John Holland, Duke of Exeter

Also known as: Iohn Holland earle of Huntington / John Holland / Sir Iohn Holland / lord Iohn Holland / sir Iohn Holland · Family: England · Role: nobleman · First appears: Richard II 27

In 1384, John Holland acted with Henry Green in strangling and tormenting an imprisoned friar. The following year, after one of his servants was killed, he slew Richard Stafford and fled to Beverlie, where he took sanctuary. In 1386 he was ordained constable of the host, having married a daughter of John of Gaunt, and during the campaign at Compostella he won several towns and fortresses for him. In 1388, as Richard II’s maternal brother—“sir Iohn Holland brother to the king”—he was made Earl of Huntington.

In the late 1390s, Richard II trusted him among the few nobles on whom he relied, while also indicting him at Nottingham. At Shrewsbury in 1398, Holland was elevated from Earl of Huntington to Duke of Exeter, received lands taken from attainted nobles, and was among those granted authority over both houses of Parliament. He was also connected with Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk and William Bagot in an account of a secret sworn at a chapel in Woodstoke.

By 1399, Holland was counted among those regarded as devoted to Richard II and hostile to Henry IV. After being captured, he was beheaded on 15 January c. 1400: “he was beheaded.”