Katherine Swynford

20 Additional MSS. The Countess"s accounts record New Year"s gifts to John"s cook and clerk of the kitchen.

21 On 20 December, one of her father"s servants was paid for bringing letters from Blanche to the Countess Elizabeth, and these letters might have been about Blanche"s forthcoming visit or travel arrangements.

22 Only meagre ruins survive of this once great and prosperous abbey, the burial place of its founder, Henry I.

23 Exchequer Records: E.403 24 Capgrave 25 The King paid 58 (19,560) for jewels alone for the occasion, and gave the young couple jewellery and plate costing 389.11s.6d (131,378). Exchequer Records: E.101, E.403; Calendar of Close Rolls 26 Anderson 27 Yardley; Emery 28 Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers 29 Calendar of Patent Rolls 30 Jambeck 31 Howard. "An ABC" was a translation of a French poem, "Le Pelerinage de La Vie Humaine", by Guillaume Deguilevilles, which evoked the Virgin Mary as the object of courtly love in its most spiritual sense, and Chaucer almost certainly wrote it in the 1360s. Its t.i.tle is not contemporary, but was added in the next century by the poet John Lydgate.

32 Lane 33 Special Collections: S.C.1; Goodman: John of Gaunt 34 Exchequer Records: E.403 35 John of Gaunt"s Register; Goodman: John of Gaunt. John of Gaunt"s Registers, containing details of ducal warrants, grants and payments, survive in full for the periods 137276 and 137983, and are stored in the National Archives at Kew. These registers are an invaluable source of information about Katherine Swynford, who is referred to in no fewer than thirty-two doc.u.ments, while Kettlethorpe, where she lived after her marriage, is referred to in eleven.

36 Bishop Buckingham"s Register 37 Knighton 38 Ellis; Goodman: John of Gaunt; Fox and Russell 39 Most of Leicester Castle was ruinous by the seventeenth century. The arcaded great hall survives, although much altered, and now houses the crown court. Its red-brick frontage was added in c.1690. Parts of the castle walls survive, as does the church of St Mary de Castro. The inner bailey is now Castle Yard. The castle mound itself has been levelled to accommodate a bowling green. Henry VIII did not suppress the collegiate foundation in the Newarke because it contained the tombs of his Lancastrian ancestors, but it was dissolved in 1547 under his son, Edward VI, and St Mary"s Church and the college buildings were demolished soon afterwards. Trinity Hospital, which was restored in 1776 and 1902, is now an old people"s home, and stands in the Newarke, opposite the modern Leicester College of Art and Technology, in the bas.e.m.e.nt of which are to be seen some mediaeval archways. The aisled hall and the chapel at the eastern end of the hospital are the only surviving parts of the original fourteenth-century building. The ruined turreted gateway leading to the Newarke dates from the fifteenth century. The Newarke itself is now a busy road.

40 Leland: Itinerary; Leland visited the Newarke in the early sixteenth century.

41 Goodman: John of Gaunt; Somerville; Fowler: The King"s Lieutenant; Victoria County History: Leicestershire; Webster 42 Calendar of Patent Rolls 43 John of Gaunt"s Register, Duchy of Lancaster Records: DL.28; Goodman: John of Gaunt. Hardly anything survives at Hertford Castle from John of Gaunt"s time. The castle was ruinous by 1609, when it pa.s.sed into private ownership. The buildings that still stand, including the remains of the fifteenth-century gatehouse, are mostly of a later date, and house the civic offices.

44 Goodman: John of Gaunt; Early Lincoln Wills; John of Gaunt"s Register; Calendar of Patent Rolls; Duchy of Lancaster Records: DL.28; Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers 45 Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem 46 Cited by Silva-Vigier 47 Calendar of Close Rolls; Calendar of Patent Rolls 48 Foedera 49 Calendar of Patent Rolls; Somerville 50 Joan, "the fair maid of Kent", was the daughter of the King"s uncle, Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent (who had been unjustly executed for treason in 1330), and therefore a cousin of the Black Prince. Born in 1328, she had been brought up in the Queen"s household. At the tender age of twelve, she apparently fell in love with one-eyed Sir Thomas Holland (or Holand), and secretly precontracted herself to him. After exchanging vows before witnesses which were as binding as a marriage in the eyes of the Church the young couple consummated their union, but then Sir Thomas went away on a crusade in Prussia. It may be that he was thought to have died, for around 13412, arrangements were made for Joan to marry young William de Montagu, Earl of Salisbury, and they lived together as man and wife until 1347. But in 1349, after Holland had returned, very much alive, and reclaimed Joan, the Pope ruled that his union with her was valid, that her marriage to Montagu was null and void, and that Joan was to return to Holland and live with him as his lawful wife. This she willingly did, despite Montagu"s protests, and the marriage was blessed with five children (one of whom was later to marry the daughter of John and Blanche) before Sir Thomas Holland died in 1360. Froissart; Foedera; Hicks; Goodman: John of Gaunt 51 McKisack; Dictionary of National Biography; Silva-Vigier 52 Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem; Froissart 53 Ormrod 54 Knighton; Records of the Borough of Leicester; Ramsay 55 Complete Peerage 56 Rotuli Parliamentorum 57 Silva-Vigier 58 Walker. A wealthy n.o.bleman might normally have at best sixty men in his retinue.

