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John Beaufort

John Beaufort

John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (c. 1373 - March 16, 1410) was the first of the four children of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and his mistress (later his wife) Katherine Swynford. Beaufort was born in about 1373 and his surname probably reflects his birthplace, his father's Beaufort Castle in Anjou, France. The family emblem was the portcullis which is shown on the back of a 1p coin. John of Gaunt had his nephew Richard II of England declare the Beaufort children legitimate in 1390, with the important proviso that they were barred from the succession to the throne, despite being the grandchildren of Edward III of England. It is thought that this may have been a "private" act (that is, not entered in the public records), because, in January 1397, the Duke had Parliament issue a similar declaration, with the same proviso. Later that month, Gaunt married Katherine although they had been living apart for some years, possibly in order to have their children publicly declared legitimate. While this legal wrangling ultimately caused an enormous amount of bloodshed and destruction, it did result in one of the Beaufort descendants ascending the throne as Henry VII. John Beaufort was created Earl of Somerset on February 10, 1397. On September 28 of that year he married Margaret Holland, daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent; the next day he was created Marquess of Somerset and Dorset. Also sometime that year he was made a Knight of the Garter. He lost the two marquessates in 1399 after the accession of Henry IV. In 1404 he was Constable of England. He and his wife had six children:
- Henry Beaufort, 2nd Earl of Somerset (c. 1401 - November 25, 1418).
- John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset (baptized March 25, 1404 - May 27, 1444).
- Thomas Beaufort, Earl of Perche (c. 1405 - 1432).
- Joan Beaufort (c. 1406 - July 15 1445), who married James I of Scotland.
- Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (c. 1406 - May 22, 1455).
- Margaret Beaufort (c. 1409 - 1449). Married Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon.

External links

- [http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/BEAUFORT.htm#John%20BEAUFORT%20(1°%20E.%20Somerset) The Beaufort Family]
- [http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/COURTENAY1.htm#Thomas%20COURTENAY%20(5°%20E.%20Devon) The Courtenay Family]
- [http://www.thepeerage.com/p10198.htm John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset at thePeerage.com] Somerset, John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, John Beaufort, 1st Earl of

1373

Events

- Bristol is made an independent county.
- May 8 - Julian of Norwich receives sixteen revelations of divine love
- Anglo-portuguese Alliance signed

Births

- April 11 - Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (died 1398)
- Robert Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Wemme (died 1396)
- Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York (died 1415)

Deaths

- July 23 - Saint Birgitta, Swedish saint (born 1303)
- Constantine VI of Armenia (assassinated)
- Robert le Coq, French bishop and councillor
- Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford (born 1342)
- Rafal z Tarnowa, Polish nobleman Category:1373 ko:1373년 simple:1373

March 16

March 16 is the 75th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (76th in Leap years). There are 290 days remaining.

Events

- 1190 - Crusaders start to massacre the Jews of York.
- 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines.
- 1621 - Samoset, a Mohegan, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset."
- 1660 - The Long Parliament disbands.
- 1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on March 29.
- 1802 - The United States Military Academy West Point is established.
- 1815 - Prince Willem of the House of Orange-Nassau proclaimed himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.
- 1850 - Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter is first published.
- 1861 - Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who was evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.
- 1867 - First publication of an article by Joseph Lister outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery, in The Lancet.
- 1872 - The Wanderers F.C. won the first FA Cup, the oldest football competition in the world, beating Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1-0 at The Oval in Kennington, London.
- 1900 - Sir Arthur Evans purchases the land around the ruins of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete.
- 1926 - Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
- 1935 - Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Versailles Treaty.
- 1945 - World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist.
- 1945 - Würzburg, Germany is 90% destroyed, with 5,000 dead, in only 20 minutes by British bombers.
- 1956 - St. Urho's Day is first celebrated.
- 1962 - A Flying Tiger Line Super Constellation disappears in the western Pacific Ocean, with 107 people missing.
- 1968 - Vietnam War: In the My Lai massacre, between 350 and 500 Vietnamese villagers -- men, women, and children -- are killed by American troops.
- 1969 - A Venezuelan Airlines DC-9 crashes shortly after takeoff in Maracaibo, Venezuela killing 155
- 1972 - The first building of the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex is demolished.
- 1978 - Aldo Moro is kidnapped by left-wing urban guerrillas in Italy and is later killed by his captors.
- 1983 - Demolition of the radio tower Ismaning, the last radio tower in Germany built of wood.
- 1984 - William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later dies in captivity.
- 1985 - Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He would be released on December 4, 1991.
- 1988 - Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
- 1988 - Halabja poison gas attack: The Kurdish town of Halabjah in Iraq was attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents, killing thousands of people.
- 1993 - A blizzard on the east coast of the United States kills 184 (see Great Blizzard of 1993).
- 1994 - Tonya Harding pleads guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for trying to cover-up an attack on figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan.
- 1997 - Stuart Appleby wins the Honda Golf Classic.
- 2002 - Closing ceremonies of the Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
- 2003 - Largest coordinated worldwide vigil, as part of the global protests against Iraq war.
- 2006 - Planned release date of the computer role-playing game Final Fantasy XII in Japan.
- 2880 - The predicted closest approach to Earth of near-Earth object (29075) 1950 DA which might impact Earth.

