John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter Pleshy. His tomb remained until the late 16th century, when, along with many other tombs in the church, it was broken up for use as building material. Only a fragment remained within the church by the start of the 17th century. John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter (c. 1352 – 16 January 1400) also 1st Earl of Huntingdon, was an English nobleman, a half-brother of King Richard II (1377–1399), to whom he remained strongly loyal. He is primarily remembered for being suspected of assisting in the downfall of King Richard's uncle Thomas of Woodstock,
English invasion of Scotland (1400) it, in person, to the sitting parliament in November 1399. A.L. Brown has suggested that this indicates the personal interest the King felt in the affair: that this was in fact his own personal plan, and 'that it meant a lot to him, and that it had met with criticism.' He pledged to fulfil this vow before god. At almost the same time, Henry had received a letter from the Scottish king in which Henry was referred to as duke of Lancaster rather than king of England; this, it has been suggested, fuelled his martial enthusiasm towards Scotland. Perhaps even