59 Cited by Hicks 60 Knighton 61 McKisack; John of Gaunt"s Register; Armitage-Smith 62 He is described as the eldest son of John and Blanche in both the Harleian and Sloane MSS. In the sixteenth century, Leland visited St Mary"s Church in the Newarke at Leicester, and saw the tombs of "two men children under the arch" next to the head of the effigy of Henry, Earl of Lancaster, who was buried on the north side of the high altar. These were almost certainly two of the infant sons of John of Gaunt.

63 Exchequer Records: E.403 64 John of Gaunt"s Register 65 Ibid.

66 Froissart 67 Knighton 68 Ibid.

69 Knighton; Walsingham 70 John of Gaunt"s Register 71 Anonimalle Chronicle. The Anonimalle Chronicle is fiercely anti-Lancastrian and critical of John of Gaunt.

72 Froissart; John of Gaunt"s Will, in Testamenta Eboracensia 73 Knighton 74 John of Gaunt"s Register 75 Stow: London 76 For the Savoy Palace, see John of Gaunt"s Register; Palmer, A.& P.;Webster; Dalzell; Stow: London; Rose; Beaumont-Jones; Powrie; Green, V.H.H.; Duchy of Lancaster Records: DL.28, DL.42; Silva-Vigier; Dunn; Goodman: John of Gaunt; Armitage-Smith; Fowler: The King"s Lieutenant; Delachenal. The remains of John of Gaunt"s palace were razed by Henry VII, who founded the Hospital of the Savoy on the site. In 1553, the hospital was suppressed by Edward VI during the Reformation, although the chapel served as a parish church until at least 1598. By the seventeenth century, the hospital buildings were dilapidated and crumbling, and had become the haunt of thieves and vagrants. In the eighteenth century, part of the complex was used as a military prison, housing among others deserters who had been sentenced to die by firing squad in Hyde Park. By 1820, the old hospital was largely derelict, and in 1864, fire destroyed all that was left of it except the walls, which were cleared to make way for the approaches to the new Waterloo Bridge. The site remained empty until 1880, when Richard D"Oyly Carte purchased it in order to build the Savoy Theatre. All that is left of the Savoy today are parts of the stone walls of Henry VII"s chapel. Nothing survives from John of Gaunt"s time.

77 Fortescue; Armitage-Smith; Goodman: John of Gaunt; Barnes 78 Goodman: John of Gaunt 79 The London Spy by Ned Ward (1699), cited by Hahn 80 Goodman: John of Gaunt 81 Cited by Armitage-Smith 82 Binski; Shaw 83 Dugdale: History of St Paul"s; Sandford 84 The Duke"s privy seal, bearing his arms and helm only, is in the British Library; his great seal as King of Castile and Leon is in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

85 Cotton MS Nero Dvii f7r.; Goodman: John of Gaunt 86 Goodman: John of Gaunt; Baker; Hutchinson 87 John of Gaunt"s Register. A late-fourteenth-century stained-gla.s.s window in the parish church of St Mary at Long Sutton in Lincolnshire has a figure of St George killing the dragon, for which John of Gaunt has traditionally been thought to be the model. John was lord of this manor, then one of the most prosperous communities in the area, and it is indeed possible that he donated the gla.s.s, as he probably did at Old Bolingbroke, also in Lincolnshire, where the east window of the chancel bore his arms. But in the absence of other evidence, apart from the Long Sutton gla.s.s being of a quality commensurate with John"s status and wealth, we cannot be certain if the oral tradition relating to the gla.s.s has any basis in fact. Perry; Hebgin-Barnes; Knightly 88 Lopes 89 Walsingham; Armitage-Smith 90 Froissart 91 Rotuli Parliamentorum 92 John of Gaunt"s Register 93 Chaucer: The Book of the d.u.c.h.ess 94 Froissart; Jones: Ducal Brittany 95 Walsingham 96 Cited by Hicks 97 Westminster Chronicle 98 Goodman: John of Gaunt; Panton; Extracts from the Account Rolls of the Abbey of Durham 99 John of Gaunt"s Register 100 Cotton MS Nero 101 c.o.x; Shaw; Fox and Russell; John of Gaunt"s Register; Calendar of Patent Rolls; Legge 102 John of Gaunt"s Register; Duchy of Lancaster Records: DL.28 103 Chaucer: The Book of the d.u.c.h.ess 104 Pearsall; The Kalendarium of Nicholas of Lynn 105 Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers; Rotuli Parliamentorum 106 John of Gaunt"s Register; Calendar of Patent Rolls 107 Chaucer: The Book of the d.u.c.h.ess 108 Goodman: Honourable Lady; John of Gaunt; Wathey; Froissart; The Kalendarium of Nicholas of Lynn; McFarlane 109 Goodman: John of Gaunt; Cowling 110 Political Poems and Songs 3 "The Trap of Wedding"

