Elizabeth Allen (FitzAlan) and James Ira Stewart were my great grandparents...
Dol is a small town on the north coast of Brittany; it is the site of many prehistoric stone circles and menhirs, and of Mont-Dol, a hill where the archangel Michael once battled with Satan. It was the home of St. Samson, the fifth-century Breton apostle, and some of the Dark Ages kings of Brittany were crowned here. The ancestors of the FitzAlans were stewards of the town for the Breton kings; but the earliest documented ancestor is Alan, who lived in the mid-eleventh century. His elder son Alan was living in 1097, but apparently had no children; his brother Flaald was steward of Dol after him, and was living in Wales by 1101. (A third son, Rhiwallon, was a monk in Wales). Flaald's son Alan FitzFlaald was lord of Oswestry and Sheriff of Shropshire in 1121. He married Aveline, daughter of Arnulf, seigneur de Hesdin in Picardy (son of Arnulf, of the family of the counts of Boulogne), and was the father of at least three children: (1) Jordan, hereditary Steward of Dol (living in 1130), who had two sons but no grandsons; his granddaughter Alice's husband Guillaume Epine became steward of Dol; (2) William FitzAlan, lord of Oswestry, Sheriff of Shropshire (died 1160), see below; and (3) Walter, who married Eschelyn or Eschynne de Londonnia of Molle in Scotland (see Lundin) and became first hereditary Steward of that kingdom - and ancestor of the Stewarts.
William FitzAlan, lord of Oswestry, Sheriff of Shropshire, married twice: first Christian, a niece of Robert FitzRoy, Earl of Gloucester, by whom he had one daughter, Christian, who married Hugh Pantulf; and second Isabel, daughter of Elias or Ingelgram de Saye, Lord of Clun in Shropshire. By her he had a son William FitzAlan, lord of Oswestry and Clun, Sheriff of Shropshire (died 1212-13), whose wife's name is unknown. [de Lacy. FMG.] They had two sons: (1) William, who had a son but no grandchildren; and (2) John FitzAlan, lord of Oswestry and Clun, Sheriff of Shropshire (c. 1164-1239), who married Isabel, daughter of William de Albini, Earl of Sussex, 3rd Earl of Arundel (see d'Albini). They were the parents of John FitzAlan, who inherited Arundel Castle by 1243 but does not appear to have been summoned to Parliament as Earl of Arundel. However, he is usually counted as the fifth Earl.
John FitzAlan (died 1267) married Maud, daughter of Theobald le Botiller and his second wife Rohesia de Verdon (see Butler and Verdon). They had a son John (1246-1272), de facto sixth Earl of Arundel, who married Isabel, daughter of Roger de Mortimer, lord of Wigmore, and Maud de Braose. Their son Richard FitzAlan (1267-1302) was formally recognized as seventh Earl of Arundel by Edward III. His wife was the famous Alasia di Saluzzo, through whom the later British aristocracy was connected to many Italian noble families. Both died relatively young, but they had four (possibly six) children: (1) Edmund FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel, see below; (2) Sir John FitzAlan; (3) Margaret, married William Boteler of Wemme, 2nd Lord of Wemme and Oversley (possibly our ancestors, still working on it); (4) Maud, married Sir Philip Burnell of Condover, Acton Burnell, etc - many descendants, but I think not us; see Lovel of Ticthmarsh; (5) Sir Richard FitzAlan of Arundel, not known to have descendants; and (6) Eleanor (died 1328), married Henry de Percy, 1st Lord of Alnwick, Regent of England - see Percy for our descent.
Edmund FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel (1285-1338) married Alice, daughter of William Plantagenet de Warenne, by Alice de Lusignan [NO! Alice le Brun de Lusignan was the mother of William Plantagenet de Warren. William's wife was Joanna de Vere.] (half-sister of Henry III) ; and sister and heiress [Nope, his wife] of John Plantagenet de Warenne, 8th [7th] Earl of Surrey. Six children: (1) Richard, 9th Earl of Arundel, see below; (2) Sir Edmund FitzAlan, whose only child Alice married Sir Leonard Carew of Carew and Mulsford, many descendants; (3) Alice, married John de Bohun, 5th Earl of Hereford, Earl of Essex, Constable, etc, no children; (4) Jane, married Warine Gerrard, Lord L'Isle; (5) Aline, married Roger leStrange, 5th Lord of Knokyn - our ancestors via Willoughby and Fitzhugh; and (6) Elizabeth, married William, 4th Lord Latymer - their only child Elizabeth married as his second wife Sir John Nevill, 3rd Lord of Raby and took the Latymer title into that family; but he is our ancestor only by his first wife (see Neville).
