Thomas Plantagenet

     Thomas Plantagenet was born on 7 January 1354 at Woodstock Palace, Oxfordshire, England.¹ He was the son of King Edward III and Philippa d'Avesnes. Thomas Plantagenet married Eleanor (Alianore) de Bohun, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun and Joan Fitzalan, circa 1376; Thomas inherited the title Earl of Essex from his father-in-law, Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, after marrying in 1376.¹ Thomas Plantagenet died on 9 September 1397 at Calais, Pas-De-Calais, France, at age 43; Thomas of Woodstock was the leader of the Lords Appellant, a group of powerful nobles whose ambition to wrest power from Thomas's nephew, King Richard II of England, culminated in a successful rebellion in 1388, which significantly weakened the king's power. Richard II managed to dispose of the Lords Appellant in 1397, and Thomas was imprisoned in Calais to await trial for treason.

During that time he was murdered, probably by a group of men led by Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, and Nicholas Colfox, presumably on behalf of Richard II. This caused an outcry among the nobility of England that is considered by many to have added to Richard's unpopularity.¹
     At the age of 22, in 1377, Woodstock was created Earl of Buckingham. In 1385 he received the title Duke of Aumale and at about the same time was created Duke of Gloucester.¹