Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (7 August 1282 – 5 May 1316) was the eighth and youngest daughter of Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile. Of all of her siblings, she was closest to her younger brother Edward II, as they were only two years apart in age.

First marriage

In April 1285 there were negotiations with Floris V for Elizabeth's betrothal to his son John I, Count of Holland. The offer was accepted and John was sent to England to be educated. On 8 January 1297 Elizabeth was married to John at Ipswich. In attendance at the marriage were Elizabeth's sister Margaret, her father, Edward I of England, her brother Edward, and Humphrey de Bohun. After the wedding Elizabeth was expected to go to Holland with her husband, but did not wish to go, leaving her husband to go alone. It is recorded that while in Ipswich the King, in some outburst, threw his daughter's coronet into the fire. A great ruby and a great emerald, stones supplied by Adam the Goldsmith, were lost as a result. After some time travelling England, it was decided Elizabeth should follow her husband. Her father accompanied her, travelling through the Southern Netherlands between Antwerp, Mechelen, Leuven and Brussels, before ending up in Ghent. There they remained for a few months, spending Christmas with her two sisters Eleanor and Margaret. On 10 November 1299, John died of dysentery, though there were rumours of his murder. The marriage did not produce any heirs.

Second marriage

On her return trip to England, Elizabeth went through Brabant to see her sister Margaret. When she arrived in England, she met her stepmother Margaret, whom Edward had married while Elizabeth was in Holland. On 14 November 1302 Elizabeth was married to Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, 3rd of Essex, also Constable of England, at Westminster Abbey. In 1302, she was pregnant and travelled from Dunfermline Abbey in Scotland to Tynemouth. She gave birth to her first child, Margaret de Bohun, in September, assisted by a holy relic of the girdle of the Virgin, brought especially from Westminster Abbey. Margaret died young but Elizabeth would go on to have a large family, giving birth to numerous children in quick succession.

Issue

The children of Elizabeth and Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford were:

Later life

During Christmas 1315, Elizabeth, who was pregnant with her eleventh child, was visited by her sister-in-law, Queen Isabella of France. On 5 May 1316 she went into labour, giving birth to her daughter Isabella. Both Elizabeth and her daughter Isabella died shortly after the birth. Elizabeth was interred at Waltham Abbey, Essex, together with her infant daughter & other members of the de Bohun family.

Ancestry

Sources