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John Holland, 1st Duke Of Exeter

John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter

John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter (c. 1352 – January 16, 1400), also Earl of Huntingdon, was an English nobleman, primarily remembered for helping cause the downfall of Thomas of Woodstock and then for conspiring against Henry IV. He was the third son of Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent and Joan "the fair maid of Kent", daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, a son of Edward I. His mother later married Edward, the Black Prince. Holland was thus half-brother to Richard II, to whom he remained loyal the rest of his life. Early in Richard's reign, Holland was made a Knight of the Garter (1381). He was also part of the escort that accompanied the queen-to-be, Anne of Bohemia, on her trip to England. Holland had a violent temper, which got him in trouble several times. The most famous incident occurred during Richard II's 1385 expedition to Scotland. Ralph Stafford, eldest son of the Earl of Stafford, killed one of Holland's esquires. Stafford went to find Holland to apologize, but Holland killed him as soon as he identified himself. The king had Holland's lands seized. Their mother died during this time, it is said of grief at these events. Early the next year Holland reconciled with the Staffords, and had his property restored. Later in 1386 he married Elizabeth, daughter of John of Gaunt. He and Elizabeth then went on Gaunt's expedition to Spain, where Holland was constable of the English army. After his return to England he was created Earl of Huntingdon, on June 2, 1387. In 1389 he was appointed chamberlain of England for life, admiral of the fleet in the western seas, and constable of Tintagel Castle. During this time he also received large grants of land from the king. Over the next several years he held a number of additional offices: constable of Conway Castle (1394), governor of Carlisle (1395), and then governor and then constable-general of the west marches towards Scotland. His military servies were interrupted by a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1394 (which may be connected with his earlier troubles with the Staffords). Holland helped the king take down Thomas of Woodstock and Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel in 1397. He was rewarded by being created Duke of Exeter on September 29. He then went with Richard on the king's 1399 Ireland expedition. When they returned the king sent him to try to negotiate with Holland's brother-in-law Henry Bolingbroke. After Henry deposed Richard and took the throne (as Henry IV), he called to account those who had been involved in the downfall of Thomas of Woodstock, and in the end took away all rewards Richard had give them after Thomas' arrest. Thus Holland became again merely Earl of Huntingdon. Early the next year Holland entered into a conspiracy with his nephew Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, Thomas le Despenser, and others. Their aim was to assassinate king Henry and return Richard (who was in prison) to the throne. Their plot failed, Holland fled, but was caught and executed. Among those who witnessed the execution was Thomas Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel, son of the Earl of Arundel who Holland had arrested some years before. Holland's lands and titles were forfeited, but eventually they were restored for his second son John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter.

References

From Froissart's Chronicles: [http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/muhlberger/froissart/stafford.htm Sir John Holland kills Lord Ralph Stafford] Exeter, John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, John Holland, 1st Duke of

1352

Events

- June 4 - Glarus joins the Swiss Confederation.
- June 27 - Zug joins the Swiss Confederation.
- December 18 - Innocent VI is elected Pope.
- Morroccan traveller Ibn Battuta reports the existence of the ngoni and balafon instruments at the court of Mansa Musa.
- Dragos¸ becomes voivode of Moldova.
- Corpus Christi College founded as a College of the University of Cambridge by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
- The Ottoman Turk army crosses the Bosporus, entering the Balkans.
- Lionel of Antwerp marries Elizabeth, daughter of William de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster.
- William de Ashlee becomes Rector of Maids Moreton, England.
- The town of Biel/Bienne, Switzerland finalizes its alliance with the city of Bern.
- Reginald de Cobham, 1st Baron Cobham becomes a Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter of England.
- The Earldom of Kent becomes extinct (see Deaths, below).
- The Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Metropolitan of Halych, began to relocate back to Kyiv, after having moved to Halych in 1299. Thereafter, the Metropolitan would hold the title of Metropolitan of Kyiv-Halych and All Rus.

Births

- John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter (estimate). (died 1400)
- Vytautas the Great, Grand Duke of Lithuania (died 1430)
- Rupert of Germany, Count Palatine of the Rhine (died 1410)

Deaths

- December 6 - Pope Clement VI (born 1291)
- Matthias of Arras, French architect (born 1290)
- William de Ros, 4th Baron de Ros (born 1325)
- Basarab I, Prince of Wallachia
- Al-Hakim II, Caliph of Cairo
- Laurence Minot, English poet (born 1300)
- Yoshida Kenko, Japanese monk and author (born 1283) Category:1352 ko:1352년

January 16

January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 349 days remaining (350 in leap years).

