John FitzAlan, 1st Baron Arundel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_FitzAlan,_1st_Baron_Arundel

John was appointed Lord Marshal of England by Richard II of England in 1377, and summoned to the House of Lords on 4 August 1377, by writ directed Johanni de Arundell. He served as Lord Marshal until 1383. On 26 July 1379] he was given license to crenellate (i.e., permission to fortify) a stone castle on the site of an 11th century earthwork fortress in Surrey. Over the years since then the structure was rebuilt and remodelled and its remains are now known as Betchworth Castle. Being in command of a naval expedition in aid to the Duke of Brittany, he defeated the French fleet off the coast of Cornwall. Commanding a force with the purpose of bringing relief to the Duke of Brittany, Sir John was compelled to wait for stronger winds. During this wait he decided to take refuge in a nunnery, where his men "took no notice of the sanctity of the place and violently assaulted and raped" those they found inside. Further to this Sir John "allowed his men to ransack the countryside as they liked and to impoverish the people". When the force eventually set out to sea, carrying with them goods stolen from a nearby church and under a pronouncement of excommunication from the wronged priests, the expedition was caught in a storm. Thomas Walsingham reports that during the panic of the storm, Sir John murdered those of his men who refused to make for shore for fear of being shipwrecked upon the rocks. Subsequently, after safely arriving on an island off the Irish coast, Sir John and his boat captain were swept back into the sea and drowned. According to Thomas Walsingham's story, FitzAlan's men profaned a convent at or near Southampton, and carried off many of its occupants. The fleet was then pursued by a violent tempest, when the wretched nuns who had been carried off were thrown overboard to lighten the ships. The vessels were, however, wrecked on the Irish coast, near Scariff according to some authorities, but at Cape Clear Island according to others. Sir John Arundell, together with his esquires, and other men of high birth, were drowned, and twenty-five ships were lost with most of their crews. Froissart's account of the event differs essentially from Walsingham's, in the omission of the story of the desecration of the convent. Burial: He was buried in Lewes, Sussex. He was also an ancestor of the poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

On 26 July 1379 he was given licence to crenellate (i.e., permission to fortify) a stone castle on the site of an 11th-century earthwork fortress in Surrey. Over the years since then the structure was rebuilt and remodelled and its remains are now known as Betchworth Castle.

Being in command of a naval expedition in aid to the Duke of Brittany, he defeated the French fleet off the coast of Cornwall.