Thomas of Woodstock

I mentioned yesterday that Henry Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt, married Mary de Bohun, through whom he inherited the title Earl of Hereford, but that it almost didn't happen. That uncertainty was due to the machinations of Henry's uncle, Thomas of Woodstock.

The last time we saw Thomas of Woodstock in this blog he was one of the Lords Appellant, working to curtail the administration of his nephew, Edward the Black prince's son King Richard II. In this he was opposing his older brothers, John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster and Edmund Langley Duke of York.

Thomas was the youngest child of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. He was born 7 January 1355 at Woodstock Palace (hence his surname). He was the second Thomas: there had been a son named Thomas earlier who did not survive long after childbirth. At 19 in 1374 he was married to Eleanor de Bohun, 11 years younger than he and the daughter of the 7th Earl of Hereford. Eleanor and her younger sister, Mary, were co-heiresses of their father.

The sisters' father had died in 1373, and Thomas and Eleanor were given the responsibility to raise Mary, who at that point was only about four years old.  Thomas decided that Mary's upbringing should be dominated by religious instruction: he was pressuring her to become a nun so that she would not inherit anything from her father and all would go to Eleanor and (by extension) Thomas. Thomas kept Mary at his castle in Essex, Pleshey, which had come to him via marriage (Pleshey had been in the Bohun family since 1227).

Thomas' older brother, John of Gaunt, also had his eye on the Hereford estates, and decided Mary would be a good match for his son, Henry. Henry was very literate, his father was a patron of poets (like Geoffrey Chaucer), and the Bohun family had an extensive library and was one of the foremost publishers of books in England at the time. (I'm not saying that was the reason for the match, but it certainly was an enhancement to her status in Gaunt's eyes.) John of Gaunt and Mary's aunt managed to sneak Mary out of Pleshey and out of Essex, where she was able to marry Henry Bolingbroke (in 1381).

Thomas had plenty of titles without becoming Earl of Hereford. He was Duke of Aumale, Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Buckingham, and Earl of Essex. We may come back to him some day, but for now let's return to Henry Bolingbroke and his bride.

Henry Bolingbroke

I wrote not too long ago about Bolingbroke and his adversarial relationship with his cousin, Richard II. It might be useful to see him as an individual, starting with his youth.

Henry was born c.April 1367 at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire to John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster. John was Duke of Lancaster, having inherited that title (as well as estates and great wealth) from his father-in-law, Henry Grosmont. Henry was named in honor of his maternal grandfather.

He was given a tutor, Thomas Burton (one of Henry Grosmont's old servants), when Henry was seven, and at nine was given a military tutor, William Montendre. Hugh Herle, Gaunt's household chaplain, was also a tutor, teaching Henry to read and write fluently in French, English, and Latin. (When Henry eventually came to the throne, he was the first monarch in England since the Norman Invasion of 1066 to address his subjects in English rather than French.)

By the age of 14 he was traveling with his father, riding and hunting and even jousting, a sport which he enthusiastically embraced. At a particularly aggressive joust in 1389, a "joust of war" with uncapped lances, Henry traded strokes with one of the most formidable jousters in Europe, Sir Jean le Maingre. Sir Jean declared Henry one of the most admirable of all the challengers.

During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, he was trapped in the Tower along with Richard II. He narrowly escaped with the help of a guard, John Ferrour of Southwark, who stood between Henry and the angry mob and convinced the mob to allow Henry to flee.

Contemporary chroniclers reported that he never lost a battle when on crusades. John Gower (contemporary and friend of Chaucer) said he was "full of knighthood and all grace."

In 1381 he married Mary de Bohun; he was 14, she was not yet 10 (their first child was not born until five years later). Mary was the daughter of the Earl of Hereford. Through her he would become Duke of Hereford as well as of Lancaster via his father. The illustration shows his coat of arms blending the two titles.

He almost didn't become Earl of Hereford, and almost didn't marry Mary because of the schemes of one of his uncles. Tomorrow I'll explain how the youngest son sometimes struggles to gain more power for himself.

The Downfall of the Lords Appellant

The Lords Appellant must have felt they had done good service to the kingdom of England after the Merciless Parliament of 1388 eliminated everyone who was considered a corrupting influence on King Richard II. In fact, they rewarded themselves with £20,000 for their service and the expenses of hunting down malefactors.

That money may have been the catalyst for a turn of fortune. In September 1388, the Cambridge Parliament was called to address the state of the government's funds. By the end of 1388, the support for the Lords Appellant by the House of Commons had begun to wane.

The Commons made several complaints, arguing that the Lords had not been attentive to the proper governance of the country once they had eliminated their enemies. The approved tax was very small and committed only for defense of England in its northern boundary. Nothing was raised to continue wars in France.

Then, in 1389, Richard's uncle John of Gaunt returned from campaigning in Spain (Gaunt had married Constance of Castile—whose father the king of Castile had been deposed—and claimed the Castilian throne in her name, for which he had to fight). Gaunt was wealthy and powerful and worked to restore the king's power. He convinced the Lords Appellant and the king to compromise. The 1390s were relatively stable, but Richard never forgave the Lords Appellant, and eventually had his revenge.