Births

- 1445 - Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, Swiss-born preacher (d. 1510)
- 1581 - Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian and writer (d. 1647)
- 1585 - Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero, Dutch writer (d. 1618)
- 1631 - René Le Bossu, French critic (d. 1680)
- 1654 - Andreas Acoluthus, German orientalist (d. 1704)
- 1750 - Caroline Herschel, German-born English astronomer (d. 1848)
- 1751 - James Madison, 4th President of the United States (d. 1836)
- 1774 - Captain Matthew Flinders, English explorer of the coasts of Australia (d. 1814)
- 1789 - Georg Simon Ohm, German physicist (d. 1854)
- 1800 - Emperor Ninko of Japan, (b. 1846)
- 1829 - René François Armand Sully-Prudhomme, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
- 1834 - James Hector, Scottish geologist (d. 1907)
- 1840 - Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (d. 1931)
- 1878 - Clemens August Graf von Galen, German archbishop and cardinal (d. 1946)
- 1878 - Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (d. 1941)
- 1889 - Reggie Walker, South African athlete (d. 1951)
- 1897 - Conrad Nagel, American actor (d. 1970)
- 1901 - Edward Pawley, American actor (d. 1988)
- 1902 - Leon Roppolo, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1943)
- 1903 - Mike Mansfield, American politician, and diplomat (d. 2001)
- 1905 - Elisabeth Flickenschildt, German actress (d. 1977)
- 1905 - Marlin Perkins, American naturalist (d. 1986)
- 1906 - Henny Youngman, American comedian (d. 1998)
- 1911 - Josef Mengele, Nazi war criminal (d. 1979)
- 1912 - Pat Nixon, First Lady of the United States (d. 1993)
- 1916 - Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (d. 2004)
- 1918 - Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
- 1920 - Leo McKern, British actor (d. 2002)
- 1926 - Charles Goodell, American politician, (d. 1987)
- 1926 - Jerry Lewis, American comedian
- 1928 - Christa Ludwig, German mezzo-soprano
- 1927 - Vladimir Komarov, cosmonaut (d. 1967)
- 1927 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator from New York (d. 2003)
- 1927 - Olga San Juan, American comedienne
- 1932 - Don Blasingame, Major League Baseball and Japanese baseball manager (d. 2005)
- 1932 - Walter Cunningham, astronaut
- 1934 - Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor-General of Canada (d. 2002)
- 1939 - Carlos Bilardo, Argetinian football coach and player
- 1940 - Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian film director
- 1940 - Chuck Woolery, American game show host
- 1941 - Robert Guéï, military ruler of Côte d'Ivoire (d. 2002)
- 1942 - James Soong, Taiwanese politician
- 1942 - Jerry Jeff Walker, American musician
- 1948 - Margaret Weis, American author
- 1949 - Erik Estrada, Puerto Rican actor
- 1949 - Victor Garber, Canadian actor
- 1950 - Kate Nelligan, Canadian actress
- 1952 - Philippe Kahn, French-American entrepreneur
- 1953 - Isabelle Huppert, French actress
- 1953 - Richard Stallman, American free software activist
- 1954 - Jimmy Nail, British actor and singer
- 1954 - Nancy Wilson, American guitarist, singer, and actress (Heart)
- 1955 - Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
- 1959 - Flavor Flav, American rapper
- 1959 - Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway
- 1963 - Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor (d. 2002)
- 1964 - Patty Griffin, American singer and songwriter
- 1967 - Lauren Graham, American actress
- 1970 - Stephen Martin, Canadian livejournaler
- 1971 - Alan Tudyk, American actor
- 1980 - Todd Heap, American football player
- 1981 - Andrew Bree, Irish swimmer

Deaths

- 37 - Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar,Roman Emperor (b. 46 BC)
- 455 - Valentinian III, Roman Emperor (b. 419)
- 1072 - Adalbert of Hamburg, German archbishop
- 1322 - Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b. 1276)
- 1485 - Anne Neville, queen of Richard III of England (b. 1456)
- 1559 - Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1496)
- 1649 - Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1593)
- 1679 - John Leverett, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1616)
- 1721 - James Craggs the Elder, English politician (b. 1657)
- 1736 - Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer, (b. 1710)
- 1737 - Benjamin Wadsworth, American President of Harvard University (b. 1670)
- 1738 - George Bähr, German architect (b. 1666)
- 1898 - Aubrey Beardsley, British artist (b. 1872)
- 1903 - Judge Roy Bean, American jurist and pioneer
- 1914 - Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1843)
- 1930 - Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish dictator (b. 1870)
- 1935 - John James Richard Macleod, Scottish-born physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
- 1940 - Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
- 1945 - Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (b. 1874)
- 1957 - Constantin Brancusi, Romanian sculptor (b. 1876)
- 1968 - Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (b. 1895)
- 1970 - Tammi Terrell, American singer (b. 1946)
- 1971 - Thomas Dewey, American Presidential candidate (b. 1902)
- 1975 - T-Bone Walker, American musician (b. 1910)
- 1977 - Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (b. 1917)
- 1979 - Jean Monnet, French politician (b. 1888)
- 1983 - Arthur Godfrey, American actor and television host (b. 1903)
- 1996 - Charlie Barnett, American actor (b. 1954)
- 1998 - Derek Harold Richard Barton, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- 2001 - Norma MacMillan, American voice actress (b. 1921)
- 2003 - Rachel Corrie, American political activist (b. 1979)

Holidays and observances

- Latvia - The controversial Latvia Legions is celebrated in Latvia, where about 140,000 men joined the Waffen SS National Legions during World War II, trying to defend Latvia. Since February 23, 2000, this day is no longer an official celebration day.
- St. Urho's Day - the fictional patron saint of Finnish immigrants to the US, created by Richard Mattson in 1956
- The first day of the Bacchanalia in ancient Rome

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/16 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/3/16 Today in History: March 16] ---- March 15 - March 17 - February 16 - April 16 -- listing of all days ko:3월 16일 ms:16 Mac ja:3月16日 simple:March 16 th:16 มีนาคม

1410

Events

- July 15 – Battle of Grunwald (a.k.a. Tannenberg or Zalgiris). Polish-Lithuanian forces under the cousins Władysław Jagiełło of Poland and Witowt of Lithuania decisively defeat the forces of the Teutonic Knights, whose power is broken
- Jan Hus is excommunicated by the Archbishop of Prague.

Births

- William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness (died 1484)
- Johannes Ockeghem, Dutch composer (approximate date; died 1497)
- Conrad Paumann, German organist and composer (approximate date; died 1473)
- Masuccio Salernitano, Italian poet (died 1475)
- Vecchietta, Sienese painter, sculptor and architect (approximate date; died 1480)

Deaths

- March 16 - John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset
- May 3 - Pope Alexander V
- May 31 - King Martin I of Aragon (born 1356)
- July 15 - Ulrich von Jungingen, German Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (killed in battle) (born 1360)
- Beatrice of Portugal, queen of John I of Castile (born 1372)
- John Badby, English martyr
- Louis II, Duke of Bourbon (born 1337)
- John Gower, English poet (born 1330)
- Isabella of Valois, Princess of France (born 1387)
- Matthew of Krakow, Polish reformer (born 1335)
- Rupert of Germany, Count Palatine of the Rhine (born 1352) Category:1410 ko:1410년

John of Gaunt

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (June 24, 1340–February 3, 1399) was 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 at Ghent in 1340. The fabulously wealthy Gaunt exercised tremendous influence over the throne during the minority reign of his nephew, Richard II, and during the ensuing periods of political strife, but took care not to be openly associated with opponents of the King. John of Gaunt's legitimate male heirs, the Lancasters, included Kings Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI. John of Gaunt's illegitimate heirs, the Beauforts, later married into the House of Tudor, which ascended to the throne in the person of Henry VII. In addition, Gaunt's legitimate descendants included his daughters Philippa of Lancaster, Queen consort of John I of Portugal and mother of King Edward of Portugal, Elizabeth, Duchess of Exeter, the mother of John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter, and Katherine of Lancaster, Queen consort of Henry III of Castile, a grand-daughter of Peter I of Castile and the mother of John II of Castile. When John of Gaunt died in 1399, his estates were declared forfeit to the crown, as Richard II had exiled John's less diplomatic heir, Henry Bolingbroke, in 1398. Bolingbroke returned and deposed the unpopular Richard, to reign as King Henry IV of England (1399–1413), the first of the descendants of John of Gaunt to hold the throne of England.

