John of Gaunt | |
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Duke of Lancaster and Aquitaine | |
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Duke of Lancaster and Aquitaine | |
Successor | Henry Bolingbroke |
Spouse | Blanche of Lancaster Constance of Castile Katherine Swynford |
Issue | Philippa, Queen of Portugal Elizabeth Plantagenet, Duchess of Exeter Henry IV of England Katherine, Queen of Castile John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset Henry Cardinal Beaufort Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland |
Royal house | House of Plantagenet |
Father | Edward III of England |
Mother | Philippa of Hainault |
Born | 6 March 1340 Ghent |
Died | 3 February 1399 (aged 58) Leicester Castle |
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. He gained his name "John of Gaunt" because he was born in Ghent (in today's Belgium), then called Gaunt in English. John exercised great influence over the English throne during the minority reign of his nephew, Richard II, and during the ensuing periods of political strife, but did not openly associate with opponents of the King.
John of Gaunt's legitimate male heirs, the Lancasters, included Kings Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI.
John's legitimate descendants also included his daughters Philippa of Lancaster, Queen consort of John I of Portugal and mother of King Edward of Portugal, known as "Duarte" in Portuguese, and of the famous Henry the Navigator. John was also the father of Elizabeth, Duchess of Exeter, the mother of John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter through his first wife, Blanche; and by his second wife, Constance, John was the father of Katherine of Lancaster, Queen consort of Henry III of Castile, granddaughter of Peter of Castile and mother of John II of Castile.
John of Gaunt fathered five children outside marriage, one early in life by one of his mother's ladies-in-waiting, and four, surnamed "Beaufort," (for the castle in which they were born) by Katherine Swynford, Gaunt's long-term mistress and third wife. The four Beaufort children, three sons and a daughter, were legitimized by royal and papal decrees after John married Katherine in 1396. Descendants of the marriage to Katherine Swynford included their son Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester and eventually Cardinal; their granddaughter Cecily Neville, mother to Kings Edward IV and Richard III; and their great-grandson Henry Tudor, who became King of England after the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 and established the House of Tudor.
When John of Gaunt died in 1399, his estates were declared forfeit to the crown, as King Richard II had exiled John's son and heir, Henry Bolingbroke, in 1398. Bolingbroke and Richard II were first cousins; their fathers were brothers. Bolingbroke returned from exile to reclaim his confiscated inheritance and deposed the unpopular 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 of Gaunt was buried alongside his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster, in the nave of Old St. Paul's Cathedral in an alabaster tomb designed by Henry Yevele (similar to that of his son in Canterbury Cathedral).
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Henry of Grosmont and King Edward III were second cousins; they were both great-grandsons of King Henry III. John of Gaunt was King Edward III's son; Blanche of Lancaster was Henry Grosmont's daughter; they were, therefore, third cousins. Blanche and John married in 1360.
Upon the death of his father-in-law Henry of Grosmont in 1361, John received half of Henry's lands, the title Earl of Lancaster, and the distinction as the greatest landowner in the north of England, inheriting the Palatinate of Lancaster. He also became the 14th Baron of Halton. John received the rest of the inheritance when Blanche's sister, Maud, Countess of Leicester (married to William V, Count of Hainaut), died on April 10, 1362.
John received the title "Duke of Lancaster" from Edward III on 13 November 1362. John was by then well established, owning at least thirty castles and estates across England and France. His household was comparable in scale and organization to that of a monarch.
After the death of his elder brother, Edward of Woodstock (also known as The Black Prince), John of Gaunt contrived to protect the religious reformer John Wyclif, for reasons that cannot be determined, but possibly to counteract the growing secular power of the Roman Catholic 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 had started to become domestically unpopular, due to high taxation and to the king's affair with Alice Perrers, political opinion closely associated the Duke of Lancaster with the failing government of the 1370s. Furthermore, while the king and the Prince of Wales had the status of popular heroes due to their successes on the battlefield, John of Gaunt had never won equivalent military renown which might have bolstered his reputation. Although he fought in the Battle of Nájera, for example, his later military projects such as his chevauchée of 1373 and his invasion of Castile in 1386, were unsuccessful.
On his marriage to Constance of Castile in 1371, John assumed the title of King of Castile and Leon, and insisted that his fellow English nobles henceforth address him as 'my lord of Spain.'
