John FitzAlan , 14th Earl of Arundel John FitzAlan , 14th Earl of Arundel , 4th Baron Maltravers ( 14 February 1408 – 12 June 1435 ) was an English nobleman and military commander during the later phases of the Hundred Years ' War . His father , John FitzAlan , 3rd Baron Maltravers , fought a long battle to lay claim to the Arundel earldom , a battle that was not finally resolved until after the father ' s death , when John FitzAlan the son was finally confirmed in the title in 1433 . Already before this , in 1430 , FitzAlan had departed for France , where he held a series of important command positions . He served under John , Duke of Bedford , the uncle of the eight - year - old King Henry VI . FitzAlan was involved in recovering fortresses in the Île - de - France region , and in suppressing local rebellions . His military career ended , however , at the Battle of Gerbevoy in 1435 . Refusing to retreat in the face of superior forces , Arundel was shot in the foot and captured . His leg was later amputated , and he died shortly afterwards from the injury . His final resting place was a matter of dispute until the mid - nineteenth century , when his tomb at Arundel Castle was revealed to contain a skeleton missing one leg . Arundel was considered a great soldier by his contemporaries . He had been a successful commander in France , in a period of decline for the English , and his death was a great loss to his country . He was succeeded by his son Humphrey , who did not live to adulthood . The title of Earl of Arundel then went to John ' s younger brother William . Family background . John FitzAlan was born at Lytchett Matravers in Dorset on 14 February 1408 . He was the son of John FitzAlan , 3rd Baron Maltravers ( 1385 – 1421 ) and Eleanor ( d . 1455 ) , daughter of Sir John Berkeley of Beverstone , Gloucestershire . John FitzAlan the elder , through his great - great - grandfather Richard FitzAlan , 4th Earl of Arundel , made a claim on the earldom of Arundel after the death of Thomas FitzAlan , 5th Earl of Arundel , in 1415 . The claim was disputed , however , by Thomas ' s three sisters and their families , foremost among these Elizabeth FitzAlan , who had married Thomas de Mowbray , 1st Duke of Norfolk . It is debatable whether Maltravers ever held the title of Earl of Arundel ; he was summoned to parliament under this title once , in 1416 , but never again . When he died in 1421 , the dispute continued under his son , and it was not until in 1433 that the younger John FitzAlan finally had his title confirmed in parliament . Four years earlier , in July 1429 , he had received his late father ' s estates and title . As a child , John FitzAlan was contracted to marry Constance , who was the daughter of John Cornwall , Baron Fanhope , and through her mother Elizabeth granddaughter of John of Gaunt . The two may or may not have married , but Constance was dead by 1429 , when John married Maud , daughter of Robert Lovell . FitzAlan was knighted in 1426 along with the four - year - old King Henry VI , where he was referred to as " Dominus de Maultravers " ( " Lord Maltravers " ) . In the summer of 1429 he was summoned to parliament , this time styled " Johanni Arundell ' Chivaler " , meaning he was now Lord Arundel . In 1430 , however , in an indenture for service with the king in France , he was styled Earl of Arundel , a title he also used himself . When he was finally officially recognised in his title of Earl of Arundel in 1433 , this was based on the recognition that the title went with the possession of Arundel Castle . In reality though , the grant was just as much a reward for the military services he had by that point rendered in France . Service in France . John FitzAlan the father had been a prominent soldier in the Hundred Years ' War under King Henry V , and the son followed in his father ' s footsteps . On 23 April 1430 , the younger FitzAlan departed for France in the company of Henry VI . There he soon made a name for himself as a soldier , under the command of the king ' s uncle , John , Duke of Bedford . In June he took part in the Siege of Compiègne , where Joan of Arc had recently been captured . Later , he raised the siege of Anglure with the help of the Burgundians . On 17 December 1431 , he was present when Henry VI was crowned King of France in Paris , where he distinguished himself at the accompanying tournament . FitzAlan ' s military success led to several important appointments of command ; in November 1431 , he was made lieutenant of the Rouen garrison , and shortly after also captain of Vernon . In January 1432 he was appointed captain of Verneuil . In February that