Maud, Countess of Leicester facts for kids
Maud of Lancaster was an English noblewoman from the 1300s. She was also known as Matilda, Countess of Hainault. Maud became part of the Bavarian royal family when she got married.
She was the oldest daughter of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Isabel de Beaumont. Maud was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lindsey.
Maud's Marriages
Maud married for the first time when she was still a child. Her first husband was Ralph Stafford. He was the son of Ralph Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford.
After Ralph Stafford passed away, Maud married again in 1352. Her second husband was William I, Duke of Bavaria. He was a member of the important Wittelsbach royal family in Bavaria.
Family Inheritance
When Maud's father died in 1361, his title of Duke of Lancaster ended. However, Maud and her sister, Blanche of Lancaster, shared the right to inherit their father's lands and other titles. They were called co-heiresses.
The title of Earl of Leicester went to Maud's second husband, William I, Duke of Bavaria. He faced a long illness from 1358 until he died in 1389. The title of Earl of Lancaster went to her younger sister Blanche's husband, John of Gaunt.
Maud passed away a year later, in 1362. She did not have any children who lived past infancy. Her only daughter, with William V, had died in 1356. Because Maud had no surviving children, the rest of her father's inheritance went to Blanche and John of Gaunt after Maud's death.
This inheritance was very important. It helped create the powerful House of Lancaster. The Lancastrian King Henry IV of England was Maud's nephew, meaning he was the son of her sister Blanche.