1 The drawing is in Dugdale"s Book of Monuments in the British Library.

2 Dudley 3 Claims have also been made that four carved heads on the gateway of Butley Priory near Woodbridge, Suffolk, represent Katherine Swynford, John of Gaunt, Henry IV and Henry Beaufort. The gatehouse, however, dates from 131132 it is all that remains today of the original twelfth-century priory, while the royal arms on the gateway pre-date 1340, when Edward III had them quartered with the ancient lilies of France in pursuance of his claim to the French throne. The heads most probably survive from this earlier period, and there is, moreover, no written evidence in the records of Butley Priory to connect John of Gaunt or Katherine Swynford with it; Suffolk was one of only two English counties where John did not hold any manors or other property. Butley Priory is now a hotel. Wood; Armitage-Smith 4 MS 61, fol. lv, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 5 Ackroyd 6 Williams 7 Loomis 8 Goodman: Honourable Lady 9 For Katherine"s appearance and character generally, see Lucraft: "Missing from History"; Silva-Vigier; Given-Wilson; Goodman: Honourable Lady; Bruce; Tilbury 10 The correct mediaeval form of his name was Hugh de Swynford, but, in order to comply with popular usage, I have chosen to omit the "de" throughout the text.

11 Silva-Vigier 12 For the Swynford family, see chiefly Perry; Excerpta Historica; Nicolas; Cole.

13 It has been claimed that Sir Thomas Swynford was possibly a younger son, or more likely a grandson, of Sir Thomas de Swynford of Knaith in Lincolnshire, who died in 1312, but that is less likely. Sir Thomas was certainly related to John de Swynford, who was Lord of Burgate in 1311, but seems not to have been Sir Robert"s father and to Sir John de Swynford, who was MP for Huntingdonshire and died in 1332; their shields all bore three gold boars" heads on a field of silver. Another reason for believing that Sir Thomas was Robert"s son is that, in the fifteenth century, Thomas"s great-granddaughter, another Katherine Swynford, was to marry into the Drury family, whose seat was at Rougham, Suffolk, and whose favoured place of burial was Burgate parish church; this suggests a long-standing connection with Burgate. Farrer; Excerpta Historica; Cole; Campling; Perry 14 The name is given variously as Copledike, Cobledike or Cubbled.y.k.es. This family had acquired Coleby in 1315.

15 Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem; Goodman: Katherine Swynford; John of Gaunt"s Register; Chancery Records: C.143 16 Calendar of Patent Rolls; Cole. Although it is often stated that Nichola"s father was Sir Robert de Arderne of Drayton, Oxfordshire, she was probably the daughter and heiress of John Druel, who in 1311 was lord of the manor of Newton Blossomville, Bedfordshire; his wife was named Amice. The Druel family had been at Newton Blossomville since at least the thirteenth century, and two of its members were rectors of the parish church of St Nicholas. Nichola must have been John Druel"s daughter or heiress, because she inherited Newton Blossomville. When she married Sir Thomas Swynford, he became lord of this manor in her right, and apparently settled there until 1357, when he and Nicola conveyed Newton Blossomville to Sir Ralph Ba.s.set of Drayton. Complete Peerage; Cole; Calendar of Close Rolls; Victoria County History: Buckinghamshire; Lips...o...b.. 17 Calendar of Patent Rolls; Calendar of Close Rolls; Cole; Exchequer Records: E.358 18 Victoria County History: Bedfordshire 19 Feet of Fines, 30 Edward III, No. 8, cited by Cole 20 Cole; Calendar of Close Rolls 21 Ibid.

22 John of Gaunt"s Register 23 This was something of a family tradition, for Hugh"s uncle, Sir Norman Swynford, had served Duke Henry in four military and diplomatic enterprises; see Fowler; Duchy of Lancaster Records: DL.27.

24 Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem 25 Calendar of Patent Rolls 26 Galway: "Philippa Pan, Philippa Chaucer"

27 Bishop Buckingham"s Register 28 There is no historical evidence for them being married at St Clement Danes Church in the Strand, as several internet sites following Anya Seton a.s.sert.

