John of Gaunt 1340 - 1399
an artists impression of an historical character
This page is devoted to that paragon of achievement John of Gaunt. It was written in 1999 by the late Dr Roger Edmonds.
"There can in my opinion, be little doubt that he was one of the most important figures in British history.
He was a skilful politician, adept at the manipulation of strategist and people, he was a good diplomat, he was the Regent to the young Richard II, which he did with great dexterity, and on top of all that, he was a physically well built man, who by choosing his brides with great care became both extremely wealthy and powerful. And as is so often the case with men of distinction and longevity, he had Luck.
He didn't succumb for instance to the illnesses that one can still encounter on travels either in England or abroad like some of his brothers or sisters, nor did he die of one of the most horrifying scourges of all time, the Black Death. Rich he most certainly was, owning vast tracts of lands and estates all over England. A man of property too, comprising in all at least thirty castles or manor houses, and at the height of his power he owned the largest private dwellings in the country, the Savoy Palace, sadly destroyed during the Peasants Revolt in 1387.
1999 was the six-hundredth anniversary of his death, living as he did from 1340 until 1399, 59 being a pretty good number of years to live in those days.
His career begins in Belgium and ends in Leicester, taking in England, Scotland, and many parts of France and Spain. This was of course one of the most momentous centuries in the history of the Kingdom, with almost continuous wars against France, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Spain, but it was also the century, that ushered in the beginnings of the use of English as the official language, both in Parliament and in the courts.
He was born in Belgium, in 1340, the third surviving son of Edward III and Queen Philippa. Philippa had been born in Hainault during the alliance that the English Royalty had with the Low Countries, and it was in Ghent that John was born, near to the Antwerp Gate, in the Abbey of St Bavon, which sadly does not now exist. Philippa actually bore Edward 13 children, and she is famous not only for producing all these children, of whom nine survived and who argued amongst themselves for most of their lives much to the disadvantage of the country, but for interceding on behalf of the Burghers of Calais.
The English never were good at pronouncing foreign names, so of course John of Ghent became John of Gaunt. He was said to have been a lovely and lively baby, and he was brought to England when he was eight months old. His mother is believed to have had a strong affection for him and to have been an important influence in his upbringing, which is just as well, as Edward was often away on one or other of his campaigns. During John's youth he fought such battles as that at sea against the French at Sluys in1340, and on land he sacked Barfleur, St Lo, and Caen in 1346 and then went on to the famous victory at Crecy (1346), and the capture of Calais in 1347. In 1356 was the second famous battle of Poitiers.
An artists impression of the aftermath of one of John Of Gaunt's battles
There was then a temporary truce in 1360 when Edward agreed to give up his claim on most of France, but to keep Aquitaine in the south, towards Bordeaux.
Edward was of course one of the "Plantagenets", and was said to have been tall proud and handsome, to have "chiselled features, long hair and beard" and to have the dynamism, outstanding powers of leadership, and to be energetic, warlike, and courageous, but just and wise. Aquiline features, and red hair, were other features. (They were called Plantagenets after the PLANTA GENISTA the Broom family which flourishes in SW Europe, and because they used the golden yellow flowers as an emblem.)
Edward made John Of Gaunt the Duke of Richmond at the age of 11, and four years later he went with his older brother the Black Prince on a campaign to France. Not a particularly memorable campaign by all accounts-probably typical of its time for its pillaging and plundering, for this is how the armies of the time fed themselves and took revenge upon their enemies and the foreign inhabitants. In fact they were called back from France in order to repel the Scots, who had invaded northern England again and captured Berwick in the process. The British relieved the city, but were so short of supplies that they were reduced to drinking rainwater. In fact subsequently there was a general retreat by the English, and the Scots in turn attacked them. Woe betides any stragglers!
In 1348 John narrowly escaped the Black Death, for a sister Joan died that year. The plague was no respecter of even noble families. John remained a member of the retinue of the Black Prince from 1350-1355.
Portraits of John are few and far between. As an important person in history of course, Shakespeare introduced him to one of his plays, Richard II and this inspired a Victorian painting of him by Ford Maddox Brown, which purports to show John Of Gaunt listening to Wycliffe reading from his new translation of the Bible, for you will remember that until Wycliffe (who was regarded as a bit of a heretic (partly because he argued against the concept of Transubstantiation) promulgated his new translation of the bible into English, the ordinary folk who understood very little Latin had to have the bible stories interpreted for them by the priest.
