Richard "Copped Hat" FITZALAN^{[1, 2]}

Abt 1313 - 1376  (~ 63 years)

• Name	Richard "Copped Hat" FITZALAN
  Nickname	Copped Hat
  Born	Abt 1313	Of Arundel, Sussex, England
  Gender	Male
  FamilySearch ID	LYK6-VQ2
  TitleOfNobility	Between 1331 and 1376  [3]
  	Earl of Arundel
  Occupation	Between 1336 and 1338	Portchester, Hampshire, England   [3]
  	Constable of Porchester Castle
  Occupation	Between 1336 and 1376	Caernarfonshire, Wales   [3]
  	Governor of Caernarfon Castle
  Occupation	Between 1339 and 1376	Caernarfonshire, Wales   [3]
  	High Sheriff of Caernarfonshire
  MilitaryService	23 Feb 1345  [3]
  	Admiral of the West
  TitleOfNobility	Between 1347 and 1376  [3]
  	Earl of Surrey
  Name	Copped Hat
  _UID	410056792AD949468EC6ADA2A1D2A19FF871
  Died	24 Jan 1376	Arundel, Sussex, England
  Buried	Aft 24 Jan 1376	Lewes Priory, Lewes, Sussex, England   [3]
  Person ID	I5869	Carney Wehofer 2024 Genealogy
  Last Modified	13 Dec 2022

  
  

