Robert de Holland, 1st Baron Holand

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arms of Robert de Holland

Robert de Holland, 1st Baron Holand was born in Lancashire, England in 1270. He was a son of Sir Robert de Holland and Elizabeth de Samlesbury.

At some point before 1312 he married Maude la Zouche. She was daughter of Lord Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby of Ashby and Eleanor de Segrave. In 1328 he was beheaded in Essex. His body was sent to Lancashire to be buried.

He was a favorite of Thomas Plantagenet, 2nd Earl of Lancaster and knighted in 1307. He served him by suppressing the 1315 rising of Adam Banastre, Henry de Lea, and William de Bradshagh (Bradshaw) who banded together and launched an attack on the Liverpool Castle. From 1314 to 1321 he was called to Parliament. After that his part in the Battle of Boroughbridge was deemed cowardly and led to his disfavor. Although King Edward III of England would later pardon him, the partisans of the Earl of Lancaster considered him a traitor and had him executed.[1][2]

[edit] Children

He and Maude la Zouche had thirteen children:

Elizabeth Holland (c. 1295 - 1332).
Margery Holland (born c. 1308).
Robert Holland (c. 1312 - 16 March 1372/1373).
Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent (c. 1314 - 26 December 1360).
Otho Holland (c. 1316 - 3 September 1359).
John Holland (born c. 1318).
Maud Holland (born c. 1319). Married Thomas Swinnerton.
Alan Holland (c. 1320 - 1339).
Elizabeth Holland (born c. 1320).
Margaret Holland (c. 1322 - 1349).
Jane Holland (born c. 1326).
Eleanor Holland (c. 1327 - 1341).
Elizabeth Holland (born c. 1328).

He was something of a small player in this era and so might be more noted for being of genealogical interest. This is because he's apparently an ancestor to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant, Louis XVI, and Winston Churchill. He also has connections to the royal line of Medieval Scotland. There is actually some information on his ancestors going back to Mathew de HOLLAND[3], but before then little is known.