Life History

Notes

• There are problems about the parentage and dates of Eleanor.  Some sources report her as the daughter of John FitzAlan and Isabella De Mortimer.  But others report her as their granddaughter, and the son of their son Richard.  Most sources have no birth date for her.  One which does reports her as the daughter of John and Isabella.
  
  However, the birth date given there (World Family Tree Vol 4 # 3168) reports her birth (Abt 1275) after their death (John d "18 Mar 1271/72", Isabella d "Bef Aug 1274") reported in this same source!  This source does not explain what is significant about the date of Isabella's death.  "Before Aug 1274" seems to indicate another event as a reference point.  But this date 1275 is only 8-9 years after the birth of Richard, so he could not be her father in that case.  The source does not tell how it arrived at this date.
  
  I am reporting Eleanor as daughter of Richard with no birth date, as World Family Tree Vol 4 #123 has.
  
  Wikipedia also reports Eleanor FitzAlan to be the daughter of Richard FitzAlan, with the same birth date for Richard, 1266/7.  The Wikipedia article also presents problems, since it says that Richard attained his majority only in 1289, but he would have been 23 years old at that. time.  Surely he would have reached his majority in his teens.  Twenty-three years old is very late for a medieval lifespan to become an adult.
  
  But if we assume that Eleanor FitzAlan was the daughter of Richard, who was born in 1266/7, she would have been much younger than her husband, Henry Lord DePercy, who was born in 1273.
  
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  Richard FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel
  
  Richard FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel (7th Earl of Arundel per Ancestral Roots) (3 February 1266/7 - 9 March 1301/2) was an English Norman medieval nobleman.
  
  Lineage
  
  He was the son of John FitzAlan, 7th Earl of Arundel (6th Earl of Arundel per Ancestral Roots) and Isabella Mortimer, daughter of Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Wigmore and Maud de Braose. His paternal grandparents were John Fitzalan, 6th Earl of Arundel and Maud le Botiller [Butler].
  
  Titles
  
  Richard was feudal Lord of Clun and Oswestry in the Welsh Marches. After attaining his majority in 1289 he became the 8th Earl of Arundel, by being summoned to Parliament by a writ directed to the Earl of Arundel.
  
  --  "Richard FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_FitzAlan,_8th_Earl_of_Arundel
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  The Wikipedia article on Eleanor FitzAlan gives a suitable latere date for her birth, which coudl match the reports that Richard FitzAlan was her father.
  
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  Eleanor Fitzalan (c. 1284 - July/August 1328) was an alleged daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel and his wife Alice of Saluzzo. She became the wife of Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy. Their son was Henry de Percy, 2nd Baron Percy.
  
  Standard accounts of the Percy family identify Eleanor as the daughter of the "Earl of Arundel." Arrangements for Eleanor's marriage to Lord Percy are found in the recognizance made in 1300 by Eleanor's father, Richard, Earl of Arundel, for a debt of 2,000 marks which he owed Sir Henry Percy. Eleanor was styled as a "kinswoman" of Edward II on two separate occasions; once in 1318 and again in 1322 presumably by her descent from Amadeus IV, Count of Savoy who was the brother of Edward II's great-grandmother, Beatrice of Savoy. Eleanor's brothers, Edmund and John were also styled as "kinsmen" of the king. Eleanor's identity is further indicated by the presence of the old and new arms of FitzAlan (or Arundel) at her tomb.
  
  --  "Elanor FitzAlan," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_FitzAlan
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Sources

• 1. Wikipedia
  • "Eleanor FitzAlan," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_FitzAlan
• 2. World Family Tree Vol. 4
  • Pedigree #123
• 3. World Family Tree Vol. 4
  • Pedigree #3168
• 4. Millennium Files, Ancestry.com
• 5. World Family Tree Vol. 4
  • Pedigree #3168; Pedigree #123
• 6. Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-20, 22
• 7. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
  • Memorial #53678731, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=53678731
• 8. Wikipedia
  • "Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy of Alnwick," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_de_Percy,_1st_Baron_Percy