Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester

Infobox British Royalty|royal
name =Thomas of Woodstock
title =Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Buckingham and Essex

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imgw= 140px
spouse =Eleanor de Bohun
issue = Humphrey, Earl of Buckingham
Anne of Gloucester
Joan Plantagenet
Isabelle Plantagenet
Philippa Plantagent
titles =The Duke of Gloucester
The Earl of Buckingham
The Earl of Essex
royal house =House of Plantagenet
father =Edward III of England
mother =Philippa of Hainault
date of birth = 7 January 1355
place of birth = Woodstock Palace, Oxfordshire
date of death = 8 September 1397 (aged 42)
place of death = Calais, Pale of Calais|

Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester (January 7 1355 – September 8 (or 9), 1397) was the thirteenth and youngest child of King Edward III of England and Queen Philippa. He was the fifth of the five sons of Edward III who survived to adulthood.

Early life

Thomas was born after two short-lived sons, one of whom had also been baptised Thomas. He was born at Woodstock Palace in Oxfordshire. He married Eleanor de Bohun in 1376, and inherited the title Earl of Essex from his father-in-law, Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford. Woodstock's wife's younger sister, Mary de Bohun, was subsequently married to Henry "Bolingbroke," who eventually became Henry IV of England.

At the age of 22, in 1377, Woodstock was created Earl of Buckingham. In 1385 he received the title Duke of Aumale, and at about the same time was created Duke of Gloucester.

Dispute with King Richard II

Thomas was the leader of the Lords Appellant, a group of powerful nobles whose ambition to wrest power from King Richard II of England (Thomas' nephew) culminated in a successful rebellion in 1388, which significantly weakened the king's power. Richard II managed to dispose of the Lords Appellant in 1397, and Thomas was imprisoned in Calais to await trial for treason. He was, however, murdered the same year by Nicholas Colfox, presumably on behalf of Richard II, causing an outcry amongst the nobility of England which is considered by many to have added to Richard's unpopularity.

Heirs

Thomas and his wife had one son and four daughters. Following his murder his title was forfeit and did not pass to his son, Humphrey.

His eldest daughter, Anne of Gloucester, married into the powerful Stafford family, who were Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham, and four generations after Thomas, the disposition of the de Bohun estates may have been a motivating factor in the involvement of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham in plots against the crown during the period of Richard III. She later married into the Bourchier family (the Earls of Bath) and established a long American line of descendants.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Arms

As Duke of Gloucester, Thomas had use of the coat of arms of the kingdom, differenced by a "bordure argent". [ [http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/cadency.htm Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family] ]

References

* Columbia Encyclopedia - [http://www.bartleby.com/65/gl/GloucsT.html Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, duke of]