Duke of Lancaster

John was created Duke of Lancaster in 1362, following the death of his father-in-law Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster. He received half of Henry's lands, the title Earl of Lancaster, and the distinction as the greatest landowner in the north of England, because of his first marriage to his cousin, Blanche of Lancaster (1359), heiress to the Palatinate of Lancaster. John received the rest of the inheritance only when Blanche's sister, Maud (married to William of Hainault, Count of Holland and Zealand), died in 1361. Gaunt received the title "Duke of Lancaster" from Edward III on 13 November 1382. John was by then well-established as a fabulously wealthy prince, owning at least thirty castles and vast estates across England and France. His household was comparable in scale and organisation to that of a monarch. After the death of his elder brother, Edward, the Black Prince, John of Gaunt became increasingly powerful. He contrived to protect the religious reformer John Wyclif, with whose aims he sympathised. However, Gaunt's ascendancy to political power coincided with widespread resentment at 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 success on the battlefield, John of Gaunt had never known any such military success, which might have bolstered his reputation. When King Edward III died in 1377 and John's ten-year-old nephew succeeded to the throne as Richard II of England, Gaunt'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; but 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 1386, Richard, who had by now assumed more power for himself, dispatched Gaunt to Spain as an ambassador. 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, 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 became much restored. Gaunt died of natural causes on February 3, 1399 at Leicester Castle, with his beloved third wife Katherine by his side.

Marriages and descendants

Blanche died in 1369. It is believed the poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote and dedicated his "Book of the Duchess" to her, as the poem not only mentions the Black Knight, but the "Lady White"; whom we can take to be Blanche, in allegory. In 1371, John married Constanza of Castile, daughter of King Peter I of Castile, thus giving him a claim upon the kingdom of Castile, which he would pursue unsuccessfully. In the meantime, John of Gaunt had fathered four children by a mistress, Katherine Swynford (whose sister married Geoffrey Chaucer). Constanza died in 1394. He married Katherine in 1396 or 1397, and their children, the Beauforts, were 'legitimised' but barred from inheriting the throne. From the eldest son, John, came a granddaughter, Margaret Beaufort, whose son, later King Henry VII of England, would nevertheless claim the throne. John of Gaunt's legitimate son from his first marriage, Henry Bolingbroke, proved less of a diplomat than his father; and Richard II banished Henry from the kingdom in 1398. When John of Gaunt died in 1399, his estates were declared forfeit to the crown. This caused Bolingbroke to return; he deposed the unpopular Richard, to reign as King Henry IV of England (1399–1413).

Children of John of Gaunt

- By Blanche of Lancaster:
- Philippa Plantagenet (1360–1426), married King John I of Portugal (1357–1433)
- John Plantagenet (1362–1365)
- Elizabeth Plantagenet (1364–1426), married (1) John Hastings, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (1372–1389); (2) John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter (1350-1400); (3) Sir John Cornwall, 1st Baron Fanhope and Lord Milbrook (d. 1443)
- Edward Plantagenet (1365–1368)
- John Plantagenet (1366–136x)
- Henry IV of England (1367–1413), married (1) Mary de Bohun (1369–1394); (2) Joanna of Navarre (1368–1437)
- Isabel Plantagenet (1368–136x)
- By Constanza of Castile:
- Catalina (Catherine) Plantagenet (1372–1418), married King Henry III of Castile (1379–1406)
- John Plantagenet (1372–1375)
- By Katherine Swynford:
- John Beaufort (1373–1410), Earl of Somerset, married Margaret Holland (1385-1429)
- Henry Cardinal Beaufort (1375–1447)
- Thomas Beaufort (1377–1426), Duke of Exeter, married Margaret Neville
- Joan Beaufort (1379–1440), married (1) Robert Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Wemme (d. 1396); (2) Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmoreland (1364–1425)

Popular culture

The Lancaster city centre has a pub called The John O'Gaunt, noted for its live jazz music and its large collection of whiskies. An administrative ward on the city council also bears the name. In William Shakespeare's play Richard II, the famous England speech is attributed to John of Gaunt as he lay on his deathbed. :This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, :This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, :This other Eden, demi-paradise, :This fortress built by Nature for herself :Against infection and the hand of war, :This happy breed of men, this little world, :This precious stone set in the silver sea, :Which serves it in the office of a wall, :Or as a moat defensive to a house, :Against the envy of less happier lands, :This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England, :This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings, :Fear'd by their breed and famous by their earth ::—Act II, scene i, 42–54 [http://wikisource.org/wiki/The_Tragedy_of_King_Richard_the_Second#SCENE_I._London._An_Apartment_in_Ely_House. The Tragedy of King Richard II] at Wikisource

Links

[http://www.johnofgaunt.de Information about John of Gaunt] Category:1340 births Category:1399 deaths Category:House of Lancaster Category:Lord High Stewards Category:Knights of the Garter Category:Dukes in the Peerage of England ja:ジョン・オブ・ゴーント

Duke of Lancaster

There were several Dukes of Lancaster in the 14th and early 15th Centuries. See also Duchy of Lancaster. There were three creations of the Dukedom of Lancaster. The first Duke of Lancaster was Henry of Grosmont (c. 1306–1361), a great-grandson of Henry III; he was the 4th Earl of Lancaster before he was created the 1st Duke of Lancaster on March 6, 1351. His daughter Blanche married John of Gaunt, a son of King Edward III, and on November 13, 1362 John became the 1st Duke of Lancaster of the second creation. Upon John of Gaunt's death on February 4, 1399, the title passed to his son Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, who became the 2nd Duke of Lancaster. Later that same year, Bolingbroke usurped the throne of England from King Richard II, ascending the throne as Henry IV. On November 10, 1399, the new king created his eldest son, Harry of Monmouth Duke of Lancaster. When Harry ascended the throne as Henry V in 1413, the title merged again with the crown, with which it has remained ever since. The Duchy of Lancaster, however, continues to exist as a separate entity from the Crown Estate, one of only two Duchies in the United Kingdom, and currently provides income for the monarch, Elizabeth II.

