JOHN OF GAUNT : Family tree by Patricia SALTER (pattisalt92)

May 2024 · 18 minute read

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, KG (6 March 1340 - 3 February 1399) was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third of four surviving sons of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. He was called "John of Gaunt" because he was born in Ghent, then rendered in English as Gaunt. When he became unpopular later in life, scurrilous rumours and lampoons circulated that he was actually the son of a Ghent butcher, perhaps because Edward III was not present at the birth. This story always drove him to fury.

As a younger brother of Edward, Prince of Wales (Edward, the Black Prince), John exercised great influence over the English throne during the minority of Edward's son, who became King Richard II, and the ensuing periods of political strife. Due to some generous land grants, John was one of the richest men in his era. He made an abortive attempt to enforce a claim to the Crown of Castile that came courtesy of his second wife Constance, who was an heir to the Castillian Kingdom, and for a time styled himself as such.

John of Gaunt's legitimate male heirs, the Lancasters, include Kings Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI. His other legitimate descendants include his daughters Queen Philippa of Portugal and Elizabeth, Duchess of Exeter (by his first wife Blanche of Lancaster), and Queen Catherine of Castile (by his second wife Constance of Castile). John fathered five children outside marriage, one early in life by a lady-in-waiting to his mother, and four by Katherine Swynford, Gaunt's long-term mistress and third wife. The children of Katherine Swynford, surnamed "Beaufort," were legitimised by royal and papal decrees after John and Katherine married in 1396. Descendants of this marriage include Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland, a grandmother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III; John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, a great-grandfather of King Henry VII; and Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots, from whom are descended all subsequent sovereigns of Scotland beginning in 1437 and all sovereigns of England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom from 1603 to the present day. The three houses of English sovereigns that succeeded the rule of Richard II in 1399 - the Houses of Lancaster, York and Tudor - were all descended from John's children Henry IV, Joan Beaufort and John Beaufort, respectively. In addition, John's daughter Catherine of Lancaster was married to King Henry III of Castile, which made him the grandfather of King John II of Castile and the ancestor of all subsequent monarchs of the Crown of Castile and united Spain. Through his daughter Philippa, he was grandfather of King Edward of Portugal and an ancestor of all subsequent Portuguese monarchs as well. Through John II of Castile's great-granddaughter Joanna the Mad, John of Gaunt is also an ancestor of the Habsburg rulers who would reign in Spain and much of central Europe.

John of Gaunt's eldest son and heir, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, the son of his first wife Blanche of Lancaster, was exiled for ten years by King Richard II in 1398 as resolution to a dispute between Henry and Thomas de Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. When John of Gaunt died in 1399, his estates and titles were declared forfeit to the crown, since King Richard II had named Henry a traitor and changed his sentence to exile for life. Henry Bolingbroke returned from exile to reclaim his inheritance and depose Richard. Bolingbroke then reigned as King Henry IV of England (1399-1413), the first of the descendants of John of Gaunt to hold the throne of England.

John was the fourth son of King Edward III of England. His first wife, Blanche of Lancaster, was also his third cousin; both were great-great-grandchildren of King Henry III. They married in 1359 at Reading Abbey as a part of the efforts of Edward III to arrange matches for his sons with wealthy heiresses. Upon the death of his father-in-law, the 1st Duke of Lancaster, in 1361, John received half his lands, the title "Earl of Lancaster", and distinction as the greatest landowner in the north of England as heir of the Palatinate of Lancaster. He also became the 14th Baron of Halton and 11th Lord of Bowland. John inherited the rest of the Lancaster property when Blanche's sister Maud, Countess of Leicester (married to William V, Count of Hainaut), died without issue on 10 April 1362.

John received the title "Duke of Lancaster" from his father on 13 November 1362. By then well established, he owned at least thirty castles and estates across England and France and maintained a household comparable in scale and organisation to that of a monarch. He owned land in almost every county in England, a patrimony that produced a net income of between £8,000 and £10,000 a year.

After the death in 1376 of his older brother Edward of Woodstock (also known as the "Black Prince"), John of Gaunt contrived to protect the religious reformer John Wycliffe, possibly to counteract the growing secular power of the church. However, John's ascendancy to political power coincided with widespread resentment of his influence. At a time when English forces encountered setbacks in the Hundred Years' War against France, and Edward III's rule was becoming unpopular due to high taxation and his affair with Alice Perrers, political opinion closely associated the Duke of Lancaster with the failing government of the 1370s. Furthermore, while King Edward and the Prince of Wales were popular heroes due to their successes on the battlefield, John of Gaunt had not won equivalent military renown that could have bolstered his reputation. Although he fought in the Battle of Nájera (1367), for example, his later military projects proved unsuccessful.