29 Excerpta Historica; Perry; Birch 30 Williams; Krauss; Gardner 31 Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem I.P.M. for Sir Thomas Swynford, 1361; Perry 32 Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem 33 Thorold 34 Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem. Nothing remains of the fourteenth-century church today; it was mostly rebuilt in the nineteenth century, and the only mediaeval survival is the fifteenth-century battlemented tower.

35 For Kettlethorpe generally, see www.kettlethorpe.com; Perry; Cole; Mee; Leese; Goodman: Katherine Swynford; John of Gaunt; Tilbury; Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem; Kettlethorpe: Strutt and Parker Sale Brochure, 1981 (Lincoln Reference Library).

36 Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem 37 For Coleby generally, see Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem; Perry; Richardson; Coleby Village: Home of Koli; Tempest. Today, Coleby is a small rural hamlet with picturesque stone buildings.

38 Calendar of Patent Rolls 39 Crow and Olsen; Goodman: Katherine Swynford 40 Wickenden; Knighton; Goodman: John of Gaunt; Mee 41 Hill: Mediaeval Lincoln 42 Silva-Vigier 43 Camden 44 Additional MSS.

45 Archaeological Journal, XXI, 1864 46 For "John of Gaunt"s Palace" see chiefly Hill: Mediaeval Lincoln; Green: Forgotten Lincoln; The History of Lincoln; Mee. By the eighteenth century, the "palace" now known as "Broxholme"s great house" had been divided into three tenements; John of Gaunt"s arms were in place until at least 1737, but in 1783 much of the house was pulled down. In 1849, what was left was auctioned off and soon afterwards demolished. A beautiful Decorated triple-lighted oriel window, boasting ogee canopies, finials, quatrefoils and carved figures and foliage, was removed in its entirety from the south end of the condemned building and set in the castle gatehouse, where it may be seen today. A fragment of the mediaeval house survives, and a fifteenth-century window. Opposite the "palace" stood "another ancient building known as "John of Gaunt"s stables", but according to William Camden, this was "more likely to have been his palace than the other", which suggests that the "stables" were in a better state of repair than the "palace" in the late sixteenth century. In 1784, the sceptical Grimm referred to "the old house pretended by some to have been the stables of John of Gaunt, by some a religious house, and by others the old town hall and a prison". In fact, the building was St Mary"s Guildhall, which was erected around 115060; today, only parts of two walls remain from that time, the rest having been demolished in 1737. Additional MSS. For Lincoln generally, see Hill: Mediaeval Lincoln; Duffy; Calendar of Patent Rolls; Goodman: Katherine Swynford; Honourable Lady; John of Gaunt; Silva-Vigier; Crow and Olsen; Beaumont-Jones; Hamilton Thompson; Powrie. Lincoln Castle now houses the Georgian gaol and the a.s.size Courts.

47 Calendar of Patent Rolls 48 For Katherine"s daughters, see Perry; Loftus and Chettle; Sturman; John of Gaunt"s Register.

49 Stapleton; Cole 50 Farmer; Att.w.a.ter 51 William de Belesby, Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1382 and 1388, was married to one Elizabeth Swynford, who was the daughter and heiress of William de Swynford of the Huntingdonshire branch of the family, who also held lands in Lincolnshire; it is also possible that Gilbert de Beseby, the chamberlain at Kettlethorpe was a member of this family, as spellings of surnames often vary. Andrew Luttrell, who died in 1390 and whose father had commissioned the famous Luttrell Psalter, probably married another Swynford girl, for the Swynford arms were once visible on his bra.s.s in Irnham Church. Lansdowne MSS.; Perry 52 Speculation that there was another daughter of Katherine and Hugh is probably unfounded. A Katherine Swynford appears on a list of nuns at Stixwould Priory, a Cistercian house twelve miles east of Lincoln, in 1377. Given that Margaret Swynford was of an age to enter a London convent in 1377, it is just possible that she had a sister old enough to enter Stixwould that year, and as we have seen, it was not unheard of for girls to enter nunneries when they were still in childhood. It is also possible that one of Katherine"s daughters by Hugh was given her mother"s name. But there is nothing else to suggest that this Katherine Swynford was the daughter of Hugh and Katherine. There were many branches of the Swynford family, and little evidence to show how they were interrelated, therefore this nun could have belonged to any of them. Furthermore, Stixwould was a poor house compared to those in which Margaret Swynford and her cousins Elizabeth and Agnes Chaucer were placed in 1377 and 1381. Founded in the twelfth century, it now housed just twenty-eight nuns; back in the late thirteenth century it had been one of only five nunneries able to export at least fifteen sacks of wool, but after the Black Death there was clearly a decline, for by the late fourteenth century, Stixwould"s a.s.sets were modest, and in 1419 the nuns were excused payment of a subsidy on account of their poverty. More to the point, by the mid-1370s, Katherine Swynford was sufficiently wealthy to have found a far better foundation for one of her daughters. Therefore it is highly unlikely that the nun at Stixwould was her child. McHardy: Clerical Poll Taxes; Nichols; Knowles and Hadc.o.c.k; Graves; Victoria County History: Lincolnshire; Joy; Perry 53 Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers. The full text of the pet.i.tion, and a translation into English, is given by Kelly.

