Let me begin with Katherine Swynford de Roet, Duchess of Lancaster (1350 - 1403) who
is my 19th great grandmother....without whom the Tudors would not have existed...(nor me)
her story is told in the book, Love, Honour and Royal Blood by Carol Sargeant which is described as
"An Epic Historical Novel of 14th Century England,the Reformation, and one of the Great Love Stories of History
Young Katherine Swynford was beautiful, sensitive and intelligent. However, she was married off at fifteen to Hugh Swynford, a plain and mediocre man who could never appreciate her intellect. Although it was considered an advantageous match, her marriage was not a happy one. Katherine Swynford resisted temptation for many years, but after the death of her husband she was eventually drawn into a liaison with the love of her life, John of Gaunt, the great Duke of Lancaster. This illicit romance with John of Gaunt was to change the course of history. If Katherine had not said ‘yes’ to love, the Tudor dynasty would not have existed; George Washington would not have been there to fight for American independence; and Alfred Lord Tennyson would not have written his famous poetry.
Love, Honour and Royal Blood is a classic historical novel of the old school. The author, Carol Sargeant, based this trilogy on 30 years of research. According to the author, this novel is a work of “faction” as the events actually happened and such people as Henry IV, Richard II, and Geoffrey Chaucer were simply family members, and sometimes difficult family members at that. Likewise their friend, John Wycliffe, was to bring intrigue and danger into their lives when he planted the first seeds of the Protestant Reformation. The people existed, the events happened; only what they thought and said has been dramatized for literary purposes. In order to tell the story of Katherine Swynford, it was necessary to find the story of John of Gaunt, and Lancaster’s story is too large to be contained in one volume. This first book in the trilogy covers, not just their love story; but a series of events stranger and more dramatic than fiction.
Katherine Swynford lived a life that was anything but dreary with Geoffrey Chaucer as a brother-in-law; John Wycliffe, a good friend; and the most powerful man in England, the Duke of Lancaster as her lover. During their lifetimes, John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford found themselves in the centre of a maelstrom of changes that happened in England. The Black Death, the Peasants Revolt, the Good Parliament, the Hundred Years War, and the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation were all current affairs of the time, and John of Gaunt was at the centre of them all."
http://www.herlifestory.com/
http://www.katherineswynford.org/wordpress/
Katherine Swynford is also the subject of Mistress of the Monarchy by Alison Weir
Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and his Scandalous Duchess is a biography of Katherine Swynford written by Alison Weir and published in 2007. In the US, the book is titled Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster.
Katherine Swynford was the mistress and later the third wife of John of Gaunt, third surviving son of Edward III. Through their legitimized children, she is an ancestress of several royal dynasties. As Weir notes, "...no letter survives, no utterance of hers is recorded. None of her movable goods are extant...Her will is lost...She is famous but, paradoxically, she is little known." Weir reconstructs her subject's history through entries in court and municipal records, the descriptions of chroniclers including Thomas Walsingham and Froissart, and other sources; the list of primary sources alone occupies over 7 pages. A full telling of Katherine's life emerges from these, and from other inferences based on the author's understanding of 14th century England. The resulting portrait is necessarily veiled — John of Gaunt emerges more clearly than she does — but still enough is established to show an intelligent and devoted companion and mother.
Katherine Swynford
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Katherine's tomb[1]
Spouse
Hugh Swynford
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster
Issue
Thomas Swynford
Blanche Swynford
Margaret Swynford
John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset
Henry Beaufort, Cardinal
Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter
Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland
House
House of Lancaster (by marriage)
Father Payne de Roet
Born 25 November 1350
Died 10 May 1403 (aged 52)
Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster (also spelled Synford), née (de) Roet (also spelled (de) Rouet, (de) Roët, or (de) Roelt) (probably 25 November 1350 – 10 May 1403), was the daughter of Sir Payne (or Paen/Pain/Paon) (de) Roet (also spelled (de) Rouet, (de) Roët or (de) Roelt), originally a Flemish herald from County of Hainaut, later knighted.
Katherine became the third wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and their descendants were the Beaufort family, which played a major role in the Wars of the Roses. Henry VII, who became King of England in 1485, derived his claim to the throne from his mother Lady Margaret Beaufort, who was a great-granddaughter of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford.