From the few impressions that do exist, one gets the impression of a gentle, handsome person, with some possible attraction for the opposite sex. This certainly seems to have been the case, for he married three times, apart from several liaisons and affairs, one of which is the subject of the famous novel by Anya Seton called Katherine, which is well worth reading and gives what is believed to be a reasonably accurate account of medieval times.
John's first marriage was to Blanche, the daughter of Henry Duke of Lancaster, in 1360. Her father was himself a direct descendant of Henry III, who was their mutual great-great grandfather, who died 100 years earlier. He was very rich, and owned the largest estates outside Royal ownership. Because Blanche was the only surviving heir, on her father's death, John inherited vast swathes of England, and the Earldoms and estates of Derby, Lancaster, of course, of Leicester and Lincoln, apart from his earlier title to Richmond.
With Blanche he had three children, Philippa, who married the Son of the king of Portugal. Elizabeth, who married "well" no less than three times, outliving two earls before marrying Sir John Cornwall, and of course, Henry Bolingbroke, a forthright and assertive young man who was banished by Richard II, because it was thought he was plotting against him, and who returned after his fathers death to usurp the throne, being probably responsible for his uncle (Richard's) death in Pontefract. He then took the throne as Henry IV.
John Of Gaunt first met Chaucer in 1357, when he was 17. It can be assumed that Chaucer had a considerable influence on him, and he became his patron. Chaucer could be said to have been one of the first English writers, and would have impressed John Of Gaunt with his love of letters and intellectual pursuits. I think that at the time many of the royal court must otherwise have been rather boorish rough and brutal men. Blanche was said to have been not only extremely beautiful, with long golden blonde hair, but unusually for a woman of her time was able to read and write. Unusual, for in those times it was thought it would only encourage a woman to be able to communicate more freely with a lover. Sadly she died in 1368 or 9 when only 27, and authorities differ as to whether it was from "the pestilence", or from some complication of childbirth. She bore John Of Gaunt some five children during their nine years of marriage, two of whom were boys, the last dying in 1368.
Chaucer clearly loved his sister a great deal, for it is thought that he dedicated his beautiful "Book of the Duchess" to her memory................
The 14th century writer Froissart said of her that she was.."A good lady, gay, gladsome, fresh, merry, sweet, and of modest bearing"
John Of Gaunt subsequently proposed to the widow of the Count of Flanders later in the year of her death, but was rejected in favour of the Duke of Burgundy, which wasn't at all in the interests of the English; as such an alliance could have improved relations with France. Thus has history been altered by the whim of a woman!
But the next year John Of Gaunt married Constanza the daughter of the King of Castile, known as Pedro the Cruel. John Of Gaunt brought Constanza back to England via Kingston Lacy (where some medieval buildings thought to have been of this period have recently been uncovered.) Pedro was later deposed by his nephew, so that John Of Gaunt himself assumed the title of King of Castile and Leon, and his shield bears those arms and insignias.
Constanza was said to have been a passionate but pious woman, who found herself somewhat isolated in the "cheerless and sodden landscapes of England", compared of course with her own Spanish homeland. It is quite possible that she was quite keen for John Of Gaunt to go on his campaigns into southern France and Castile (geographically the centre of Spain). It was whilst married to Constanza, that John Of Gaunt had a long-term mistress, Katherine. Katherine was in fact of comparatively common birth, and was married to one of his own knights, Sir Hugh Swynford. Apart from the children of this proper marriage, John Of Gaunt and Katherine together had four illegitimate children. Their open relationship caused considerable offence in the country, as they were often seen travelling together, and John Of Gaunt set her up lavishly in a castle or two. Sir Hugh died in rather mysterious circumstances, indeed Anya Seton suggests that John Of Gaunt had him murdered, and after Constanza's death in 1394, John Of Gaunt and Katherine were married. This was thought to have been rather an unusual thing for a King to do, partly because she was not of royal ancestry, and partly because to have a mistress was not thought to be unusual in those days. She seems to have been rather a special person to him, and he used the opportunity to have the children legitimised not only by the Pope, but also in the eyes of Richard II, having agreed to give up all pretence to the throne. So Katherine and he were married in 1397. He was 57 by this time and had lost his influence and importance in government and diplomatic terms. His reputation had become poor in England, partly because he was not very successful as a leader of wars and campaigns abroad.
