#137 THE PRINCE AND HIS MISTRESS
She was his mistress for 25 years while he was married to
someone else, bore him four illegitimate children—and then he married her
anyway, making her a duchess and her descendants the Tudor dynasty. England
1396. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, aged 49, the richest and most powerful nobleman
in England, uncle to the king, stood before witnesses and married his mistress.
Not a young mistress nor a strategic alliance. His longtime lover—a woman he
had been sleeping with for over two decades while married to someone else. Katherine
Swynford was about 46 years old. She had been John’s mistress since her
twenties and had borne him four children. She had been publicly denounced,
called a witch and a whore, and blamed for corrupting one of England’s most
powerful men. And now he was making her his wife, his duchess and one of the
highest-ranking noblewomen in England. It was one of the most scandalous
marriages in medieval England.
KATHERINE SWYNFORD & JOHN OF GAUNT
Katherine had come to England as a child, probably around
1360, when her father Paon de Roet, a herald and a minor knight from Hainault,
Belgium, followed Queen Philippa of Hainault to the English court. Katherine and her sister
Philippa (who married poet Geoffrey Chaucer) were brought up in the Queen’s
household. It seems Katherine received a good education, acquired a
“certain piety and housekeeping skills, which in the future helped her manage the knightly estates transferred to her. Also, she may have learned from the
Queen to be generous and diplomatic. She knew court etiquette perfectly. In
addition, she was a fairly skilled rider, as evidenced by the fact that she
kept a dozen of her horses in the stables of John of Gaunt.”
Such an education for girls from knightly families was common; they were expected to make decent marriages to minor nobles and then live quiet, respectable lives. Katherine did that. Around 1362 she married Hugh Swynford, a lowly knight in the service of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Hugh held lands in Lincolnshire. Katherine settled into the life expected of a minor noblewoman--managing the household, especially when her husband was away on campaign. At least two children were born to this marriage.
John of Gaunt was King Edward III’s third surviving son and and although he never became king himself, he was one of the most powerful men in England.
John of Gaunt was loyal to the interests of his family and siblings but he was particularly close to his eldest brother, Edward, the Black Prince. Gaunt lived with the prince in his household as a boy, learning princely etiquette and land management, and at age 10 followed his brother everywhere, even into battle. Their fraternal bond endured into adulthood and John of Gaunt acted as a second to his brother up until the Black Prince’s death in 1376. Because of his rank, John of Gaunt was one of England's principal military commanders in the 1370s and 1380s, though his campaigns were never rewarded with the kind of dazzling success that had made his elder brother Edward the Black Prince such a charismatic war leader.
As younger brother of Edward, Prince of Wales, John exercised great influence during the minority of his nephew, Richard II. John helped govern the kingdom, especially during periods when royal authority was weak or contested, he supported royal authority against rebellious nobles and he played a key role in maintaining order after events like the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.
Gaunt built his influence through wealth, diplomacy, and proximity to the crown. As Duke of Lancaster, he owned at least 30 castles and estates across England and France, making him the richest noble in England and such a dominant force in royal government.
John of Gaunt armour, Tower of London
John married Blanche of Lancaster in 1359, becoming Duke of Lancaster through that marriage. By all accounts, Blanche was lovely, well-born, wealthy and John loved her. They had seven children, although three did not live to adulthood. (Their youngest child, Henry, was sent into exile, but after the death of his father, he would return to England, force the abdication of his cousin, Richard II, and succeed to the throne as Henry IV.)
Katherine Swynford came into John’s household as governess to his and
Blanche’s daughters. She managed the children, taught them, lived a quiet
life in John’s vast household. Hugh was often away on military campaigns.
Then in 1368, Blanche died—probably in childbirth. perhaps of the plaque. John was
bereft. Katherine was there, grieving with him and caring for his children. By
1371, Katherine and John had become lovers.
But then, a “slight” complication, for in 1371, John married
again. This second marriage was strictly political. Constance of Castille was
the daughter of the deposed King of Castille so this marriage gave John a claim
to the Castilian throne, a claim he had spent years and a fortune trying to
acquire. John married Constance for power but did not stop sleeping with
Katherine. Katherine became a member of Constance's household, serving the wife of her lover. How awkward for all!
Around 1372, Katherine’s husband, Hugh, died while serving abroad with John of Gaunt. Officially he died of dysentery though there were rumours that he was poisoned by one of the Duke's servants. Katherine was a widow with children to support. John set her up with an income, estates, and a comfortable life. She wasn’t his wife but she was (quite openly) his mistress. In the spring of 1378, John rode through his estates in Leicestershire holding the bridle of Katherine's horse; in medieval symbolism, this was a declaration that the rider, thus led, was a captive and one who had surrendered herself entirely. Katherine and John rode in full view of his wife. People were scandalized. Medieval England could tolerate noblemen having mistresses, but the way John and Katherine conducted their relationship was different.
He didn’t hide her; he brought her to court; he acknowledged their children—four of them born between 1373 and 1379, all of them given the surname Beaufort after one of John’s castles in France. The children were John, Henry, Thomas and Joan (from whom our family might descend.) All were illegitimate and all openly acknowledged by one of England’s most powerful nobles while he was married to someone else.