Family
The children of Paganus Ruet (argued by modern-day genealogist Lindsay Brook and followed by author Weir[2] as "probably christened as Gilles") included Katherine, her sister Philippa, a son, Walter, and the eldest sister, Isabel (also called Elizabeth) de Roet (Canoness of the convent of St. Waudru's, Mons, c. 1366). Katherine is generally held to have been his youngest child. Weir[2] argues that Philippa was the junior and that both were children of a second marriage.
Paon de Ruet is found early, in a legal document, in the form Paganus de Rodio — referring to Rodium, the mediaeval Latin form corresponding to the Roeulx, or Le Rœulx, the name of a town of 3000 inhabitants, 8 miles north-east of Mons, on the highway leading from Mons to Nivelle. Paon de Ruet may have been impelled to seek his fortune in England by the recital of the exploits of Fastre de Ruet, who accompanied John of Beaumont in 1326, when, with three hundred followers, he went to assist the English against the Scots. Fastre was the younger brother of the last lord of Roeulx descended from the Counts of Hainault. He and his brother Eustace fell into pecuniary straits, and were obliged to alienate their landed possessions. Fastre died in 1331, and was buried in the abbey church of Roeulx, while his brother Eustace survived till 1336. Paon was, like Fastre, a younger brother — possibly of a collateral line.
As the king was in the North, a number of the Flemings returned home without proceeding further than London, but Paon de Ruet was one of those who remained in England in the retinue of Philippa of Hainaut, accompanying the young queen in her departure from Valenciennes to join her youthful husband Edward III in England at the close of 1327. His name does not appear in the list of knights who accompanied the queen from Hainault, however, described by Froissart to be among additional knights referred to as 'pluissier jone esquier'. Speght (1598)[3] prefixed to his history a genealogical tree which began: 'Paganus de Rouet Hannoniensis, aliter dictus Guien Rex Armorum' describing de Ruet as Guienne King of Arms. Upon the coronation of Henry the Fifth (1413), Sir William Bruges held the same title in the fifth year of the King's reign (Edmondson 1. 104) and the same monarch was accompanied to France before Agincourt by a herald bearing that name (Wylie, Reign of Henry the Fifth 1. 493).
In 1347, Ruet was sent to the siege of Calais, and was one of two knights deputed by Queen Philippa to conduct out of town the citizens whom she had saved.
[Froissart, 5.215 : "Et au matin elle fist donner a casqun sys nobles [say, $150], et Ies fist conduire hors de l'oost par messire Sanse d'Aubrecicourt et messire Paon de Ruet, si avent que il vorrent, et que il fu avis as deus chevaliers que il estoient hors dou peril, et au departir il les commanderent a Dieu, et retournerent li chevalier en l'oost."] He had returned to the lands of Hainault, probably by 1349, and Katherine was born the following year.
Katherine's birth date in 1350 is assumed to be 25 November, as that is the feast day of her patron, St. Catherine of Alexandria. The family returned to England in 1351, and it is likely that Katherine stayed there during her father's continued travels.
Katherine married in St Clement Danes Church, Strand, London in abt. 1366 to "Hugh" Ottes Swynford, a knight from the manor of Kettlethorpe in Lincolnshire, son of Thomas Swynford and Nicole Druel. Katherine was known to have borne the following children by him: Thomas (21 September 1368 – 1432), Blanche (born 1 May 1367), and possibly Margaret Swynford (born c. 1369), who was a nun nominated at the prestigious Barking Abbey by command of Richard II.
Katherine became attached to the household of John of Gaunt as governess to his daughters Philippa of Lancaster and Elizabeth of Lancaster. The ailing duchess Blanche had Katherine's daughter Blanche (her namesake) placed within her own daughters' chambers and afforded the same luxuries as her daughters; additionally, John of Gaunt stood as godfather to the child. Katherine's sister, Philippa, attached to Queen Philippa's household, married the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, whose poem The Book of the Duchess commemorated Blanche's death by plague in 1369. Speght (1598)[3] said of Philippa's marriage: 'He [Chaucer] matched in marriage with a Knight's daughter of Henault, called Paon de Ruet, king of Armes, as by this draught appeareth, taken out of the office of the Heraldes.' M Speght's authority Stow (1592)[4] recorded: 'He [Chaucer] had to wife the daughter of Paine Roete alias Gwine [ed. 1631, Guian] king at armes, by whom he had issue Tho. Chaucer.'
