John of Gaunt

Lore & Background

John's early career was spent in France and Spain fighting in the Hundred Years' War. He made an abortive attempt to enforce a claim to the Crown of Castile that came through his second wife, Constance of Castile, and for a time styled himself as King of Castile. When Edward the Black Prince, Gaunt's elder brother and heir apparent to the ageing Edward III, became incapacitated by poor health, Gaunt assumed control of many government functions and rose to become one of the most powerful political figures in England. He was faced with military difficulties abroad and political divisions at home, and disagreements as to how to deal with these crises led to tensions between Gaunt, the English Parliament and the ruling class, making him an unpopular figure for a time. He helped forge the 1386 Anglo-Portuguese alliance, secured through the marriage of his daughter Philippa to John I of Portugal, which is still in force today. John exercised great influence over the English throne during the minority of King Richard II (Edward the Black Prince's son) and the ensuing periods of political strife. He mediated between the king and a group of rebellious nobles, which included Gaunt's own son and heir-apparent, Henry Bolingbroke. Following Gaunt's death in 1399, the Lancastrian estates and titles were declared forfeit to the Crown, and the now disinherited son, Bolingbroke, was branded a traitor and ordered into exile. Henry did not stay in exile; he raised an army to reclaim his inheritance and depose Richard. He reigned as King Henry IV (1399–1413), the first of the descendants of John of Gaunt to hold the English throne. John cultivated an extensive network of retainers, known as the Lancastrian affinity, which became the cornerstone of his political power and was later inherited by his eldest surviving son, Henry, the future King Henry IV. All English monarchs from Henry IV onwards are descended from John of Gaunt. His direct male line, the House of Lancaster, ruled England from 1399 until the Wars of the Roses. Gaunt fathered additional children surnamed Beaufort (from the name of one of Lancaster's fiefs in France), by Katherine Swynford, his long-term mistress. After he married Swynford (his third marriage), his Beaufort children were later legitimised by royal and papal decrees. Through his daughter Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland, he was an ancestor of t

Reader's Guide

John of Gaunt was born in Ghent in Flanders, most likely at Saint Bavo's Abbey, in March 1340. The name 'Gaunt' was derived from an anglicised form of his birthplace, Ghent, popularised by Shakespeare. He married his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster, in 1359 at Reading Abbey. Upon the death of his father-in-law, the Duke of Lancaster, in 1361, John received half his lands, the title 'Earl of Lancaster', and became the greatest landowner in Northern England. He inherited the rest of the Lancaster property when Blanche's sister Maud died without issue on 10 April 1362. John received the title 'Duke of Lancaster' from his father on 13 November 1362. He owned at least thirty castles and estates across England and France and maintained a household comparable in scale to that of a monarch. He owned land in almost every county in England, producing a net income of between £8,000 and £10,000 a year. Because of his rank, John was one of England's principal military commanders in the 1370s and 1380s. On the resumption of war with France in 1369, he was sent to Calais with Humphrey de Bohun and a small army, raiding into northern France. He faced a larger French army under Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, but dared not attack. Reinforced by the Earl of Warwick, the French withdrew. John and Warwick then struck Harfleur, but after a four-day siege in October, he abandoned it due to dysentery and plague. During the retreat, the army fought across the Somme at the ford of Blanchetaque, capturing Hugh de Châtillon. By mid-November, the survivors returned to Calais, where the Earl of Warwick died of plague. In summer 1370, John was sent to Aquitaine to reinforce his ailing elder brother, the Black Prince, and participated in the Siege of Limoges (September 1370). He took charge of siege operations and engaged in hand-to-hand fighting in the undermining tunnels. After this, the Black Prince gave John the lieutenancy of Aquitaine and sailed for England. John defended the duchy for nearly a year but resigned command in September 1371 and returned to England. Just before leaving Aquitaine, he married the Infanta Constance of Castile in September 1371 at Roquefort. The following year he took part in an abortive attempt with his father to invade France, frustrated by unfavourable winds. In August–December 1373, he led a chevauchée of some 9,000 mounted men from Calais on a 900-

Did You Know?

• John of Gaunt's name comes from 'Gaunt', an anglicised form of Ghent, his birthplace in Flanders.
• He was the father of King Henry IV and the founder of the royal House of Lancaster.
• John helped forge the 1386 Anglo-Portuguese alliance through the marriage of his daughter Philippa to John I of Portugal.
• All English monarchs from Henry IV onwards are descended from John of Gaunt.
• Through his daughter Joan Beaufort, he was an ancestor of the Yorkist kings Edward IV, Edward V and Richard III.