  Father	Edmund FITZALAN,   b. 1 May 1273, Castle, Marlborough, Sussex, England ,   d. 17 Nov 1326, Hertfordshire, England  (Age 53 years)
  Mother	Alice DE WARREN,   b. 15 Jun 1287, Arundel, Sussex, England ,   d. 23 May 1338, Arundel Castle, Sussex, England  (Age 50 years)
  Married	Jul 1305	Arundel Castle, Arundel, Sussex, England
  Family ID	F10944	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Isabel LE DESPENCER,   b. Abt 1312, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England ,   d. 11 Jan 1371, Arundel, Sussex, England  (Age ~ 59 years)
  Married	9 Feb 1320	Kings Chapel, Havering-Atte-Bower, Essex, England
  Annulled	4 Dec 1344	Arundel, Sussex, England, United Kingdom   [3]
  Children	1. Mary (Isabel) FITZALAN,   b. Abt 1323, Corfham, Shropshire, England ,   d. 29 Aug 1396  (Age ~ 73 years)   2. Edmund FITZALAN,   b. 1327, Arundel, Sussex, England ,   d. Bef 12 Feb 1382, England  (Age 55 years)   3. Philippa FITZALAN,   b. Between 1327 and 1356,   d. Yes, date unknown   4. Aline (Olive) FITZALAN,   b. 1340, Arundel, Sussex, England ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Last Modified	29 Aug 2016
  Family ID	F2972	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Eleanor PLANTAGENET,   b. Abt 1311, Grismond Castle, Monmouthshire, England ,   d. 11 Jan 1372, Arundel, Sussex, England  (Age ~ 61 years)
  Married	5 Feb 1344-1345	Ditton, England
  Children	1. Richard FITZALAN, 4th Earl of Arundel,   b. 25 Mar 1346, Arundel Castle, Sussex, England ,   d. 21 Sep 1397, Tower Hill, Tower of London, Middlesex, England  (Age 51 years)   2. Joan FITZALAN,   b. 1347, Of Arundel, Sussex, England ,   d. 7 Apr 1419, Saffran Walden, Essex, England  (Age 72 years)   3. John De FITZALAN (ARUNDEL),   b. Abt 1348, Of Echingham, Sussex, England ,   d. 16 Dec 1379, Irish Sea  (Age ~ 31 years)   4. Alice FITZALAN,   b. Abt 1350, Arundel, Sussex, England ,   d. 17 Mar 1415-1416  (Age ~ 66 years)   5. Thomas FITZALAN,   b. Abt 1352, Of Arundel, Sussex, England ,   d. 19 Feb 1413  (Age ~ 61 years)   6. Eleanor FITZALAN,   b. Abt 1354, Of Arundel, Sussex, England ,   d. Yes, date unknown   7. Mary FITZALAN,   b. Abt 1356, Of Arundel, Sussex, England ,   d. Bef 24 Jan 1376, France  (Age ~ 20 years)
  Last Modified	29 Aug 2016
  Family ID	F2973	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  AKA "Cropped Hat", "Copped Hat" Richard II FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel and Warenne (1307?-1376, son of Edmund Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, and his wife, Alice Warenne, was born not before 1307. About 1321 his marriage to Isabella, daughter of the younger Hugh le Despenser, cemented the alliance between his father, and the favourite of Edward II. In 1326, however, his father's execution deprived him of the succession both to title and estates. In 1330, after the fall of Mortimer, he petitioned to be reinstated, and, after some dealy, was retored in blood and to the greater part of Earl Edmund's possessions. He was, however, forbidden to continue his efforts to avenge his father by private was against John Charlton, first lord Charlton of Powys. In 1331 he obtained the castle of Arundel from the heirs of Edmund, earl of Kent. These grants were subsequently more than once confirmed. In 1334 Arundel received Mortimer's castle of Chirk, and was made justice of North Wales, his large estates in that region giving him considerable local influence. The justiceship was afterwards confirmed for life. He was also made life-sheriff of Carnarvonshire and governor of Carnarvon Castle. Arundel took a conspicuous part in nearly every important war of Edward III's long reign. After surrendering in 1336 his 'hereditary right' to the stewardship of Scotland to Edward for a thousand marks, he was made in 1337 joint commander of the English army in the north. Early in 1338 he and his colleague Salisbury incurred no small opprobrium by their signal failure to capture Dunbar. On 25 April he was elevated to the sole command, with full powers to treat with the Scots for truce or peace, of which he availed himself to conclude a truce, as his duty now compelled him to follow the king to Brabant, where he landed at Antwerp on 13 Dec. In the January parliament of 1340 he was nominated admiral of the ships at Portsmouth and the west that were to assemble at Mid Lent. On 24 June he comported himself and was one of the commissioners sent by Edward from Bruges in July to acquaint parliament with the news and to explain to it the king's financial necessities. Later in the same year he took part in the great siege of Tournay. In 1342 he was at the great feast given by Edward III in honour of the Countess of Salisbury. His next active employment was in the same year as warden of the Scottish marches in conjunction with the Earl of Huntingdon. In October of the same year he accompanied Edward on his expedition to Brittany, and was left by the king to besiege Vannes while the bulk of the army advanced to Rennes. In January 1343 the truce put and end to the siege, and in July Arundel was sent on a mission to Avignon. In 1344 he was appointed, with Henry, earl of Derby, lieutenant of Aquitaine, where the French war had again broken out; and at the same time was commissioned to treat with Castile, Portugal, and Aragon. In 1345 he repudiated his wife, Isabella, on the ground that he had never consented to the marriage, and, having obtained papal recognition of the nullity of the union, married Eleanor, widow of Lord Beaumont, and daughter of Henry, third earl of Lancaster. This business may have prevented him sharing in the warlike exploits of his new brother-in-law, Derby, in Aquitaine. He was, however, reappointed admiral of the west in February 1345, and retained that post until 1347. In 1346 he accompanied Edward on his great expedition to northern France, and commanded the second of three divisions into which the English host was divided at Crecy. He was afterwards with Edward at the siege of Calais. In 1348 and 1350 Arundel was on commissions to treat with the pope at Avignon. In 1350, however, he took part in the famous naval battle