married Elizabeth, second daughter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, sister of the future Henry IV, receiving at the time a considerable grant of lands from the king. In 1386 he went—accompanied by his wife—into Spain as constable to his father-in-law; before starting he gave evidence at Plymouth in the Scrope and Grosvenor controversy. Throughout the campaign in Spain—where he held the post of constable of the English army—he performed numerous acts of valour in battle and deeds of skill in tilting, which won the highest praise from Froissart.
On his return from Spain he was, on 2 June 1387, created Earl of Huntingdon by the request of the commons of the ‘Admirable Parliament;’ an immense grant of lands was also made to him. In 1389 he was made chamberlain of England for life; and soon after admiral of the fleet in the western seas, and constable of Tintagel Castle and Brest. On 13 Sept. in the same year he is spoken of as a privy councillor. In 1390 he crossed to Calais in order to engage in further tournaments, and on returning distinguished himself in one at Smithfield.
In 1392 he accompanied an expedition into the northern parts of the kingdom, and later on in the same year went with the Duke of Lancaster to negotiate a truce with France. In 1394 he was made constable of Conway Castle, and in the same year undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land; in passing through Paris he learned that war had been proclaimed between Hungary and Turkey; he therefore, according to Froissart, determined to return from his pilgrimage by a road which would bring him to the scene of action. He probably abandoned this intention, as we find him with Richard II at Eltham in 1395, during the visit of Peter the Hermit. The same year he was made governor of the castle and town of Carlisle, of the west marches towards Scotland, and commissary-general of the same marches 16 Feb. 1396. In 1397 he took an active part with the king against Thomas of Woodstock [q. v.], duke of Gloucester, and Richard Fitzalan [q. v.], earl of Arundel. Richard seems to have heaped honours upon him in quick succession. On 29 Sept. in that year he was created Duke of Exeter. He obtained a grant of the furniture of the castle of Arundel, which the Earl of Arundel had forfeited; and the office of chamberlain of England, of which he had previously received a grant for life, was in 1398 given to him and his heirs in tail. At this time, his London residence was at Pultney House, where he gave sumptuous entertainments.
In 1399 he accompanied Richard on his unfortunate expedition into Ireland, and on his return to Pembroke counselled the king to go to Conway. He was one of those sent by Richard to Henry IV with orders to seek a modus vivendi; at the meeting Holland seems to have been the chief spokesman. Henry after hearing his messages detained him about his person.
After Richard's deposition in October 1399, Holland was called on in parliament to justify his action against the Duke of Gloucester. He and the other appellants of 1397 answered that they acted under compulsion of the late king, but that they were not cognisant of, nor did they aid in, Gloucester's death. They were condemned to forfeit their dignities and lands granted to them subsequently to Gloucester's arrest, so that Holland again became Earl of Huntingdon. Soon after this, in January 1400, Holland entered, with Thomas le Despenser [q. v.], his nephew, Thomas Holland, earl of Kent (1374–1400) [q. v.], and others, into a conspiracy against Henry IV for the restoration of Richard II. According to one account (Traison et Mort, p. 86) he was present in the fight at Cirencester, and was captured there. Walsingham, more probably, states that he remained near London to watch the progress of events. When he saw his cause was lost, he fled through Essex, but was captured at Pleshey by the Countess of Hereford, who had him beheaded in the presence of Thomas Fitzalan [q. v.], earl of Arundel and Surrey, son of the Earl of Arundel whose death he had helped to bring about. The execution took place on 16 Jan. 1400 (Inquisitio ad quod damnum, 1 Henry IV, No. 29 a). His head was afterwards exposed, probably at Pleshey, till the king, at the supplication of Holland's widow, directed its delivery to the ‘master or keeper of the college of the church of Plessy,’ in order that it might be buried there with his body. His estates were declared by parliament to be forfeited on 2 March following. By his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John of Gaunt, he left issue three sons; his second son, John (1395–1447) [q. v.], was afterwards restored in blood, and to the family honours.
[Walsingham's Historia Anglicana (Rolls Ser.); Froissart's Chroniques; Chronique de la Traison et Mort du Roy Richart (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Wallon's Richard II; Wylie's Hist. of Engl. under Henry IV, vol. i.; Beltz's Memorials of the Garter; Account of the Deposition of Richard II, printed in Archæologia, vol. xx.; Doyle's Official Baronage; Waurin's Chronicle (Rolls Ser.); Stubbs's Const. Hist. iii. 19, 26.]
HOLLAND, JOHN, Duke of Exeter and Earl of Huntingdon (1395–1447), was second son of John Holland, duke of Exeter (1352?–1400) [q. v.] His elder brother