year he was taken by surprise while in bed at Rouen Castle , when a band of French soldiers from nearby Ricarville managed to take the castle . The assailants could not hold the castle , however , and were forced to surrender twelve days later . In April 1432 , FitzAlan was rewarded for his actions so far by initiation into the Order of the Garter . From early 1432 onwards , FitzAlan held several regional commands in northern France . One of his tasks was recovering fortresses in the Île - de - France region , at which he was mostly successful . At Lagny - sur - Marne he blew up the bridge to prevent the citizens from reaching the castle , but still failed to take the fortification . In December he was appointed to a regional command in Upper Normandy , but had to defend the town of Sées from a siege in March 1433 . In July , he was instead made lieutenant - general of Lower Normandy . FitzAlan continued his work of recovering lost fortresses , taking back Saint - Célerin , Sillé - le - Guillaume , and Beaumont - le - Vicomte by early 1434 . In December 1433 , Bedford again appointed him commander in Upper Normandy , as well as captain of Pont - de - l ' Arche . FitzAlanby now Earl of Arundelmight have returned briefly to England in May 1434 , when he was in the process of gathering troops for an English expedition to France . Later that month he was replaced as lieutenant of Upper Normandy by John Talbot , Earl of Shrewsbury , and instead received a command between the Seine and Loire rivers . This effectively meant that the two shared the command of Normandy , with Talbot east of the Seine and Arundel to the west . On 8 September , Arundel was also made Duke of Touraine – an area held by the French . The grant was made as a reward for his good service , but also in the hope that he would campaign in the area . In October he was made captain of Saint - Lô , where he had to deal with a rebellion in the Bessin area . The Duke of Alençon was trying to exploit the revolt to take control of Avranches , but Arundel managed to prevent the French advance and end the rebellion . Death and aftermath . In May 1435 , Arundel was at Mantes - la - Jolie in the Île - de - France , when he was ordered to relocate north to Gournay - sur - Epte ( now Gournay - en - Bray ) . When he was informed that the French had taken over the nearby fortress at Gerberoy , he moved quickly to attack it . The English met with a large French force at Gerberoy . Many withdrew to Gournay in panic , but Arundel remained to fight . In the ensuing battle , Arundel lost many of his men and was himself hit in the foot by a shot from a culverin – a primitive musket . Heavily wounded , he was taken to Beauvais as a captive of the French . According to the French historian Thomas Basin , Arundel was humiliated by his defeat and refused to receive medical treatment for the damage to his foot . The leg was eventually amputated , but Arundel ' s life could not be saved ; he died on 12 June 1435 . Arundel was replaced in his command by Lord Scales . There was long uncertainty about what had happened to the earl ' s body . The French chronicler Jehan de Waurin claimed that Arundel had simply been buried in Beauvais . In the mid - nineteenth century , however , the chaplain of the Duke of Norfolk came upon the will of Arundel ' s squire , Fulk Eyton . Eyton maintained that he had secured the earl ' s body and brought it back to England , for which he had been rewarded with over £1 , 000 . The body was then entombed in the chapel of Arundel Castle , as Arundel had expressly wished for in his own will . On 16 November 1857 , the tomb in the Arundel chapel carrying the earl ' s effigy was opened . In it was found a skeleton measuring over six feet , with a missing leg . Arundel ' s military career coincided with a period of general decline for the English in France . He had been an unusually successful campaigner . His death was lamented in England and celebrated in France . He was referred to as the " English Achilles " ; the historian Polydore Vergil called him " a man of singular valour , constancy , and gravity . " With his wife , Maud , he had a son , Humphrey , who was born on 30 January 1429 . Humphrey succeeded to his father ' s title , but died on 24 April 1438 , while still a minor . John FitzAlan ' s younger brother , William , was next in line of succession . William was born in 1417 and was created Earl of Arundel in 1438 when he came of age . FitzAlan family tree . The following simplified family tree shows the background for the dispute over the Arundel title and inheritance . Solid lines denote children and dashed lines marriages .