Mary de Bohun - Early Life

Early Life

Mary was the daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, and Joan Fitzalan (1347/48–1419), the daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster. Through her mother, Mary was descended from Llywelyn the Great.

Mary and her elder sister, Eleanor de Bohun, were the heiresses of their father's substantial possessions. Eleanor became the wife of Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, the youngest child of Edward III. In an effort to keep the inheritance for himself and his wife, Thomas of Woodstock pressured the child Mary into becoming a nun. However, Woodstock's older brother John of Gaunt (Mary's future father-in-law) abducted her from the convent to be married to his son—the future Henry IV. This event did not help the relationship between the two brothers.

John of Gaunt had planned for the marriage between Mary and Henry to remain unconsummated until Mary was sixteen but the couple disobeyed. Consequently, Mary became pregnant at fourteen; the firstborn, a son, lived only a few days.