Events

- 27 BC - Octavian Caesar given the title Augustus by the Roman Senate.
- 929 - Emir Abd-ar-rahman III of Cordoba declares himself caliph, thereby establishing the Caliphate of Cordoba.
- 1362 - A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.
- 1412 - The Medici family are made official bankers of the Papacy.
- 1456 - Painter Filippo Lippi elopes with Lucrezia Buti, a young nun from the convent of Saint Margherita.
- 1492 - The first grammar of a modern language, in Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.
- 1547 - Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.
- 1556 - Philip II becomes King of Spain.
- 1572 - The Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
- 1581 - English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.
- 1605 - The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.
- 1761 - British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.
- 1777 - Vermont declares its independence from New York.
- 1780 - American Revolution: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
- 1795 - French occupy Utrecht, Netherlands.
- 1809 - Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
- 1847 - John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
- 1883 - The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil service, is passed.
- 1900 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the Samoan islands.
- 1909 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
- 1917 - German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann sends the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico, proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the United States
- 1919 - Temperance movement: The 18th Amendment, authorizing Prohibition, was passed by the Congress of the United States. It went into effect one year later, on January 16th, 1920.
- 1938 - Benny Goodman plays Carnegie Hall.
- 1945 - Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
- 1956 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.
- 1957 - The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool.
- 1961 - Mickey Mantle becomes the highest paid baseball player by signing a $75,000 contract.
- 1964 - The first musical version of Hello, Dolly! opens at New York City's St. James Theatre.
- 1966 - The Metropolitan Opera House opens at Lincoln Center in New York City.
- 1969 - Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before. The Metroliner train begins service between New York and Washington with one round trip per day.
- 1970 - Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
- 1970 - Curt Flood files suit, stating that major league baseball had violated the American anti-trust laws.
- 1977 - The Marx Brothers are inducted into the Motion Picture Hall of Fame.
- 1979 - The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
- 1988 - CBS fires sports commentator Jimmy 'the Greek' Snyder, a day after publicly stating that African Americans had been bred to produce stronger offspring during slavery.
- 1991 - US serial killer Aileen Wuornos confesses to the murders of six men.
- 1992 - El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City that ends a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000.
- 1997 - Ennis Cosby, the only son of actor Bill Cosby, is killed by a gunman while changing a flat tire in Los Angeles, California.
- 1997 - Australian Anthony Stuart becomes the only player to take a hat-trick in his final game of one-day international cricket
- 1998 - NASA announces that John Glenn will return to space when Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off in October 1998.
- 2000 - In Sacramento, California a commercial truck carrying evaporated milk is driven into the state capitol building, killing the driver.
- 2001 - Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
- 2002 - A student shoots 6 people at the Appalachian School of Law. Three of those shot die.
- 2002 - John Ashcroft announces that "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh would be tried in the United States.
- 2002 - The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
- 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which will be its final one. Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.
- 2004 - Goatse.cx is shut down by the Christmas Island Registry
- 2005 - Adriana Iliescu gives birth at age 66 and becomes the oldest woman in the world to do so.