Sometime after Blanche's 1369 death, but before the Duke's second marriage, Katherine and John of Gaunt consummated a romantic affair which would entail four children being born out of wedlock to the couple, and would endure as a lifelong relationship. Two years after the death of the Duke's second wife, Infanta Constance of Castile, Katherine and John of Gaunt married on 13 January 1396 in Lincoln Cathedral. Records of their marriage kept in the Tower and elsewhere list: 'John of Ghaunt, Duke of Lancaster, married Katharine daughter of Guyon King of Armes in the time of K. Edward the 3, and Geffrey Chaucer her sister'. John and Katherine's four children had been given the surname "Beaufort" and were legitimized as adults by their parents' marriage with approval by King Richard and the Pope. Although legitimized, the Beauforts were barred from inheriting the throne by a clause in the legitimation act inserted by their half-brother, Henry IV, although modern scholarship has disputed the authority of a monarch to alter an existing parliamentary statute. This was later revoked by the monarch Edward VI, placing Katherine's descendants back within the legitimate line of inheritance; in fact, the Tudor dynasty, including Edward, were direct descendants of John and Katherine's eldest child, John Beaufort.
After John of Gaunt's death, Katherine became dowager Duchess of Lancaster. She outlived him by four years, dying on 10 May 1403. Her tomb and that of her daughter, Joan Beaufort, are under a carved-stone canopy in the sanctuary of Lincoln Cathedral. Joan's is the smaller of the two tombs; both were decorated with brass plates — full-length representations of them on the tops, and small shields bearing coats of arms around the sides and on the top — but those were damaged or destroyed in 1644 during the English Civil War. A hurried drawing by Dugdale records their appearance.
Also defaced in 1644, and removed of any precious or semi-precious metals, was the tomb of her father Paon de Ruet / Roet in St. Paul's, near Sir John Beauchamp's tomb (commonly called Duke Humphrey's). It was recorded that "Once a fair marble stone inlaid all over with brass, nothing but the heads of a few brazen nails are at this day visible, previously engraven with the representation and coat of arms of the party defunct, thus much of a mangled funeral inscription was of late times perspicuous to be read". It, along with the tombs of many others, including John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster's, were completely destroyed in the Great Fire of London. The former inscription regarding Paganus Roet (styled as 'Guinne', 'Guyenne', or 'Gwinne' the king at arms or master of arms, often shortened simply to the frank reference to 'armes' as 'Guiles' or 'Giles') was as follows: " Hic Jacet Paganus Roet Miles Guyenne Rex Armorum Pater Catherine Ducisse Lancastrie." By 1658, viewed without its brass plaquard and effigies, it was described by Dugdale as: "In australi ala, navi Ecclesue opposita (prope tumulum D. Johannis de Bellocampo), sub lapide marmoreo, jacet Paganus Roet, Rex Armorum tempore Regis Edwardi tertii".
Children and descendants
By Hugh Swynford:
• Margaret Swynford (born c. 1363), became a nun at the prestigious Barking Abbey in 1377 with help from her future stepfather John of Gaunt, where she lived the religious life with her cousin Elizabeth Chaucer, daughter of the famous Geoffrey Chaucer and Katherine's sister Philippa de Roet.[2]
• ?Dorothy Swynford (born c. 1366). It was suggested in 1846 by Thomas Stapleton that there was a third daughter named Dorothy who married Thomas Thimelby of Poolham near Horncastle, Lincolnshire, who was Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1380 and died in 1390. There is no current evidence to support this claim.[2]
• Sir Thomas Swynford (1367–1432), born in Lincoln while his father Sir Hugh Swynford was away on a campaign with John of Gaunt in Castile fighting for Peter of Castile.[2]
• Blanche Swynford (after 1375), named for the Duchess of Lancaster, and also a godchild of John of Gaunt.[2]
By John of Gaunt:
Coat of arms that Katherine Swynford adopted after her marriage to John of Gaunt as Duchess of Lancaster: three gold Catherine wheels ("roet" means "little wheel" in Old French) on a red background. The wheel emblem shows Katherine's devotion to her patron saint, Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel.[2]
• John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (1373–1410)
• Henry Beaufort, Cardinal (1375–1447)
• Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter (1377–1426)
• Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland (1379–1440)
The descendants of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt are significant in British history. Their son, John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, was great-grandfather of Henry VII, who established the Tudor dynasty and based his claim to the throne on his mother's lineage to John of Gaunt's father, Edward III. John Beaufort also had a daughter named Joan Beaufort, who married King James I of Scotland and thus was an ancestress of the House of Stuart.[5] John and Katherine's daughter, Joan Beaufort, was grandmother of the English kings Edward IV and Richard III, whom Henry VII defeated at the Battle of Bosworth; Henry's claim was strengthened by marrying Elizabeth of York, eldest daughter of Edward IV. It was also through Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmoreland that the sixth queen of Henry VIII, Catherine Parr, descended.[6] John of Gaunt's son — Katherine's stepson — became Henry IV after deposing Richard II (who was imprisoned and died in Pontefract Castle, where Katherine's son, Thomas Swynford, was constable and is said to have starved Richard to death for his stepbrother). John of Gaunt's daughter by his first marriage to Blanche of Lancaster, Philippa of Lancaster, was great-great-grandmother to Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII and mother of Mary I of England. John of Gaunt's child by his second wife Constance, Catherine (or Catalina), was great-grandmother of Catherine of Aragon as well.