The Campaigns
It began in fact with the intervention by his brother the Black Prince in the civil war between Pedro I ("the cruel"), and his half brother Enrique in the struggle to take the throne of Castile. At that time, the Castilians were supported by none other than the famous Breton leader, Bertrand du Guesclin (whose statues can be seen in several places in northern France). But in 1367 the Black Prince, accompanied by John Of Gaunt (17 years old at the time), and with both English and Portuguese forces, fought several battles on Peter's side, and as was the habit of the time, laid waste to the countryside of northern Spain, wintering up at Roncesvalles, before moving on in the spring to capture Pamplona and win a famous battle at NAJERA, where the river was said to have run red with the blood of the slain. The health of the Black Prince began to deteriorate because of chronic dysentery. John Of Gaunt led the remains of the forces (for many of the soldiery were ill too) back up into Gascony in France. Although Enrique had lost the battles, he won the crown by the simple expediency of having his half-brother Pedro assassinated. You will recall that John Of Gaunt married Pedro's daughter Constanza in1371, and as a result had a claim on the Castilian throne, and indeed his father Edward III bestowed on him the title of King of Castile (i.e. Spain as far as the English were concerned). So no doubt encouraged by his rather home sick wife, John Of Gaunt mounted a campaign to seize the throne back from Enrique. The English forces set sail from Plymouth in 1373, but they got no further than Gascony before money began to run out, many of the soldiers fell ill, and in any case news reached them that the Scots were revolting again, so they all had to come home.
Thereafter the English were kept rather busy with fighting off the Scots, but also dealing with Franco-Castilian raids on the south coast of England. So it wasn't until a year or so later that there was a second very brief campaign led by Edmund Duke of Langley, which proved to be a total disaster, partly because of the lack of help from the Portuguese, but also again lack of money.
John Of Gaunt himself led the last attempt in 1386. Again he left from Plymouth with a sizeable army, and landed at La Corunna. As before they laid waste to Galicia, captured Santiago and Orense, while Compostela, was said to have surrendered peacefully.
Portuguese troops joined them this time, and they went on together to capture further towns in what is now Northern Spain, such as Zamora, Benavente, Valderas and finally Villalobos, which turned out to be their last success. Sadly by now many of his men had become ill, some even deserting to the Castilians, and the Portuguese got restless and decided to go home. The scale of the epidemics amongst the men became so serious that "at least 90 knights of the realm died of sickness"- and goodness knows how many ordinary men had to be buried. Finally then, John Of Gaunt had to give up, and it was recorded that "slumped over his horse he wept bitterly". Now with him he had his wife Constanza and his two girls, Catherine, named of course after his mistress, and Elizabeth. It is possible that Constanza bore him another son, John, during this time, but he did not survive more than a few weeks. John Of Gaunt led his force back through northern Spain to Zamora, Salamanca, and Ledesma, into Portugal, from whence he sailed to the safety of Bayonne. Here was signed a treaty, by which John Of Gaunt agreed to give up his claim to the Castilian throne, in return for several guarantees. Firstly, that English pilgrims were assured safety on future journeys from Santiago to Compostella, secondly that daughter Catherine should marry the King's son (another Enrique: together they eventually had children and founded a Spanish royal dynasty which lasted for a couple of centuries), and finally that John Of Gaunt should be paid some money - to stay away. John Of Gaunt himself and family eventually landed back in Plymouth in November 1389, but so many of his men had died, including some from influential and wealthy families, apart from the ordinary soldiers, that his reputation was irreparably and permanently damaged. But it is worth just thinking of the enormous organisation that such campaigns involved, finding and training the soldiers, amassing all the ships and baggage, not to mention the cost. And when they moved on land they can't have moved at more than what 10 to 15 miles per day, through country which had no roads, having to find food and water and camping sites along the way.
Not only was there the hostility to him from the bereaved and impoverished families, but the government of the day, with which he was closely involved, became very unpopular because of the imposition of a poll tax. This tax was levied per head of population, with no exceptions, and no relief for the poor. Parishes had to pay up per person, which as you can imagine caused considerable hardship and no little anger. The country hadn't really recovered from the destabilising effect of the Black Death, which had raged through the country on and off from 1349 until the 1360s. About one third of the population died, sparing neither rich nor poor. Not surprising that there was indeed a saint to whom you could pray, to try to escape what was in effect a certain death.
