Richard Fitzalan ¹

  General Notes:

He was the son of Sir Edmund Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel and Alice de Warenne.

He married, firstly, Isabel le Despenser, daughter of Hugh le Despenser, 3rd Lord le Despenser and Eleanor de Clare, on 9 February 1320/21. He married, secondly, Lady Eleanor Plantagenet, daughter of Henry Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Lancaster and Matilda de Chaworth, on 5 February 1345 at Ditton Church, Stoke Puges, Buckinghamshire, England. He died on 24 January 1376 at Arundel Castle, Arundel, West Sussex, England. He was buried at Lewes Priory, Sussex, England.

Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel also went by the nick-name of 'Copped Hat'. He held the office of Justiciar of North Wales in 1334. He held the office of Governor of Carnarvon Castle in 1339. He held the office of Admiral of the West from 1340 to 1341. His marriage to Isabel le Despenser was annulled on 4 December 1344 by Papal mandate, supposedly on the grounds that they were married during their minority, and without their consent. The reality is that the Earl probably wished to be rid of his wife, who had no value to him after her father's attainder and execution. He held the office of Sheriff of Shropshire in 1345. He held the office of Admiral of the West between 1345 and 1347. He fought in the Battle of Crécy, where he commanded the 2nd division. He fought in the fall of Calais in 1347. He succeeded to the title of 10th Earl of Arundel in 1347. On 30 June 1347 he succeeded to the vast estates of the family of Warenne.3 He succeeded to the title of Earl of Surrey on 12 April 1361.

Richard married Lady Eleanor Plantagenet, daughter of Henry of Lancaster Plantagenet and Maud Chaworth, on 5 Feb 1345 in Ditton Church, Stoke Puges, Buckinghamshire, England. (Lady Eleanor Plantagenet was born in 1311 in Grosmont Castle, Monmouth, (now Wales), England, died on 11 Jan 1372 in Arundel Castle, Arundel, West Sussex, England and was buried in Lewes Priory, Sussex, England.)