The Church was furious; moralists condemned them; political enemies used the affair as ammunition, accusing John of being controlled by his mistress and calling Katherine a witch who had enchanted him. She was accused of seducing and corrupting him, of making herself "abominable in the eyes of God." In 1381 during the Peasants’ Revolt, rebels specifically targeted John’s properties and called for Katherine to be burned as a witch and whore.
The Savoy Palace, considered the grandest nobleman's townhouse of medieval London, was the residence of John of Gaunt until it was destroyed in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. During the Peasants's Revolt the rioters from the surrounding rural areas, who blamed John of Gaunt for the introduction of the poll tax that had precipitated the revolt, systematically demolished the Savoy and everything in it. What could not be smashed or burned was thrown into the river. Jewellery was pulverised with hammers, and it was said that one rioter found by his fellows to have kept a silver goblet for himself was killed for doing so. Despite this, the name Savoy was retained by the site.
The political pressure became too intense. John ended the
affair and sent Katherine away. They stayed apart for thirteen years.
During that time, John pursued his claim to Castille,
travelling to Spain with his wife Constance, fighting campaigns, playing
politics. But he never forgot Katherine.
In 1394, Constance of Castille died. John was free and within two years he married Katherine. The wedding was controversial enough that John did not seek the King's permission beforehand; this was a serious breech of protocol for someone of his rank. A Papal Bull was required to legitimize the union retroactively. Richard II eventually issued a Royal Patent in February 1397, a full thirteen months after the ceremony
John of Gaunt could have married anyone. He was 56 years old, immensely
wealthy, uncle to king Richard II and he was one of the most powerful men in Europe. He
could have made a strategic alliance with a foreign princess, could have
married a young noblewoman and tried for more legitimate heirs. Instead he
married his 46 year old former mistress, a woman with no great family
connections, a woman who had been publicly denounced as a whore, a woman who
had given him four illegitimate children. But he loved her, and after 25 years—on
and off-- he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
The marriage was shocking, but it was legal. Overnight Katherine went from scandal to respectability, from mistress to Duchess, now one the highest-ranking women in England. Her four Beaufort children were illegitimate, so John petitioned King Richard II to legitimize them. In 1397, Richard issued letters patent declaring the Beaufort children legitimate. This meant they were legally noble, could inherit, could marry into aristocracy, had status. There was only one caveat; the legitimization specifically excluded them from the line of royal succession so they could not claim the throne. This restriction became important later on. The Pope also recognized their legitimacy by Papal Bull in 1396.
John of Gaunt died in Leicester Castle, in 1399, aged 59, of natural causes; Katherine was at his side.
John made a very long will on the day he died, February 3, 1399. He left his "best ermine blanket" to his nephew, King Richard II, and the second best one to his wife, Katherine. He also left his two best brooches and all his gold goblets to Katherine, and gave his son, the future Henry IV, a "great bed of cloth-of-gold, the field partly worked with gold trees, and next to each tree a black alaunt [a breed of hunting dog] tied to the same tree."
John of Gaunt was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London in a double tomb with his first wife Blanche of Lancaster; the two effigies were notable for having their right hands joined. This tomb was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666.
John had been married to Katherine for only three years. She lived as Duchess of Lancaster until her death in Lincoln in 1403 and was buried in Lincoln Cathedral, alongside her daughter, Joan. In the English Civil War, Lincoln Cathedral was sacked by the Roundheads and both coffins were partially destroyed; the copper images and tablets were torn off. (Although there are claims that the tombs are now empty and that the remains of Katherine and Joan were pulled out by the Roundheads, there seems little evidence that the bodies were disturbed and they are still probably under the floor of the tomb.)
John and Katherine’s four Beaufort children became major players in English politics, especially during the War of the Roses. Henry Beaufort became a cardinal and one of the most powerful churchmen in the nation, Thomas Beaufort became Duke of Exeter, Joan Beaufort married twice and was grandmother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III. John Beaufort became Earl of Somerset and his granddaughter, Margaret, in 1457, at age 13, gave birth to a son, Henry Tudor. Henry, however tenuous his claim, challenged Richard III for the crown, and became Henry VII and founder of the Tudor dynasty.
Katherine started as a governess, became a scandalous
mistress, was denounced as a witch, bore four illegitimate children, and ended
as the ancestress of the Tudor dynasty, arguably England’s most famous royal
house.
KATHERINE (deRoet) SWYNFORD
b. abt 1349 in Hainaut, Belgium m. Hugh Swynford (1340-1371) in 1362 m. John of Gaunt in 1396 in Lincoln, England d. May 10, 1403 in Lincoln, England
JOHN OF GAUNT
b. Mar 6, 1340 in Ghent, Belgium m. Blanche of Lancaster (1342-1368) in 1359 in Berkshire, England m. Constance of Castille (1354-1394) in 1371 in Roqueford, Guienne (France) m. Katherine Swynford in 1396 d. Feb 3 1399 In Leicester, England
possibly my 18th great grandparents
(Netterfield/Farnam line)
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