Elizabeth of Rhuddlan

Elizabeth grew up largely in the household of her younger brother, the future Edward II. (In that era, an heir to the throne generally lived in his own household, independent from his parents, from a very early age.) She is said to have been the favourite child of Edward I, but this didn’t stop him from angrily snatching a coronet from her head and throwing it into the fireplace when she refused to move to Holland after her marriage to Jan I. Edward eventually agreed to delay her move for a year. After the death of her first husband, and her return to England, Elizabeth became close to her father’s second wife, Marguerite de France, naming her first daughter (by her second husband, Humphrey de Bohun) after her. She remained personally close to Edward II, although at times her husband’s opposition to his policies interfered with their communication.

Events

Date of Birth: August 1282.

Place of Birth: Rhuddlan Castle, Rhuddlan, Denbighshire, Wales.

The place is given in Florentii Wigorniensis (2:228) and Chronica de Oxenedes (p. 260).

Date of Death: 5 May 1316.

Place of Death: Quendon, Essex, England.

The date and place are given in Dugdale (4:141). Elizabeth died in childbirth.

Date of Burial: 23 May 1316.

Place of Burial: Walden Abbey, Essex, England.

The date and place are given in the “Annales Paulini” (Stubbs 1:279). The place is also given in Dugdale (4:141) and (6:1:135).

Relationships

Father: Edward I, King of England (1239 - 1307).

This relationship, of course, is given in many secondary sources. It is supported by Dugdale (4:140), an account of the descendants of the founders of Walden Abbey, and Dugdale (6:1:135), an account of the descendants of the founders of Llanthony Abbey.

Mother: Leonor de Castilla (1241 - 1290).

This relationship, of course, is given in many secondary sources. It is supported by Florentii Wigorniensis (2:228), Dugdale (4:140) and (6:1:135), and “Annales Londonienses” (Stubbs 1:129) where Elizabeth is called “Margareta”.

Spouse: Jan I van Holland (before 12 August 1283 - 10 November 1299). Married 18 January 1297 in Ipswich Priory Church, Suffolk, England.

Cawley gives this date and place, without a source for the specific date. Everett Green (3:13) gives 8th January as the date, and Ipswich as the place, citing Foedera, the Wardrobe Book of 25 Edw. I, and Leland’s Collectanea. In a letter to the bishop of London given in Foedera (1:850), Edward I says the marriage will take place on the day after Epiphany at Ipswich. Leland’s Collectanea (1:180) gives simply 1297, without giving a specific date or place. I haven’t seen the Wardrobe Book.

Spouse: Humphrey de Bohun (about 1276 - 16 March 1322). Married 14 November 1302 at Westminster Abbey.

The date and place are given by Everett Green (3:37). The anonymous contemporary citizen of London who wrote the “Annales Londonienses de Tempore Edwardi Primi” (Stubbs 1:129) gives for the marriage the date 25 November 1302 and the place Caversham, near Reading.

Children (with Humphrey de Bohun):

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. Most information below comes from Verity.)

Margaret de Bohun (September 1303 - 7 February 1306).

Humphrey de Bohun (10 September 1304 - 28 October 1304).

John de Bohun (23 November 1305 - 20 January 1336) married (1) Alice FitzAlan; married (2) Margaret Basset.

Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford (1307 - 16 October 1361).

Edward de Bohun (about 1309 - shortly before 8 November 1334) married Margaret de Ros.

William de Bohun (about 1309 - 16 September 1360) married Elizabeth de Badlesmere.

Eleanor de Bohun (about 1310 - 7 October 1363) married (1) James Butler in 1327; married (2) Sir Thomas de Dagworth in 1344.

Margaret de Bohun (3 April 1311 - 27 December 1391) married Hugh de Courtenay 11 August 1325.

Eneas de Bohun (about 1313 - 29 September 1331).

Isabel de Bohun (5 May 1316 - May 1316).

References

Sources:

Ellis, Henry (ed.). Chronica Johannis de Oxenedes. (London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longman & Roberts, 1859.