Births

- 1245 - Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England (d. 1296)
- 1409 - King René I of Naples (d. 1480)
- 1477 - Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)
- 1501 - Anthony Denny, confidant of King Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)
- 1616 - François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort, French soldier (d. 1669)
- 1626 - Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (d. 1699)
- 1634 - Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter, Norwegian poet (d. 1716)
- 1675 - Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French writer (d. 1755)
- 1728 - Niccola Piccinni, Italian composer (d. 1800)
- 1821 - John C. Breckenridge, U.S. Senator from Kentucky and Confederate general (d. 1875)
- 1838 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)
- 1874 - Robert W. Service, American poet (d. 1958)
- 1886 - John Hamilton, American actor (d. 1958)
- 1888 - Osip Brik, Russian writer (d. 1945)
- 1897 - Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet (d. 1977)
- 1898 - Margaret Booth, American film editor (d. 2002)
- 1901 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban leader (d. 1973)
- 1901 - Frank Zamboni, American inventor (d. 1988)
- 1902 - Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (d. 1945)
- 1907 - Paul Nitze, American government official (d. 2004)
- 1908 - Ethel Merman, American actress, singer (d. 1984)
- 1910 - Dizzy Dean, baseball player (d. 1974)
- 1918 - Nel Benschop, Dutch poetess (d. 2005)
- 1918 - Stirling Silliphant, American writer and producer (d. 1996)
- 1921 - Francesco Scavullo, photographer (d. 2004)
- 1922 - Ernesto Bonino, Italian singer
- 1923 - Anthony Hecht, American poet (d. 2004)
- 1924 - Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
- 1928 - William Kennedy, American author
- 1931 - Johannes Rau, President of Germany
- 1932 - Dian Fossey, American zoologist (d. 1985)
- 1934 - Marilyn Horne, American mezzo-soprano
- 1935 - A.J. Foyt, American race car driver
- 1943 - Brian Ferneyhough, British composer
- 1946 - Kabir Bedi, Indian actor
- 1946 - Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano
- 1947 - Laura Schlessinger, American psychiatrist and radio talk show host
- 1948 - John Carpenter, American film director
- 1948 - Dalvanius, New Zealand entertainer (d. 2002)
- 1948 - Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
- 1950 - Debbie Allen, American actress, dancer, and choreographer
- 1956 - Martin Jol, Dutch football manager
- 1958 - Anatoli Boukreev, Russian climber (d. 1997)
- 1959 - Sade, Nigerian-born singer
- 1969 - Roy Jones Jr., American boxer
- 1974 - Kate Moss, English model
- 1977 - Jeff Foster, American basketball player
- 1979 - Aaliyah, American singer (d. 2001)
- 1980 - Albert Pujols, baseball player
- 1980 - Michelle Wild, Hungarian model
- 1981 - Nick Valensi, American guitarist (The Strokes)

Deaths

- 1400 - John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician (executed)
- 1545 - George Spalatin, German reformer (b. 1484)
- 1547 - Johannes Schöner, German astonomer and cartographer (b. 1477)
- 1554 - Christiern Pedersen, Danish humanist
- 1585 - Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral (b. 1512)
- 1659 - Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)
- 1710 - Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (b. 1675)
- 1747 - Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet (b. 1680)
- 1748 - Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1684)
- 1750 - Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshall (b. 1667)
- 1752 - Francis Blomefield, English topographer (b. 1705)
- 1794 - Edward Gibbon, English historian (b. 1737)
- 1806 - William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
- 1809 - John Moore, British general (killed in battle) (b. 1761)
- 1815 - Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Horatio Nelson (b. 1765)
- 1817 - Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman and financier (b. 1759)
- 1856 - Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (b. 1795)
- 1891 - Léo Delibes, French composer (b. 1836)
- 1917 - George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
- 1919 - Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, President of Brazil (b. 1848)
- 1936 - Albert Fish, American serial killer (executed) (b. 1870)
- 1942 - Carole Lombard, American actress (b. 1908)
- 1957 - Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)
- 1962 - Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor (b. 1883)
- 1972 - Ross Bagdasarian, American actor and songwriter (b. 1919)
- 1979 - Ted Cassidy, American actor (b. 1932)
- 1981 - Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
- 1982 - Red Smith, American sports columnist (b. 1905)
- 1986 - Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b. 1892)
- 1988 - Ballard Berkeley, English actor (b. 1904)
- 1995 - Eric Mottram, English poet, teacher, critic, and editor (b. 1924)
- 2002 - Michael Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)
- 2002 - Eddie Meduza, Swedish composer (b. 1948)
- 2002 - Bobo Olson, American boxer (b. 1928)
- 2002 - Ron Taylor, American actor (b. 1952)
- 2004 - Kalevi Sorsa, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)
- 2005 - Marjorie Williams, American journalist (b. 1958)

Holidays and observances

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/16 BBC: On This Day] ---- January 15 - January 17 - December 16 - February 16 — listing of all days ko:1월 16일 ja:1月16日 simple:January 16 th:16 มกราคม

Earl of Huntingdon

Earl of Huntingdon is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. The Earl possesses no courtesy titles, but his eldest son uses the invented title Viscount Hastings to avoid confusion, there already being a Baron Hastings. The family seat is at Hodcott House, near West Ilsley, in Berkshire.