Dukes of Lancaster, First Creation (1351)

# Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster (d. 1361)

Dukes of Lancaster, Second Creation (1362)

# John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (1350–1399) # Henry Bolingbroke, 2nd Duke of Lancaster (1367–1413) (became King in 1399)

Dukes of Lancaster, Third Creation (1399)

# Henry of Monmouth, Duke of Lancaster (1387–1422) (became King in 1413) Lancaster Lancaster

Katherine Swynford

s ("roet" means "wheel") on a red background.]] Katherine (or Katharine or Catherine) (c. 1350 – 1403) was the daughter of Payne (or Paen) de Roet (or Rouet or Roelt) a Flemish herald from Hainault who was knighted just before dying in the wars, leaving Katherine and her older sister Philippa, as well as a brother, Walter, and eldest sister, Isabel (Elizabeth) de Roet, (who died chanoinness of the convent of St. Waudru's, Mons, c. 1366). About the year 1366, at the age of 16, Katherine married Hugh Swynford or Synford, an English knight from the manor of Kettlethorpe in Lincolnshire, and bore him at least two children (Blanch, Thomas, and likely the Margaret Swynford who was nominated a nun at the prestigious Barking Abbey by the command of Richard II in 1377) before he, too, died in the European wars. She then became attached to the household of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, ostensibly as governess to his two daughters (the sisters of the future Henry IV of England) by his first wife Blanche, but eventually she became his official mistress. Katherine's sister Philippa married the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, whose poem The Book of the Duchess commemorated Blanche's death in about 1369. Long after the death of his second wife Constance (or Constanza) of Castile, John and Katherine married in January 1396, three years before he died. The four children Katherine had borne John of Gaunt had been given the surname "Beaufort" and were already adults when they were legitimized (but barred from inheriting the throne by a clause inserted by half-brother Henry IV well into the latter's reign) in 1390:
- John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset.
- Henry Cardinal Beaufort.
- Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter.
- Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland. Westmorland Westmorland Her son John was the great-grandfather of Henry VII of England and the grandfather of James II of Scotland; her daughter Joan Beaufort was the grandmother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England, whom Henry VII defeated to take the throne. (Henry then married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, and their son became Henry VIII of England). Her step-son became Henry IV of England by deposing Richard II of England (who was imprisoned and died shortly thereafter, in Pontefract Castle, where Katherine's son Thomas Swynford was constable, and he was said to have starved Richard to death for his step-brother); her step-daughter, John and Constance's daughter Catherine (or Catalina), was the great-grandmother of Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII of England and mother of Mary I of England. Katherine survived John by only four years, dying on May 10, 1403. (Since she was then dowager Duchess of Lancaster, there was a record of the exact day, as there was not for her birth, when she was a nobody.) Her tomb, and that of her daughter Joan Beaufort, are under a carved-stone canopy in the sanctuary of Lincoln Cathedral, but their remains are no longer in them, because the tombs were despoiled in 1644, during the English Civil War, by the Roundheads. Katherine Swynford is the subject of Anya Seton's novel Katherine (first published in 1954). Swynford, Katherine Swynford, Katherine Swynford, Katherine Swynford, Katherine ; External links [http://www.katherineswynfordsociety.org.uk The Katherine Swynford Society]

1373

Events

- Bristol is made an independent county.
- May 8 - Julian of Norwich receives sixteen revelations of divine love
- Anglo-portuguese Alliance signed

Births

- April 11 - Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (died 1398)
- Robert Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Wemme (died 1396)
- Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York (died 1415)

