Eleanor de Bohun ( – 3 October 1399) was the elder daughter and co-heiress (with her sister,

Mary de Bohun Mary de Bohun (c. 1369/70 – 4 June 1394) was the first wife of King Henry IV of England and the mother of King Henry V. Mary was never queen, as she died before her husband came to the throne. Early life Mary was a daughter of Humphrey de B ...

), of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford (1341–1373) and

Joan Fitzalan Joan FitzAlan, Countess of Hereford, Countess of Essex and Countess of Northampton (1347 – 7 April 1419) was the wife of the 7th Earl of Hereford, 6th Earl of Essex and 2nd Earl of Northampton. She was the mother of Mary de Bohun, the first ...

, a daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and his second wife Eleanor of Lancaster.

Marriage

In 1376, Eleanor married Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester. Thomas was the youngest son of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. Following their marriage, the couple went to reside in Pleshey Castle,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. According to Jean Froissart, Eleanor and her husband had the tutelage of her younger sister, Mary, who was being instructed in religious doctrine in the hope that she would enter a convent, thus leaving her share of the considerable Bohun inheritance to Eleanor and Thomas.

Issue

Together Eleanor and Thomas had five children: # Humphrey, 2nd Earl of Buckingham (c. 1381/1382 – 2 September 1399) # Anne of Gloucester (c. 1383 – 1438) married (1st)

Thomas Stafford, 3rd Earl of Stafford Thomas Stafford, 3rd Earl of Stafford (c. 1368–4 July 1392) was the second son—but the senior surviving heir—of Hugh Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford and Philippa de Beauchamp, daughter of Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick. His elder br ...

; (2nd) Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford; and (3rd) William Bourchier, Count of Eu. Her son by 3rd marriage, John Bourchier, 1st Baron Berners, was grandfather of Richard Neville, 2nd

Baron Latimer The title Baron Latimer or Latymer has been created, by the definitions of modern peerage law, four times in the Peerage of England. Of these, one (of Snape) was restored from abeyance in 1913; one (of Braybrook) is forfeit; the other two (both ...

of Snape. #Joan (1384 – 16 August 1400) married Gilbert Talbot, 5th Baron Talbot (1383–1419). Died in childbirth. #Isabel (12 March 1385/1386 – April 1402), became a Minoress, later abbess, in a religious house near Aldgate #Philippa (c. 1388) Died young

Order of the Garter

Eleanor de Bohun was made a Lady of the Garter in 1384. She became a nun sometime after 1397 at

Barking Abbey Barking Abbey is a former royal monastery located in Barking, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It has been described as having been "one of the most important nunneries in the country". Originally established in the 7th century, fr ...

. Prior to her death, Eleanor divided her holdings among her children. She died on 3 October 1399 and was buried in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

. Her executors included the chaplain in Pleshy, Essex.Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; CP 40/561; http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT2/H4/CP40no561/bCP40no561dorses/IMG_1843.htm; Peyntour, Hugh, chaplain of the free chapel within the Castle of Plessy

In fiction

Eleanor appears briefly in Anya Seton's historical romance ''Katherine'', based upon the life of Eleanor's sister-in-law Katherine Swynford, the third wife of John of Gaunt. She also appears in Act 1, Scene 2 of

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

'' Richard II'', where she unsuccessfully urges John of Gaunt to avenge her murdered husband.

Notes

References

Sources

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External links

Eleanor of Bohun at Tudor Place
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bohun, Eleanor de 1360s births 1399 deaths Date of birth unknown Year of birth uncertain Eleanor Daughters of British earls

Gloucester 14th-century English people 14th-century English women Burials at Westminster Abbey 14th-century women rulers Ladies of the Garter Wives of knights