The Duke of Gloucester, one of the Lords Appellant, was Thomas of Woodstock, one of the sons of Edward III and therefore Richard's uncle. He was captured during the wars in France and held captive in Calais. Richard (presumable) gave an order to kill him. (see illustration) Others were executed or imprisoned.

One of the Lords Appellant was Henry Bolingbroke, John of Gaunt's son. This was one explanation why Gaunt was able to reason with the Lords Appellant. When Gaunt died in 1399, Richard did not have to worry about angering his most valuable ally. Richard had exiled Henry for ten years (it didn't last), and forbade him to inherit from his father.

The exile and confiscation of his father's estate and title did not sit well with Henry, obviously. You might be familiar with his name and what happened next. If not, I'll save the surprise until next time.

Nicholas Brembre

Proving that "what goes around comes around"—although we should probably just allude to the medieval concept of the Wheel of Fortune—one-time Nicholas Brembre, who had persecuted former mayor John Northampton, would himself be persecuted by the Merciless Parliament, mentioned here.

Brembre started as a member of the Grocers' Company, one of the Great Twelve Liveries in London, and made a lot of money in the wool trade. Like many other important and active male citizens, he was an alderman, a sheriff, and became mayor (for four terms). 

His origins are unknown, but he married the daughter of a wealthy vintner, and became the guardian of his father-in-law's youngest daughter upon the elder man's death. Brembre owned property in London, including "two large houses and several blocks of shops, four cellars, eleven chambers, two stables, a wharf, and a crane" [source] His many connections to other important guild members and his dominance in the wool trade made him very wealthy and very important to the city. The Comptroller of Customs at the time was Geoffrey Chaucer, who would have overseen Brembre's accounts.

His first term as mayor was in 1377. John of Gaunt had proposed a bill that the mayor of London be replaced with someone appointed by the king. This caused great unrest in London, and riots. The mayor, Adam Staple, was deposed, and the city put Brembre forward as a candidate that Gaunt might approve. That turned into Brembre's first term as mayor. He was succeeded by William Walworth in 1381, but Walworth was succeeded by Northampton.

Brembre defeated John Northampton for mayor in 1383.

Northampton had challenged the established order and made helping the common people his goal. At a time when the merchant guilds were some of the most powerful political as well as economic influences, Northampton broke up their monopolies, which made the guild leaders (like Brembre) his enemies.

Brembre's return to the office meant overturning Northampton's reforms and restoring monopolies. Northampton led a large protest against the changes brought about by Brembre, an assembly of about 500 people marching through the city. Brembre and his people confronted them, and Northampton was told to accompany Brembre. Northampton refused, and was arrested for sedition and imprisoned in Brembre's house.

Northampton's friend John Constantine organized a general strike: several shops closed in protest of Brembre's policies. Brembre had Constantine executed for insurrection. (The illustration is Brembre's petition to the Crown in April 1384 to have his decision about Constantine's fate ratified.)

As for Northampton, we'll follow up on his fate next time with a third installment on the man who tried to help his fellow man against the power of the wealthy.

The Good Parliament

1376 was a time of unrest in England under King Edward III. The court was considered corrupt, the wealth gap was increasing, the common people felt oppressed, taxation to support Edward's wars with France were leading to defeats, the king's mistress, Alice Perrers, was seen to have a corrupting influence on him and the court, etc.

Parliament had not been called for two and a half years, and it was a necessary first step if Edward wanted to raise a tax to keep the wars going. There were concerns about calling it now when the Commons might cause a great fuss that could lead to radical changes. 

And that's exactly what it did.

The Speaker of the House of Commons, Peter de la Mare, opened the Parliament on 28 April with a speech that criticized the military failures, the corruption of the court, and called for accountability of the Exchequer.

Edward asked for money for the military, but Commons refused to support a further tax unless there was a change in the top administration. One particular target was Richard Lyons. A wealthy landowner and merchant in wine, wool, cloth, iron, and lead, Lyons was perpetrating economic frauds to line his already full pockets. In this he had a confederate, Baron William Latimer, the king's chamberlain.

The Parliament removed them through a process called impeachment, a familiar term to us, but the first time such a process had been used in English law. Lyons sent a £1000 gift to Edward, the Black Prince, but it was refused and Lyons imprisoned.

(Unfortunately for the rule of law, the Black Prince died later that year. The king's fourth son, John of Gaunt, who was in many ways running the country at that point, pardoned Lyons. But no matter: he was a known "bad penny," and even though he served as a member of Parliament later in 1380, the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 made him a target and beheaded him.)

The death of the Black Prince caused some anxiety in the Parliament: they were concerned that Gaunt would claim the throne (Edward III was clearly failing physically and mentally), so they summoned the Black prince's son from France and declared that he would be recognized as the heir to Edward III.

The House of Lords gave in to the demands of Commons, impeaching Lyons and Latimer, curtailing the indirect authority exercised by Alice Perrers. The king was forced to accept new councilors. When done however, the House of Commons still refused to authorize any more money for war. This annoyed the House of Lords and lost the Commons some good will.