Earls of Huntingdon, first Creation (1065)

- Waltheof, 1st Earl of Northumberland (d. 1076)
- Maud, 2nd Countess of Huntingdon
- Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon (1114-1152)
- Simon II of St Liz, 4th Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton (1103-1153)
- Malcolm IV, King of Scots (1141-1165)
- William I, King of Scots (1143-1214)
- Simon III of St Liz, 7th Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton (1138-1184)
- David of Scotland, 8th Earl of Huntingdon (d. 1219)
- John de Scotia, 9th Earl of Huntingdon (1207-1237)

Earls of Huntingdon, second Creation (1337)

- William de Clinton, 1st Earl of Huntingdon (1304-1354)

Earls of Huntingdon, third Creation (1377)

- Guichard d'Angle, 1st Earl of Huntingdon (d. 1380)

Earls of Huntingdon, fourth Creation (1388)

- John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter (1350-1400) (forefit 1400)
- John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter (1395-1447) (restored 1439)
- Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter (1430-1475) (forefit 1461)

Earls of Huntingdon, fifth Creation (1471)

- see Marquess of Dorset, third creation

Earls of Huntingdon, sixth Creation (1479)

- William Herbert, 1st Earl of Huntingdon (1455-1491)

Earls of Huntingdon, seventh Creation (1529)

Henry IV of England

Henry IV (April 3, 1367 – March 20, 1413) was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence the other name by which he was known, "Henry of Bolingbroke". His father, John of Gaunt was the third and oldest surviving son of King Edward III of England, and enjoyed a position of considerable influence during much of the reign of Richard II. Henry, however, had a rather more equivocal relationship with Richard: they were first cousins and childhood playmates, and were admitted together to the Order of the Garter in 1377, but Henry participated in the Lords Appellant’s rebellion against the King in 1387. After regaining power, Richard did not punish Henry (many of the other rebellious barons were executed or exiled), and in fact elevated him from earl of Derby to duke of Hereford. The relationship between Henry and the King reached a second crisis in 1398, when Richard banished Henry from the kingdom for ten years -- with John of Gaunt's approval -- to avoid a blood feud between Henry of Bolingbroke and Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk (who was exiled for life). The following year, however, John of Gaunt died, and without explanation, Richard cancelled the legal documents that would have allowed Henry to inherit Gaunt's land automatically -- instead, Henry would be required to ask for the lands from Richard. After some hesitation, Henry met with the exiled Thomas Arundel, former (and future) Archbishop of Canterbury, who had lost his position because of his involvement with the Lords Appellant, and Henry and Arundel returned to England while Richard was on a military campaign in Ireland. With Arundel as his advisor, Henry Bolingbroke began a military campaign, confiscating land from those who opposed him and ordering his soldiers to destroy much of Cheshire. Quickly, Henry gained enough power and support to have himself declared King Henry IV, imprisoning King Richard (who died in prison under mysterious circumstances) and by-passing Richard’s heir-presumptive Roger Mortimer. Henry's coronation, on October 13, 1399, is notable as the first time following the Norman Conquest that the monarch made an address in English. Henry consulted with parliament frequently, but was sometimes at odds with them, especially over ecclesiastical matters. On Arundel's advice, Henry was the first English king to allow the burning of heretics, mainly to suppress the Lollard movement. In 1380 Henry had married Mary de Bohun; they had two daughters and four sons, one of which was the future Henry V of England. In 1406, one of their daughters, Philippa, married Eric of Pomerania, king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Mary died in 1394, and in 1403 Henry married Joanna of Navarre, the daughter of Charles d'Evreux, King of Navarre. She was the widow of John V of Brittany, with whom she had four daughters and four sons, but she and Henry had no children. The fact that in 1399 Henry had four sons from his first marriage was undoubtedly a clinching factor in his acceptance onto the throne. By contrast, Richard II had no children, and Richard's heir-apparent Mortimer was only seven years old. Henry spent much of his reign defending himself against plots, rebellions and assassination attempts. His first problem was what to do with the deposed Richard, and after an early assassination plot was foiled, he probably ordered his death by starvation in early 1400, although there is no evidence for this. Richard's body was put on public display in the old St Paul's Cathedral to show his supporters that he was dead. Rebellions continued throughout the first ten years of Henry’s reign, including the revolt of Owen Glendower who declared himself Prince of Wales in 1400, and the rebellion of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland. The king's success in putting down these rebellions was due partly to the military ability of his eldest son, Henry, who would later become King Henry V of England, though the younger Henry himself (who had maintained a close relationship with Richard II) managed to seize much effective power from his father in 1410. 1410.]] In 1406, English soldiers captured the future James I of Scotland as he was going to France. James remained a prisoner of Henry for the rest of Henry's reign. The later years of Henry's reign were marked by serious health problems. He had some sort of disfiguring skin disease, and more seriously suffered acute attacks of some grave illness in June 1405, April 1406, June 1408, during the winter of 1408–9, December 1412, and then finally a fatal bout in March 1413. Medical historians have long debated the nature of this affliction or afflictions. The skin disease might have been leprosy (which in any case didn't mean precisely the same thing as it does to modern medicine), perhaps psoriasis, a symptom of syphilis, or some other disease. The acute attacks have been given a wide range of explanations, from epilepsy to some form of cardiovascular disease. In 1413, he died in the Jerusalem Chamber in the house of the Abbot of Westminster. He was buried in Canterbury Cathedral. His body was well embalmed, as an exhumation some centuries later established.

