3933770. Thomas Holland 2nd
Earl of Kent(336)
(538) was born about 1350. He died on Apr 25 1397. Like his brother
John, Duke of Exeter, Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, owed his advancement largely
to the fact that his mother, Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent" was also
the mother of King Richard II.
He was made captain of English forces in Aquitaine in 1366 and the following
year he was knighted by his stepfather, Edward the Black Prince, and in 1375
was made a Knight of the Garter. The following year he accompanied the English
expedition into Brittany with two thousand men at arms and three thousand archers.
After his half-brother came to the throne in 1377 he exerted considerable influence
at Court, most of it bad. Holland was selfish and grasping and more interested
in enriching himself than in serving the King or England. In the first year of
the new reign his half brother granted him an income of two hundred pounds for
life and his income was soon a thousand pounds a year from Court appointments.
He was named Earl-Marshall of England in 1380 and that year helped arrange the
marriage between Richard II and Anne of Luxembourg, sister of the Emperor. The
following year he was created Earl of Kent, a title held by his mother. That
year he was made captain of the king's forces against the rebllion of the commons
that had broken out in Kent. he was with Richard in the Tower when the rebells
approached London, but when the King went out to meet them at Mile End, he was
not present, fearing for his own life.
On his mother's death he was granted her lands and in 1389 was named Constable
of the Tower and a privy councillor. He was named constable of Carisbrooke Castle
just before his death. He was married to Alice Fitzalan on Apr 10 1364.
3933771. Alice Fitzalan
(538) was born in 1352 in Arundel Castle, Sussex. She died on Mar
17 1416. Children were:
1966885 i.
Margaret Holland.