Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester

Also known as: Thomas duke of Glocester / Thomas of Woodstock / Thomas of Woodstoke / Thomas of Woodstoke duke of Glocester / earle of Buckingham / lord Thomas de Wodstoke / lord Thomas of Woodstoke · Family: England · Role: uncle of the king; Earl of Buckingham · First appears: Richard II 2

Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, was the sixth son of Edward III, brother to Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, William of Hatfield, Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, John of Gaunt, Edmund Langley, Duke of York, and William of Windsor. Around 1377, his nephew Richard II created him Earl of Buckingham and granted him an annual thousand marks until lands of equal value could be provided. In 1380, Thomas was sent with an army to Calis to invade France and aid Brittany, accompanied by Robert Knolles and English troops; after John IV, Duke of Brittany failed to support the siege of Naunts, Thomas departed Vannes and returned to England.

By c. 1386, Thomas stood against Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, helping judge and convict him in parliament, and he was among the lords whose authority oversaw the realm. In 1388, Richard II and Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland plotted against him, while Thomas secretly joined Richard FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel, Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and Henry IV in gathering forces against the king’s counsellors. The lords accused Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, Alexander Neville, Archbishop of York, Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, Robert Tresilian, and Nicholas Brembre, and Thomas caused Robert Tresilian to be hanged and Simon Burley to be arrested and beheaded, “quite contrarie to the kings will or knowledge.” Richard II later declared the accusations against Thomas, Richard FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel, and Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick false and placed them under his protection; in 1389 Thomas helped appease disorder at Oxford, but was then removed from the king’s council.

Thomas opposed the proposed peace with France in c. 1396, and his continuing disputes with Richard II brought their hostility to a crisis. After John of Gaunt and Edmund Langley, Duke of York left court, Thomas organized the assembly at Arundell castell, where the lords determined to imprison the king and his uncles. Richard II ordered Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk to apprehend him; at Calis, William Kikill reported that Thomas had confessed the charges, and Thomas Mowbray caused his death at the princes In by smothering or strangling him. Later articles accused Richard II of having him arrested without law and murdered at Calis, and Thomas’s widow died soon afterward, as was thought, from sorrow for the loss of their son and heir.