Thomas de Holand ★

1310s–1340s

Born around 1314, son of Robert de Holland, 1st Baron Holand, and Maud la Zouche. Secretly married the twelve-year-old Joan of Kent. Fought in Flanders and Gascony from 1340, at the siege of Caen and at Crécy in 1346, and at the siege of Calais. Made a Knight of the Garter in 1348; in 1349 the Church upheld his marriage to Joan over her later one to William Montacute.

1350s–1360s

Summoned to Parliament as Baron de Holland from 1353, he was the king's lieutenant in Brittany and co-captain-general in France from 1354 to 1359, and was summoned as Earl of Kent in 1360. Died of illness in Normandy on 28 December 1360.

Family Background

Thomas Holland was born around 1314 into a gentry family from Upholland, Lancashire, son of Robert de Holland, 1st Baron Holand, and Maud la Zouche; his brother Otho Holand was likewise a distinguished Knight of the Garter.

The Secret Marriage Scandal

Around the time of his first military expedition, Thomas secretly married the twelve-year-old Joan of Kent, daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, and granddaughter of Edward I. While Thomas was away campaigning, Joan's family pressured her into a second marriage to William Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury — Thomas's own former employer. On his return, Thomas fought the second marriage through the church courts, and papal commissioners confirmed his prior claim in 1349, ordering Joan to leave Montacute and return to him as her lawful husband.

Military Career in the Hundred Years' War

Thomas built a formidable military reputation: he campaigned in Flanders and on the Gascon frontier from 1340 to 1343, distinguished himself at the siege of Caen in 1346 where French nobles reportedly surrendered specifically to him, served as one of the principal commanders in the vanguard under the Prince of Wales at the Battle of Crécy that same year, and fought through the long siege of Calais in 1346–47. He was invested Knight of the Garter in 1348 and later served as the king's lieutenant in Brittany and co-captain-general of England's continental possessions from 1354 to 1359.

Recognition as Earl of Kent

When Joan's brother the Earl of Kent died in 1352, Thomas gained a claim to the earldom through his wife, but formal recognition came only gradually — summoned to Parliament as Baron de Holland from 1353, he was not summoned as Earl of Kent until 1360.

Death

Thomas died of illness in Normandy on December 28, 1360, around age forty-six. His son Thomas succeeded him as baron, while Joan retained the earldom of Kent; another son, John, went on to become Earl of Huntingdon and Duke of Exeter.