Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter

Who was Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter?

Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter was a Lancastrian leader during the English Wars of the Roses. He was the only son of John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter, and his first wife Lady Anne Stafford. His maternal grandparents were Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford, and Anne of Gloucester.

He inherited the dukedom of Exeter when his father died in 1447. A great-grandson of John of Gaunt, he might have had a plausible claim on the throne after the death of Henry VI. However, he was cruel, savagely temperamental and unpredictable, and so had little support.

Exeter was for a time Constable of the Tower of London, and afterwards the rack there came to be called "the Duke of Exeter's daughter".

In the Wars of the Roses, however, he remained an enemy of the House of York. He was a commander at the great Lancastrian victories at Wakefield and St Albans. He was imprisoned at Wallingford Castle in 1455.

He was also a commander at the Lancastrian defeat at the Battle of Towton. He fled to Scotland after the battle, and then joined Queen Margaret in her exile in France. He was attainted in 1461, and his estates were given to his wife, who separated from him in 1464.