Alice of Saluzzo, Countess of Arundel

Alice of Saluzzo
Countess of Arundel
Born	Unknown Saluzzo, Piedmont, Italy
Died	25 September 1292
Burial	Haughmond Abbey, Shropshire, England
Spouse	Richard Fitzalan, 8th Earl of Arundel
Issue	Edmund Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel John Fitzalan Alice Fitzalan Margaret Fitzalan
Father	Thomas I of Saluzzo
Mother	Luigia di Ceva

Alice of Saluzzo, Countess of Arundel (died 25 September 1292), also known as Alesia di Saluzzo, was an Italian-born noblewoman and an English countess. She was a daughter of Thomas I of Saluzzo, and the wife of Richard Fitzalan, 8th Earl of Arundel. Alice was one of the first Italian women to marry into an English noble family. She assumed the title of Countess of Arundel in 1289.

Family

Alesia was born on an unknown date in Saluzzo (present-day Province of Cuneo, Piedmont); the second eldest daughter of Thomas I, 4th Margrave of Saluzzo, and Luigia di Ceva (died 22 August 1291/1293), daughter of Giorgio, Marquis of Ceva and Menzia d'Este. Alesia had fifteen siblings. Her father was a very wealthy and cultured nobleman under whose rule Saluzzo achieved a prosperity, freedom, and greatness it had never known previously.

The ruins of Haughmond Abbey, burial place of Alice of Saluzzo

Marriage and issue

Sometime before 1285, Alice married Richard Fitzalan, feudal Lord of Clun and Oswestry in the Welsh Marches, the son of John Fitzalan, 7th Earl of Arundel and Isabella Mortimer. Richard would succeed to the title of Earl of Arundel in 1289, thus making Alice the 8th Countess of Arundel. Along with her aunt, Alasia of Saluzzo who married Edmund de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln in 1247, Alice was one of the first Italian women to marry into an English noble family. Her marriage had been arranged by the late King Henry III's widowed Queen consort Eleanor of Provence.

Richard and Alice's principal residence was Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire, but Richard also held Arundel Castle in Sussex and the castles of Clun and Oswestry in Shropshire. Her husband was knighted by King Edward I in 1289, and fought in the Welsh Wars (1288–1294), and later in the Scottish Wars. The marriage produced four children:

• Edmund Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel (1 May 1285- 17 November 1326 by execution), married Alice de Warenne, by whom he had issue.
• John Fitzalan, a priest
• Alice Fitzalan (died 7 September 1340), married Stephen de Segrave, 3rd Lord Segrave, by whom she had issue.
• Margaret Fitzalan, married William le Botiller, by whom she had issue.
• Eleanor Fitzalan, married Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy, by whom she had issue.

Alice died on 25 September 1292 and was buried in Haughmond Abbey, Shropshire. Her husband Richard died on 09/03/1301 and was buried alongside Alice. In 1341, provision was made for twelve candles to be burned beside their tombs. The Abbey is now a ruin as the result of a fire during the English Civil War. Her many descendants included the Dukes of Norfolk, the English queen consorts of Henry VIII, Sir Winston Churchill, Diana, Princess of Wales, and the current British Royal Family.