When King Edward III died in 1377 and John's ten-year-old nephew succeeded to the throne as Richard II of England, John's influence strengthened further. However, mistrust remained, and some suspected him of wanting to seize the throne for himself. John took pains to ensure that he never became associated with the opposition to Richard's kingship. As the virtual ruler of England during Richard's minority, he made some unwise decisions on taxation that led to the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, during which the rebels destroyed his Savoy Palace in London.
In 1386, John of Gaunt left England to make good his claim to the throne of Castile. However, crisis ensued almost immediately, and in 1387, Richard's misrule brought England to the brink of civil war. Only John of Gaunt, upon his return to England in 1389, was able to bring about a compromise between the Lords Appellant and King Richard, ushering in a period of relative stability and harmony. During the 1390s, John of Gaunt's reputation of devotion to the well-being of the kingdom was much restored. John of Gaunt died of natural causes on February 3, 1399 at Leicester Castle, with his third wife Katherine by his side.
Constance died in 1394. 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.
All monarchs of England from Henry IV onwards (with the exception of the Yorkist monarchs -- Edward IV, Edward V and Richard III) are descended from John of Gaunt.
John of Gaunt was a patron of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer who recorded much of the mores of England at the time of John in The Canterbury Tales. Near the end of John's life, they were brothers-in-law. Chaucer was married to Philippa de Roet; John's third wife, Katherine, was Philippa's sister. John's children by Katherine were Chaucer's nieces and nephews.
Chaucer's Book of the Duchess, also known as The Deth of Blaunche, was written in commemoration of Blanche of Lancaster, John's first wife. The poem refers to John and Blanche in allegory as the "Black Knight" and the "Lady White." "Blanche" means "white." At the end of the poem reference is made to John's marriage to Blanche by playing on the sound of their titles of Lancaster and Richmond in the form of "long castel" (line 1318) and "riche hil" (line 1319).
Some have suggested that the "long castel" line could also refer to Constanza of Castile, John's second wife, and the heraldic arms of Castile, which display a castle, part of the tradition of heraldic canting arms.
As a son of the sovereign, John bore the arms of the kingdom, differentiated by a label argent of three points ermine.[4]
The Lancaster city centre has a pub called The John O'Gaunt. An administrative ward on the city council also bears the name.
Hungerford in Berkshire also has ancient links to the Duchy, the manor becoming part of John of Gaunt's estate in 1362 before James I passed ownership to two local men in 1612 (which subsequently became Hungerford Town & Manor). The links are visible today in the Town and Manor-owned John O'Gaunt pub, the John O'Gaunt state secondary school, as well as various street names. It is also customary for the Loyal Toast to be given by residents as "The Queen, the Duke of Lancaster."
There is also a secondary school in Trowbridge, Wiltshire bearing the same name, which is built upon land that he once owned.
The remnants of the castle at Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, once owned by John, sit on John o' Gaunt's Street.
The John of Gaunt Stakes is a British race for Thoroughbred horses run annually in June.
In William Shakespeare's play Richard II, the famous England speech is attributed to John of Gaunt as he lay on his deathbed.
The Tragedy of King Richard II at Wikisource
Anya Seton's bestselling 1954 novel Katherine depicts John's long-term affair and eventual marriage to Katherine Swynford.
The eponymous character of the US comic book series GrimJack is legally named John Gaunt. According to author John Ostrander, he took the name from the historical figure simply because it sounded impressive, without any specific historical reference.
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Political offices | ||
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Preceded by Henry of Grosmont |
Lord High Steward 1362–1399 |
Succeeded by Henry Bolingbroke |
Peerage of England | ||
New creation | Duke of Lancaster 1362–1399 |
Succeeded by Henry Bolingbroke |
New creation | Duke of Aquitaine 1390–1399 |
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Preceded by Henry of Grosmont |
Earl of Leicester, Lancaster, Lincoln and Derby 1361–1399 |
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Preceded by John IV de Montfort |
Earl of Richmond 1342–1372 |
Succeeded by John V de Montfort |
Titles in pretence | ||
Preceded by Constance |
— TITULAR — King of Castile with Constance 1371–1394 Reason for succession failure: John's uncle-in-law, Henry II of Castile, seized the throne |
Succeeded by Katherine |
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