John FitzAlan, 14th Earl of Arundel

John FitzAlan, 14th Earl of Arundel, 4th Baron Maltravers KG (14 February 1408 – 12 June 1435) was an English nobleman and military commander during the later phases of the Hundred Years' War. His father, John FitzAlan, 3rd Baron Maltravers, fought a long battle to lay claim to the Arundel earldom, a battle that was not finally resolved until after the father's death, when John FitzAlan the son was finally confirmed in the title in 1433.

Already before this, in 1430, FitzAlan had departed for France, where he held a series of important command positions. He served under John, Duke of Bedford, the uncle of the eight-year-old King Henry VI. FitzAlan was involved in recovering fortresses in the Île-de-France region, and in suppressing local rebellions. His military career ended, however, at the Battle of Gerbevoy in 1435. Refusing to retreat in the face of superior forces, Arundel was shot in the foot and captured. His leg was later amputated, and he died shortly afterwards from the injury. His final resting place was a matter of dispute until the mid-nineteenth century, when his tomb at Arundel Castle was revealed to contain a skeleton missing one leg.

Arundel was considered a great soldier by his contemporaries. He had been a successful commander in France, in a period of decline for the English, and his death was a great loss to his country. He was succeeded by his son Humphrey, who did not live to adulthood. The title of Earl of Arundel then went to John's younger brother William.

Family background
John FitzAlan was born at Lytchett Matravers in Dorset on 14 February 1408. He was the son of John FitzAlan, 3rd Baron Maltravers (1385–1421) and Eleanor (d. 1455), daughter of Sir John Berkeley of Beverstone, Gloucestershire. John FitzAlan the elder, through his great-great-grandfather Richard FitzAlan, 4th Earl of Arundel, made a claim on the earldom of Arundel after the death of Thomas FitzAlan, 5th Earl of Arundel, in 1415. The claim was disputed, however, by Thomas's three sisters and their families, foremost among these Elizabeth FitzAlan, who had married Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk. It is debatable whether Maltravers ever held the title of Earl of Arundel; he was summoned to parliament under this title once, in 1416, but never again. When he died in 1421, the dispute continued under his son, and it was not until in 1433 that the younger John FitzAlan finally had his title confirmed in parliament. Four years earlier, in July 1429, he had received his late father's estates and title.

As a child, John FitzAlan was contracted to marry Constance, who was the daughter of John Cornwall, Baron Fanhope, and through her mother Elizabeth granddaughter of John of Gaunt. The two may or may not have married, but Constance was dead by 1429, when John married Maud, daughter of Robert Lovell. FitzAlan was knighted in 1426 along with the four-year-old King Henry VI, where he was referred to as "Dominus de Maultravers" ("Lord Maltravers"). In the summer of 1429 he was summoned to parliament, this time styled "Johanni Arundell' Chivaler", meaning he was now Lord Arundel. In 1430, however, in an indenture for service with the king in France, he was styled Earl of Arundel, a title he also used himself. When he was finally officially recognised in his title of Earl of Arundel in 1433, this was based on the recognition that the title went with the possession of Arundel Castle. In reality though, the grant was just as much a reward for the military services he had by that point rendered in France.

Service in France
John FitzAlan the father had been a prominent soldier in the Hundred Years' War under King Henry V, and the son followed in his father's footsteps. On 23 April 1430, the younger FitzAlan departed for France in the company of Henry VI. There he soon made a name for himself as a soldier, under the command of the king's uncle, John, Duke of Bedford. In June he took part in the Siege of Compiègne, where Joan of Arc had recently been captured. Later, he raised the siege of Anglure with the help of the Burgundians. On 17 December 1431, he was present when Henry VI was crowned King of France in Paris, where he distinguished himself at the accompanying tournament. FitzAlan's military success led to several important appointments of command; in November 1431, he was made lieutenant of the Rouen garrison, and shortly after also captain of Vernon. In January 1432 he was appointed captain of Verneuil. In February that year he was taken by surprise while in bed at Rouen Castle, when a band of French soldiers from nearby Ricarville managed to take the castle. The assailants could not hold the castle, however, and were forced to surrender twelve days later. In April 1432, FitzAlan was rewarded for his actions so far by initiation into the Order of the Garter.

