jun 1369 at Lambeth

He wish to be buried at Clare. He was buried first at Pavia, but his body was removed to England and buried at convent of the Austin Friars at Clare, Suffolk beside his 1st wife.

Buried: Augustine Friars in Clare, Suffolk, England.

(Royal Tombs of Medieval England) Lionel died in 1368 at Montferrat in Italy and was buried in the church of S. Pietro Ciel d'Oro in Pavia, the burial place of St. Augustine. The duke was aged thirty, and his death, five months after his marriage to the Milanese princess, Violanta Visconti, was viewed with suspicion, such that Lionel's household came close to waging war on the Visconti. A letter from Edward III dated December 1368 gave instructions for his son to be buried locally in a manner befitting a prince. Lionel's will, however, dated two weeks before his death, instructed his burial in the Augustinian priory at Clare (in Suffolk), the burial place of his first wife, Elizabeth de Burgh (d.1363). Founded in 1248, Clare housed another royal tomb, that of Edward I's daughter, Joan of Acre, Countess of Clare and Gloucester (d.1307). The duke's wishes were observed, but the burial appears to have taken place as late as 1377, when the priory received payment of funds towards the coast of the funeral. There is no record of the Clare monuments, which were probably destroyed following the surrender of the priory in 1538 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Notes

• When Elizabeth died, Philippa became Countess of Ulster in her own right. She is also the person who the House of York based its claim to the throne, in addition to primogeniture.

• In fact, the crown should have passed to Lionel's heirs after the failure of the Black Prince’s line ... but it didn't. So it ended being an issue during the Wars of the Roses.^[1]

• Second marriage: Violante Visconti Violante brought with her a marriage portion of 2 million gold florins and a string of towns and castles in Piedmont. Weir: After his first wife died, Lionel tried to establish an Italian principality for himself. So he married Violante Visconti, dau. Duke of Milan, but died in Italy in mysterious circumstances, possibly of poison, only 6 months afterwards. ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Weir, Alison (1998). "A Race of Magnates." Lancaster and York: The wars of the roses. London: Pimlico. Ebook. ISBN: 9781446449172

See also:

• Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, in 5 vols. (Salt Lake City, Utah, 2013). See vol. 1 p. 87.
• Beltz, George. Memorials of the Order of the Garter (William Pickering, London, 1841) Page 129-31
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900)
• Duffy, Mark. Royal Tombs of Medieval England (Tempus Publishing, 2003) ISBN 0-7524-2579-X p. 133
• Weis, Frederick Lewis. The Magna Charta Sureties 1215, additions by Walter Lee Sheppard Jr, 5th Edition, 1999.
• Wikipedia: Lionel_of_Antwerp,_1st_Duke_of_Clarence
• : Library Ireland : A Compendium of Irish Biography : Lionel Duke of Clarence