Sir Edmund de Arundel
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Sir Edmund de Arundel was the eldest son of the FitzAlan Earl of Arundel, and he should have inherited an earldom. His parents' marriage was annulled, he was declared illegitimate, and the title passed instead to his half-brother. It is a reminder that in the fourteenth century legitimacy was a matter of law and litigation rather than of biology, and that it could be taken away from a man who had already been born to it.
Research notes
✓ DOCUMENTED (CP vol. X p.236 note a): SIR EDMUND DE ARUNDEL, "eldest (set-aside) son of RICHARD, [FITZALAN] EARL OF ARUNDEL" - his parents' marriage was annulled and he was declared illegitimate, the earldom passing to his half-brother. Father of Philippe (our line). The FitzAlan Earls of Arundel above him = printed peerage, note-only, extendable (with the illegitimacy honestly flagged wherever the line is told). Direct ancestor. Added 22 Jul 2026.