Lionel of Antwerp | |
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Duke of Clarence | |
Lionel, Duke of Clarence. 19th-century drawing of bronze statuette on south side of tomb of his father King Edward III in Westminster Abbey
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Earl of Ulster (jure uxoris) | |
Predecessor | William Donn de Burgh |
Successor | Philippa with Roger Mortimer |
co-Ruler | Elizabeth de Burgh |
Born |
Antwerp, Duchy of Brabant (now Belgium) |
29 November 1338
Died | 7 October 1368 Alba, Piedmont |
(aged 29)
Burial | Clare Priory, Suffolk |
Spouse |
Elizabeth de Burgh m. 1352; dec. 1363 Violante Visconti m. 1368; wid. 1368 |
Issue | Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster |
House | Plantagenet |
Father | Edward III of England |
Mother | Philippa of Hainault |
Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, jure uxoris 4th Earl of Ulster and 5th Baron of Connaught, KG (Norman: Leonell Duc de Clarence; 29 November 1338 – 7 October 1368) was the third son, but the second son to survive infancy, of Edward III, King of England and Philippa of Hainault. He was named for his birthplace, at Antwerp in the Duchy of Brabant. Prince Lionel was born of a Flemish mother and was a grandson of William I, Count of Hainaut. He grew to be nearly seven feet in height and had an athletic build.
Betrothed as a child to Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster (died 1363), daughter and heiress of William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster, he was married to her in 1352, but before this date he had entered into possession of her great Irish inheritance. He was called Earl of Ulster from 1347.
Having been named as his father's representative in England in 1345 and again in 1346, Lionel joined an expedition into France in 1355, but his chief energies were reserved for the affairs of Ireland.
Appointed governor of that country, he landed at Dublin in 1361, and in November of the following year was created Duke of Clarence, the third dukedom created in England, while his father made an abortive attempt to secure for him the crown of Scotland. His efforts to secure an effective authority over his Irish lands were only moderately successful. After holding a parliament at Kilkenny, which passed the celebrated Statute of Kilkenny in 1366, he dropped the task in disgust and returned to England.