Parliament closed on 6 July. Gaunt tried to reverse some of its changes the next year. Peter de la Mare was imprisoned, Latimer was recalled to duty, Alice Perrers was allowed back to the king's side. In 1377 Gaunt summoned a new parliament to declare the 1376 Parliament void. The two are forever known as the Good Parliament and Bad Parliament for the one's attempt to address grievances and the latter's attempt to ignore the beneficial changes.

One member of the House of Commons who voted to remove Lyons was John Northampton, whom we introduced yesterday. John was a troublemaker himself, but that didn't stop him from becoming mayor of London. Tomorrow we'll see how he did at that job. (The illustration is of the Painted Chamber, added to Westminster by Henry III and possibly where Parliament met in 1376. It no longer exists.)

John Northampton

John Northampton was a citizen of London his whole life, from a decent-sized family (two brothers and two sisters). He became a cloth merchant and a member of the Worshipful Company of Drapers, founded in 1361 and one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies (among the 114 that operated in London). At its founding he was named one of the "upholders," so he was probably well-known and respected at the time.

He had some trouble with the law, however. Records from 1365, 1369, and 1371 show he was warned to keep the peace and refrain from affrays in the streets. An affray was a fight that becomes so large that it frightens others. The 1371 incident was so serious that King Edward III summoned the mayor (John Bernes, himself a mercer and member of the same guild) and aldermen and leaders of the guilds to swear to keep the peace. John Northampton and eleven others were imprisoned in the Tower of London for a time.

Despite all this, he was considered a good enough candidate for sheriff that he gained the position in 1376, along with Robert Launde (there were always two sheriffs at a time, elected each year).

He was a supporter of John of Gaunt. Gaunt was a supporter of John Wycliffe, who was known for his "radical" views about the equality of men and the need for reform of the Church to embrace a simpler lifestyle. This connection makes some wonder if Northampton's religious views aligned with Wycliffe and against the current Church hierarchy.

England at this time was experiencing widespread unrest. The common people were dealing with crippling taxation, misgovernment, and evidence of corruption in the ruling class. Then came the Good Parliament in 1376, after which Northampton was part of a cohort that ousted Richard Lyons. Tomorrow I'll explain the Good Parliament, who Richard Lyons was, and why he had to go.

Wycliffe and Controversy, Part 2

After getting in trouble for his writings and being told officially not to discuss the points he raised, John Wycliffe decided he would raise different points.

After being released from confinement in Black Hall at Oxford, he wrote (in both Latin and English for wider awareness) De incarcerandis fedelibus ("On the Incarceration of the Faithful"). In it he declared that excommunication and incarceration were wrong, and those treated with such punishments should be allowed to appeal to the king.

The nobility and the mainstream population liked his reasoning, but the Church of course objected to the idea that the king could overrule their punishments. Pope Gregory XI, who had written against Wycliffe earlier, died before he could respond to this new essay.

Wycliffe then started speaking out even more strongly against the institution of the papacy and other Church practices than he had earlier. He argued before Parliament that those who sought sanctuary in churches could be forcibly removed. Excommunication, he believed, should require a trial before Parliament and a Synod. He repeated his contention that the Church should divest itself of wealth and property, that priests should be poor.

In 1381, he went too far (again) with his ideas about the Last Supper, rejecting the doctrine of transubstantiation. This was indeed a step too far, in that he lost the support of men like John of Gaunt, the young King Richard II's powerful uncle.

This happened in the summer of 1381, and from May to October the peasant uprisings collectively called the Peasants Revolt occurred. Wycliffe's teachings, spread about in English and emphasizing egalitarianism, certainly helped to fire up the countryside to rebel against the hierarchy that they recognized as oppressive. Wycliffe did not approve of the destruction caused by the Revolt, but he was often referenced by followers who took part. One of the most egregious acts during the Revolt was the killing of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Sudbury.

Sudbury was succeeded by William Courtenay, who had been Wycliffe's enemy for awhile. In 1382 Courtenay called an assembly in which he was going to deal with Wycliffe. This led to the interestingly named Earthquake Synod. Let me tell you how that went down (that's an earthquake joke) tomorrow.

Wycliffe and Controversy, Part 1

The Middle English Bible translated from the Vulgate (supposedly by John Wycliffe) wasn't in itself controversial. But Wycliffe wrote De civili dominio ("On Civil Dominion") in 1377, advocating that the Church divest itself of property and live in poverty. He had a powerful ally in John of Gaunt, who disliked the power many clergy had because of revenues from property. This revenue could have instead gone to support royal military needs (the Hundred Years War was an ongoing concern for England).

Pope Gregory XI censured 19 of the points in De civili dominio. The Bishop of London, William Courtenay, summoned Wycliffe to a convocation at St. Paul's Cathedral (shown above in a mural by Ford Madox Brown [link]). Wycliffe was accompanied by an armed John of Gaunt and other nobles. An argument between Gaunt and the bishop took place over whether Wycliffe would be allowed to sit during his investigation. Gaunt made it clear that he supported Wycliffe's suggestions on limiting the clergy and stormed out with Wycliffe.

