Origins Lionel patrilineally descended from the English royal
House of Plantagenet. His father was
Edward III, King of England since 1327 and his mother was
Philippa of Hainault, who came from the French
Avesnes family. His paternal grandparents were King
Edward II of England and
Isabella of France, and his maternal grandparents were
William I, Count of Hainaut,
Holland and
Zeeland and
Joan of Valois. Edward III and Philippa had 12 children in the course of their marriage. Lionel was the fifth born child and the third but second surviving son (one of his older brothers, William of Hatfield, died in infancy in 1337). Of the other brothers, the eldest,
Edward the Black Prince, was the heir to Edward III. Lionel also had four younger brothers (three of them survived infancy:
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster,
Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and
Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester), as well as five sisters, of whom only the eldest,
Isabella, Countess of Bedford, survive to adulthood.
Birth and early years Lionel was born on 29 November 1338 at
St. Michael's Abbey in
Antwerp, while his parents were living in the
Low Countries. Gilles de Monte, a doctor from
Hainault, took care of the newborn prince for 13 weeks, for which he received a reward of 15 £. Due to the place of birth, Lionel received the nickname "of Antwerp". There are several versions explaining the unusual name that Edward III gave to his son. According to one of them, it is a reference to the Lion of Brabant —the heraldic symbol of
John III, Duke of Brabant, one of the allies of the English king at that time. However, according to modern researchers, the choice of name is more likely due to the fact that Edward III, who adored the
legends of King Arthur, at that time identified himself with one of the
Knights of the Round Table —
Sir Lionel, often participating in
jousting tournaments with his coat of arms (for example, at a tournament in
Dunstable in 1334). In addition, the name had an obvious association with the heraldic lions (more precisely, leopards) depicted on the English coat of arms. According to another version, Edward III decided to revive the "Welsh name Llywelyn". In the winter of 1355–1356, Lionel took part in the royal army's invasion of
Scotland. In the treaty in which the Scottish claimant
Edward Balliol renounced his rights to the Scottish throne in favor of the English king, the prince's name headed the list of witnesses. In May 1359, Lionel fought in a jousting tournament held in
Smithfield, London. From October 1359 to May 1360, he participated in his father's military campaigns, including the unsuccessful siege of
Reims and later the
peace negotiations at Brétigny. On 2 December 1360,
John Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp of Warwick, one of the Knights of the
Order of the Garter, died. In April 1361, Edward III held a ceremony, giving the vacant seat in the Order to Lionel.
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland The peace between England and France concluded at Brétigny in 1360, which lasted until 1369, finally allowed Lionel to take the role in Ireland that his father had planned for him. In July 1360, representatives of the Anglo-Irish political community approached Edward III, begging him to send them a leader who would have sufficient power and resources to restore order to the troubled island. In addition, on 4 November 1360, Elizabeth de Burgh's grandmother,
Elizabeth de Clare, died, after which her share of the
de Clare estates in England and Wales, as well as lands in the County of Ulster that belonged to her as a widow's share, came into the possession of Lionel by right of his wife. On 15 March 1361 the English king announced his intention to send his son to rule the possessions on the island, and on 1 July he appointed Lionel
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In the middle of the 14th century, English possessions in Ireland had to be constantly defended. Although Edward III formally claimed power over the entire island, in essence the local clans were almost independent. English dominance in the vast lands beyond the
Bann and
Shannon rivers was exercised irregularly and with great difficulty. Even the heartland of the English possessions, which included the lands around
Dublin, was at times threatened by a number of Gaelic clans such as the O'Brien,
O'Toole and Mac Murhi. As a result, in English-controlled lands, royal power was only effective if it met with the tacit support of the local aristocracy, particularly the Earls of
Desmond,
Ormonde,
Louth and
Kildare. They, like other representatives of the local colonial aristocracy, sharply criticized Edward III's disdainful attitude towards power in these domains. It was alleged that in 1346
Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond, even sent envoys to
Pope Clement VI asking him to take Ireland under his jurisdiction, appointing the Earl himself as
vicar there. Although representatives of the local nobility demanded the regular intervention of the English king in the affairs of the Irish honors, "Englishmen born in Ireland" (as the local Anglo-Norman barons were often called) had completely different political views than "Englishmen born in England" (this was the name given to royal governors and other officials sent by the English government to Ireland). And such views became a serious problem for the Duke of Clarence. but also suggested that marriage to a member of the
House of Visconti could eventually make him
King of Italy and even
Holy Roman Emperor. ==Arms==