54 Perry 55 Kelly 56 John of Gaunt"s Register 57 Perry; Goodman: Katherine Swynford; Crow and Olsen 58 Calendar of Patent Rolls; John of Gaunt"s Register; Crow and Olsen 59 Exchequer Records: E.403 60 He was buried with his brother and namesake in St Mary"s Church in the Newarke (Lane).

61 Bishop Buckingham"s Register 62 John of Gaunt"s Register 63 Ackroyd; Ayala; Honore-Duverge 64 Calendar of Patent Rolls; Crow and Olsen 65 Chancery Records: C.81. It was Robert Glover, Somerset Herald, who, between 1571 and 1588, first identified Philippa Chaucer with Philippa de Roet. The Elizabethan antiquary, John Stow, also stated that Geoffrey Chaucer "had to wife the daughter of Paon Roet". That this identification is correct is almost conclusively proved by the appearance of the Roet arms on the tomb of Philippa"s son, Thomas Chaucer. Crow and Olsen; Speght; Krauss: Three Chaucer Studies 66 Ibid.

67 Calendar of Patent Rolls 68 Dictionary of National Biography; Chute 69 McKisack 70 Gardner 71 Howard 72 Pearsall 73 Gardner 74 Gardner; Lounsbury 75 Given-Wilson; Gardner; Lounsbury 76 Emerson; Armitage-Smith; Hardy; Bryant; Johnson; Packe; Norwich. For Pedro"s deposition, see Chandos Herald; Froissart; Foedera; Russell; Gardner; Calendar of Patent Rolls. Regarding Chandos Herald, in c.1385, an anonymous herald of Sir John Chandos wrote a laudatory poem about the exploits of Edward, Prince of Wales in 13667. His fulsome praise for John of Gaunt, and the likely date of the poem, has led John Palmer to suggest that it may be the work of a Lancastrian propagandist who supported John"s claim to the kingdom of Castile.

77 Excerpta Historica; Foedera 78 Bolingbroke Castle remains to this day the property of the Duchy of Lancaster; it was maintained as a royal castle until the sixteenth century, but thereafter fell into decay. The walls and towers were largely destroyed by the Parliamentarians in 1643, and the gateway collapsed in 1815. The remaining walls and mounds have recently undergone excavation, which revealed some buried stonework, and partial restoration. These ruins are located off an uncla.s.sified road in the village of Old Bolingbroke.

79 Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem; Calendar of Close Rolls 80 Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem; John of Gaunt"s Register 81 Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem 82 Jones, Major, Varley and Johnson; Jones, Stocker and Vince; also the works on Lincoln listed under note 46.

83 Cole 84 Froissart 85 Chandos Herald; Froissart 86 Some historians place Henry"s birth in the spring of 1366, but that was when his brother John was born; and on 1 June 1367, we find Edward III rewarding one Ingelram Ffalconer for delivering letters from the d.u.c.h.ess Blanche in which she announced Henry"s arrival, while on 14 July, the King also rewarded Blanche, widow of Sir Robert Bertram, for bringing him news of the birth. Goodman: John of Gaunt; Exchequer Records: E.43, E.403 87 It was worn by Henry V at Agincourt in 1415, and is now one of the most precious gems in the Imperial State Crown.

88 Froissart; Russell; Foedera; Exchequer Records: E.403;Chancery Records:C.53 89 He would appear to have reached the age of twenty-one by 8 July 1389 (Pearsall).

90 Williams; Krauss: Three Chaucer Studies; Delany; Howard 91 John of Gaunt"s Register; Williams; Gardner 92 Perry; Loftus and Chettle 93 Manly; Kelly 94 Kelly; Perry; Christopherson 95 Crow and Olsen. It is sometimes claimed that Geoffrey Chaucer never even bore arms; they were not generally granted to merchants until the mid-fifteenth century, and the arms sometimes attributed to his father, John Chaucer, are probably spurious. But a seal used by Thomas Chaucer at Ewelme in 1409, which bears the legend "[G]HOFRAI CHAVCIER", has a shield displaying a bend entire, an unbroken diagonal stripe across a field. These are not the arms customarily used by Thomas Chaucer, whose shield sported a bend countercharged in red and silver, with the disposition of colours in each half of the field, and at each end of the bend itself, reversed on the other. It is this latter shield that appears on later portraits of Geoffrey, including those at Harvard University and in the National Portrait Gallery, and on his sixteenth-century tomb in Westminster Abbey. There can be little doubt, therefore, that these were his arms, that the chargings on the seal are an early version of them, somewhat worn and obliterated, and that Thomas, who used the same arms, was Geoffrey"s son. This is borne out by Thomas once signing himself "son of Geoffrey Chaucer", and him being described as such by the fifteenth-century Oxford theologian Thomas Gascoigne, who was personally acquainted with him.