Deaths

Anjou

: Anjou is a former county (c.880), duchy (1360) and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire. Its political origin is traced to the ancient Gallic state of the Andes, on the lines of which was organized, after the conquest by Julius Caesar, the Roman civitas of the Andecavi. This was afterward preserved as an administrative district under the Franks with the name first of pagus, then of comitatus, or countship of Anjou. This countship, the extent of which seems to have been practically identical with that of the ecclesiastical diocese of Angers, occupied the greater part of what is now the départment of Maine-et-Loire, further embracing, to the north, Craon, Bazouges (Château-Gontier), Le Lude, and to the east, Château-la-Vallière and Bourgueil, while to the south, on the other hand, it included neither the present town of Montreuil-Bellay, nor Vihiers, Cholet, Beaupréau, nor the whole district lying to the west of the Ironne and Thouet, on the left bank of the Loire, which formed the territory of the Mauges. It was bounded on the north by the countship of Maine, on the east by that of Touraine, on the south by that of Poitiers and by the Mauges, on the west by the countship of Nantes. From the outset of the reign of Charles the Bald, the integrity of Anjou was seriously menaced by a two-fold danger: from Brittany and from Normandy. Lambert, a former count of Nantes, after devastating Anjou in concert with Nominoé, duke of Brittany, had by the end of the year 851 succeeded in occupying all the western part as far as the Mayenne. The principality, which he thus carved out for himself, was occupied, on his death, by Erispoé, duke of Brittany; by him it was handed down to his successors, in whose hands it remained until the beginning of the 10th century. All this time the Normans had not ceased ravaging the country; a brave man was needed to defend it, and finally towards 861, Charles the Bald entrusted it to Robert the Strong, but Robert unfortunately met with his death in 866 in a battle against the Normans at Brissarthe. Hugh the Abbot succeeded him in the countship of Anjou as in most of his other duties, and on his death (886) it passed to Odo, the eldest son of Robert the Strong, who, on his accession to the throne of France (888), probably handed it over to his brother Robert. In any case, during the last years of the 9th century, in Anjou as elsewhere the power was delegated to a viscount, Fulk the Red (mentioned under this title after 898), son of a certain Ingelgerius. In the second quarter of the 10th century Fulk the Red had already usurped the title of count, which his descendants kept for three centuries. He was succeeded first by his son Fulk II the Good (941 or 942--c. 960), and then by the son of the latter, Geoffrey I Grisegonelle (Greytunic) (c. 960-July 21 987), who inaugurated a policy of expansion, having as its objects the extension of the boundaries of the ancient countship and the reconquest of those parts of it which had been annexed by the neighbouring states; for, though western Anjou had been recovered from the dukes of Brittany since the beginning of the 10th century, in the east all the district of Saumur had already by that time fallen into the hands of the counts of Blois and Tours. Geoffrey Greytunic succeeded in making the count of Nantes his vassal, and in obtaining from the duke of Aquitaine the concession in fief of the district of Loudun. Moreover, in the wars of King Lothaire against the Normans and against the emperor Otto II he distinguished himself by feats of arms which the epic poets were quick to celebrate. His son Fulk III Nerra (July 21 987-June 21, 1040) found himself confronted on his accession with a coalition of Odo I, count of Blois, and Conan I of Rennes. The latter having seized upon Nantes, of which the counts of Anjou held themselves to be suzerains, Fulk Nerra came and laid siege to it, routing Conan's army at the battle of Conquereuil (27th of June 992) and re-establishing Nantes under his own suzerainty. Then turning his attention to the count of Blois, he proceeded to establish a fortress at Langeais, a few miles from Tours, from which, thanks to the intervention of the king Hugh Capet, Odo failed to oust him. On the death of Odo I, Fulk seized Tours (996); but King Robert the Pious turned against him and took the town again (997). In 1016 a fresh struggle arose between Fulk and Odo II, the new count of Blois. Odo II was utterly defeated at Pontlevoy (6th of July 1016), and a few years later, while Odo was besieging Montboyau, Fulk surprised and took Saumur (1026). Finally, the victory gained by Geoffrey Martel (2lst of June 1040-14th of November 1060), the son and successor of Fulk, over Theobald III, count of Blois, at Nouy (21st of August 1044), assured to the Angevins the possession of the countship of Touraine. At the same time, continuing in this quarter also the work of his father (who in 1025 took prisoner Herbert Wakedog and only set him free on condition of his doing him homage), Geoffrey succeeded in reducing the countship of Maine to complete dependence on himself. During his father's life-time he had been beaten by Gervais, bishop of Le Mans (1038), but later (1047 or 1048) succeeded in taking the latter prisoner, for which he was excommunicated by Pope Leo IX at the council of Reims (October 1049). In spite, however, of the concerted attacks of William the Bastard (the Conqueror), duke of Normandy, and Henry I of France, he was able in 1051 to force Maine to recognize his authority, though failing to revenge himself on William. On the death of Geoffrey Martel (14th of November 1060) there was a dispute as to the succession. Geoffrey Martel, having no children, had bequeathed the countship to his eldest nephew, Geoffrey III the Bearded, son of Geoffrey, count of Gâtinais, and of Ermengarde, daughter of Fulk Nerra. But Fulk le Réchin (the Cross-looking), brother of Geoffrey the Bearded, who had at first been contented with an appanage consisting of Saintonge and the châtellenie of Vihiers, having allowed Saintonge to be taken in 1062 by the duke of Aquitaine, took advantage of the general discontent aroused in the countship by the unskilful policy of Geoffrey to make himself master of Saumur (25th of February 1067) and Angers (4th of April), and cast Geoffrey into prison at Sablé. Compelled by the papal authority to release him after a short interval and to restore the countship to him, he soon renewed the struggle, beat Geoffrey near Brissac and shut him up in the castle of Chinon (1068). In order, however, to obtain his recognition as count, Fulk IV Réchin (1068-14th of April 1109) had to carry on a long struggle with his barons, to cede Gâtinais to King Philip I, and to do homage to the count of Blois for Touraine. On the other hand, he was successful on the whole in pursuing the policy of Geoffrey Martel in Maine: after destroying La Flèche, by the peace of Blanchelande (1081), he received the homage of Robert Curthose ("Courteheuse"), son of William the Conqueror, for Maine. Later, he upheld Elias, lord of La Flèche, against William Rufus, king of England, and on the recognition of Elias as count of Maine in 1100, obtained for Fulk V the Young, his son by Bertrade de Montfort, the hand of Eremburge, Elias's daughter and sole heiress. Fulk V the Young (14th of April 1109-1129) succeeded to the countship of Maine on the death of Elias (11th of July 1110); but this increase of Angevin territory came into such direct collision with the interests of Henry I of England, who was also duke of Normandy, that a struggle between the two powers became inevitable. In 1112 it broke out, and Fulk, being unable to prevent Henry I from taking Alençon and making Robert, lord of Bellême, prisoner, was forced, at the treaty of Pierre Pecoulée, near Alençon (23rd of February 1113), to do homage to Henry for Maine. In revenge for this, while Louis VI was overrunning the Vexin in 1118, he routed Henry's army at Alençon (November), and in May 1119 Henry demanded a peace, which was sealed in June by the marriage of his eldest son, William the Aetheling, with Matilda, Fulk's daughter. William the Aetheling having perished in the wreck of the White Ship (25th of November 1120), Fulk, on his return from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (1120-1121), married his second daughter Sibyl, at the instigation of Louis VI, to William Clito, son of Robert Curthose, and a claimant to the duchy of Normandy, giving her Maine for a dowry (1122 or 1123). Henry I managed to have the marriage annulled, on the plea of kinship between the parties (1123 or 1124). But in 1127 a new alliance was made, and on 22 May at Rouen, Henry I betrothed his daughter Matilda, widow of the emperor Henry V, to Geoffrey the Handsome, son of Fulk, the marriage being celebrated at Le Mans on 2 June 1129. Shortly after, on the invitation of Baldwin II of Jerusalem, Fulk departed to the Holy Land for good, married Melisinda, Baldwin's daughter and heiress, and succeeded to the throne of Jerusalem (14th of September 1131). His eldest son, Geoffrey V the Handsome or "Plantagenet," succeeded him as count of Anjou (1129-7th of September 1151). From the first he tried to profit by his marriage, and after the death of Henry I (1st of December 1135), laid the foundation of the conquest of Normandy by a series of campaigns: about the end of 1135 or the beginning of 1136 he entered that country and rejoined his wife, the countess Matilda, who had received the submission of Argentan, Domfront and Exmes. Having been abruptly recalled into Anjou by a revolt of his barons, he returned to the charge in September 1136 with a strong army, including in its ranks William, duke of Aquitaine, Geoffrey, count of Vendôme, and William Talvas, count of Ponthieu, but after a few successes was wounded in the foot at the siege of Le Sap (October 1) and had to fall back. In May 1137 began a fresh campaign in which he devastated the district of Hiémois (round Exmes) and burnt Bazoches. In June 1138, with the aid of Robert of Gloucester, Geoffrey obtained the submission of Bayeux and Caen; in October he devastated the neighbourhood of Falaise; finally, in March 1141, on hearing of his wife's success in England, he again entered Normandy, when he made a triumphal procession through the country. Town after town surrendered: in 1141, Verneuil, Nonancourt, Lisieux, Falaise; in 1142, Mortain, Saint-Hilaire, Pontorson; in 1143, Avranches, Saint-Lô, Cérences, Coutances, Cherbourg; in