William Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel (1417-1488)

Portrait of William FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel, after his effigy.

Signature of William FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel, from Doyle's 'Official Baronage'

William Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel (1417-1488)

William Fitzalan, ninth Earl of Arundel¹ and Baron Maltravers, K. G. (1417-1488), was born on 23 Nov. 1417², son of John Fitzalan, 6th Earl of Arundel (d.1421), and Eleanor Berkeley, daughter of John Berkeley of Beverstone.³ Styled William Maltravers, he served in France as captain under John, Duke of Bedford in 1435.⁴

Maltravers succeeded to the baronage at the death of his nephew, Humphrey, the eighth earl, on 24 April 1438. Thenceforth, he served King Henry VI as Pincerna Regis (Chief Butler of England) until 1461.⁵ He was summoned to parliament as Earl of Arundel on 3 December 1441.⁶ In the parliament of 1444-5, Arundel and Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devon, entered into a dispute regarding which of them had precedency above the other. The matter took some years to resolve, but the eventual conclusion was that Arundel had precedency over Devon.⁷ In 1459, Arundel was made Justice in Eyre of all forests south of the Trent.⁸

In February 1461, Arundel fought on the Yorkist side in the Second Battle of St. Albans. Arundel was made Knight of the Garter in 1471,⁹ and King Edward IV made him Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports on May 1, and Lieutenant of the Cinque Ports on June 22, 1471.¹⁰ In 1477, he was in France as with Dudley as ambassador, to negotiate continued peace.¹¹ Arundel was again in France as Joint Commissioner in October, 1481.¹² In 1483, Arundel served as pincerna at the coronation of Richard III; in 1485, at the coronation of Henry VII.¹³ His position as Justice of the forests south of Trent was renewed in 1483¹⁴, and again in 1485.¹⁵ He died early in 1488 and was buried at Arundel.¹⁶ Arundel married Joan Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, and had five children: (1) Thomas, 10th Earl of Arundel and Lord Maltravers; (2) William; (3) George; (4) John; and (5) Mary.

1. Variously referred to as 15, 16th, or 19th earl, depending on the source and on how the barons are counted.
2. Cokayne, G. E., Complete Peerage. Vol I. London: George Bell & Sons, 1887. 149.
3. Archaeologia Cambrensis. Vol I. 5th ser. Cambrian Archaeological Association, ed. London: Pickering & Co., 1884. 220.
4. Doyle, James E. Official Baronage. Vol I. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1886. 77-8.
5. ib.
6. Cokayne.
7. Quoted from Burke's Peerage: "Between this nobleman and Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devon, there arose, in the 23rd Henry VI., a great dispute in parliament regarding precedency, which being renewed in the parliament held four years afterwards, was then referred to the Judges, who refused, however, to give any opinion upon the subject, declaring, "that it was a matter of parliament belonging to the king's highness, and to his lords spiritual and temporal in parliament, by them to be decided." The question at issue was whether this earl should have precedency of the Earl of Devon or not? The Act of 11th Henry VI., expressing only that John, then Earl of Arundel, should have the place, precedency, &c; as Earl of Arundel, without mentioning his heirs. Upon which the lords ultimately resolved, "that he should have his place in parliament, and the king's council, as earl, by reason of the castle, lordship, and honour of Arundel, for himself and his heirs for evermore, above the said Earl of Devon, and his heirs, as worshipfully as any of his ancestors Earls of Arundel before that time ever had." Burke, Bernard. A Genealogical History of the Dormant: Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages. London: Harrison, 1866. 202.
8. Cokayne.
9. ib.
10. Doyle.
11. See entry for John Sutton de Dudley in Dic. Nat. Biog.
12. Doyle.
13. Cokayne.
14. Doyle.
15. Burke.
16. Cokayne.

Article Citation:

Jokinen, Anniina. "William Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel." Luminarium.
23 May 2012. [Date you accessed this article].
<https://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/arundel9.htm>

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