Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence

Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence was the third son of King Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. Born in Antwerp in the Duchy of Brabant, he was appointed Lieutenant of Ireland from 1361 to 1366 and was involved in the country’s governance. In 1347, he became Earl of Ulster through his marriage to Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster, and took possession of her Irish inheritance before their wedding in 1352.

Lionel was involved in military expeditions to France and was named Duke of Clarence in 1362, the third dukedom created in England. His efforts in Ireland included the passage of the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1366, aimed at strengthening English rule, but these were largely unsuccessful. After Elizabeth’s death in 1363, he married Violante Visconti in 1368. Lionel’s only child, Philippa, married Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, linking him to the Yorkist claim to the English throne. Geoffrey Chaucer once served as a page in Lionel’s household.