In literature
Katherine Swynford is the subject of Anya Seton's novel Katherine (published in 1954) and of Alison Weir's biography Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and his Scandalous Duchess (ISBN 0-224-06321-9). Swynford is also the subject of Jeannette Lucraft's historical biography Katherine Swynford: The History of a Medieval Mistress. This book seeks to establish Swynford as a powerful figure in the politics of fourteenth-century England and an example of a woman's ability to manipulate contemporary social mores for her own interests.
References and further reading
1. ^ 1640 drawing of the tombs of Katherine Swynford and her daughter Joan Beaufort in Lincoln Cathedral before the tombs were despoiled in 1644 by the Roundheads
2. ^ a b c d e f g Weir, Alison (2007). Katherine Swynford: The story of John of Gaunt and his Scandalous Duchess. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0224063219.
3. ^ a b Speght, M (1598). The life of Chaucer.
4. ^ Stow (1592). Annales of England.
5. ^ "About Katherine Swynford In Brief". Katherine Swynford Society. http://www.katherineswynfordsociety.org.uk/id3.html. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
6. ^ James, Susan. 'Catherine Parr: Henry VIII's Last Love.' 2009. pg 15.
• Lucraft, Jeannette (2006). Katherine Swynford: The History of a Medieval Mistress. Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0750932619.
• In the US, Weir's book is titled Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster.
• Sargeant, Carol (2009). Love, Honour and Royal Blood Book One: Katharine Swynford. Dog Ear Publishing. ISBN 9781608441624.
• The Katherine Swynford Society
• The Katherine Swynford Society Blog (this may be a broken link)
• Katherine Swynford
• Katherine Swynford book - Love, Honour and Royal Blood
Her relationship to me:
Katherine Swynford de Roet Duchess of Lancaster (1350 - 1403)
My 19th great grandmother
Joan de Beaufort Countess of Westmorland (1375 - 1440)
Daughter of Katherine Swynford
Lady Anne de Neville Duchess of Buckingham (1404 - 1480)
Daughter of Joan
Lady Anne Le Strange (1462 - 1520)
Daughter of Lady Anne
Richard Smythe Lord (1480 - 1508)
Son of Lady Anne
William Smythe (1505 - 1550)
Son of Richard
Agnes Smythe (1543 - )
Daughter of William
Reginaldus Gibson (1563 - )
Son of Agnes
William Gibson (1582 - )
Son of Reginaldus
Thomas Gibson (1600 - 1642)
Son of William
Thomas Gibson (1620 - 1652)
Son of Thomas
Marmaduke Gibson (1669 - 1730)
Son of Thomas
Jonathon Gibson (1700 - 1746)
Son of Marmaduke
Marmaduke Gibson (1727 - 1796)
Son of Jonathon
Mrmaduke Gibson (1758 - )
Son of Marmaduke
James Gibson (1778 - 1857)
Son of Marmaduke
Eleanor Gibson (1807 - 1894)
Daughter of James
Jane Murgatroyd (1839 - 1929)
Daughter of Eleanor
Alfred Ernest Tonge (1870 - 1939)
Son of Jane
Clarice Barbara Tonge (1898 - 1979)
Daughter of Alfred Ernest
David Astley Jephson (1928 - 2000)
Son of Clarice Barbara
Amanda Ann Jephson
Daughter of David Astley
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