From early 1432 onwards, FitzAlan held several regional commands in northern France. One of his tasks was recovering fortresses in the Île-de-France region, at which he was mostly successful. At Lagny-sur-Marne he blew up the bridge to prevent the citizens from reaching the castle, but still failed to take the fortification. In December he was appointed to a regional command in Upper Normandy, but had to defend the town of Sées from a siege in March 1433. In July, he was instead made lieutenant-general of Lower Normandy. FitzAlan continued his work of recovering lost fortresses, taking back Saint-Célerin, Sillé-le-Guillaume, and Beaumont-le-Vicomte by early 1434. In December 1433, Bedford again appointed him commander in Upper Normandy, as well as captain of Pont-de-l'Arche.

FitzAlan – by now Earl of Arundel – might have returned briefly to England in May 1434, when he was in the process of gathering troops for an English expedition to France. Later that month he was replaced as lieutenant of Upper Normandy by John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and instead received a command between the Seine and Loire rivers. This effectively meant that the two shared the command of Normandy, with Talbot east of the Seine and Arundel to the west. On 8 September, Arundel was also made Duke of Touraine – an area held by the French. The grant was made as a reward for his good service, but also in the hope that he would campaign in the area. In October he was made captain of Saint-Lô, where he had to deal with a rebellion in the Bessin area. The Duke of Alençon was trying to exploit the revolt to take control of Avranches, but Arundel managed to prevent the French advance and end the rebellion.

Death and aftermath
In May 1435, Arundel was at Mantes-la-Jolie in the Île-de-France, when he was ordered to relocate north to Gournay-sur-Epte (now Gournay-en-Bray). When he was informed that the French had taken over the nearby fortress at Gerberoy, he moved quickly to attack it. The English met with a large French force at Gerberoy. Many withdrew to Gournay in panic, but Arundel remained to fight. In the ensuing battle, Arundel lost many of his men and was himself hit in the foot by a shot from a culverin – a primitive musket. Heavily wounded, he was taken to Beauvais as a captive of the French. According to the French historian Thomas Basin, Arundel was humiliated by his defeat and refused to receive medical treatment for the damage to his foot. The leg was eventually amputated, but Arundel's life could not be saved; he died on 12 June 1435. Arundel was replaced in his command by Lord Scales.

There was long uncertainty about what had happened to the earl's body. The French chronicler Jehan de Waurin claimed that Arundel had simply been buried in Beauvais. In the mid-nineteenth century, however, the chaplain of the Duke of Norfolk came upon the will of Arundel's squire, Fulk Eyton. Eyton maintained that he had secured the earl's body and brought it back to England, for which he had been rewarded with over £1,000. The body was then entombed in the chapel of Arundel Castle, as Arundel had expressly wished for in his own will. On 16 November 1857, the tomb in the Arundel chapel carrying the earl's effigy was opened. In it was found a skeleton measuring over six feet, with a missing leg.

Arundel's military career coincided with a period of general decline for the English in France. He had been an unusually successful campaigner. His death was lamented in England and celebrated in France. He was referred to as the "English Achilles"; the historian Polydore Vergil called him "a man of singular valour, constancy, and gravity." With his wife, Maud, he had a son, Humphrey, who was born on 30 January 1429. Humphrey succeeded to his father's title, but died on 24 April 1438, while still a minor. John FitzAlan's younger brother, William, was next in line of succession. William was born in 1417 and was created Earl of Arundel in 1438 when he came of age.

FitzAlan family tree
The following simplified family tree shows the background for the dispute over the Arundel title and inheritance. Solid lines denote children and dashed lines marriages.