with the Spaniards off Winchelsea. In 1351 he was employed in Scotland to arrange for a final peace and the ransom of King David. In 1354 he was one of the negotiators of a proposed truce with France, at a conference held under papal mediation at Guines, but on the envoys proceeding to Avignon, to obtain the papal ratification, it was found that no real setlement had been arrived at, and Innocent VI was loudly accused of treachery. In 1355 Arundel was one of the regents during the king's absence from England. In 1357 he was again negotiated in Scotland, and in 1358 was at the head of an embassy to Wenzol, duke of Luxemburg. In August 1360 he was joint commissioner in completing the ratification of the treaty of Bretigny. In 1362 he was one of the commissioners to prolong the truce with Charles of Blois. In 1364 he was again engaged in diplomacy. The declining years of Arundel's life were spent in comparitive seclusion from public affains. n 1365 he was maliciously cited ot the papal court by William de Lenne, the foreign bishop of Chichester, with whom he was on bad terms. He was supported by Edward in his resistance to the bishop, whose temporalities were ultimately seized by the crown. He now perhaps enlarged the castle of Arundel. His last military exploit was perhaps his share in the expedition for the relief of Thomacrs in 1372. Arundel was possessed of vast wealth, especially after 1353, when he succeeded, by right of his mother, to the earldom of Warenne or Surrey. He frequently aided Edward III in his financial difficulties by large advances, so that in 1370 Edward was more than twenty thousand pounds in his debt. Yet at his death Arundel left behind over ninety thousand marks in ready money, nearly half of which was stored up in bags in the high tower of Arundel. One of Arundel's last acts was to become, with Bishop William of Wykeham, a general attorney for John of Gaunt during his journey to Spain. He died on 24 Jan 1376. By his will, dated 5 Dec 1275, he directed that his body should be buried without pomp in the chapterhouse of Lewes priory, by the side of his second wife, and founded a perpetmacl chantry in the chapel of St George's within Arundel Castle. By his first marriage his only issue was one daughter. By his second he had three sons, of whom Richard, the eldest, was his successor to the earldom. John, the next, became marshal of England, and perished at sea in 1379. According to the settlement made by Earl Richard in 1347, the title ultimately reverted to the marshal's grandson John VI Fitzalan. The youngest, Thomas, became archbishop of Canterbury. Of his four daughters by Eleanor, two are mentioned in his will, namely Joan, married to Humphrey Bohun, earl of Hereford, and Alice, the wife of Thomas Holland, earl of Kent. His other daughters, Mary and Eleanor, died before him. [Dictionary of National Biography VII:96-7] Richard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel, 8th Earl of Surrey (c. 1313 ? 24 January 1376) was an English nobleman and medieval military leader and distinguished admiral. Arundel was one of the wealthiest nobles, and most loyal noble retainer of the chivalric code that governed the reign of Edward III of England. Richard was born c. 1313 in Sussex, England. Fitzalan was the eldest son of Edmund Fitzalan, 2nd Earl of Arundel, and his wife Alice de Warenne. His parents married after 30 December 1304, after his father had initially been fined for refusing to marry Alice in 1304; their betrothal had been arranged by Alice's grandfather the Earl of Surrey, his father's guardian. Arundel changed his mind after the Earl died, leaving Alice the heiress presumptive, and with her only brother married to a ten-year-old girl. His maternal grandparents were William de Warenne and Joan de Vere. William was the only son of John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey (himself son of Maud Marshal by her second marriage), and his wife Alice de Lusignan (died 1256), half-sister of Henry III of England. Around 1321, Fitzalan's father allied with Edward II's favourites, Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester and his namesake son, and Richard was married to Isabel le Despenser, daughter of Hugh the Younger. Fortune turned against the Despenser party, and on 17 November 1326, Fitzalan's father was executed. He did not succeed to his father's estates or titles. However, political conditions had changed by 1330, and over the next few years Richard was gradually able to reacquire the Earldom of Arundel as well as the great estates his father had held in Sussex and in the Welsh Marches. Beyond this, in 1334 he was made Justiciar of North Wales (later his term in this office was made for life), in 1336 Constable of Portchester Castle (until 1338), and in 1339 High Sheriff of Caernarvonshire and Governor of Caernarfon Castle for life. He was one of the most trusted supporters of Edward the Black Prince in Wales. Despite his high offices in Wales, in the following decades Arundel spent much of his time fighting in Scotland (during the Second Wars of Scottish Independence) and France (during the Hundred Years' War). In 1337, Arundel was made joint commander of the English army in the north, and the next year he was made the sole commander. In September 1339 a French fleet appeared off Sluis, determined to make sail against Edward III's fleet. When eventually they put to sea on 2 October they were blown off course by a violent storm back to the Zet Zwijn roads. Edward met parliament, and they ordered a new fleet to granted provisions by the barons of the cinque ports, and commanded by the Admiral of the West, Lord Arundel. Seventy ships from the west met at Portsmouth on March 26, 1340 to be commanded by their new admiral. The earl, granted the commission on 20 February 1340, was joined by fleets from the north and cinque ports. That summer he joined the king on flagship cog Thomas, leaving port two days later on 22 June for Flanders. Arundel was a distinguished soldier, in July 1340 he fought at the Battle of Sluys, during which his heavily laden cog grappled with the Spanish fleet. Summoned