References

- Peter McNiven, "The Problem of Henry IV's Health, 1405–1413", English Historical Review, 100 (1985), pp747–772

External links

- [http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon34.html Britannia: Henry IV ] Category:1367 births Category:1413 deaths Category:Natives of Lincolnshire Category:House of Lancaster Category:English monarchs Category:Lord High Stewards Category:Knights of the Garter Category:Hundred Years' War Category:History of Wales Category:Dukes in the Peerage of England ja:ヘンリー4世 (イングランド王)

Joan of Kent

Joan, Countess of Kent, Princess of Wales (September 29, 1328 – August 1385) is known to history as "The Fair Maid of Kent", and was the wife and cousin of Edward, the Black Prince.

Family history

Joan was daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent and Margaret Wake. Her paternal grandparents were Edward I of England and his second Queen consort Marguerite of France. Her father was a younger half-brother of Edward II of England. Edmund's support of the King placed him in conflict with the Queen, Isabella of France and her lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. When Edward II was deposed, Joan's father was executed.

Early life

The Earl’s widow, Margaret Wake, was left with four children. Her younger daughter, Joan, was only two years old. Joan's cousin, the new King Edward III, took on the responsibility for the family, and looked after them well. His wife, Queen Philippa, was well known for her tender-heartedness, and Joan grew up at court, where she became friendly with her cousins, including Edward, the Black Prince.

Marriage(s) and legendary beauty

At the age of twelve, Joan entered into a clandestine marriage with Thomas Holland of Broughton. The following year, while Holland was overseas, her family forced her into a marriage with William Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury. As Countess of Salisbury, Joan moved in the highest society. Some historians identify her as the mystery woman who appeared at a banquet in Calais and attracted the attention of every man present. Allegedly, while dancing with the King, the lady lost her blue velvet garter, and this was the origin of the Order of the Garter. It is more likely that Joan's mother-in-law was the woman involved. It was not for several years that Thomas Holland returned from crusade, having made his fortune, and the full story of his earlier relationship with Joan came out. He appealed to the Pope for the return of his wife. When the Earl of Salisbury discovered that Joan supported Holland’s case, he kept her a virtual prisoner in her own home. In 1349, Pope Clement VI annulled Joan’s marriage to the Earl and sent her back to Thomas Holland, with whom she lived for the next eleven years. They had four children, then Holland died in 1360. Their children were: # Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent # John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter # Joan Holland, who married ## Duke John V of Brittany ## Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault # Maud Holland, married Waleran of St.Pol Joan, now widowed but only thirty-two, was a catch by anyone else’s standards. When her brother died in 1352, she had succeeded him as Countess of Kent and Lady Wake. She was strikingly beautiful, with perfect features, auburn hair that reached to her waist, and dark eyes, and was regarded as one of the most desirable women in the country. The Black Prince had been in love with her for years, but his father and mother disapproved. Queen Philippa might have made a favourite of Joan at first, but as her son grew older, she had become concerned about the budding romance between the two cousins, and set herself against it.

Marriage again, and life in France

The Archbishop of Canterbury warned the Prince that there could be doubts cast on the legitimacy of any children Joan might bear him, in view of the fact that one of her previous husbands, the Earl of Salisbury, was still alive, but the marriage went ahead with an assurance of absolution from the Pope. They were married in 1361, and almost immediately set sail for France, since the Black Prince was also the Prince of Aquitaine, a region of France which belonged to the English Crown. Two children were born in France, both of them sons. The elder son, named Edward after his father and grandfather, died at the age of six. Around the time of the birth of their younger son, Richard, the prince was lured into a war on behalf of Pedro the Cruel, ruler of Castile. The ensuing battle was one of the Black Prince’s greatest victories, but King Pedro was later killed, and there was no money to pay the troops. In the meantime, the Princess was forced to raise another army, because the Prince’s enemies were threatening Aquitaine in his absence.

