# Edmund Fitzalan (1327-1382)

Sir Edmund FitzAlan (c. 1327/9 – died before 12 February 1382) was an English nobleman and the son of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Arundel. He was the heir to the earldom of Arundel until he was declared illegitimate by the annulment of his parents' marriage in 1344. He was sometimes known as Edmund de Arundel.

## Early life

FitzAlan was born about 1327 or 1329 and was the only son of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Arundel. Lawrence claims that he had two sisters called Phillipa and Isabel.
His parents had been married in 1321, to cement an alliance between their fathers, Edmund FitzAlan, 2nd Earl of Arundel and Hugh le Despenser, 2nd Baron le Despenser, the favourite of Edward II of England. The King paid for the cloth to be held over the heads of the couple as they knelt at the altar. At the time of their marriage, Isabel was eight and Richard was seven. In 1331 his father became Earl of Arundel.
FitzAlan's mother was the eldest daughter of Hugh le Despenser, 2nd Baron le Despenser and Eleanor de Clare, suo jure 6th Lady of Glamorgan, whose mother was the eldest daughter of Joan of Acre, Princess of England. This made Edmund a great-great-grandson of King Edward I and his first consort, Eleanor of Castile.

## Parents annulment

On 4 December 1344, FitzAlan's father Richard petitioned the pope for an annulment of his marriage to Isabel. King Edward III supported the petition, which was on the grounds that they had never freely consented to marry, that they both had renounced their vows at puberty, but they had been "forced by blows to cohabit, so that a son was born". The annulment was granted by Pope Clement VI and Edmund was declared illegitimate and disinherited.
After the annulment, Isabel retired to five manors in Essex that were given to her by her ex-husband. Richard, following receiving a papal dispensation, married Isabel's widowed first cousin Eleanor of Lancaster, with whom he had apparently been having an affair. Richard and Eleanor had five children who survived into adulthood.
In 1347, FitzAlan protested to the pope about his treatment and that the annulment of his parents marriage had been surreptitiously obtained, but without success.

## Marriage

FitzAlan married before 1347 (betrothed in January 1331 and married probably as a child), Sybil de Montacute, daughter of the deceased William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury and Catherine Grandison.
They had two daughters who were his co-heiresses:
* Phillippe Arundel, married Richard Sergeaux as his second wife.
* Elizabeth Arundel, married firstly Leonard Carow and secondly John de Meriet.

## Career

FitzAlan was knighted in 1352 and owned numerous manors throughout the counties of Devon, Dorset, Somerset, and Sussex. In 1364, he was sent to Flanders on the king's service then in 1368 Pope Urban V sent him to King Edward III to communicate verbally "the present state of the Roman church in Italy". In 1369 and 1370, FitzAlan fought in several military campaigns in France including the Battle of Pontvallain under the command of his second cousin once removed, Edward the Black Prince, during the Hundred Years' War.
When his father died in 1376, FitzAlan quarrelled with his half-siblings, the children of his father's second marriage, over inheritance rights. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London until he was released in 1377 by request of his brothers-in-law, who stood mainprise for him. Despite his persistent protests, he eventually lost his inheritance.
In February 1381, FitzAlan went to Gascony on a military expedition and died sometime before 12 February 1382. After his death, his daughters brought a failed suit in 1382 against their half-uncle, Richard FitzAlan,11th Earl of Arundel (died 1397).