There are too several instances in this period of men choosing to display their mother"s arms rather than their father"s, if the mother was of higher rank. The arms of Maud Burghersh were more prestigious than any Chaucer could have borne, for she came from a prominent baronial family. And of course Geoffrey Chaucer must have been only one among many male relatives whose arms do not appear on the tomb. As Martin Ruud says, Thomas Chaucer was a sn.o.b, not a b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

It has also been pointed out that there is no record of Thomas Chaucer ever claiming the property in Hainault he inherited from his mother, as Thomas Swynford did in 1411; this too has been seen as evidence of b.a.s.t.a.r.dy. But it is worth mentioning that we similarly lack any record of Walter de Roet or his sisters inheriting those lands, or of the date of death of Paon de Roet, who left them to his children. We only know of the existence of such an inheritance through Thomas Swynford"s claim, and that is only because it was contested. A reasonable conclusion must be that the records relating to this inheritance, which cannot have been very substantial, have simply been lost, so perhaps Thomas Chaucer did get his share. See, for example, Thomas"s seal in Cotton MS. Julius, BL. Cvii, f.153; Exchequer records: E.164; Leese; Howard; Ruud.

96 John of Gaunt"s Register; Leese; Pearsall 4 "Mistress of the Duke"

1 Cartulaire des Comtes de Hainaut 2 Register of Thomas Appleby; Palmer: "Historical Context . . ."

3 John of Gaunt"s Register 4 Sloane MS. 82, f. 5; Harleian MSS.; Lane 5 Goodman: John of Gaunt; Register of Thomas Appleby. I am indebted to Professor Goodman for sending me the latter reference.

6 Froissart: Le Joli Buisson de Jonece 7 Register of Thomas Appleby. There is other evidence that Blanche died in 1368. Dr J.J.N. Palmer cites a letter John of Gaunt wrote in France on 17 August 1369, in which the Duke asks that his cousin, Blanche Mowbray, Lady Poynings, be invited to attend the obit to mark the first anniversary of the d.u.c.h.ess"s death; there is also a letter of December 1368 from Louis de Male, Count of Flanders, to Queen Philippa, rejecting a proposal that John of Gaunt marry his daughter Margaret, so Blanche was dead by then, which is why there is no record of her being issued with the customary new robes at Christmas 1368, nor with mourning garments for Queen Philippa the following year. Palmer: "Historical Context . . ."; John of Gaunt"s Register; Brewer. Stow also gives Blanche"s date of death as 1368.

8 Walsingham: Gesta Abbatum . . .; Silva-Vigier. Later, John of Gaunt would donate two pieces of expensive gold cloth to the Abbey "for the soul of Blanche his wife, whose body lay here one night".

9 Dugdale: History of St Paul"s Cathedral 10 Stow: London; Webster 11 She was the niece of Henry, Duke of Lancaster, being the daughter of his sister Eleanor, who married Richard FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel.

12 John of Gaunt"s Register 13 Ibid.

14 Brewer; Pearsall; Perry; Galway 15 Brewer 16 Stone, introduction to Chaucer, Love Visions 17 Pearsall 18 Goodman: John of Gaunt; Silva-Vigier; Palmer: "Historical Context . . ."

19 Brewer 20 Froissart 21 Exchequer Records: E.403 22 On 28 November 1368, Philippa had been listed as one of thirteen damoiselles of the Queen who were to be given new robes for Christmas; as a member of the King"s household, Geoffrey Chaucer also received such robes. Pearsall 23 Froissart 24 Froissart: Le Joli Buisson de Jonece 25 Brewer; Pearsall; Perry; Galway; Exchequer Records: E.101 26 Testamenta Eboracensia 27 John of Gaunt"s Register; Duchy of Lancaster Records: DL.28. Over the years, there are numerous references to the annual obits in John of Gaunt"s Register and the Receiver-General"s accounts for the Duchy of Lancaster, further proof of John"s enduring devotion to Blanche"s memory.

28 Bruce 29 Cole 30 Froissart 31 John of Gaunt"s Register; Exchequer Records: E.101 32 Froissart 33 John of Gaunt"s Register 34 Froissart 35 The palace was damaged by fires in 1597 and 1704, and was completely demolished in 1800.