Large tracts of land became neglected, and wages rose dramatically. Bonds of serfdom were broken, and as a result the labourers who were in short supply began to move around the country in search of higher wages. But as one can imagine there was a serious breakdown of the fabric of the organisation, with the higher wages leading to higher prices, misery for the poor, and to widespread begging. On top of this came a series of poor summers resulting in disastrous harvests, and it was said that a second plague hit the country as it became infested with hordes of wayfarers, not only of the travelling labourers who had broken their contracts and sought new employment but there were the restless travellers, criminals, fugitives, peddlers, genuine pilgrims and nomads of all kinds. (The Canterbury Pilgrims, indeed). But it was the inequities and the hardship caused by the poll tax that seems to have been the cause of the insurrections that first broke out in Essex in 1381, that gathered momentum and grew in to the peasants' revolt that was mostly a southern based movement. The immediate cause seems to have been because of some heavy-handed tax gatherers who met their match and ended by being hanged on the spot by angry crowds. This inflammatory anti-state feeling quickly spread through the Home Counties. Eventually some 50,000 rebels marched on London, and invaded the city. In fact as you know, the Peasants' Revolt was not a success. Richard II had his famous encounter on Tower Hill with Wat Tyler, John Ball and Jack Straw, as a result they were promised Royal Pardon and help from the king to correct their grievances, but actually received neither. Wat Tyler was struck down by the Mayor of London, and after the King had seized the initiative and courageously led them off on a march to nearby fields, the trained militia from the city dispersed them. Most of the ringleaders were summarily hanged, and many others were tried and executed. But what is relevant to my story of John Of Gaunt is that during the earlier days of the invasion and occupation of London by the rebels, it had probably been their plan to capture him and probably execute him, as he was so unpopular. In fact he was out of town up north in Knaresborough Castle. When the rebels discovered this they sent off two bands of armed men to chase after him, and on the way they took and sacked Hertford Castle, which belonged to him, and also burned other palaces and manor houses on their way, before being stopped and dispersed by troops loyal to him. It is said that others of his properties were not attacked because they had actually been rented out to farmers, who clearly would not have wished to see the property damaged.
But in London the rebels were able to seize the Savoy Palace, the most magnificent private residence in the country, it having been recently refurbished at tremendous expense. It housed rich collections of furniture, tapestry, armour, valuable plates and ornaments, much probably the spoils of war, and others gifts from royalty. So the rebels invaded it primarily to destroy it in their anger and frustration at not being able to seize him. It was their intention to erase his memory, and it is recorded that Wat Tyler himself killed a man trying to steal a valuable ornament instead of throwing it into the Thames.
Sadly there are no records or cotemporary drawings of Savoy Palace. It lay in ruins for many decades before a hospital was built there in the reign of HenryVII. Some of the area that it occupied is now the site of the Savoy Theatre and the Savoy Hotel.
John Of Gaunt did visited King's Somborne, probably to use the deer park for hunting, and there are copies of letters that he wrote whilst in residence in the Palace. In the King's Somborne Church there are some wonderful brasses on the floor of the choir. They have been dated to late 14thC, and are unusual in that they probably some of the first brasses to have been made of nonclericals in their ordinary country dress, the one being the steward, and the bearded one his son.
There are many others of his residences that can be visited, but his favourite was said to have been Kenilworth Castle. This had been in existence since early Norman times, and both Henry II and King John are said to have spent much money on its development. It came into John Of Gaunt's possession as part of his Lancastrian inheritance.
John Of Gaunt's second son was Bishop of Winchester for 33 years, though there is not much evidence that he spent much time there as he was otherwise occupied as the Lord Chancellor. He was probably John Of Gaunt's favourite son and he had him granted he deanery of Wells at the age of 15. However, Henry became one of the outstanding prelates of the 15thC.
It is said that Henry was seized with remorse at the memory of what he did to Joan of Arc, for he was one of those who tried, and eventually executed her, and he set up the Beaufort Foundation, some of which was used to build the Beaufort Tower, but part was purloined by the Yorkists during the war of the Roses.
An unattributed painting of Richard II hangs in Westminster Abbey, at the time it was painted, Richard was about 30 years old and married to Anne of Bohemia. It was probably commissioned by him to hang on the back of the Royal Pew in the Abbey.
In conclusion, John Of Gaunt was one of the giants of his age, the richest man in the country and a man of great significance in the history of England.
Copyright © A.Edmonds 2006