The Church had its supporters, of course, and there were riots attacking Gaunt's disrespect of the clergy that started the next day.

That was in February. In May, the pope sent a papal bull against Wycliffe to five people, including King Edward III and the chancellor of Oxford. When Wycliffe returned to Oxford he was confined for a time to Black Hall (a college building now memorialized in Blackhall Road in central Oxford). Wycliffe's friends eventually obtained his freedom.

In March 1378 he was again summoned to be questioned for his views. King Edward had died, and his very young grandson Richard II was king. Sir Lewis Clifford confronted the investigation on behalf of the new king's mother, Joan of Kent, and forbade the assembled clergy from condemning Wycliffe. The clergy simply forbade him from speaking out on his controversial views.

Wycliffe instead decided to make new controversies. I'll talk about them tomorrow.

The Father of English Surgery

John of Arderne (1307 - 1392) was an innovative English surgeon who devised a number of cures and procedures and is considered the first English surgeon.

He grew up in Newark-on-Trent, which in his lifetime was a fairly large town. It is believed he attended the University of Montpellier; if so, then he may have been exposed to the Practica Chirurgia of Roger Frugard. He was in London in 1370, and was active in the Hundred Years' War in the regiment of Henry Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster, and John of Gaunt (King Edward III's son and Henry's son-in-law). (Incidentally, this would put him in the orbit of a young Geoffrey Chaucer.) He remained an employee of Gaunt.

War creates injuries, and this is where surgeons are most needed and are given opportunities to come up with new ideas for treating people. Long stretches bouncing on horseback can be damaging and lead to an issue now called a pilonidal cyst, but described by Arderne as a fistula in ano ("fistula in anus"). A fistula is a connection between two parts of the body that don't normally connect. You can learn more about this and Arderne's painful-but-successful treatment in this post.

But perhaps not so painful. Arderne knew of the soporific and nerve-deadening effects of opium, and prescribed it so that the patient "shal sleep so that he shal feel no cutting." To the opium he would add hemlock and henbane. He would apply this topically via an enema, and also use it on arrow wounds to deaden the pain while they were extracted.

His innovations were not just in what he was able to do for patients, but also in the profession itself. He believed, for instance, that wealthy patients should be charged what the market would bear, but poor patients should be treated for free. He also suggested ways to con duct oneself as a surgeon, and what to wear. The frontispiece for one of his manuscripts (shown above) shows him dressed in the robes of a university doctor, elevating the status above that of the more mundane "barber surgeon" who (because they possessed razors) were used to quickly treat war-related amputations, blood-letting, and (of course) hair-cutting. Because of the messiness involved, barber surgeons wore short robes. Arderne advised against this, urging his followers to distinguish themselves from the less-educated barbers.

More than 50 medieval manuscripts exist today with his texts, most with multiple illustrations as well. I'll share more of his guide for successful surgeons tomorrow.

Richard II and the Wonderful Parliament

From October to November 1386, the Wonderful Parliament took place in Westminster Abbey. Its initial purpose was to discuss King Richard II's request for money (his uncle, John of Gaunt, was pushing for war with France as part of the Hundred Years War). In fact, a French fleet had been massing across the Channel in Flanders all summer, and the rumor of invasion was credible. Money had been spent to have 10,000 soldiers surround London for protection, and more was requested to prepare for war with France. The king's request would have brought a sum of £155,000—this would have been the largest tax in England's history, and Parliament was alarmed.

Other issues arose as well. Richard's marriage to Anne of Bohemia was supposed to bring her father, Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, onto the English side. There did not seem to be much support from Charles, however, and the man who negotiated the marriage, Michael de la Pole, had been made chancellor a few years before and more recently made Earl of Suffolk. Also, Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, had just been made Duke of Ireland. Richard's elevation of his favorites to such positions was very concerning to Parliament, who considered these men and others close to Richard to be out for themselves and inappropriate royal advisors.

Richard was going to absent himself from Parliament—he did not like being told what he could and could not do—but his uncle Thomas of Woodstock, the Duke of Gloucester, threatened him with being deposed if he did not attend.

Parliament considered de la Pole a bad chancellor and wanted him impeached. Richard was forced to get rid of his chancellor and deal in the future only with advisors approved by Parliament. He left Westminster and spent a year traveling the country, ignoring the advice of Parliament's approved advisors and trying to gather support for himself.

As for the French fleet, England got lucky: a rebellion in Ghent took their attention, and there was no invasion of England that season. Also in 1386, Gaunt left England to attempt his dream of succeeding to the throne of Castile. Parliament had never trusted him, assuming that he wanted the English throne himself. Richard was upset with him as well: Gaunt was the chief military leader, and the promise of claiming France did not materialize fast enough. Gaunt's wealth had often supported Richard's desires, but with Gaunt in Spain fighting his own battles, Richard had lost a source of support and felt deserted.

The rest of Richard's reign was going to be one long argument with Parliament about the extent of his power and autonomy. The Wonderful Parliament was considered even more damaging to him that the Merciless Parliament in 1388. That is our next stop on this brief tour of the life of Richard II.