When Edward III died in 1377 and John's ten-year-old nephew succeeded as Richard II of England, John's influence strengthened. However, mistrust remained, and some suspected him of wanting to seize the throne himself. John took pains to ensure that he never became associated with the opposition to Richard's kingship. As de facto ruler during Richard's minority, he made unwise decisions on taxation that led to the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, when the rebels destroyed his home in London, the Savoy Palace. Unlike some of Richard's unpopular advisors, John was away from London at the time of the uprising and thus avoided the direct wrath of the rebels.

In 1386 John left England to seek the throne of Castile, claimed in Jure uxoris by right of his second wife, Constance of Castile, whom he had married in 1371. However, crisis ensued almost immediately in his absence, and in 1387 King Richard's misrule brought England to the brink of civil war. Only John, on his return to England in 1389, succeeded in persuading the Lords Appellant and King Richard to compromise to usher in a period of relative stability. During the 1390s, John's reputation of devotion to the well-being of the kingdom was largely restored.

Sometime after the death of Blanche of Lancaster in 1368 and the birth of their first son, John Beaufort, in 1373, John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford, the daughter of an ordinary knight, entered into an extra-marital love affair that would produce four children for the couple. All of them were born out of wedlock, but legitimized upon their parents' eventual marriage. The adulterous relationship endured until 1381, when it was broken out of political necessity. On 13 January 1396, two years after the death of Constance of Castile, Katherine and John of Gaunt married in Lincoln Cathedral. The children bore the surname "Beaufort" after a former French possession of the duke. The Beaufort children, three sons and a daughter, were legitimised by royal and papal decrees after John and Katherine married. A later proviso that they were specifically barred from inheriting the throne, the phrase excepta regali dignitate ("except royal status"), was inserted with dubious authority by their half-brother Henry IV.

John died of natural causes on 3 February 1399 at Leicester Castle, with his third wife Katherine by his side.

John of Gaunt was a patron and close friend of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, most famously known for his work The Canterbury Tales. Near the end of their lives, Lancaster and Chaucer became brothers-in-law. Chaucer married Philippa (Pan) de Roet in 1366, and Lancaster took his mistress of nearly 30 years, Katherine Swynford (de Roet), who was Philippa Chaucer's sister, as his third wife in 1396. Although Philippa died c. 1387, the men were bound as brothers and Lancaster's children by Katherine - John, Henry, Thomas and Joan Beaufort - were Chaucer's nephews and niece.

On 19 May 1359 at Reading Abbey, John married his third cousin, Blanche of Lancaster, daughter of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster. The wealth she brought to the marriage was the foundation of John's fortune. Blanche died on 12 September 1368 at Tutbury Castle, while her husband was overseas. Their son Henry Bolingbroke became Henry IV of England, after the duchy of Lancaster was taken by Richard II upon John's death while Henry was in exile. Their daughter Philippa became Queen of Portugal by marrying King John I of Portugal in 1387. All subsequent kings of Portugal were thus descended from John of Gaunt.

In 1371, John married Infanta Constance of Castile, daughter of King Peter of Castile, thus giving him a claim to the Crown of Castile, which he would pursue. Though John was never able to make good his claim, his daughter by Constance, Catherine of Lancaster, became Queen of Castile by marrying Henry III of Castile. Catherine of Aragon is descended from this line. Constance died in 1394.

During his marriage to Constance, John of Gaunt fathered four children by a mistress, the widow Katherine Swynford (whose sister Philippa de Roet was married to Chaucer). Prior to her widowhood, Katherine had borne at least two, possibly three, children to Lancastrian knight Sir Hugh Swynford. The known names of these children are Blanche and Thomas. (There may have been a second Swynford daughter.) John of Gaunt was Blanche Swynford's godfather.

John married Katherine in 1396, and their children, the Beauforts, were legitimised by King Richard II and the Church, but barred from inheriting the throne. From the eldest son, John, descended a granddaughter, Margaret Beaufort, whose son, later King Henry VII of England, would nevertheless claim the throne.

Queen Elizabeth II and her predecessors since Henry IV are descended from John of Gaunt.

Children
By Blanche of Lancaster
Philippa (1360-1415) married King John I of Portugal (1357-1433).
John (1362-1365) was the first-born son of John and Blanche of Lancaster and lived possibly at least until after the birth of his brother Edward of Lancaster in 1365 and died before his second brother another short lived boy called John in 1366. He was buried in the Collegiate Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of The Newarke, Leicester (the church founded by his grandfather Henry, Duke of Lancaster.
Elizabeth (1364-1426), married (1) in 1380 John Hastings, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (1372-1389), annulled 1383; married (2) in 1386 John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter (1350-1400); (3) Sir John Cornwall, 1st Baron Fanhope and Milbroke (d. 1443)
Edward (1365) died within a year of his birth and was buried in the Collegiate Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of The Newarke, Leicester.
John (1366-1367) most likely died after the birth of his younger brother Henry, the future Henry IV of England; he was buried in the Collegiate Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of The Newarke, Leicester.
Henry IV of England (1367-1413) married (1) Mary de Bohun (1369-1394); (2) Joanna of Navarre (1368-1437)
Isabel (1368-1368)