Husband's death and son's coronation

By 1371, the Black Prince was no longer able to perform his duties as Prince of Aquitaine, and returned to England, where plague was wreaking havoc. In 1372, he forced himself to attempt one final, abortive campaign in the hope of saving his father’s French possessions. His health was now completely shattered. Later the same year, a week before his forty-sixth birthday, he died in his bed at Westminster. Joan’s son, Richard, was now the heir to the throne, and became King on his grandfather's death in the following year. Early in his reign, the young King faced the challenge of the Peasants' Revolt. The Lollards, religious reformers led by John Wyclif, had enjoyed the protection of Joan of Kent, but the violent climax of the popular movement for reform reduced the feisty Joan to a state of terror, whilst leaving the King with an improved reputation. But for Joan, worse was to come. In 1385, Sir John Holland, an adult son of her first marriage, was campaigning with the King in Scotland, when a quarrel broke out between him and Lord Stafford, a favourite of the new Queen. Stafford was killed, and John Holland sought sanctuary at the shrine of St John of Beverley. On the King’s return, Holland was condemned to death. Joan pleaded with her son for four days to spare his half-brother. On the fifth day, (the exact date in August is not known), she died, at Wallingford Castle. Richard, of course, relented, and pardoned Holland, but the damage was done. Joan was buried at the Greyfriars, the site of the present hospital, in Stamford in Lincolnshire. Sir John Holland was sent on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Kent, Joan, Countess of Kent, Joan, Countess of Kent, Joan, Countess of

Edward I of England

King Edward I of England (June 17 1239 – July 7, 1307), popularly known as "Longshanks" because of his 6 foot 2 inch frame and the "Hammer of the Scots" (his tombstone, in Latin, read, Hic est Edwardvs Primus Scottorum Malleus, "Here lies Edward I, Hammer of the Scots"), achieved fame as the monarch who conquered Wales and who kept Scotland under English domination. He reigned from 1272 to 1307, ascending the throne of England on November 21, 1272 after the death of his father, King Henry III of England. His mother was Queen consort Eleanor of Provence.

Biography

Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on June 17 or 18, 1239. He married twice; his first marriage, in October 1254, was to Eleanor of Castile which produced sixteen children, and her death in 1290 affected Edward deeply. He displayed his grief by erecting the Eleanor crosses, one at each place where her funeral cortege stopped for the night. His second marriage, in September 1299, to Marguerite of France (known as the "Pearl of France" by her English subjects), the daughter of King Philippe III of France (Phillip the Bold) and Maria of Brabant, produced three children. Edward's character greatly contrasted that of his father, who reigned in England throughout Edward's childhood and consistently tended to favour compromise with his opponents. Edward had already shown himself as an ambitious and impatient man, displaying considerable military prowess in defeating Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. He gained a reputation for treating rebels and other foes with great savagery. He relentlessly pursued the surviving members of the de Montfort family, his cousins.

Military campaigns

Crusades

In 1269 Cardinal Ottobono, the Papal Legate, arrived in England and appealed to Prince Edward and his brother Edmund to participate in the Eighth Crusade alongside Louis IX of France. In order to fund the crusade, Edward had to borrow heavily from Louis IX and the Jews of England. It is estimated by scholars such as P.R. Coss that Edward raised and spent close to half a million livres. The number of knights and retainers that accompanied Edward on the crusade was quite small, possibly around 230 knights. Many of the members of Edward's expedition were close friends and family including his wife Eleanor of Castile, his brother Edmund, and his first cousin Henry De Alamain. The original goal of the crusade was to relieve the beleagured Christian stronghold of Acre, but Louis had been diverted to Tunis. By the time that Edward arrived at Tunis, Louis had died of disease. The majority of the French forces at Tunis returned home, but a small number of them joined Edward who continued onward to Acre to participate in the Ninth Crusade. After a short stop in Cyprus, Edward arrived in Acre with thirteen ships. While in Acre, Edward engaged in diplomacy with the Mongols hoping to form an alliance against Sultan Baibars of Egypt. This did not come to fruition. In 1271 Hugh III of Cyprus arrived with a contingent of knights. The arrival of the additional forces emboldened Edward, who engaged in a raid on the town of Ququn. Soon afterward Edward signed a ten year peace treaty with Baibars. Around the same time, Edward was nearly assassinated but warded off his attacker, according to Matthew Paris, by bludgeoning his would be assassin with a metal tripod. Edward left the Holy Land and returned to England in 1272. Overall, Edward's crusade was insignificant and only gave the city of Acre a reprieve of ten years. However, Edward's reputation was greatly enhanced by his participation in the crusade and was hailed by some contemporary commentators as a new Richard the Lionheart. Furthermore, some historians believe Edward was inspired by the design of the castles he saw while on crusade and incorporated similar features into the castles he built to secure portions of Wales, such as Caernarfon Castle.

