Overview
Maud Holland, LG (c. 1354 – 1392), also known by her titles through marriage as Lady Courtenay and Countess of St Pol, was an English noblewoman. She was a daughter of Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent and Joan of Kent. After Thomas' death Joan married Edward the Black Prince, who was then Prince of Wales. One of Joan and Edward's sons (Maud's half-brothers) was the future King of England, Richard II. When she was aged around eight Edward arranged a marriage for Maud to Hugh Courtenay, whom she married, with royal and papal approval. Her husband, with whom she had no children, died in 1374. Maud was one of the first women to be invested as ladies of the Order of the Garter, when Richard II appointed many of his relatives to the order in 1378. In 1380 Maud married Waleran III, Count of Ligny, a French nobleman.
After her death she was apparently buried in Westminster Abbey but the location of her grave is not known.
Biography
Maud Holland was born circa 1354. After Maud's father Thomas' death in 1360 Joan married Edward the Black Prince, who was then Prince of Wales. Maud was therefore a half-sister to the future king of England Richard II (who was Edward and Joan's son). Edward was involved in arranging the marriage of Maud. He agreed with Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd/10th Earl of Devon in October 1362, when Maud was aged around eight, that she would marry Devon's grandson and heir Hugh Courtenay. Around the middle of 1364 Maud and her brother Thomas, who was to be married to Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel, were escorted back to England from Edward's court at Aquitaine in southern France for their marriages.
Although Richard II, who succeeded Edward III, appears to have had little interest in Maud and her sister Joan, he appointed Maud as a lady of the Order of the Garter on 23 April 1378. At her investiture she received a pair of paternosters with gold fastenings from John of Gaunt, Richard II's uncle. In 1380 Maud was married to Waleran III, Count of Ligny, a French nobleman, and afterwards lived in the County of Saint-Pol, one of Waleran's holdings from which she drew her title. Maud and Waleran had one daughter, Jeanne (d. 1407), who married Antoine, Duke of Brabant in 1401. Maud's funeral was held at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1392 and was attended by Richard II. She was apparently buried in the abbey but the location of her grave is not known.