By Constance of Castile:
Catherine (1372-1418), married King Henry III of Castile (1379-1406)
John (1374-1375)

By Katherine Swynford (née de Roet/Roelt), mistress and later wife (children legitimised 1397):
John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (1373-1410)-married Margaret Holland.
Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester and Cardinal (1375-1447)
Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter (1377-1427), married Margaret Neville, daughter of Sir Thomas de Neville and Joan Furnivall.
Joan Beaufort (1379-1440)-married first Robert Ferrers, 5th Baron Boteler of Wem and second Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmoreland.

By Marie de St. Hilaire of Hainaut, mistress:
Blanche (1359-1388/89), illegitimate, married Sir Thomas Morieux (1355-1387) in 1381, without issue. Blanche was the daughter of John's mistress, Marie de St. Hilaire of Hainaut (1340-after 1399), who was a lady-in-waiting to his mother, Queen Philippa. The affair apparently took place before John's first marriage to Blanche of Lancaster. John's daughter, Blanche, married Sir Thomas Morieux in 1381. Morieux held several important posts, including Constable of the Tower the year he was married, and Master of Horse to King Richard II two years later. He died in 1387 after six years of marriage.

John of Gaunt was buried beside his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster, between the choir stalls of St Paul's Cathedral. Their magnificent tomb had been designed and executed between 1374 and 1380 by Henry Yevele with the assistance of Thomas Wrek, at a total cost of £592. The two alabaster effigies were notable for having their right hands joined. An adjacent chantry chapel was added between 1399 and 1403. The grave and monument were destroyed with the cathedral in the Great Fire of London in 1666. A modern monument in the crypt lists John of Gaunt's grave as among the important ones lost.
SOURCE: Wikipedia