Welsh Wars

One of Edward's early achievements was the conquest of Wales. Under the 1267 Treaty of Montgomery, Llewelyn ap Gruffydd had extended Welsh territories southwards into what had been the lands of the English Marcher lords, and gained the title of Prince of Wales although he still owed homage to the English monarch as overlord. Edward refused to recognise the Treaty which had been concluded by his father. In 1275, pirates in Edward's pay intercepted a ship carrying Eleanor de Montfort, Simon de Montfort's only daughter, from France (where her family had lived in exile) to Wales, where she expected to marry Llywelyn. The parties' families had arranged the marriage previously, when an alliance with Simon de Montfort still counted politically. However, Llywelyn wanted the marriage largely to antagonise his long-standing enemy, Edward. With the hijacking of the ship, Edward gained possession of Eleanor and imprisoned her at Windsor. After Llywelyn repeatedly refused to pay homage to Edward in 1274-5, Edward raised an army and launched his first campaign against the Welsh prince in 1276-77. After this campaign Llywelyn was forced to pay homage to Edward and was stripped of all but a rump of territory in Gwynedd. But Edward allowed Llywelyn to retain the title of Prince of Wales, and the marriage with Eleanor de Montfort went ahead. However, Llywelyn's younger brother, Dafydd (who had briefly been an ally of the English) started another rebellion in 1282. Llywelyn died shortly afterwards in a skirmish. Subsequently, Edward destroyed the remnants of resistance, capturing, brutally torturing and executing Dafydd in the following year. To consolidate his conquest, he commenced the construction of a string of massive stone castles encircling the principality, of which Caernarfon Castle provides a notable surviving example. Wales became incorporated into England under the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 and in 1301 Edward created his eldest son Edward Prince of Wales, since which time the eldest son of each English monarch has borne the same title.

Scottish Wars

Edward then turned his attentions to Scotland and on May 10 1291 Scottish nobles recognised the authority of Edward I. He had planned to marry off his son to the child queen, Margaret of Scotland (Called 'The Maid of Norway') but when Margaret died the Scottish nobles agreed to have Edward select her successor from the various claimants to the throne, and he chose John Balliol over other candidates. Edward was anxious to impose his overlordship on Scotland and hoped that John Balliol would prove the most biddable candidate. Indeed, Edward summoned John Balliol to do homage to him in Westminster in 1293 and made it clear he expected John's military and financial support against France. But this was too much for Balliol, who concluded a pact with France and prepared an army to invade England. 1293 Edward gathered his largest army yet and razed Berwick, massacring its inhabitants, proceeding to Dunbar and Edinburgh. The Stone of Destiny was removed from Scone Palace and taken to Westminster Abbey. Until 1996, it formed the seat on King Edward's Chair, on which all English monarchs since 1308 have been crowned, with the exception of Mary I. In 1996, the stone was returned to Scotland, to return only during royal coronations. Balliol renounced the crown and was imprisoned in the Tower of London for three years before withdrawing to his estates in France. All freeholders in Scotland were required to swear an oath of homage to Edward, and he ruled Scotland like a province through English Viceroys. Opposition sprang up (see Wars of Scottish Independence), and Edward executed the focus of discontent, William Wallace, on August 23 1305, having earlier defeated him at the Battle of Falkirk (1298). His plan to unite the two countries never came to fruition during his lifetime, however, and he died in 1307 at Burgh-by-Sands, Cumberland on the Scottish border, while on his way to wage another campaign against the Scots under the leadership of Robert the Bruce. Against his wishes, Edward was buried in Westminster Abbey. His son, King Edward II of England, succeeded him.

Government and law under Edward I

Unlike his father, Henry III of England, Edward I took great interest in the workings of his government and undertook a number of reforms to safeguard the preservation of royal rights and improve the administration of the law. He spearheaded a wave of nationalism and solidified central authority over the country, a trend also used by contemporary monarchs. Late in his reign, Edward I issued the first trailbaston commissions (1305-7).