Katherine Swynford, Widow

After John of Gaunt died, in 1399, his third wife, Katherine Swynford, lost a lot of status. His health had been declining (he was approaching 60 years old), and in 1398 he had been expelled from England because he had displeased his nephew, King Richard II. On 3 February 1399, Gaunt made a detailed will, leaving all movable possessions (clothing, furniture, jewelry, etc.) to Katherine. He died the next day.

Immediately, the king's escheators (officers meant to keep track of where a decedent's inheritance goes) seized everything, including the Lancaster estates. She made a plea to the king in March, and got the estates returned, along with an annuity of £1000. Later, the king allowed her to keep the estates she had been given prior to marriage with Gaunt, but took the Lancastrian estates, since the king would have to find a new Duke of Lancaster. She gave the estates of Kettlethorpe and Colby (received from her first husband, Sir Hugh Swynford), to her only son from that marriage, Thomas as Swynford. She moved to a rented house in Lincoln, where she lived out the rest of her days.

All this took place in 1399. In the fall of that year, Gaunt's son Henry Bolingbroke (who had been exiled for life by Richard) returned to England, deposing Richard and crowning himself Henry IV. Katherine and Gaunt's children, the Beauforts, and Thomas Swynford supported Henry.

Although the new king referred to Katherine officially as "the Mother of the King," she did not return to court life, staying quietly in Lincoln and all but disappearing from history. In 1400 Henry gave her a new estate in Yorkshire, and £200 of the annual rents of Huntingdonshire, as well as an annuity of 700 marks (this was all in addition to the £1000 that had been assigned to her long ago by Gaunt). She had more than enough to live comfortably anywhere in the kingdom.

She died on 10 May 1403 and was buried in a tomb in Lincoln Cathedral (see the illustration). Made of fine marble and decorated with heraldic shields, with a carved likeness of her on top, it was topped with a brass canopy. The figure of her was partially damaged in 1644 during the English Civil War.

The king who exiled Gaunt and Bolingbroke, Richard II, has been mentioned many times, but not directly discussed. I'll tell you tomorrow about a king who was a boy who did not speak the language of the country he ruled.

Katherine Swynford, Royal Bride

The love affair between John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford could hardly be a secret, especially when she started bearing his children while he was married to his second wife, Constance of Castile. Even before that his gifts to her of estates and castles and money could hardly be explained simply because of the care she gave to the daughters from his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster.

Katherine's increased social and economic status began in autumn of 1372, so that is likely when the affair truly began (although there must have been some attraction prior).

Katherine and Gaunt had four children between 1373 and 1381. The English chronicler Thomas Walsingham wrote of an event in March 1378 when Gaunt and Katherine were seen in public together:

...casting aside every shame of man and the fear of God, allowed himself to be seen riding through the Duchy with his concubine, a certain Katherine Swynford. [Chronicon Angliæ]

Supposedly Gaunt's family also warned him about the affair's consequences. His legitimate children might well have been concerned about their step-siblings and whatever favors might have been shown to them instead of to the "originals." In 1381, after the Peasants Revolt, Gaunt accepted that his behavior was partially to blame for the public unrest, and broke with Katherine.

After the death of Constance in 1394, however, Gaunt decided to take Katherine as his third wife and Duchess of Lancaster; this would also legitimize his children by her. They were married in Lincoln Cathedral on 13 January 1396. Gaunt had oral permission from Pope Boniface IX, so he wrote to the pope on 1 September 1396, confessing his affair and that it began while he was married but Katherine was not, laying out the details of her importance to the royal family. Boniface wrote a papal bull, declaring the marriage valid. He also legitimized the Beauforts, their four children born before the marriage.

With the papal blessing, everything changed. While Gaunt lived, no one could accuse Katherine of inappropriate behavior. They were free to be a couple in public. The illustration is of a poetic reading at court at the time, and there is speculation that the audience is meant to represent real people and that Katherine is probably one of them. Gaunt only lived another five years, however. Life as Duchess of Lancaster started well, and worked out well for the Beauforts later, but things changed after Gaunt's death. I'll tell you how next time.

Katherine Swynford, Royal Mistress

Katherine Swynford (c.1350? - 10 May 1403) was the daughter of a knight from Hainaut. Her father, Paon de Roet (his and Katherine's arms are shown), followed Philippa of Hainaut when she came to England to marry King Edward III. Katherine was a lady-in-waiting to the queen.

Just as kings found advantageous marriages for their offspring, so did they help their favorites marry well. Katherine Roet was married to Hugh Swynford, a knight in the retinue of John of Gaunt. Accordingly, Katherine was transferred to the household of Gaunt's wife, Blanche. When Blanche died in 1368, Katherine became lady-in-waiting to her daughters, Philippa and Elizabeth. Katherine and Hugh had three or four children.

In the same year that Hugh Swynford died, 1371, John of Gaunt married Constance of Castile and returned to England from the continent. Katherine was now lady-in-waiting to Constance, the new Duchess of Lancaster and also styled Queen of Castile. Katherine now had a little more to her name: Hugh was not wealthy, but the king and Gaunt made sure his estates in Lincolnshire became Katherine's (Hugh's son and heir being a minor, the estates would have become property of his overlords, the king and Gaunt). Gaunt also increased her annuity from 20 to 50 marks, a very decent sum, to help the upkeep of the estates.