WILL: JOHN OF GAUNT, DUKE OF LANCASTER I, John, son of the King of England, Duke of Lancaster, February 3d, 1397. My body to be buried in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, of London, near the principal altar, beside my most dear late wife Blanch, who is there interred. If I die out of London I desire that the night my body arrives there, that it be carried direct to the Friars Carmelites in Fleet Street, and the next day taken strait to St. Paul's, and that it be not buried for forty days, during which I charge my executors that there be no cering or embalming my corpse; I will that my executors pay all my debts, excepting the debts for the army, which my beloved brother the Duke of York incurred in Portugal, of which before God and all the world I hold myself free; I desire that chauntries and obits be founded for the souls of my late dear wives Blanch and Constance, whom God pardon; to the said altar of St. Paul's my vestment of satin embroidered, which I bought of Courtnay, embroider at London, certain lands and tenements in London, of which the reversion is purchased, rendering xx marks a year to Dame Katherine del Staple for her life, and I desire that during her life she be paid out of the rents of the Manor of Bernoldwyk, in the county of York; to the prisons of Newgate and Ludgate, in London C marks, to be divided between them; to my most dear wife Katherine, my two best nouches which I have, excepting that which I have allowed to my Lord and nephew the King, and my large cup of gold which the Earl of Wilts gave to the King my Lord, and which he gave me on my going into Guienne, together with all the buckles, rings, diamonds, rubies, and other things, that will be found in a little box of cypress wood, of which I carry the key myself, and all the robes which I bought of my dear cousin the Duchess of Norfolk, also my large bed of black velvet, embroidered with a circle of fetter-locks, and garters, all the beds made for my body called in England "trussing beds," my best stay with a good ruby, my best collar, all which my said wife had before her marriage with me, also all the goods and jewels which I had given her since my marriage; to my Lord and nephew the King the best nouche which I have on the day of my death, my best cup of gold which my dear wife Katherine gave me on New Year's Day last, my gold saltcellar with a garter, and the piece of arras which the Duke of Bourgoyne gave me when I was at Calais; to my dear brother the Duke of York, a gold cup and cover; to my dear son Henry, Duke of Hereford, Earl of Derby, two of the best pieces of arras, one of which was given me by my Lord and nephew the King, and the other by my dear brother the Duke of Gloucester, whom God pardon, when I lately returned from Spain, also a chain of gold of the old manner, with the name of God in each part, which my most honored Lady and mother the Queen, whom God pardon, gave me, commanding me to preserve it, with her blessing, and I desire that he will keep it with the blessing of God and mine; to my dear daughter Philippa, Queen of Portugal, my second best stay of gold, and a gold cup and cover; to my dear daughter Katherine, Queen of Castile and Leon, a gold cup and cover; to my dear daughter Elizabeth, Duchess of Exeter, my white bed of silk, with blue eagles displayed, and my best nouche after those before given; to my dear son John Beaufort, Marquis of Dorset, a dozen saucers, &c.; to the Reverend Father in God and my dear son the Bishop of Lincoln, a dozen saucers, &c. and my missal, and my portheus, which belonged to my Lord and brother the Prince of Wales, whom God preserve; to my dear son Thomas Beaufort, their brother, a dozen saucers, &c.; to my dear daughter, their sister, Countess of Westmoreland and Lady of Nevil, a silk bed, and a cup and cover of gold; to my dear Henry, eldest son of my dear son the Duke of Hereford, a gold cup; to my dear son John, brother to the said Henry, a gold cup; after all my debts are paid, and restitution made to all who have been injured by me or my servants, on my account, I desire that my executor pay to the Minister of Bury one thousand pounds; to my said wife Katherine two thousand pounds; to my said son the Duke of Hereford one thousand pounds; to my said son the Marquis one thousand pounds; to my said son Thomas Beaufort one thousand marks; "a mon tres chere bachelier" Monsr. Thomas Swyneford, C marks; to Monsr Walter Blount, Monsr Chamberlain, C marks; to Monsr Hugh Shirley Cmarks; to Monsr Richard Aberbury, the sons, L marks; to Monsr William Par L marks; I will that a chauntry be founded at the New Church of our Lady of Leicester, for the soul of my late wife Dame Constance, who is there buried, and for ever to keep an obit for her soul on the 24th day of March; and as for the annuity or annual pension of forty-thousand franks, which my dear son the King of Castile and Leon is bound to me, a certain part of which is unpaid, I devise to the King one third part of what may, by his assistance, be recovered of the arrears now due. And I constitute and appoint the Reverend Fathers in God Richard Bishop of Salisbury; John Bishop of Worcester; my very dear and loving cousins and companions Thomas Earl of Worcester, Steward of the Household of my Lord the King; and William Earl of Wilts, Treasurer of England; my son Ralph Earl of Westmoreland; Monsr Walter Blount; Monsr John Dabruggecourt; Monsr William Par; Monsr Hugh War'ton; Monsr Thomas Skelton; and Cokeyn, Chief Steward of my Lands; Sir Robert Qwytby, my Attorney General; Piers Melburn; William Ketyring; Robert Haylfield, Comptroller of my Household; Sir John Leyburn, my Receiver General; and Thomas Longley, Clerk, my executors. And I ordain my most dear and entirely beloved brother Edmond Duke of York; my most dear and entirely beloved nephew Edward Duke of Aumerle; the Reverend Fathers in God Roger Archbishop of Canterbury; Richard Archbishop of York; and the Bishop of Lincoln, my dear son, supervisors of this my last will, whom, with my Lord the King, I pray to be faithful surveyors of the same. In faith of which I have placed hereto the seal of my arms, and also my own signet, which I always carry myself, in the presence of the following witnesses: Maistre John Kenyngham, Doctor in Theology; Sir John Newton, Parson of the Church of Burbach; Sir Walter Piers, Parson of the Church of Wymondham; William Harpeden, and Robert Symeon, Esquires; and by John de Bynbrok, of the Diocese of Lincoln, Notary. CODICIL TO THE SAID WILL Item. John, son of the King of England, Duke of Lancaster, whereas I have purchased divers manors, &c. before my marriage with my dear wife Catherine, to whom I have given several parts for her life, and I have enfeoffed my dear son John Beaufort, Marquis of Dorset, with certain other parts, &c. to my dear son Thomas Beaufort, brother of the aforesaid John, manors which belonged to Edward de Kendale, the reversion of which I have bought of Dame Elizabeth Crosier, also the lordships, &c. of which Dame Elizabeth Barry held for the term of her life, to him and the heirs of his body; in default of which to my said son John, and the heirs of his body; failing which to my dear daughter Joan, their sister, Countess of Westmoreland; I will that my dear bachelier Monsr Robert Nevil, William Gascoigne, my dear esquires, Thomas de Radclyf, and William Kat'yng, and my dear clerk Thomas de Langley, who, according to my directions, are enfeoffed in the Manor of Bernolswyk, in the County of York, pay annually to my executors for Dame Katherine del Staple xx marks for her life; and touching the wapentakes of Hangest, Hangwest, and Halykeld, in Richmondshire, which I have before granted to my dear son-in-law Ralph Earl of Westmoreland, and to my daughter Joan, his wife, for their lives, I will, &c. From Testamenta Vetusta, Being Illustrations from Wills, of Manners, Customs, &c., vol. 1, pp. 140-145. Nicholas Harris Nicolas, Barrister at Law, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. London: Nichols & Son, 1826.

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