the beginning of 1144 he entered Rouen, and on 19 January received the ducal crown in its cathedral. Finally, in 1149, after crushing a last attempt at revolt, he handed over the duchy to his son Henry "Curtmantel," who received the investiture at the hands of the king of France. All the while that Fulk the Young and Geoffrey the Handsome were carrying on the work of extending the countship of Anjou, they did not neglect to strengthen their authority at home, to which the unruliness of the barons was a menace. As regards Fulk the Young we know only a few isolated facts and dates: about 1109 Doué and L'Île Bouchard were taken; in 1112 Brissac was besieged, and about the same time Eschivard of Preuilly subdued; in 1114 there was a general war against the barons who were in revolt, and in 1118 a fresh rising, which was put down after the siege of Montbazon: in 1123 the lord of Doué revolted, and in 1124 Montreuil-Bellay was taken after a siege of nine weeks. Geoffrey the Handsome, with his indefatigable energy, was eminently fitted to suppress the coalitions of his vassals, the most formidable of which was formed in 1129. Among those who revolted were Guy of Laval, Giraud of Montreuil-Bellay, the viscount of Thouars, the lords of Mirebeau, Amboise, Partbenay and Sablé. Geoffrey succeeded in beating them one after another, razed the keep of Thouars and occupied Mirebeau. Another rising was crushed in 1134 by the destruction of Cand and the taking of L'Île Bouchard. In 1136, while the count was in Normandy, Robert of Sable put himself at the head of the movement, to which Geoffrey responded by destroying Briollay and occupying La Suze, and Robert of Sable himself was forced to beg humbly for pardon through the intercession of the bishop of Angers. In 11391 Geoffrey took Mirebeau, and in 1142 Champtoceaux, but in 1145 a new revolt broke out, this time under the leadership of Elias, the count's own brother, who, again with the assistance of Robert of Sable, laid claim to the countship of Maine. Geoffrey took Elias prisoner, forced Robert of Sable to beat a retreat, and reduced the other barons to reason. In 1147 he destroyed Doue and Blaison. Finally in 1150 he was checked by the revolt of Giraud, lord of Montreuil-Bellay: for a year he besieged the place until it had to surrender: he then took Giraud prisoner and only released him on the mediation of the king of France. Thus, on the death of Geoffrey the Handsome (7th of September 1151), his son Henry found himself heir to a great empire, strong and consolidated, to which his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine (May 1152) further added Aquitaine. At length on the death of King Stephen, Henry was recognised as king of England (19th of December 1154). But then his brother Geoffrey, who had received as appanage the three fortresses of Chinon, Loudun and Mirebeau, tried to seize upon Anjou, on the pretext that, by the will of their father, Geoffrey the Handsome, all the paternal inheritance ought to descend to him, if Henry succeeded in obtaining possession of the maternal inheritance. On hearing of this, Henry, although he had sworn to observe this will, had himself released from his oath by the pope, and hurriedly marched against his brother, from whom in the beginning of 1156 he succeeded in taking Chinon and Mirebeau; and in July he forced Geoffrey to give up even his three fortresses in return for an annual pension. Henceforward Henry succeeded in keeping the countship of Anjou all his life; for though he granted it in 1168 to his son Henry the Young King when the latter became old enough to govern it, he absolutely refused to allow him to enjoy his power. After Henry II's death in 1189 the countship, together with the rest of his dominions, passed to his son Richard I of England, but on the death of the latter in 1199, Arthur of Brittany (born in 1187) laid claim to the inheritance, which ought, according to him, to have fallen to his father Geoffrey, fourth son of Henry II, in accordance with the custom by which "the son of the eldest brother should succeed to his father's patrimony." He therefore set himself up in rivalry with John Lackland, youngest son of Henry II, and supported by Philip Augustus of France, and aided by William des Roches, seneschal of Anjou, he managed to enter Angers (18th of April 1199) and there have himself recognized as count of the three countships of Anjou, Maine and Touraine, for which he did homage to the king of France. King John soon regained the upper hand, for Philip Augustus having deserted Arthur by the treaty of Le Goulet (22nd of May 1200), John made his way into Anjou; and on 18 June 1200 was recognized as count at Angers. In 1202 he refused to do homage to Philip Augustus, who, in consequence, confiscated all his continental possessions, including Anjou, which was allotted by the king of France to Arthur. The defeat of the latter, who was taken prisoner at Mirebeau on the ist of August 1202, seemed to ensure John's success, but he was abandoned by William des Roches, who in 1203 assisted Philip Augustus in subduing the whole of Anjou. A last effort on the part of John to possess himself of it, in 1214, led to the taking of Angers (17th of June), but broke down lamentably at the battle of La Roche-aux-Moines (2nd of July), and the countship was attached to the crown of France. Shortly afterwards it was separated from it again, when in August 1246 King Louis IX gave it as an appanage to his nephew Charles, count of Provence, soon to become king of Naples and Sicily. Charles I of Anjou, engrossed with his other dominions, gave little thought to Anjou, nor did his son Charles II, the Lame, who succeeded him on 7 January 1285. On the l6th of August 1290, the latter married his daughter Margaret to Charles of Valois, son of Philip III the Bold, giving her Anjou and Maine for dowry, in exchange for the kingdoms of Aragon and Valentia and the countship of Barcelona given up by Charles. Charles of Valois at once entered into possession of the countship of Anjou, to which Philip IV, the Fair, in September 1297, attached a peerage of France. On 16 December 1325, Charles died, leaving Anjou to his eldest son Philip of Valois, on whose recognition as king of France (Philip VI) on 1 April 1328, the countship of Anjou was again united to the crown. On 17 February 1332, Philip VI bestowed it on his son John the Good, who, when he became king in turn (22nd of August 1350), gave the countship to his second son Louis I, raising it to a duchy in the peerage of France by letters patent of 25 October 1360. Louis I, who became in time count of Provence and king of Naples, died in 1384, and was succeeded by his son Louis II, who devoted most of his energies to his kingdom of Naples, and left the administration of Anjou almost entirely in the hands of his wife, Yolande of Aragon. On his death (29th of April 1417) she took upon herself the guardianship of their young son Louis III, and in her capacity of regent defended the duchy against the English. Louis III, who also succeeded his father as king of Naples, died on 15 November 1434, leaving no children. The duchy of Anjou then passed to his cousin René, second son of Louis II and Yolande of Aragon, and king of Naples and Sicily. Unlike his predecessors, who had rarely stayed long in Anjou, René from 1443 onwards paid long visits to it, and his court at Angers became one of the most brilliant in the kingdom of France. But after the sudden death of his son John in December 1470, Rene, for reasons which are not altogether clear, decided to move his residence to Provence and leave Anjou for good. After making an inventory of all his possessions, he left the duchy in October 1471, taking with him the most valuable of his treasures. On 22 July 1474 he drew up a will by which he divided the succession between his grandson René II of Lorraine and his nephew Charles II, count of Maine. On hearing this, King Louis XI, who was the son of one of King René's sisters, seeing that his expectations were thus completely frustrated, seized the duchy of Anjou. He did not keep it very long, but became reconciled to René in 1476 and restored it to him, on condition, probably, that René should bequeath it to him. However that may be, on the death of the latter (10th of July 1480) he again added Anjou to the royal domain. Later, King Francis I again gave the duchy as an appanage to his mother, Louise of Savoy, by letters patent of 4 February 1515. On her death, in September 1531, the duchy returned into the king's possession. In 1552 it was given as an appanage by Henry II to his son Henry of Valois, who, on becoming king in 1574, with the title of Henry III, conceded it to his brother Francis, duke of Alençon, at the treaty of Beaulieu near Loches (6th of May 1576). Francis died on 10 June 1584, and the vacant appanage definitively became part of the royal domain. At first Anjou was included in the gouvernement (or military command) of Orléanais, but in the 17th century was made into a separate one. Saumur, however, and the Saumurois, for which King Henry IV had in 1589 created an independent military governor-generalship in favour of Duplessis-Mornay, continued till the Revolution to form a separate gouvernement, which included, besides Anjou, portions of Poitou and Mirebalais. Attached to the généralité (administrative circumscription) of Tours, Anjou on the eve of the Revolution comprised five êlections (judicial districts):--Angers, Beaugé, Saumur, Château-Gontier, Montreuil-Bellay and part of the êlections of La Flèche and Richelieu. Financially it formed part of the so-called pays de grande gabelle, and comprised sixteen special tribunals, or greniers à sel (salt warehouses):--Angers, Beaugé, Beaufort, Bourgueil, Candé, Château-Gontier, Cholet, Craon, La Flèche, Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, Ingrandes, Le Lude, Pouancé, Saint-Remy-la-Varenne, Richelieu, Saumur. From the point of view of purely judicial administration, Anjou was subject to the parlement of Paris; Angers was the seat of a presidial court, of which the jurisdiction comprised the sénéchaussées of Angers, Saumur, Beaugé, Beaufort and the duchy of Richelieu; there were besides presidial courts at Château-Gontier and La Flèche. When the Constituent Assembly, on 26 February 1790, decreed the division of France into départments, Anjou and the Saumurois, with the exception of certain territories, formed the départment of Maine-et-Loire, as at present constituted. __NOTOC__