36 Froissart; Gardner 37 Froissart 38 Ibid.

39 Armitage-Smith 40 Additional MS. 12531, fol. 10, detached leaf 41 Froissart also says that the marriage took place at St Andre-de-Cubzac, just north of Bordeaux, while Sandford, writing in the late seventeenth century, claims they were married in the Abbey of St Andrew in Bordeaux.

42 John of Gaunt"s Register 43 Testamenta Eboracensis 44 Goodman: John of Gaunt 45 John of Gaunt"s Register 46 Ibid.; Froissart 47 John of Gaunt"s Register; Exeter Cathedral Archives 48 John of Gaunt"s Register; Goodman: John of Gaunt 49 Froissart 50 John of Gaunt"s Register 51 Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem; Calendar of Close Rolls; Richardson 52 It has been erroneously claimed that he was buried in Spratton Church, Northamptonshire, but the fine effigy of a knight that lies there in fact graces the tomb of another retainer of John of Gaunt, Hugh"s kinsman Sir John Swynford, Lord of Spratton, who died in 1372. Displayed on this effigy is the earliest-known representation of a collar with the famous Lancastrian SS links. Goodman: John of Gaunt; Gardner; Victoria County History: Northamptonshire 53 Norris 54 Brewer; John of Gaunt"s Register 55 Brewer 56 Walsingham 57 See Holmes: The Good Parliament, for example.

58 Gardner 59 Emerson 60 Anonimalle Chronicle 61 John of Gaunt"s Register 62 Ibid. Philippa and Elizabeth were given gold filets set with balas rubies to wear on their heads, and their robes were lavishly embroidered with pearls and trimmed with furs.

63 Ibid.

64 Ibid.

65 Ibid.

66 Calendar of Patent Rolls; Complete Peerage 67 Goodman: Wars of the Roses 68 Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers 69 The Monk of Evesham corroborates the theory that the affair began only after John had married Constance.

70 Walsingham; Percy MS; Armitage-Smith. The late-fifteenth/early-sixteenth-century Percy MS. 78 at Alnwick Castle claims that John of Gaunt begot John Beaufort "in the days of the Lady Blanche, his first wife".

71 Lord Berners, in his sixteenth-century translation of Froissart, says that Katherine "was concubine to the Duke in his other wives" days".

72 Original Letters; English Historical Doc.u.ments, Vol. IV 73 Froissart 74 John of Gaunt"s Register 75 Lopes 76 Froissart 77 John of Gaunt"s Register 78 See, for example, Roger Joy.

79 Calendar of Close Rolls 80 John of Gaunt"s Register 81 Ibid.

82 Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem; Calendar of Patent Rolls 83 Ibid.

84 Calendar of Patent Rolls 85 John of Gaunt"s Register 86 Duchy of Lancaster Records: DL.29 87 John of Gaunt"s Register 88 Ibid.

89 Exchequer Records: E.403 90 John of Gaunt"s Register 91 John of Gaunt"s Register; Goodman: John of Gaunt 92 Knighton 93 Packe. According to Froissart, Constance"s sister Isabella was "young and beautiful", but there the similarity to Constance ended, for Isabella was a lively, flighty girl, worldly rather than devout, with loose morals. In years to come, her name would become a byword for scandal at court, for her extramarital affairs were notorious. Nevertheless, the legitimacy of the three children she bore her husband was never called into question. Armitage-Smith; Goodman: John of Gaunt; Howard; Silva-Vigier 94 John of Gaunt"s Register 95 Both Armitage-Smith and Lucraft place his birth date in 1373.

96 Froissart 97 Ibid.

98 Walsingham: Ypodigma Neustriae. Since 1689, Beaufort has been called Monmorency-sur-Aube.

99 Duchy of Lancaster Records: DL.27; Froissart 100 Goodman: Katherine Swynford; Jones and Underwood 101 By Sandford, for example.

102 Armitage-Smith; Jones and Underwood. Professor Goodman has an interesting theory that the Beauforts were in fact surnamed in honour of Roger de Beaufort, brother of the last Avignon Pope, Gregory XI (Pierre Roger de Beaufort). Roger came from a prominent Provencal family and had been a prisoner of John of Gaunt, held in honourable custody at Kenilworth Castle, since 1370. In 1377, he stood G.o.dfather there to the son of his custodian, Sir John Deyncourt. Beaufort was a chivalrous knight, and he and his brother the Pope were highly regarded by the Duke, which has prompted Professor Goodman to suggest that John may have wished to compliment Beaufort by naming his children by Katherine after him, and that this may also have been an attempt to hide their paternity. Of course, Beaufort could have been complicit in this matter, but it was hardly complimentary of John to name his b.a.s.t.a.r.ds after the Pope"s brother, and even more insultingly thereby imply that Beaufort had fathered them. Goodman: Katherine Swynford 5 "Blinded by Desire"

1 Howard 2 Knighton 3 Troilus and Criseyde 4 Anonimalle Chronicle 5 Thynne 6 See Chapter 8.

7 For late mediaeval att.i.tudes to s.e.x and morality, see, for example, Given-Wilson and Curteis; Goodman: Honourable Lady; Gardner; Silva-Vigier.