by parliament on 13 July, he bore witness to the victory. By December 1342 Arundel had relinquished his post as admiral. But it appears he may have been at the siege of Tournai. After a short term as Warden of the Scottish Marches, he returned to the continent, where he fought in a number of campaigns, and was appointed joint lieutenant of Aquitaine in 1340. The successful conclusion of the Flanders campaign, in which Arundel saw little fighting, encouraged the setting up of the Knights of the Round Table? attended every Whitsun by 300 great knights. A former guardian of the Prince of Wales, Arundel was also a close friend of Edward III, and one of the four great earls? Derby, Salisbury, Warwick and himself. With Huntingdon and Sir Ralph Neville he was a Keeper of the Tower and guardian to the prince with a garrison of 20 men-at-arms and 50 archers. A royal councillor, he was expected to raise taxes, which had caused such consternation on 20 July 1338. The King's wars were not alway popular, but Arundel was a vital instrument of that policy. Despite the failure of the peace negotiations at Avignon in 1344, Edward was decided on protecting his Gascon subjects. In early 1345, Derby and Arundel sailed for Bordeaux as lieutenants of the duchy of Aquitaine, attempting to prevent Prince Jean's designs on the tenantry. In August 1346 Derby returned with an army of 2,000 men; while Arundel was responsible for naval preparations. On 23 February 1345 Arundel was made Admiral of the Western Fleet, perhaps for a second time, to continue the policy of arresting merchant ships, but two years later was again superseded. Arundel was one of the three principal English commanders at the Battle of Cr?cy, his experience vital to the outcome of the battle with Suffolk and the bishop of Durham in the rearguard. Throughout he was entrusted by the King as guardian of the young Prince Edward. Arundel's division was on the right side of the battle lines, flanked to the right with archers, and stakes to the front. He spent much of the following years on various military campaigns and diplomatic missions. The king himself and the entourage went to Winchilsea on 15 August 1350, set sail on the cog Thomas on the 28th, for the fleet to chase the Spaniard De la Cerda down wind, which they sighted the following day. The ships rammed, before the party escaped unhurt on another vessel. Overcome by much larger Spanish ships, the English could not grapple. In a campaign of 1375, at the end of his life, he destroyed the harbour of Roscoff. On days after the death of Edward III, a Castilian fleet raided the south coast of England, and returned again in August. Arundel's fleet had put into Cherbourg for supplies, but no sooner had it departed, than the port was blockaded; one squadron was left behind and captured. At the same time galleys harassed the coast of Cornwall. In 1347, he succeeded to the Earldom of Surrey (or Warenne), which even further increased his great wealth. He did not, however, use the additional title until after the death of the Dowager Countess of Surrey in 1361. He made very large loans to King Edward III but even so on his death left behind a great sum in hard cash. He married twice: I. Isabel le Despenser (1312 ? 1374/5) on 9 February 1321 at Havering-atte-Bower; 1. Sir Edmund de Arundel, Knt., of Chedzoy, Martock, Sutton Montagu, and Thurlbear, Somerset; Chudleigh, Devon; Melbury Bubb, Dorset; Bignor, Trayford and Compton, Sussex (c. 1329? 1381/2) II. Secondly on 5 April 1345 he married Eleanor of Lancaster, a young widow, the second-youngest daughter and sixth child of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster and Maud Chaworth; 2. Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl of Arundel, who was his son and heir. 3. John Fitzalan, 1st Baron Arundel, 1st Baron Maltravers, who was a Marshall of England, and drowned in 1379. 4. Thomas Arundel, who became Archbishop of Canterbury 5. Joan Fitzalan (1347 ? 7 April 1419) 6. Alice FitzAlan (1350 ? 17 March 1416), who married Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, matrilinear brother of King Richard II. Illegitimate child by an unknown mistress: 7. Eleanor Fitzalan, married in or before 1348 (as his 1st wife) John de Bereford of Clapcot, Berkshire, Bickford, Stonythorpe, and Wishaw, Warwickshire, illegitimate son of Edmund de Bereford, Knt. They had no issue. Probable illegitimate offspring include: 8. Ranulph FitzAlan, who married a lady named Juliana, last name unknown. Through them descended the Hungerfords, the St. Johns and the Villiers, including Barbara (formerly Palmer) Villiers, the first of many mistresses of King Charles II of England. Richard died on 24 January 1376 at Arundel Castle, aged either 70 or 63, and was buried in Lewes Priory. He wrote his will on 5 December 1375. In his will, he mentioned his three surviving sons by his second wife, his two surviving daughters Joan, Dowager Countess of Hereford and Alice, Countess of Kent, his grandchildren by his second son John, etc., but left out his bastardized eldest son Edmund. In his will Richard asked his heirs to be responsible for building the Fitzalan Chapel at Arundel Castle, which was duly erected by his successor. The memorial effigies depicting Richard Fitzalan and his second wife Eleanor of Lancaster in Chichester Cathedral are the subject of the poem "An Arundel Tomb" by Philip Larkin. Fitzalan died an incredibly wealthy man, despite his various loans to Edward III, leaving ?60,000 in cash. He had been as astute in business, as he had in diplomatic politics. He was a cautious man, and wisely saved his estate for future generations. Richard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Fitzalan,_3rd_Earl_of_Arundel

  
  

• Sources

  [S699] Magna Carta Sureties 1215, Frederick Lewis Weis, (additions by Walter Lee Sheppard Jr, 5th Ed {1999}). [S289] Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles M o s l e y Editor-in-Chief, 1999, 26 May 2003. [S1160] FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 13 Dec 2022), entry for Richard "Copped Hat" FITZALAN, person ID LYK6-VQ2. (Reliability: 3).