Eleanor de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester

Eleanor was a daughter and co-heir of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, Essex and Northampton (1342-1373) and his wife Joan, daughter of Richard (Fitzalan), Earl of Arundel. The first Humphrey de Bohun came to England with William the Conqueror.

She was aged 7 when her father died in 1373 and she and her younger sister Mary inherited his large estates. Edward III was their guardian. In 1385 Eleanor married Thomas (of Woodstock), Duke of Gloucester (1355-1397), youngest son of Edward III. Thomas was accused of conspiring against Richard II and was arrested, taken to Calais and murdered by being smothered in a feather bed. His body was brought back to Westminster Abbey and buried in St Edmund's chapel but was later moved to the chapel of St Edward the Confessor to be near his father Edward by order of Henry IV. Thomas's brass no longer survives. (The white tomb slab next to Eleanor's which has Thomas's name on it is to Mary Countess of Stafford not to Thomas - see below).

Their only son Humphrey, Earl of Buckingham, died a few weeks before his mother in 1399 and Eleanor is said to have died of grief soon after. They had four daughters: Anne married firstly the Earl of Stafford and secondly Sir William Bourchier, Joan died unmarried in 1400, Isabel entered a nunnery, and Philippa died young.

Eleanor's sister Mary de Bohun (d.1394) married Henry of Lancaster, the future Henry IV.

Burial

Eleanor was buried in the chapel of St Edmund in the Abbey and a fine brass to her memory remains on top of a low free-standing marble altar tomb (measuring 2440 x 930 mm). It shows her standing beneath an elaborate triple canopy wearing a widow's veil, her head resting on two embroidered cushions. Above her head is the Bohun emblem of a swan. The inscription around the rim is in French and can be translated:

Here lies Eleanor de Bohun, daughter and co-heir of the honourable knight Sir Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, Essex and Northampton, and Constable of England, wife of the mighty and noble prince Thomas of Woodstock, son of the excellent and mighty prince Edward, King of England, the Third since the Conquest, Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Essex and Buckingham, and Constable of England, who died 3 October in the year of grace 1399.

Five out of six of the coats of arms still remain to the sides of the effigy -top left shows the arms of Thomas of Woodstock, top right those of Woodstock impaling Humphrey de Bohun and Milo Earl of Hereford, mid left de Bohun (azure, a bend argent cotised between six lions rampant or), mid right Bohun impaling FitzAlan and Warren and lower left Milo, Earl of Hereford.

Mary Countess of Stafford and her son Henry

Next to Eleanor's tomb is one for a descendant Mary Countess of Stafford. The Latin on her white marble altar tomb can be translated:

Mary Countess of Stafford, wife of William, Viscount Stafford, descended from the royal stock of Thomas of Woodstock and Eleanor de Bohun, Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and from the barons and earls of Stafford and a daughter and heir of the house of the dukes of Buckingham, lies buried near the ashes of her ancestor. She died on the Ides of January in the 74 year of her age, and of our Redemption 1693.

On the wall nearby is a monument and this inscription can be translated:

This monument was erected by order of the Most Honourable Henry, Earl of Stafford, in memory of his beloved mother, Mary Countess of Stafford, who body lies buried near this spot in this chapel; so also is deposited here the body of the aforesaid Henry, Earl of Stafford who died 27th day of April, year of Our Lord 1719 in his 72nd year.

He lived in Paris for many years and had an unhappy marriage with Claude-Charlotta (died 1739), daughter of the Count of Gramont and they had no son. In his will he was scathing about her and just left her, "the worst of women", enough money to buy a pullet [a young hen] for her supper.

Hugh and Mary de Bohun

These two infant children of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex and Constable of England, and his wife Princess Elizabeth daughter of King Edward I (who had been married on 14th November 1302), were buried in a small Purbeck marble tomb (5 feet 6 inches long) in 1304 and 1305 respectively. The tomb had been in St Nicholas's chapel but was moved to St John the Baptist's chapel sometime between 1532 and 1600. It was set into the wall there. It's possible that it was originally in the chapel of St Edward and displaced by Richard II when he wished to place his tomb there. No inscription remains. The tomb was opened in 1937 when the tomb was taken out of the wall.

The rubbing of Abbey brasses is not permitted.