“Fundationis Historia, Fundatoris etiam et Benefactorum præcipuorum Genealogia, et Res Gestæ,” Num. 1 in “Cartæ ad Waldense Coenobium in agro Essexiensi spectantes” , in Dugdale, William; Henry J Ellis; Bulkeley Bandinel; Roger Dodsworth; and John Caley. Monasticon Anglicanum: a history of the abbies and other monasteries, hospitals, frieries and cathedral and collegiate churches, with their dependencies, in England and Wales, also of such Scotch, Irish, and French monasteries as were any manner connected with religious houses in England. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1817-1830), Vol. 4 p. 140-141. [Dugdale’s citation is: Ex MS. quodam Certaceo in bibl. Arundel. A.D. 1647, et X. 29, annotato: hodie penes Soc. Regal. Lond. fol. 17 a.]

p. 140:

Iste Humfredus duxit in matrimonium Elizabetham filiam primi Edwardi regis Angliae, et comitissam Hollandiae, cui in junctura baronia Essexiae concessa est, de qua nobilissima domina suscepit v. filios, qui in corum temporibus in militia favente fortuna foeliciter floruent. Quae comitissa apud Quenden peperit filiam, de qua mors amara matrem cum filia ad finem duxit naturae. Quorum filiorum nomina propter eorum nobilitatem duximus annotanda. Primus Johannes de Boun, secundus Humfredus de Boun, tertius Edwardus de Boun, quartus Willielmus de Bohun, qui auctoritate regia comes Northamptoniae est effectus. Quintus Aeneas uterinus et gemellus ejusdem. Horum filorum tres cum matre in monasterio de Walden simul cum filia de qua mortem suscepit, sepulturam elegerunt.

p. 141:

Anno Domini mcccxvj. tertio nonas Maii Elizabetha, comitissa Herefordiae, peperit filium apud Quenden, et eodem tempore obiit puerperio. Cujus corpus jacet in capella beatae Mariae ad gradus altaris, et corpus pueri jacet in pariete in parte australi.

“Fundatorum Progenies,” Num. II in “Cartae ad Coenobium Lanthoniense spectantes; cujus origo primum in Wallia, postea vero juxta Gloucestriam translatum” in Dugdale, William; Henry J Ellis; Bulkeley Bandinel; Roger Dodsworth; and John Caley. Monasticon Anglicanum: a history of the abbies and other monasteries, hospitals, frieries and cathedral and collegiate churches, with their dependencies, in England and Wales, also of such Scotch, Irish, and French monasteries as were any manner connected with religious houses in England. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1817-1830), Vol. 6, pt. 1, page 135.

Humfredus octavus de Bohun desponsavit Elizabetham filiam regis Edwardi filii regis Henrici tertii; de quibus sex filii et quatuor filiæ: viz. Margareta quæ juvenis obiit, Humfredus nonus, qui etiam juvenis obiit, x. die Septembris anno Domini MCCCIIII. Johannes comes Hereford et Essex, constabularius Angliæ, et dominus Breconiæ. Humfredus decimus, comes Hereford et Essex, constabularius Angliæ, et dominus Breconiæ. Edwardus et Willielmus nati ad unum tempus; Alianora, Margareta secunda, Eneas, Isabella quæ juvenis obiit. Elizabetha supradicta, uxor prædicti Humfridi octavi, sepelitur apud Waldene.

John of Worcester, Benjamin Thorpe (ed.). Florentii Wigorniensis Monachi Chronicon ex Chronicis(London:Sumptibus Societatis, 1849) Volume 2, page 228. [from the continuation]

Alienora, regina Angliæ, apud Rothelan filiam peperit, quam vocavit Elizabetham.

“Annales Londonienses”, Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II . ed. W. Stubbs (London:Longman & Co.; Roll series 76:1; 1882-3), Volume I, page 129. [sub 1302]

Eodem anno, die Dominica, in festo Sanctæ Katerinæ desponsata fuit domina Margareta filia regis Angliæ, comitissa Hoylandiæ et Salondiæ, domino Humfrido de Bohun comiti Herefordiæ, apud Caversham juxta Redyng.

“Annales Paulini”, Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II . ed. W. Stubbs (London: Longman & Co.; Roll series 76:1; 1882-3), Volume I , page 279. [sub 1316]

Eodem anno obiit Elysabet comitissa Herefordiæ, soror regis Edwardi, et sepulta fuit apud Waldene, x^o kalendas Junii.

Rymer, Thomas, Adam Clarke and Fred. Holbrooke (eds.) Foedera, Conventiones, Litterae, et cujuscunque Generis Acta Publica (London, 1816).

Hearne, Thomas, ed. Joannis Lelandi Antiquarii de Rebus Britannicis Collectanea. (London:William and John Richardson, 1770)

Literature:

ELIZABETH, in Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families. [Where I found several of the references above.]

“Elizabeth the Eighth Daughter of Edward I”, Chapter I of Lives of the Princesses of England, from the Norman Conquest by Mary Anne Everett Green. (London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longman & Roberts, 1857) Volume 3, Chapter 1 (pages 1 - 59). [A well-sourced 19th century biography of Elizabeth]

Verity, Brad “The Children of Elizabeth, Countess of Hereford, Daughter of Edward I of England” in Foundations volume 6 (2014).