Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence

Also known as: Thomas Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence / Thomas duke of Clarence / Thomas of Lancaster / lord Thomas of Lancaster · Family: House of Lancaster · Role: duke of Clarence · First appears: Richard II 30

Around 1385, Henry IV and Mary de Bohun had Thomas among their children, alongside Henry V, Blanche of Lancaster, Duchess of Bavaria, Philippa of Lancaster, John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, and Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. The succession act of about 1399 named Thomas after Henry V, and that year Henry IV made him high steward of England, with Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester assisting because of his youth. Around 1405, Thomas arrested the duke of York and confined him in the Tower; in 1411, while still lord steward and earl of Albemarle, he was created Duke of Clarence.

In France around 1412, Thomas received John of Valois, Count of Angoulême, Marcell de Burges, John de Samoures, Archembald Viliers, and others as pledges for unpaid debts. Henry V later gave him Louviers, where Thomas appointed John Godard as his deputy. In 1419 he captured Vernon and Mante; around 1420, Henry V sent him to Paris, where Charles VI made him captain and he took the Bastill of Saint Anthony, the Louvre, the house of Néelle, and Bois de Vincennes. In 1421, Henry V appointed him lieutenant general of France and Normandy, but Andrew Forgusa, a Lombard retained by Thomas while resorting to the opposing side, sold him to his enemies. Thomas was killed in battle that year with many other Englishmen.