John FitzAlan (6th Earl) of ARUNDEL

John Fitzalan (1223-1267), Lord Oswestry, Clun, and Arundel, was an English nobleman. He is sometimes counted as 6th Earl of Arundel, although he was never called earl during his lifetime. He was the son of John Fitzalan, from whom he inherited a great estate in Shropshire, and Isabella, daughter of William d'Aubigny, 4th Earl of Arundel. After the death without direct heirs of his mother's brother Hugh d'Aubigny, 5th Earl of Arundel, he inherited a quarter of the earl's estate, including Arundel. Arundel vacillated in the conflicts between Henry III and the barons. He fought on the king's side at the Battle of Lewes, where he was taken prisoner. The oldest extant Earldom (and perhaps the oldest extant title) in the English peerage is the Earldom of Arundel currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and used as a courtesy title by his heir. The title of Earl of Arundel was first created in 1138 for the Norman baron William d'Aubigny. The earlier earls were frequently also known as Earl of Sussex, until the mid 13th century, when this title fell into disuse. At about the same time, the Earldom fell to the originally Breton Fitzalan family, a younger branch of which went on to become the Stewart family which later ruled Scotland. Encyclopædia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite.

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