Thomas, 1st Duke of Gloucester
| Thomas of Woodstock | |
|---|---|
| Duke of Gloucester, Duke of Aumale, Earl of Essex and Earl of Buckingham | |
| Successor | Humphrey, 2nd Earl of Buckingham |
| Born |
7 January 1355 , Oxfordshire |
| Died | 8 September 1397 (aged 42) Calais, Pale of Calais |
| Spouse | Eleanor de Bohun |
| Issue Detail |
Humphrey, 2nd Earl of Buckingham Anne of Gloucester Joan, Lady Talbot Isabel Philippa |
| House | Plantagenet |
| Father | Edward III of England |
| Mother | Philippa of Hainault |
Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Buckingham, 1st Earl of Essex, KG (7 January 1355 – 8 or 9 September 1397) was the fourteenth and youngest child of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. He was the youngest of the five sons of Edward III who survived to adulthood.
Thomas was born 7 January 1355 at in Oxfordshire after two short-lived brothers, one of whom had also been baptised Thomas. He married Eleanor de Bohun by 1376, was given Pleshey castle in Essex, and was appointed Constable of the Realm. The younger sister of Woodstock's wife, Mary de Bohun, was subsequently married to Henry of Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, who later became King Henry IV of England.
In 1377, at the age of 22, Woodstock was knighted and created Earl of Buckingham. In 1385 he received the title Duke of Aumale and at about the same time was created Duke of Gloucester.
Thomas of Woodstock was in command of a large campaign in northern France that followed the Breton War of Succession of 1343–64. The earlier conflict was marked by the efforts of John IV, Duke of Brittany to secure control of the Duchy of Brittany against his rival Charles of Blois. John was supported in this struggle by the armies of the kingdom of England, whereas Charles was supported by the kingdom of France. At the head of an English army, John prevailed after Charles was killed in battle in 1364, but the French continued to undermine his position, and he was later forced into exile in England. He returned to Brittany in 1379, supported by Breton barons who feared the annexation of Brittany by France. An English army was sent under Woodstock to support his position. Due to concerns about the safety of a longer shipping route to Brittany itself, the army was ferried instead to the English continental stronghold of Calais in July 1380. As Woodstock marched his 5,200 men east of Paris, they were confronted by the army of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, at Troyes, but the French had learned from the Battle of Crécy in 1346 and the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 not to offer a pitched battle to the English. Eventually, the two armies simply marched away. French defensive operations were then thrown into disarray by the death of King Charles V of France on 16 September 1380. Woodstock's chevauchée continued westwards largely unopposed, and in November 1380 he laid siege to Nantes and its vital bridge over the Loire towards Aquitaine. However, he found himself unable to form an effective stranglehold, and urgent plans were put in place for Sir Thomas Felton to bring 2,000 reinforcements from England. By January, though, it had become apparent that the duke of Brittany was reconciled to the new French king Charles VI and, with the alliance collapsing and dysentery ravaging his men, Woodstock abandoned the siege.
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