8 John of Gaunt"s Register 9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.; Brewer 11 John of Gaunt"s Register 12 Letters of Mediaeval Women 13 John of Gaunt"s Register. Lady Wake had been born Alice FitzAlan, daughter of the Earl of Arundel, and she was a niece of Henry, Duke of Lancaster, a cousin to the d.u.c.h.ess Blanche, and married to Thomas Holland, eldest son of the Princess Joan. Thus she was eminently suited, through her connections alone, to look after the Lancastrian children.

14 Ibid.

15 Ibid.; Bruce 16 John of Gaunt"s Register 17 Ibid; Goodman: John of Gaunt. Tutbury Castle is now an extensive ruin, having been largely slighted by Cromwell"s troops in the Civil War. Three towers remain, as does John of Gaunt"s gateway, but most of the other buildings are fifteenth-century or later.

18 Chute 19 Goodman: Honourable Lady. For the governess"s role, see Goodman: Honourable Lady, John of Gaunt; Lucraft: "Missing from History"; Chute; Lewis: Cult of St Katherine; Tilbury.

20 John of Gaunt"s Register 21 Ibid.

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 Pearsall 27 John of Gaunt"s Register; Rotuli Parliamentorum 28 For the chevauchee of 1373, see, for example, Goodman: John of Gaunt; Froissart; Armitage-Smith; Delachenal; Holmes; Sherborne.

29 Froissart 30 For a rea.s.sessment of the campaign, see Palmer; Les Grandes Chroniques France.

31 Walsingham; Eulogium; Russell; Froissart 32 Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers 33 John of Gaunt"s Register. On 18 June, while he was still at the Savoy, John ordered six cartloads of alabaster from the quarry at Tutbury for two effigies to be placed on the tomb that was being built to the memory of "the Lady Blanche, formerly our consort", in St Paul"s; already he had decided that he wished to spend eternity by the side of his first wife. Another mention of the tomb appears on 4 December that year in the accounts for Blanche"s obit, and in January 1375, the Duke paid Henry Yevele, the foremost master mason of the day, for his work on it, yet to be completed; Yevele was also working at the Savoy at this time. In 13767, Yevele was contracted to supply a tomb chest of Purbeck marble to accommodate the bodies of Blanche and, in time, her husband, and was paid 108 (29,036) in part-payment for it. The alabaster effigies were later painted, and an iron screen was placed about the chantry. Given the expertise, time and money in total 486 (205,139) that were lavished on the tomb, it must have been magnificent indeed. It was, wrote the chronicler Monk of St-Denis, "an incomparable sepulchre". John of Gaunt"s Register; Harvey: Henry Yevele; Duchy of Lancaster Records: DL.28 34 Lettenhove, introduction to Froissart 35 Armitage-Smith; Goodman: John of Gaunt; Rose; John of Gaunt"s Register 36 Perroy; Holmes; Goodman: John of Gaunt 37 John of Gaunt"s Register; Duchy of Lancaster Records: DL.42 38 Crow and Olsen; Pearsall 39 Coleman 40 John of Gaunt"s Register 41 For this obit, see Lewis: "The Anniversary Service"; Webster.

42 John of Gaunt"s Register; Silva-Vigier 43 Silva-Vigier 44 John of Gaunt"s Register 45 Roger Joy 46 John of Gaunt"s Register 47 Ibid.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid.; Kirby. She was paid 100 marks (11,944) per annum to house him and his attendants.

50 John of Gaunt"s Register 51 Ibid.

52 Ibid.

53 Ibid.

54 Ibid. There is no evidence to support the recent theory identifying Blanche Swynford with John of Gaunt"s b.a.s.t.a.r.d daughter Blanche, who married Sir Thomas Morieux in 1381 (see Chapter 6). Froissart states that Marie de St Hilaire was Blanche Morieux"s mother, and as he was in Queen Philippa"s household in the early 1360s, he was in a position to know that, for Marie was one of her damoiselles, and his countrywoman. Had Blanche Swynford lived, she would probably have married Robert Deyncourt, but there is no record of that marriage actually taking place.

55 Ibid.

56 Ibid.

57 Foedera; Armitage-Smith 58 John of Gaunt"s Register 59 Ibid.

60 Ibid.

61 Ibid.

62 Ibid.

63 For Katherine Swynford"s connections with Boston, see princ.i.p.ally Thompson; Cook: Boston.

64 Calendar of Escheat Rolls 65 Ibid.