In 1373, Katherine had a child, John Beaufort (the surname came from one of Gaunt's estates in Hainaut). The father was John of Gaunt. They had three more children, all while Constance of Castile was still alive. Gaunt did not exactly keep the relationship quiet: he gave Katherine an annuity and several estates as a sign of his favor. 

Knowing that Katherine was the favorite of Gaunt (the most powerful man in England after the king), many would try to curry favor with her. The mayor of Leicester gave her a gift of 16 shillings' worth of wine, recorded as to "Lady Katherine Swynford, mistress of the Duke of Lancaster." That was in August 1375 and is the first public acknowledgement of the affair. The public in general, however, was appalled at the behavior, and the two were forced to break off the affair in 1381. Katherine left her position as lady-in-waiting to the woman whose husband she was sleeping with and settled in Lincoln, likely the Kettlethorpe estate from her deceased husband.

What did Constance think of this affair? Did she know? Gaunt was her best option for getting to the Castilian throne that had been usurped from her father, so she may have taken the bad with the potential good. Her Castilian ladies-in-waiting, however, likely noticed and complained: in 1373 they were all sent by Gaunt to Nuneaton Priory, a Benedictine monastery many days' journey from London. (They were allowed back a year later.)

Katherine was not completely personae non grata, however. King Richard II made her a Lady of the Garter in 1387. She also was brought back into royal service, so to speak, by joining the household of Mary de Bohun, Gaunt's daughter-in-law by virtue of marriage to his eldest son, Henry Bolingbroke (the future King Henry IV).

Constance of Castile, Duchess of Lancaster, died 24 March 1394 and was buried in Leicester. Gaunt and Katherine were now free to pursue an open relationship. They were still haunted by the scandal, and the shadow of adultery. 

How they handled it, and what happened after, will be tomorrow's topic.

John of Gaunt

John of Gaunt (6 March 1340 - 3 February 1399) was a highly influential man in adulthood. He was the third son of Edward III and Queen Philippa, born while the queen was in Ghent in Flanders (called "Gaunt" in English). (Actually, he was the 4th son, but an earlier son had died after a few weeks, years before John was born.)

In the 1350s, he was raised in the household of his older brother Edward of Woodstock (later known as the Black Prince). Accounting records showed that John had two "Saracen" companions named Sigo and Nakon.

He spent much of his youth in France and Spain where he took part heavily in the "family business," which was fighting France in the Hundred Years War. Edward tried (as kings do) to arrange advantageous matches for his children, and for John he arranged a marriage to Blanche of Lancaster in 1359. Blanche was not only a great beauty, but her father was the powerful first Duke of Lancaster, Henry of Grosmont. (Trivia: both John and Blanche had King Henry III as their great-great-grandfather, making them third cousins.)

John's father-in-law died in 1361, and a year later Edward made John the Duke of Lancaster and gave him half Henry of Grosmont's lands. He inherited even more land when his wife's sister, Maud the Countess of Leicester, died childless in 1362. At this point John owned land in almost every county in England and 30 castles. The rents from these properties flowing upward to John gave him an income of £8,000 - £10,000 annually (the buying power of about $200 million today), and allowed him to maintain a lifestyle comparable to a king's.

In 1370 he took a small army to Aquitaine to reinforce his older brother Edward, whose health was beginning to suffer. John was left in charge while Edward returned to England. In September 1371, John returned to England, but not before re-marrying. Blanche had died in 1368. This time, John married Constance of Castile, daughter of Peter the Cruel. Peter had been king of Castile, but was killed in 1369 by his half-brother Henry. John felt that Constance gave him a potential claim to the throne of Castile. He even introduced her to England as Queen of Castile and tried to style himself King of Spain, or at least "my lord of Spain," but no one was buying it. Ultimately, his and Constance's daughter Catherine married Henry II's son, Henry III of Castile, settling the matter of Castilian succession.

Now I'd like to jump to John's third wife, even though we haven't discussed the death of his second; yes, that's an important clue to what's to come. See you next time.

Who Were the Lollards

Was Lollardy popular? Besides for Sir John Oldcastle and John Wycliffe, I mean.

Because Lollards believed that baptism and confession were not necessary for salvation, many people were drawn to Lollardy: it was comforting to know that generations of good people who were never baptized would be welcome into Heaven.

Many priests appreciated Lollardy for its egalitarian and back-to-basics nature: praying to saints and saints' images was idolatry that should be shunned. A Bible in the vernacular was important so that everyone who wished (but did not know Latin) had access to it. All the "smells and bells" trappings of the Roman Catholic Church (bells, organs, holy water, incense, grand buildings), were not Bible-based and just being grandiose for the sake of it. Clerics should not be allowed to hold positions in government and have temporal power.

