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John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son (third surviving) of King Edward III of England, and the father of King Henry IV. Because of Gaunt's royal origin, advantageous marriages, and some generous land grants, he was one of the richest ...
- Gaunt Is An Anglicisation of Ghent
- He Was The 4th Son, So Unlikely to Inherit The Throne
- He Had Illustrious Royal Lineage
- He Lived in A Multicultural Household
- He Received His First Earldom When He Was Just 2 Years Old
- He Was Just 10 When He Saw His First Military Action
- He Married A Lancastrian Heiress
- He Eventually Married His Mistress, Katherine Swynford
- He Wrote A Very particular, Specific Will
- The British Royal Family Is Descended from John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt was born in the abbey of Saint Bavo in Ghent, modern-day Belgium, on 6 March 1340, while his father, who had claimed the throne of France in 1337, was seeking allies against the French among the dukes and counts of the Low Countries. Correctly, he should be known as ‘John of Ghent’, but the town of Ghent was called Gaunt in his own li...
He was the 6th child and 4th son of King Edward III and his queen, Philippa of Hainaultand had 6 younger siblings, three brothers and three sisters. One of his three older brothers, William of Hatfield, died at a few weeks old in 1337, and so did one of his younger brothers, William of Windsor, in 1348. 4 of John’s 5 sisters died before reaching ad...
John’s father Edward III had been king of England for 13 years when John was born, and ruled for half a century, the 5th longest reign in English history after Elizabeth II, Victoria, George III and Henry III. As well as his royal English origins, John was descended from the royal house of France via both parents: his paternal grandmother Isabella,...
In the early 1350s, John lived in the household of his eldest brother, Edward of Woodstock, nicknamed the Black Prince. The royal brothers spent much time at the royal manor of Byfleet in Surrey. The prince’s accounts record that John had two ‘Saracen’, i.e. Muslim or North African, companions; the boys’ names were Sigo and Nakok.
John’s father bestowed the earldom of Richmond on him in 1342 when he was just 2 years old. Due to his first marriage, John also became Duke of Lancaster and Earl of Lincoln, Leicester and Derby.
John first saw military action in August 1350 at the age of 10, when he and his brother, the Prince of Wales, took part in the naval Battle of Winchelsea. This is also known as the Battle of Les Espagnols sur Mer, “the Spaniards on the Sea”. The English victory resulted in the defeat of the Franco-Castilian commander Charles de La Cerda. In 1367, t...
In May 1359 at Reading Abbey, 19-year-old John married his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster. She was the semi-royal daughter of Henry of Grosmont, the first Duke of Lancaster. Duke Henry died in 1361 and Blanche’s older sister Maud died childless in 1362. As a result, the entire Lancastrian inheritance, with lands across Wales and in 34 English cou...
During his second marriage to Costanza of Castile, John was involved in a long, intense and intimate relationship with Katherine Swynford née Roet, widow of Sir Hugh Swynford of Lincolnshire. They had four children together, the Beauforts, in the 1370s. They were legitimised after John married Katherine as his third wife in 1396.
John made a very long will on the day he died, 3 February 1399. It includes some fascinating bequests. Among much else, he left his “best ermine blanket” to his nephew Richard II and the second-best one to his wife Katherine. He also left his two best brooches and all his gold goblets to Katherine, and gave to his son, the future Henry IV, a “great...
As well as being the son, uncle and father of English kings (Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV respectively), John of Gaunt was the grandfather of three kings: Henry V of England (reigned 1413-22), by his own son Henry IV; Duarte I of Portugal (r. 1433-38), by his daughter Philippa; and Juan II of Castile and Leon (r. 1406-54), via his daughter K...
- Kathryn Warner
son Henry IV. brother Edward the Black Prince. John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster (born March 1340, Ghent—died February 3, 1399, London) was an English prince, fourth but third surviving son of the English king Edward III and Philippa of Hainaut; he exercised a moderating influence in the political and constitutional struggles of the reign of ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Apr 8, 2021 · Gaunt was the third surviving son of Edward III, king of England (and from 1337, claimed king of France) and Queen Philippa of Hainault. His elder brothers and sisters were Edward of Woodstock (otherwise known as the Black Prince), Isabella Plantagenet, Lionel of Antwerp and Joan Plantagenet, and his younger siblings included Edmund of Langley, Thomas of Woodstock, Mary Plantagenet and ...
6 March 1340 - 3 February 1399. John of Gaunt, Shakespeare's 'time honoured Lancaster', was the fourth but third surviving son of King Edward III and Phillipa of Hainault. Gaunt is an anglicized version of his birthplace of Ghent. In 1350, at the age of ten, John was present at the naval Battle of Winchelsea, where, it is said, his life was ...
For centuries John of Gaunt has remained an enigmatic figure, our ‘take’ on him coloured by Shakespeare or Anya Seton. Helen Carr has produced a timely, extraordinarily insightful and detailed account of Gaunt’s life, allowing the narrative of travel, battles, intrigue, ambition and royal relationships to unfold like a reversed, complicated piece of origami to […]
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John of Gaunt. John of Gaunt (John Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Aquitaine, 6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was a member of the House of Plantagenet, who ruled England for over 300 years. [1] Gaunt was the third surviving son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. He was the father of Henry IV. [2]
