Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence

English Royalty
House of Plantagenet

Henry II Children    William, Count of Poitiers    Henry the Young King    Richard I    Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany    King John    Matilda of England    Leonora of England    Joan of England Richard I John Children    Henry III    Richard, Earl of Cornwall    Joan of England    Isabella of England    Eleanor of England Henry III Children    Edward I    Margaret of England    Beatrice of England    Edmund, Earl of Lancaster Edward I Children    Joan of England, Countess of Gloucester    Alphonso, Earl of Chester    Edward II    Thomas, Earl of Norfolk    Edmund, Earl of Kent Edward II Children    Edward III    John, Earl of Cornwall    Eleanor of England    Joan of England Edward III Children    Edward, Prince of Wales    Lionel, Duke of Clarence    John, Duke of Lancaster    Edmund, Duke of York    Thomas, Duke of Gloucester    Joan of England    Isabella of England Grandchildren     Richard II     Philippa, Countess of Ulster     Philippa of Lancaster     Elizabeth of Lancaster     Henry IV     Catherine of Lancaster     Edward, Duke of York     Richard, Earl of Cambridge     Constance of York     Anne of Gloucester Richard II

Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, (November 29, 1338 – October 7, 1368) was the second son of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. He was so called because he was born at Antwerp, Belgium.

Betrothed when a child to Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster (d. 1363), daughter and heiress of William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster (d. 1332), he was married to her in 1352, but before this date he had entered into possession of her great Irish inheritance. He was called Earl of Ulster from 1347.

Having been named as his father's representative in England in 1345 and again in 1346, Lionel joined an expedition into France in 1355, but his chief energies were reserved for the affairs of Ireland.

Appointed governor of that country, he landed at Dublin in 1361, and in November of the following year was created Duke of Clarence, while his father made an abortive attempt to secure for him the crown of Scotland. His efforts to secure an effective authority over his Irish lands were only moderately successful; and after holding a parliament at Kilkenny, which passed the celebrated Statute of Kilkenny in 1367, he dropped the task in disgust and returned to England.

Lionel's wife died in Dublin in 1363, having given birth to a daughter, Philippa, whose descendants would one day claim the throne for the House of York. A second marriage was arranged for Lionel with Yolande or Violante, daughter of Galeazzo Visconti, lord of Pavia (d. 1378); the enormous dowry which Galeazzo promised with his daughter being exaggerated by the rumour of the time. Journeying to fetch his bride, Lionel was received in great state both in France and Italy, and was married to Violante at Milan in June 1368. Some months were then spent in festivities, during which Lionel was taken ill at Alba, where he died.

His only child, Philippa Plantagenet, married in 1368 Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March (1351-1381). They were parents to Anne de Mortimer, grandparents to Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and great-grandparents to Edward IV and Richard III.

The poet Geoffrey Chaucer was at one time a page in Lionel's household.

Preceded by: New Creation	Duke of Clarence 1362-1368	Succeeded by: Extinct
Preceded by: William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster	Earl of Ulster 1347-1368	Succeeded by: Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.