Lollards did not bother with fasting or abstinence, and they challenged clerical celibacy. They did not recognize any special authority of the pope, and especially of papal pardons. Personal piety was more important than what the Church said it could do for you. This made the individual feel more responsible for and in charge of his life.

This idea of the importance of the individual rather than the importance of the "higher powers" in society was very attractive to the common people, and spilled over to their notions of the need for social and economic reform. Heavy taxation and always being made to feel that you were less important than the nobility started to be questioned. Lollardy's tenets were intimately tied to movements such as the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.

Not just commoners were drawn to Lollardy. There was a group of Lollard Knights in the last quarter of the 1300s. Among them were Lewis Clifford, John Clanvowe, and Richard Stury. I mention those names particularly because they were all friends of Geoffrey Chaucer, himself someone who was willing to make fun of the clergy, write about the common man, and write in English (court literature prior was usually in French).

All these men had another person in common, one far more powerful than they. That was John of Gaunt, third son of King Edward III and uncle of King Richard II. Gaunt was at one time the most powerful and influential man in England, but all things come to an end. I'd love to tell you more tomorrow.

Henry V

Henry of Monmouth was so-called because he was born in a tower at Monmouth Castle in Wales, but the date of his birth was not recorded because he was never expected to be king. (It has since been decided to call it 16 September 1386.)

King of England at the time was Richard II. Henry's father was the king's cousin (Henry senior was the son of John of Gaunt, younger brother of Richard II's father, Edward the Black prince.) Henry senior took part in a revolt against Richard, which resulted in his exile in 1398.

At that point, Richard took the twelve-year-old Henry under his wing, taking him to Ireland. A year later, his grandfather John of Gaunt died and the Lancastrian rebellion overthrew Richard and put Henry's father on the throne as Henry IV. Young Henry was now the eldest son of the reigning king, and was named heir apparent, Prince of Wales, and Duke of Lancaster. He also became Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester and Duke of Aquitaine.

In 1400 he was named Sheriff of Cornwall and put in charge of part of the military (note that he is about fourteen years old). In 1403 he led an English army to fight Owain Glendower (previously mentioned here). At the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403 against Henry Percy (immortalized as "Hotspur" in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1), an arrow was embedded in the left side of our Henry's face.

This would have been dire for any soldier, but the king's son was going to receive the best care. The royal physician treated it with honey as a natural antiseptic, and developed a tool to extract the embedded arrowhead before flushing the wound with alcohol. The patient survived with impressive scars that proved his battle experience (although you'll note the absence of scars in the portrait above).

That physician was John Bradmore, and is too interesting a character to not stop and talk about him next.

Crisis in Portugal

Ferdinand I, son of Pedro the Cruel

Inheritance is never more complicated than when a throne is involved. The stakes are too high for anyone to let slip by the chance that he can convince the world that he should rule the country involved. When Peter I of Castile (who ruled both Castile and Portugal) died in 1369, it seemed natural that his eldest surviving son, the 24-year-old Ferdinand I, would inherit the throne.

Except that Peter did not have the Castilian throne to pass along. His illegitimate half-brother, Henry of Trastámara, had taken it in 1369 after defeating Peter in the (First) Castilian Civil War. Wanting to oust Peter wasn't a big surprise to much of Europe, since at the time he was more commonly known as "Pedro the Cruel" because of a ruthless administrative style that did not sit well with the aristocracy. Henry had the support of the papacy as well as France and Aragon. France was happy to get involved on the side opposing Peter because of the larger global issues: France was still in the Hundred Years War with England, and England's John of Gaunt (son of King Edward III) was married to Peter's daughter Constance.

Ferdinand was now King of Portugal, but he wanted Castile as well.

Just because Henry sat the throne, however, did not mean his legitimacy was incontrovertible. (He had a son who was not yet a teenager.) Upon Peter's death, King Peter IV of Aragon and King Charles II ("the Bad") of Navarre put forth claims to Castile, as did Peter I's son-in-law, John of Gaunt. (John would have liked a kingdom of his own, since the assumption was that England would go to his older brother, Edward the Black Prince).

Military engagements followed. In order to avoid an unending conflict, all parties appealed to the pope. Pope Gregory IX got everyone to accept a treaty in 1371, agreeing that Peter's son Ferdinand would ascend the throne and would marry Leonora of Castile, Henry's daughter. This would link the thrones of Portugal and Castile by marriage, and everyone would be satisfied.

The next difficulty was created by Ferdinand himself. Although he accepted the treaty, he fell in love with someone else: Leonor Telles de Meneses, the wife of one of his courtiers! He managed to get her forcibly divorced from her husband so that Ferdinand could marry her.

With Henry's daughter spurned, he had no incentive to allow Ferdinand to become king in Henry's place. John of Gaunt plotted with Ferdinand to remove Henry from Castile, and brought an English army to help—to no avail, however, and a treaty in 1373 calmed everyone down again.

Henry died in 1379, and John of Gaunt once again made a claim for the throne. Ferdinand, however, made his own treaty without English help. If Ferdinand's daughter Beatrice were to marry Henry's son John, then the two kingdoms could be joined by marriage to everyone's satisfaction.

