Eleanor of Lancaster

Eleanor of Lancaster, Countess of Arundel, also known as Eleanor Plantagenet, was born on 11 September 1318 to Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, and Maud Chaworth. She first married John de Beaumont, 2nd Baron Beaumont, on 6 November 1330, with whom she had a son. After John de Beaumont’s death in a tournament in 1342, Eleanor married Richard FitzAlan, 3rd Earl of Arundel, on 5 February 1345 at Ditton Church, Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. The marriage to FitzAlan produced several children, including Richard FitzAlan, 4th Earl of Arundel, and Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury. Eleanor passed away on 11 January 1372 and was buried at Lewes Priory in Sussex. Her memorial effigies with Richard FitzAlan in Chichester Cathedral were the subject of Philip Larkin’s poem ‘An Arundel Tomb.’