Richard FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel (c. 1313-1376) married twice. His first wife (married when both were children) was Isabel, daughter of Hugh Despenser "the Younger" and Alianore de Clare. They were divorced in 1345, but had three children: (1) Edmund, who was bastardized and died unmarried; (2) Philippa, who married Sir Richard Sergeaux of Cornwall (a daughter married the 11th Earl of Oxford, and another daughter, Elizabeth, married Sir William Marney); and (3) Mary (died 1396), married John le Strange, 4th Lord of Blackmere - many descendants, but not us. The 9th Earl married second Eleanor (c. 1311-1372), daughter of Henry Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, Earl of Leicester (son of Edmund Plantagenet of Woodstock, "Crouchback", Earl of Chester, Leicester, Derby & Lancaster, Edward I's younger brother). They had further children: (4) Richard, 10th Earl of Arundel, see below; (5) John FitzAlan of Arundel, Lord Maltravers, see farther below; (6) Thomas FitzAlan, Bishop of Ely, Archbishop of York, Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Chancellor of England (died 1413); (7) Joan (died 1419), married Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Northampton, 7th Earl of Hereford, Earl of Essex (their daughter Mary was the wife of King Henry IV); (8) Alice, married Thomas Holand, 2nd Earl of Kent - many descendants; their great-grandson Sir Humphrey Touchet, later Audley, is our ancestor - see Holand and Audley; and (9) Eleanor, married Robert de Ufford, no children.
Richard, 10th Earl of Arundel (died c. 1398) married (1359) Elizabeth, daughter of William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton. They had five children: (1) Thomas FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel, married Beatrix of Portugal but died childless in 1415; (2) Elizabeth (died 1425), who married four times: first William de Montacute of Salisbury , no children; second (1385) Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal - they are our ancestors through several lines, see Mowbray; third Sir Gerard Ufflete, no children; and fourth Sir Robert Goushill of Heveringham, by whom she had two daughters: (a) Elizabeth, married first Sir Robert Wingfield of Letheringham - many descendants, and second William de Hardwycke of Hardwycke Hall; and (b) Jean, married Sir Thomas Stanley, 1st Lord, Lieutenant of Ireland - our ancestors via Stanley and Warburton.
John FitzAlan of Arundel, Lord Maltravers, Marshal of England (died 1379), younger brother of the 10th Earl, married Eleanor (1345-1405), suo jure Baroness Maltravers (daughter of Sir John Maltravers). They had probably five or six children: (1) John FitzAlan, Lord Maltravers, see below; (2) Margaret, married William, 7th Lord de Ros (their daughter Margaret was the first wife of our ancestor James Touchet, 5th Lord Audley); (3) Joan, married Sir William Etchingham; (4) Sir William; (5) Thomas or Edward; and (6) Henry FitzAlan - the last two seem to have died young.
John FitzAlan, Lord Maltravers (1365-1391) married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edward Despenser, 1st Lord, and Elizabeth Burghersh. Three children: (1) John FitzAlan, Lord Maltravers, later 12th Earl of Arundel (died 1421), whose great-great-great-granddaughter eventually married the 4th Duke of Norfolk and took the titles into that family, today's Fitzalan-Howards; (2) Edmund; and (3) Sir Thomas FitzAlanof Beechwood, who married Joan, daughter of Henry Moyne (son of Henry le Moigne, son of another Henry le Moigne and Julian Chaundos), and had one daughter and heiress, Eleanor, who married our ancestor Sir Thomas Browne of Beechworth Castle, Sheriff of Kent.
The arms vary considerably over the centuries. The earliest FitzAlans bore Gules, a lion rampant or, as shown above; later there are various quarterings (often chequy azure and or, similar to the arms of their Stewart cousins), and sometimes different colors, though the lion rampant is usually there. The arms of the current earl, who is also the Fitzalan-Howard Duke of Norfolk, include the lion rampant and the chequy azure and or in two of the four quarters.