Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

19th-century drawing of bronze statuette of Lionel, Duke of Clarence on south side of tomb of his father King Edward III at Westminster Abbey; Credit – Wikipedia

The third, but the second surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, Lionel of Antwerp, was one of the two people on whom the House of York would base its claim to the English throne. Lionel was born on November 29, 1338, in Antwerp, Duchy of Brabant, now Belgium. Lionel’s birth in Antwerp was due to his parents’ long stay in the Low Countries due to England’s war against France (the Hundred Years War). King Edward III loved the legends of King Arthur. During the 1330s, King Edward III identified himself with Sir Lionel, one of the Knights of the Round Table, and appeared incognito as “Sir Lionel” at tournaments. This probably is where Lionel’s name originated.

Lionel had thirteen siblings:

When Lionel was only three years old, his father arranged a marriage to a wealthy heiress. In 1332, the young William de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster and 4th Baron of Connaught and the head of one of the greatest of the Anglo-Norman houses in Ireland, had been murdered, leaving one child, a daughter Elizabeth de Burgh, by his wife Maud of Lancaster.  After her husband’s murder, Maud fled to England with her infant daughter, who was the suo jure (in her own right) 4th Countess of Ulster, and they lived at the court of King Edward III.

Four-year-old Lionel and ten-year-old Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster were married at the Tower of London on September 9, 1342. The marriage was not consummated until Lionel was 14 and Elizabeth was 20. Lionel came into the possession of Elizabeth’s Irish lands and was jure uxoris (by right of his wife) Earl of Ulster. He also gained lands in Ireland and Suffolk, England in the right of his wife’s grandmother Elizabeth de Clare.  In 1362, Lionel was created Duke of Clarence with “Clarence” referring to the lands of the de Clare family. Lionel served as Chief Governor of Ireland for a good part of the 1360s.

Lionel and Elizabeth had one child, a daughter Philippa, born on August 16, 1355, at Eltham Palace in Kent, England. Philippa married Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March.  It is through Philippa and Edmund’s eldest son Roger de Mortimer that the House of York is derived. Roger de Mortimer eventually inherited his father and mother’s titles and was the 4th Earl of March and 6th Earl of Ulster. During the reign of the childless King Richard II, the only surviving child of Edward, Prince of Wales (the Black Prince) who predeceased his father King Edward III, Lionel’s daughter Philippa was the heir presumptive to the English throne. After her death in 1382, her eldest son Roger was the heir presumptive. In 1400, King Richard II was deposed by Henry of Bolingbroke (King Henry IV), the eldest son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, King Edward III’s third surviving son.

Roger de Mortimer’s daughter and eventual heir, Anne de Mortimer married Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, the second son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the fourth surviving son of King Edward III. Richard of Conisburgh’s elder brother Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York died at the Battle of Agincourt and had no issue, so Richard was his father’s heir.  Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York was the other person on whom the House of York would base its claim to the English throne.  Anne Mortimer and Richard of Conisburgh’s son was Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York who was the major player in the Wars of the Roses for the House of York until he died in battle. His sons were the Yorkist kings, King Edward IV and King Richard III. The Wars of the Roses, the battle for the English throne, was fought by the House of York which had claims through the second surviving son and the fourth surviving son of King Edward III and the House of Lancaster which had a claim through the third surviving son of King Edward III.  A family tree can be seen at Wikipedia: Family Tree.

Lionel of Antwerp’s efforts to secure authority over his Irish lands was only moderately successful. His wife Elizabeth died in 1363, and in 1366, he abandoned his mission in Ireland and returned to England. In 1368, Lionel made another marriage with an heiress. 13-year-old Violante Visconti was the daughter of Galeazzo II Visconti, Lord of Milan and Pavia, and came with a very large dowry. On May 28, 1368, a lavish wedding with many celebrations was held in Milan, Lordship of Milan, now in Italy. However, the marriage lasted only five months. On October 17, 1368, 29-year-old Lionel died in Alba, Lordship of Milan, now in Italy. Speculation that Lionel’s father-in-law had him poisoned has never been proven. Lionel’s remains were returned to England where he was buried at Clare Priory in Suffolk, England where his wife Elizabeth de Burgh was also buried. Clare Priory was suppressed and partially destroyed under King Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Ruins of Clare Priory; Credit – Wikipedia

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Works Cited
Jones, Dan. The Plantagenets. New York: Viking, 2012. Print.
“Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Nov. 2016. Web. 3 Dec. 2016.
Williamson, David. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.