When Ferdinand died on 22 October 1383, he left no male heir. Beatrice's marriage to John would have taken care of Castile, but what of Portugal? The treaty was tossed away—popular sentiment was that Portugal would be annexed by Castile; Portugal needed its own king, not that of Castile!—and Ferdinand's illegitimate brother John claimed the throne, sparking a two-year period of war and political uncertainty with the French helping John of Castile and the English helping John of Portugal. When the dust settled, Portugal had gained control of many towns that were originally Castilian, and the two kingdoms were ruled separately.

In 1387, John I of Portugal married Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt. The alliance between Portugal and England was and remains very strong.

The Other Peasants' Revolts

The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was mentioned last year over a five-day span, but the events in London weren't the only expression of lower class unrest that month. Word of the rebellion in London sparked similar group actions elsewhere in the kingdom. Revolts took place in Bury St. Edmunds, Cambridgeshire, Ipswich, St. Albans, Thetford, and numerous other locales. At a time when 90% of the population was agrarian and existing in a system in which they could feel controlled and oppressed, it was easy to get large crowds stirred up. The ruling minority, on the other hand, took a little longer to muster an armed resistance capable of suppressing the rioting.

In the north of England, for instance, word of rebellion in London reached John of Gaunt on June 17 in Berwick-on-Tweed on the border of Scotland. He was too far from London to do anything about the events there, but he sent messengers to his castles in Yorkshire and Wales to be alert. By this time, Wat Tyler had been killed in London a few days before, and the Revolt there was being dispersed, but John did not know that.

Also on the 17th, word of the revolt came to York, inspiring the lower classes to attack the estates held by Dominicans and Franciscans. York and Scarborough were in upheaval for months until the established authorities were able to re-assert control with the help of armed men.

The Oldest Political Alliance

King John I of Portugal weds Philippa of Lancaster, 1386
(Chronique de France et d'Angleterre, Jean Wavrin, 15th c.)

When Edward III is mentioned in this blog, it is often in connection with the Hundred Years War between England and France. Expanding his "little island's" authority was an important feature of his long reign. So it might come as a surprise to learn that he was responsible for a non-aggression treaty with another European power—a treaty that has been in effect for almost 600 years!

It didn't hurt Edward to have a friend on the continent. It gave him a potential place to land ships if he needed to march through (or against) Spain for any reason. The alliance helped Portugal as well. During political troubles in the 1380s, John the Good (called João in Portugese) defeated his rivals; England recognized him as the rightful king of Portugal right away. Spain would not recognize his right to rule until decades later. England reinforced the 1373 treaty in 1386 with the Treaty of Windsor, as a result of which King John I of Portugal married Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, Edward III's 4th son.

Does the treaty have any real significance in the modern world, considering the United Nations, NATO, etc.? Well, it is said that during World War II, Portugal refused to join the Axis powers in order to stay loyal to a 550-year-old document!

In the first paragraph, I said the treaty had been in place for "almost" 600 years, but wouldn't the date of 1373 mean it was in place for 640 years? Or, given that the treaty wasn't ratified until 1386, couldn't I have said "over" or "more than" 600 years? Well, I must be honest: the treaty wasn't always in effect during that time. From 1580-1640, due to marriages between the royal families of Spain and Portugal, Portugal was obligated to drop the treaty with England, Spain's enemy at the time.

A Pain in the Ass

(I apologize if the title—or the topic—is too crude for some.)

The poor fellow to the right (the one half showing) is suffering from an anal fistula, described thusly:

... a small channel that can develop between the end of the bowel and the skin near the anus.
... can cause bleeding and discharge when passing stools - and can be painful. ...
In some cases, an anal fistula causes persistent drainage. In other cases, where the outside of the channel opening closes, the result may be recurrent anal abscesses. The only cure for an anal fistula is surgery. [WebMD]

Nowadays it is called a "pilonidal cyst." At the very least, inconvenient; in many cases, extremely painful, especially when sitting down.

At a time when many men spent long stretches of time bouncing on horseback, these fistula-in-ano (to give it the Latin phrase) were debilitating. Fortunately, soldiers of Edward III's time had a solution in the skill of John of Gaunt's favorite physician and surgeon.

John Arderne (1307-1392) left us very little information about his early life. It seems he was a surgeon in Nottinghamshire. During the Hundred Years War, he probably traveled with the army; his writing suggests a well-traveled man with wide experience of the world as well as medical practices.

He produced the definitive work on treating this particular medical problem. His writing describes the cause and the treatment, and describes the surgical instruments needed for his procedures. He also shows knowledge of Galen & Guy de Chauliac, Avicenna, and Dioscorides.

Arderne was ahead of his time in some ways. He advised opium to dull pain during surgery, and the code of conduct proper for a physician. In the matter of fees, he was fine with charging a rich patient whatever the traffic would bear, but felt that the poor should be treated for free. He was also a great believer in cleanliness, and in not fussing with a wound once treated, but allowing the healing process to proceed untampered with.

That is not to say that he was "modern." He also subscribed to the belief that parts of the body were aligned with astrological signs, and that the time of the year could influence the efficacy of surgery on parts of the body.