References

Principal sources

The history of Anjou may be told partly with the aid of the chroniclers of the neighbouring provinces, especially those of Normandy (William of Poitiers, William of Jumièges, Ordericus Vitalis) and of Maine (especially Actus pontificum Cenomannis in urbe degentium). For the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries especially, there are some important texts dealing entirely with Anjou. The most important is the chronicle called Gesta consulum Andegavorum, of which only a poor edition exists (Chroniques des comtes d'Anjou, published by Marchegay and Salmon, with an introduction by E. Mabille, Paris, 1856-1871, collection of the Société de l'histoire de France). See also with reference to this text Louis Halphen, Êtude sur les chroniques des comtes d'Anjou et des seigneurs d'Amboise (Paris, 1906). The above may be supplemented by some valuable annals published by Louis Halphen, Recueil d'annales angevines et vendómoises (Paris, 1903), (in the series Collection de textes pour servir à l'étude et à l'enseignement de l'histoire). For further details see Auguste Molinier, Les Sources de l'histoire de France (Paris, 1902), ii. 1276-1310, and the book of Louis Halphen mentioned below.

Works

The Art de vérifier les dates contains a history of Anjou which is very much out of date, but has not been treated elsewhere as a whole. The 11th century only has been treated in detail by Louis Halphen, in Le Comté d'Anjou au XI^e siècle (Paris, 1906), which has a preface with bibliography and an introduction dealing with the history of Anjou in the 10th century. For the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries, a good summary will be found in Kate Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings (2 vols., London, 1887). On René of Anjou, there is a book by A. Lecoy de la Marche, Le Roi René (2 vols., Paris, 1875). Lastly, the work of Célestin Port, Dictionnaire historique, géographique et biographique de Maine-et-Loire (3 vols., Paris and Angers, 1874-1878), and its small volume of Préliminaires (including a summary of the history of Anjou), contain, in addition to the biographies of the chief counts of Anjou, a mass of information concerning everything connected with Angevin history.

Richard II of England

: There is also a play entitled Richard II by Shakespeare. Richard II (January 6 1367 – February 14, 1400) was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent". He was born at Bordeaux and became his father's heir when his elder brother died in infancy. Out of the fact that Richard was born at Epiphany and that three kings were present at his birth came a legend that, despite being a second son, he was destined for great things. He became heir to the throne of England, and was created Prince of Wales, when the Black Prince died suddenly in 1376. The following year his grandfather King Edward III of England also died, leaving Richard as king at the age of only ten.

Richard's minority

Edward III of England John of Gaunt, his uncle, ruled on Richard's behalf for the first years of his reign and it was the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 that brought Richard into the limelight. It fell to him personally to negotiate with Wat Tyler and the other rebel leaders and their massed armed ranks of several thousand, which must undoubtedly have required some personal courage, aged only fourteen as he was. He offered pardon to the leaders of the rebellion, an offer that was rescinded as the ringleaders were eventually arrested and excecuted. It remains a matter of doubt as to whether Richard always intended this to happen, or whether he was eventually forced to go against his word by militant sections of the English nobility. Either way, his disingenuous tactics certainly had the desired effect of dispersing the rebel forces from the streets of London back to the shires whence they came and bringing the disorder to an end. The young king seemed to be showing great promise. As he matured into adulthood, however, he showed a striking inability to make the deals and compromises that were an essential aspect of 14th century politics and diplomacy, leading eventually to his downfall. In 1382 he married Anne of Bohemia, daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Elizabeth of Pomerania, but they had no children, and she died in 1394. Richard is said to have been devoted to her. In 1396 he married Princess Isabella of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France and Isabeau de Bavière, but their marriage was likewise without issue.

First crisis of 1387-88

As Richard began to take over thee business of government himself, he sidelined many of the established nobles, such as Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick , Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel and Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester. Instead he turned to his inner circle of favourites for his council, men such as his beloved Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford and Michael de la Pole whom Richard created Earl of Suffolk and made chancellor of England. The nobles he had snubbed formed the head of a group of the disaffected who called themselves the Lords Appellant. It should be made clear that the central tenet of their appeal was continued war with France against Richard's policy of peace, an aim that many of them pursued in the interests of personal gain rather than the interests of the nation. In 1387, the English Parliament under pressure from the Lords Appellant demanded that Richard remove his unpopular councillors. When he refused, he was told that since he was still a minor, a Council of Government would rule in his place. Richard had the Earl of Arundel, leader of the Lords Appellant, arrested, but Richard's small army led by de Vere was overpowered by the forces of the Lords Appellant outside Oxford, and Richard was apprehended in the Tower of London. Richard’s unpopular councillors were thus disposed of (eight were executed for treason in 1388 and others exiled), and he was forced to accept new ones. Richard was stripped of almost all his authority.

