Alice FitzAlan, Baroness Cherleton

Alice FitzAlan
Baroness Cherleton
Born 1378
Arundel Castle, Sussex, England
Died 1415 (aged 36–37)
Noble family FitzAlan (by birth)
Cherleton (by marriage)
Spouse(s) John Charleton, 4th Baron Cherleton
Issue
Jane Beaufort (allegedly by Cardinal Henry Beaufort
Father Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel
Mother Elizabeth de Bohun

Alice FitzAlan, Baroness Cherleton (1378–1415) was an English noblewoman, being the daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel. She was the wife of John Charleton, 4th Baron Cherleton.

Family

Lady Alice was born in Arundel Castle, Sussex in 1378, one of the seven children of Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel by his first wife Elizabeth de Bohun. She had two brothers, including Thomas Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel, and four sisters, Lady Eleanor FitzAlan, Lady Elizabeth FitzAlan, Lady Joan FitzAlan, and Lady Margaret FitzAlan. Her paternal grandparents were Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster, and her maternal grandparents were William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton and Elizabeth de Badlesmere.

On 21 September 1397, her father was executed at Tower Hill, Cheapside for high treason against King Richard II of England.

Marriage and love affair

Sometime before March 1392 Alice married John Cherleton, 4th Lord Cherleton (25 April 1362 – 19 October 1401).[1] According to popular belief, following her marriage she became the mistress of Cardinal Henry Beaufort, and bore him an illegitimate daughter, Jane Beaufort.[2] In Philip Yorke's The Royal Tribes of Wales, he states that Cardinal Beaufort left an illegitimate daughter by Alice, daughter of Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel.[3]

Genealogist Douglas Richardson also confirms the affair between Alice and the Cardinal. Beaufort did indeed father an illegitimate daughter, Jane Beaufort, possibly before Henry took holy orders on 7 April 1397.

Jane and Sir Edward Stradling had three sons and a daughter, Katherine. Alice's husband died on 19 October 1401, and she herself died before October 1415 around the age of 37.

References

  1. ↑ Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Earls of Arundel
  2. ↑ R. A. Griffiths, Conquerors and Conquered in Medieval Wales, 1994.
  3. ↑ Yorke, p. 88.

Sources

  • Philip Yorke, The Royal Tribes of Wales Google Books; accessed 30 August 2009.
  • Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Earls of Arundel.
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