Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 27.djvu/163

Holland HOLLAND, THOMAS, second of the Holland family (1350–1397), born in 1350, was son of Thomas Holland, first earl of Kent [q. v.], by Joan, daughter of Edmund of Woodstock [q. v.] He succeeded to the barony of Holland in 1360, on the death of his father, and in 1366 was made captain of the English forces in Aquitaine. He was knighted by his stepfather, Edward the Black Prince, in 1367, when fighting in Castile. In 1375 he was appointed K.G. In that and the year following he was again engaged in the French wars, and accompanied the expedition of the Earl of Cambridge and the Duke of Brittany into Brittany with two thousand men-at-arms and three thousand archers. Over his half-brother, Richard II, Holland exerted an evil influence. He was cruel and selfish, and chiefly aimed at enriching himself. In the first year of Richard II's reign his income was increased by a grant of 200l. a year; he was also made warden of the New Forest, and in that and the next year had other similar appointments and pensions given him, so that he received in all 1,000l. a year. From 1380 to 1385 he was earl-marshal of England. In December 1380 he went as ambassador to the Emperor Wenceslaus, to arrange a marriage between Anne, the emperor's sister, and Richard. In 1381 he was created Earl of Kent. When, in 1381, the rebellion of the commons broke out in Kent, he was made captain of the king's forces, but he does not appear to have taken a very active part against the rebels. He was with Richard in the Tower when the rebels approached London, but when the king went out to Mile End Kent left him, in fear of his own life. Probably through the favour of Richard he received his mother's lands, which she held largely in right of dower, on her death in 1385. He held many other offices, among them those of constable of the Tower (1389), was a privy councillor (1389), was one of those who guaranteed the queen's marriage settlement, and had just been appointed governor of Carisbrooke Castle when he died on 25 April 1397. He was buried in Brune Abbey.

Kent married, in 1366, Alice, daughter of Richard Fitzalan, fifth earl of Arundel [q. v.], and by her left two sons and five daughters. His eldest son, Thomas [q. v.], is separately noticed. His second son,, became fourth after the death of his brother Thomas in 1400; married, in 1407, Lucia (d. 1424), sister of Barnabo Visconti, duke of Milan, and died, 18 Sept. 1408, of a wound received in the head while besieging the castle of Briant in Brittany (, Hist. Angl. in Chron. Mon. Sc. Alb., Rolls Series, ed. Riley, ii. 274, 279).

 HOLLAND, THOMAS, and  (1374–1400), was eldest son of Thomas, second earl of Kent [q. v.], by Alice, daughter of Richard Fitzalan, earl of Arundel; he was nephew to John Holland, duke of Exeter (1352?–1400) [q. v.] He was elected a knight of the Garter after his father's death in 1397, and on obtaining livery of his inheritance was summoned to attend Richard II (his uncle) at Nottingham, where deliberation as to the deprivation of Thomas, duke of Gloucester, both of power and life, was being held. After Richard had secured Gloucester, the Earls of Kent and Rutland were sent to arrest Thomas Fitzalan, earl of Arundel. Kent was forward in urging the execution of Arundel, who was his mother's brother, and shared in the confiscation of the estates of Gloucester and his partisans. He obtained Warwick Castle, and the stud of horses and cattle belonging to the attainted Thomas de Beauchamp, earl of Warwick. On 29 Sept. 1397, the same day on which his uncle John was created Duke of Exeter, he was created Duke of Surrey. Selden, in his ‘Titles of Honour’ (p. 755), observes that the virga aurea was first used on this occasion. On 31 Jan. 1398 he was created marshal of England during the king's pleasure, in order that he might officiate at the forthcoming duel between the Duke of Hereford [see ] and the Duke of Norfolk, who had himself held that office for life, with remainder to his heirs male (, Memorials of the Garter, p. 358). When both the duellists received sentence of banishment, Surrey obtained a grant of the office of marshal for life, and some of Norfolk's forfeited estates were given him.

On 18 Feb. 1398 he obtained royal license to found a Carthusian monastery at Mountgrace, within his manor of Bardelby in Cleveland, and on 26 July following he was appointed the king's lieutenant in Ireland in succession to the Earl of March, who had been slain by the Irish. His appointment was to date from 1 Sept. following, and to last for three years, according to an indenture which he is said to have made with the king. An abstract apparently of this inden-