A fragile peace

In the years which followed, Richard appeared to have heeded the lessons of 1387 and became more cautious in his dealings with the barons. In 1390, a tournament was held to celebrate Richard’s coming of age and the apparent new-found harmony since Richard's uncle John of Gaunt's return from Spain to lead the Lords Appellant. Richard’s team of knights all wore the identical symbol – a white hart – which Richard had chosen for himself. Richard himself favoured genteel interests like fine food, insisting spoons be used at his court and inventing the handkerchief. He beautified Westminster Hall with a new ceiling and was a keen and cultured patron of the arts, architecture and literature. In this sense, he can be seen as an early example of what was later held up as a model Renaissance prince. However, his tastes were before his time and many began to see him as another Edward II figure, somehow unworthy of his warlike Plantagenet inheritance, with his delicate 'unkingly' tastes. Richard also lacked the thirst for battle of his grandfather: his Scottish campaign in 1385 was not decisive, and he signed a 28-year truce with France in 1396 which was hugely unpopular at home in spite of the dividends that peace brought to the kingdom. Richard's commitment to peace rather than war can also been seen in his first expedition to Ireland in 1394. He put forward a sensible policy based on the understanding that the Irish rebels were motivated largely by the grievances they had against absentee English landowners and that they were perhaps entitled to some redress in this regard. Those whom he labelled the "wild Irish" - native Irish who had not joined the rebel cause he treated with kindness and respect. Had this policy not been cut short by his usurpation, it is possible that Ireland might have been saved centuries of strife. In spite of his forward-thinking attitude to culture and the arts, Richard seems to have developed a passionate devotion to the old ideal of the Divine Right of Kings, feeling that he should be unquestioned and unfettered in the way he ran the kingdom. He became a stickler for tradition, insisting on being addressed as ‘majesty’ and ‘highness’ and sitting alone for hours wearing his crown; those addressing him were required to direct their eyes downwards in deference. After the death of his queen, Anne, in 1394 he became still more rigid. He commissioned the first royal portrait, a very solemn affair in which he looks downwards unsmiling. In The Wilton Diptych he was portrayed alongside the Anglo-Saxon saint kings St Edmund and Edward the Confessor, which reflected not only his attitude to his own kingship but his genuine religious devotion.

Second crisis of 1397-99 and Richard's deposition

In 1397 Richard decided to rid himself of the Lords Appellant who were confining his power, on the pretext of an aristocratic plot. Richard had the Earl of Arundel executed and Warwick exiled, while Gloucester died in captivity. Finally able to exert his autocratic authority over the kingdom, he purged all those he saw as not totally committed to him, fulfilling his own idea of becoming God’s chosen prince. Richard, however, was still childless. The heir to the throne was Roger Mortimer the Earl of March, grandson of Lionel of Antwerp, and after his death in 1398, his seven-year-old son Edmund Mortimer. However, Richard was more concerned with Gaunt's son and heir Henry Bolingbroke, whom he banished for ten years on a spurious pretext in 1399. After Gaunt's death, Richard also confiscated Bolingbroke's lands on the basis of his open disloyalty, distributing them among his own followers. Some historians have seen this as an act designed to bring greater harmony to England. Bolingbroke's inheritance was huge, large enough to be seen as a small state within the greater state of England and thus an obvious obstacle on the path of a unified and peaceful England. In any event, Richard was only following the policy of his forebears Henry II and Edward I in seizing the lands of a powerful noble to centralize power in the crown. Edward I At that point Richard left for a campaign in Ireland, allowing Bolingbroke to land in Yorkshire with an army provided by the King of France to reclaim his father's lands. Richard's autocratic ways were worrying too many nobles and deeply unpopular, and Bolingbroke soon had control of most of southern and eastern England. Bolingbroke had originally just wanted his inheritance and a reimposition of the power of the Lords Appellant, accepting Richard's right to be king and March's right to succeed him. But by the time Richard finally arrived back to the mainland in Wales a tide of discontent had swept England. In the King's absence, Bolingbroke, who was generally well-liked, was being urged to take the crown himself. Richard was captured at Conway Castle in Wales and taken to London where crowds pelted him with rubbish. He was held in the Tower of London and forced, eventually, to abdicate. He was brought, on his request, before parliament, where he officially renounced his crown and thirty-three official charges (including ‘vengeful sentences given against lords’) were made against him. He was not permitted to answer the charges. Parliament then accepted Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV) as the new king. Richard was placed in Pontefract Castle, and probably murdered (or starved to death) there in 1400. He was dead by February 17. Richard's body was displayed in the old St Paul's Cathedral for all to see that he was really dead, and he was then buried in Kings Langley Church. His coffin was badly designed, however, and it proved easy for disrespectful visitors to place their hands in to several openings in the coffin and interfere with what was inside. It is said that a schoolboy walked off with Richard's jawbone. Rumours that Richard was still alive persisted well into the reign of Henry V, who decided to have his body moved to its final resting place in Westminster Abbey with much ceremony in 1413.

Association with Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer served as a diplomat and Clerk of The King's Works for Richard II. Their relationship encompassed all of Richard's reign, and was apparently fruitful. In the decade before Chaucer's death, Richard granted him several gifts and annuities, including: twenty pounds a year for life in 1394, and 252 gallons of wine per year in 1397. Chaucer died October 25, 1400.

References

- Harvey, John (1948), (Revised Edition 1959), London: Collins Clear Type Press.
- Schama, Simon, A History of Britain 1 3000BC-ad1603 At the Edge of the World?, London: BBC Worldwide Ltd, ISBN 0563487143

Edward III of England

Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377) was one of the most successful English kings of medieval times. His fifty-year reign began when his father Edward II of England was deposed on 25 January 1327, and lasted until 1377. Among his immediate predecessors, only Henry III ruled as long, and it would be over 400 years before another monarch would occupy the throne for that duration. Edward's reign was marked by an expansion of English territory through wars in Scotland and France. Edward's parentage and his prodigious offspring provided the basis for two lengthy and significant events in British and European history, the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of the Roses, respectively.

Early life

Edward, the son of Edward II of England and Isabella of France, daughter of King Philip the Fair, was born in 1312 at Windsor Castle. In 1320, he was created Earl of Chester. In 1325, his father ceded the Duchy of Aquitaine to him, and the young Edward was sent to France along with his mother to meet his uncle, the French King Charles IV. Upon their return from France, the powerful Queen and her lover, Roger Mortimer, forced the weak and unpopular Edward II to abdicate, installing Edward III as king in 1327. Edward II was subsequently imprisoned (allegedly murdered, he was in fact well-treated in captivity), and Isabella and Roger Mortimer effectively ruled England during the young king's first few years on the throne.

Early reign

Edward III was crowned on 25 January 1327, at the age of 14, and married Philippa of Hainault in 1328. The couple eventually produced thirty seven children, including five sons who reached maturity. Their eldest son and Edward's heir, Edward the Black Prince, born in 1330, would become a famed military leader. In the same year as Edward's marriage, his uncle Charles IV of France died without male heirs, leaving a pregnant wife, thus making Edward (through Isabella) the senior surviving male descendant of King Philip IV, Charles' and Isabella's father, and potentially giving Edward the