Category: House Of Lancaster

Maud of Lancaster

4/4/2018

Maud of Lancaster was one of two sisters who were co-heiress of Henry of Grosmont the Duke of Lancaster and Earl of Leicester. Maud was born on the 4th April in 1339, to Grosmont's wife Isabel de Beaumont at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire.

Bolingbroke Castle is now in ruins, but it was once a fine castle situated in what is known as the Lincolnshire Wolds. It was built by Ranulf Blondeville, Earl of Chester in 1220 however by the sixteenth century it had fallen into disrepair. On Blondeville's death the castle passed to his sister Hawise, eventually, via the de Lacy family it ended up as part of the estate of Thomas of Lancaster. Lancaster was executed for treason in 1322 and his estate for forfeited. A year later, Henry of Grosmont successfully petitioned to take possession of his brother's estates which included Bolingbroke.

Maud's sister Blanche was also born at Bolingbroke.

Maud was Grosmont's eldest daughter, her paternal grandparents were Henry of Lancaster and Maud de Charworth and her maternal grandparents were Henry Beaumont and Alice de Comyn. Both sets of grandparent held land in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire. Her Beaumont grandparent's Lincolnshire estates were granted as a result of their association with the royal family. Edward II granted them a number of manor including Folkingham, Goady and Barton upon Humber.

On Grosmont's death in 1361, Maud and Blanche became wealthy heiresses, however the Earldom of Leicester passed to Maud's first husband and then on his death in 1389 to her sister Blanche's husband John of Gaunt, who was granted the Dukedom of Lancaster as a second creation.

On Maud's death on the 10th April 1362 Gaunt received her money and her lands to add to that of his wife share of the family estate. The Grosmont inheritance formed the foundations on which the Lancastrian's built their dynasty.

There is no image of Maud, however she may have resembled her sister. You can see an illustration of Blanche - pictured here with John of Gaunt.

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Blanche of Lancaster

12/9/2017

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Blanche of Lancaster was just twenty-three when she died this day in 1368. She was the first wife of John of Gaunt the son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault.

Blanche is said to have died of the plague that had ravaged the country that year. This was the plague's third appearance since it first arrived on English shores twenty years earlier. The previous outbreak in 1361, according to Henry Knighton an Augustinian canon of the abbey of St Mary of the Meadows in Leicester, had

'a general mortality oppressed the people. It was called the second pestilence and both rich
and poor died, but especially young people and children.'

The Leicestershire outbreak cost Blanche's parents their lives. In Lincolnshire that year there was an outbreak in Louth, a town just fifteen miles north of Bolingbroke Castle, where Blanche had given birth to Henry, the future Henry IV.

By 1368 Blanche was weakened by childbirth and susceptible to infection, she was therefore 'ripe for the picking' so to speak.

Blanche had given birth to a daughter in 1368 who died as an infant, it is plausible that Blanche may have died in childbirth her poor body weakened from the years of constant pregnancy. She was married at twelve/thirteen, had her first baby nine months later and was pregnant with another child before her body had chance to recover from the last until the aforementioned daughter born in 1368. Blanche died in Staffordshire where there was a recorded outbreak in 1369 which may have taken the life of her last child, it is not unreasonable to suppose the 'black death' took poor Blanche too.

French author Jean Froissart wrote that Blanche was 'young and pretty' even Geoffrey Chaucer was so inspired by her beauty that he wrote of her in his work The Book of the Duchess.

Blanche's body was laid to rest in Old St Paul's Cathedral in London, where Gaunt later joined her. Their tomb was destroyed by fire when the cathedral burnt down in 1666.

Note: Blanche's maternal aunt was Eleanor of Lancaster. Eleanor's first husband, John de Beaumont was also Blanche's paternal uncle.
meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/history-blog/eleanor-of-lancaster

Note: What is interesting is that both Blanche and Eleanor dates of death are one day off being exactly fifty years apart.

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Medieval Women

25/8/2015

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At the re enactment of the Battle of Bosworth this weekend, I attended a talk given by author Amy Licence, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Amy spoke of the role of the queen in the medieval period, and how society viewed them, how men viewed them and how they are often placed into different categories.

Here we can see Amy talking with Philippa Gregory before her talk.

I certainly agree with what Amy said. I have found that women are, more often than not, depicted as either a virgin or a whore, but these medieval women had far more to them. It seems that prostitutes were more widely accepted in medieval times and nuns weren't always as saintly as we are lead to believe.

In between the two categories can be found very strong women, the other queens Amy didn't have time to mention, Matilda, daughter of Henry I and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor, for instance went on Crusade where she led an army of ladies dressed in armour and Isabella of France who took up arms against the weak rule of her husband Edward II, scholars such as Felicie de Almania who spoke of the need of women doctors to treat women patients and who continued to practice medicine without a licence.

I was going to ask Amy, about Catherine of Valois, but couldn't pluck up the courage, and her alleged 'affair' with Edmund Beaufort and if she thought that Edmund Tudor might be his child? Catherine is often referred to as rather amorous or 'over sexed,' a derogatory term often thrown at women, which, it seems, is okay behaviour if you're a male!

One of the saddest things I've read about Catherine was written by Samuel Pepys in his diary in 1660.

‘by perticular favour’ took Catherine's body into his hands and planted a kiss on her mouth, ‘reflecting upon it that I did kiss a Queen, and that this was my birthday’

Sadly, Catherine's remains were still left unburied and available to view at Westminster until 1793! It was not until the late 19th century that it was removed to Henry V's chantry.

How awful is that?

The image above is Catherine of Valois's funeral effigy.

Amy's website is linked here http://amylicence.weebly.com/

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