Edward and the Jews

To help finance his war to conquer Wales, Edward I taxed the Jewish moneylenders. However, the cost of Edward's ambitions soon drained the money-lenders dry. When the Jews could no longer pay, the state accused them of disloyalty. Already restricted to a limited number of occupations, Edward furthermore abolished their right to lend money at interest with the Statute of Jewry, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/britain/mid_eng_jews.shtml] and eventually restricted their extra-curricular movements and activities. Edward decreed that all Jews wear a yellow patch in the shape of a star attached to their outer clothing to identify them in public (compare Star of David, Yellow badge). In the course of King Edward's persecution of the Jews, he arrested all the heads of Jewish households. The authorities took over 300 of them to the Tower of London and executed them, while killing others in their homes. Finally, in 1290, the King banished all Jews from the country.

Issue

Children of Edward and Eleanor: #Daughter, stillborn in May 1255 in Bordeaux, France. #Katherine, living June 17 1264, died September 5 1264 and buried at Westminster Abbey. #Eleanor, born 18 June 1264 and died 12 October 1297. She married (1) Alfonso III of Aragon, (2) Count Henry III of Bar. #Joan, born January 1265, buried at Westminster Abbey before September 7 1265. #John, born July 13 1266, died August 3 1271 at Wallingford, in the custody of his granduncle, Richard, Earl of Cornwall. Buried at Westminster Abbey. #Henry, born before May 6 1268, died October 16 1274. #Daughter, born May 1271 in Palestine and died before September 1271. #Joan of Acre born May 1271 and died April 7 1307. She married (1) Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford, (2) Ralph Morthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer. #Alphonso, Earl of Chester, born 24 November 1273, died 19 August 1284, buried in Westminster Abbey. #Margaret, born March 15 1275 and died after 1333. She married John II, Duke of Brabant. #Berengaria, born 1 May 1276 and died before June 27 1278, buried in Westminster Abbey. #Daughter, died shortly after birth, January 1278. #Mary, born 11 March 1279 and died 29 May 1332, a nun in Amesbury, Wiltshire (England). #Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, born August 1281 at Rhuddlan, died 5 May 1316. She married (1) John I, Count of Holland, (2) Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford & 3rd Earl of Essex. #Edward of Caernavon, born 25 April 1284 at Caernarvon, died 21 September 1327. He married Isabella of France. Children of Edward and Marguerite: #Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk (1300–1338), married firstly, Alice Hayles and had issue. He married secondly, Mary Brewes and had issue. #Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, married Margaret Wake, Baroness Wake of Liddell and had issue. #Eleanor (1306–1311), died young.

References

- Michael Prestwich, Edward I (London: Methuen, 1988, updated edition Yale University Press, 1997 ISBN 0-300-07209-0) Edward I Edward I Category:Londoners Category:House of Anjou Category:Heirs to the English & British thrones Edward I of England Category:Crusades Category:Wars of Scottish Independence Category:History of Wales Category:Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports Category:Earls in the Peerage of England ja:エドワード1世 (イングランド王)

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

Anne of Bohemia

Anne of Bohemia (July 11, 1366 – June 7, 1394) was the daughter of Emperor Charles IV, King of Bohemia and Elisabeth of Pomerania. She was the queen consort of Richard II of England, whom she married in 1382. They had no children. Anne's death, from plague, twelve years later, was a devastating blow to Richard, whose subsequent unwise conduct lost him the throne. She is buried at Westminster. Anne of Bohemia Anne of Bohemia Category:English queen consorts Category:House of Anjou

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

John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter

References

1352

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January 16

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Earl of Huntingdon

Earls of Huntingdon, first Creation (1065)

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Earls of Huntingdon, third Creation (1377)

Earls of Huntingdon, fourth Creation (1388)

Earls of Huntingdon, fifth Creation (1471)

Earls of Huntingdon, sixth Creation (1479)

Earls of Huntingdon, seventh Creation (1529)

Henry IV of England

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Joan of Kent

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Edward I of England

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Scottish Wars

Government and law under Edward I

Edward and the Jews

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References

Richard II of England

Richard's minority

First crisis of 1387-88

A fragile peace

Second crisis of 1397-99 and Richard's deposition

Association with Geoffrey Chaucer

References

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Anne of Bohemia

John of Gaunt

Duke of Lancaster

Marriages and descendants

Children of John of Gaunt

Popular culture

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Conway Castle