John FitzAlan, 1st Baron Arundel

Naval victory

Being in command of a naval expedition in aid to the Duke of Brittany, he defeated the French fleet off the coast of Cornwall.

Death at sea

Commanding a force with the purpose of bringing relief to the Duke of Brittany, Sir John was compelled to wait for stronger winds. During this wait he decided to take refuge in a nunnery, where his men "took no notice of the sanctity of the place and... violently assaulted and raped" those they found inside. Further to this Sir John "allowed his men to ransack the countryside as they liked and to impoverish the people". When the force eventually set out to sea, carrying with them goods stolen from a nearby church and under a pronouncement of excommunication from the wronged priests, the expedition was caught in a storm. Thomas Walsingham reports that during the panic of the storm, Sir John murdered those of his men who refused to make for shore for fear of being shipwrecked upon the rocks. Subsequently, after safely arriving on an island off the Irish coast, Sir John and his boat captain were swept back into the sea and drowned.

According to Thomas Walsingham's story, FitzAlan's men profaned a convent at or near Southampton, and abducted many of its occupants. The fleet was then pursued by a violent tempest, when the wretched nuns who had been carried off were thrown overboard to lighten the ships. The vessels were, however, wrecked on the Irish coast, near Scarriff according to some authorities, but at Cape Clear Island according to others. Sir John Arundell, together with his esquires, and other men of high birth, were drowned, and twenty-five ships were lost with most of their crews. Froissart's account of the event differs essentially from Walsingham's, in the omission of the story of the desecration of the convent.

Burial

He was buried in Lewes, Sussex.

Marriage and children

On 17 February 1358, FitzAlan married Eleanor Maltravers (Mautravers) (1345 – 10 January 1404 or 1406), daughter of John Maltravers, 1st Baron Maltravers and Gwenthin. They had at least five children (some references list more):

Joan FitzAlan (D' Arundel) (c. 1360 – 1 September 1404. She married first William de Brien (one son) and secondly Sir William de Echingham.

John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel (3 November 1364 – 14 August 1390), who married Elizabeth le Despenser.

Richard FitzAlan (c. 1366 – 3 June 1419). His daughter Joan married Thomas Willoughby of Parham, a grandson of Alayne FitzAlan, daughter of Edmund Fitzalan, 2nd Earl of Arundel.

Sir William Arundel (c. 1369 – 1400). He was a Knight of the Garter.

Margaret (1372 – 7 July 1439) married William Ros, 6th Baron Ros of Hamlake and had descendants