John of Gaunt (1340-99): duke of Lancaster, son of Philippa of Hainault and Edward III, king of England, who was a pretender to the Castilian throne by right of his marriage to Constanza, eldest daughter of Pedro I, king of Castile, who died in 1369. John of Gaunt was an important person in English political and military life during the last quarter of the fourteenth century, exercising great influence in domestic and foreign policy in England during the reign of Richard II, despite periods of unpopularity and strife with his royal nephew.
John of Gaunt (1340-99): duke of Lancaster, son of Philippa of Hainault and Edward III, king of England, who was a pretender to the Castilian throne by right of his marriage to Constanza, eldest daughter of Pedro I, king of Castile, who died in 1369. John of Gaunt was an important person in English political and military life during the last quarter of the fourteenth century, exercising great influence in domestic and foreign policy in England during the reign of Richard II, despite periods of unpopularity and strife with his royal nephew.
Island kingdom bounded to the west by the Marcher lordships and the (still contested) principality of Wales conquered by Edward I; English lordships included parts of modern south Wales (from southern Pembrokeshire through Swansea, Cardiff and on towards Gloucester in England); bounded to the north by the kingdom of Scotland, to the east by the North Sea and to the south by the Channel; included Somerset, Devon and Cornwall to the south-west. Population up to the Black Death of 1348-9 approximately 4 million souls.
Henry of Bolingbroke (1367 - 1413), earl of Derby, duke of Hereford (1397), king Henry IV (1399); the fourth and only surviving son of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster.
Island kingdom bounded to the west by the Marcher lordships and the (still contested) principality of Wales conquered by Edward I; English lordships included parts of modern south Wales (from southern Pembrokeshire through Swansea, Cardiff and on towards Gloucester in England); bounded to the north by the kingdom of Scotland, to the east by the North Sea and to the south by the Channel; included Somerset, Devon and Cornwall to the south-west. Population up to the Black Death of 1348-9 approximately 4 million souls.
Henry of Bolingbroke (1367 - 1413), earl of Derby, duke of Hereford (1397), king Henry IV (1399); the fourth and only surviving son of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster.
She was born as the daughter of count William I (III) of Hainault and Holland and countess Jeanne, either in 1310 or in 1315. Froissart’ statement in the ‘Rome’ redaction of Book I (SHF § 39) that she was thirteen years old when she married on 25 January 1328 supports the later of these two dates. Jean le Bel and Froissart state that negotiations for her marriage to king Edward III of England started in 1327, after the Scottish campaign of that year. In reality, there had already been plans for a wedding between the young Edward and a daughter of count William, possibly Philippa, from as early as 1319, and there were negotiations for a marriage between Edward and Philippa’ eldest sister, Margaret in 1320 and 1321. Edward and Philippa first met in 1325 in Paris and were engaged in August 1326, while Queen Isabella and her son Edward were staying in Hainault. On 27 August 1326 Edward signed a promise that he would marry Philippa within two years; Queen Isabella and her supporters, Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent and Roger Mortimer, stood sureties. Papal dispensation for the marriage was first refused but then granted on 30 August 1327. Philippa married Edward by procuration in Valenciennes, after which she travelled to England, where she married her husband on 24 January 1328 in York. She was crowned queen of England on 25 February 1330. She died shortly before 14 August 1369.
John of Gaunt (1340-99): duke of Lancaster, son of Philippa of Hainault and Edward III, king of England, who was a pretender to the Castilian throne by right of his marriage to Constanza, eldest daughter of Pedro I, king of Castile, who died in 1369. John of Gaunt was an important person in English political and military life during the last quarter of the fourteenth century, exercising great influence in domestic and foreign policy in England during the reign of Richard II, despite periods of unpopularity and strife with his royal nephew.
John of Gaunt (1340-99): duke of Lancaster, son of Philippa of Hainault and Edward III, king of England, who was a pretender to the Castilian throne by right of his marriage to Constanza, eldest daughter of Pedro I, king of Castile, who died in 1369. John of Gaunt was an important person in English political and military life during the last quarter of the fourteenth century, exercising great influence in domestic and foreign policy in England during the reign of Richard II, despite periods of unpopularity and strife with his royal nephew.
Marie de St. Hilaire of Hainault, a lady-in-waiting to Edward III's queen, Philippa of Hainault. Gaunt's affair with this young girl possibly took place during his first marriage to Blanche of Lancaster.
John of Gaunt (1340-99): duke of Lancaster, son of Philippa of Hainault and Edward III, king of England, who was a pretender to the Castilian throne by right of his marriage to Constanza, eldest daughter of Pedro I, king of Castile, who died in 1369. John of Gaunt was an important person in English political and military life during the last quarter of the fourteenth century, exercising great influence in domestic and foreign policy in England during the reign of Richard II, despite periods of unpopularity and strife with his royal nephew.
Richard Poynings (c. 1355 - 1387), third Lord Poynings, younger son of Michael Poynings, first Lord Poynings, and Joan Ruxley. He succeeded his brother, Thomas, as Lord Poynings after Thomas died in 1375. Poynings was knighted by Richard II at his coronation, and he accompanied John of Gaunt to Spain where he died at Villalpando in 1387.
Sir Gilbert Talbot (c.1332 - 1387), third lord Talbot; son of Richard Talbot, second lord Talbot, and Elizabeth Comyn. He died of pestilence in Spain during John of Gaunt's expedition to Castile.
Sir William Windsor (1327 - 1385), son of Richard Windsor and Julienne Molynes. He was married to Alice Ferrers, mistress of king Edward III. He served as the King's Lieutenant in Ireland, and is considered the true founder the Irish Parliament.
Gilbert Despenser, brother of Edward, lord Despenser, who could have been known by the name of Hugh; see Kervyn de Lettenhove, t. 23, p. 80. J.W. Sherborne also mentions Gilbert Despenser in his article, but it would appear that this Gilbert Despenser died in 1381; see J.W. Sherborne, 'Indentured Retinues and English Expeditions to France 1369 - 1380', The English Historical Review, 79 (1964), 718-46 (p. 722). Chris Given-Wilson mentions a king's knight Hugh Despenser as one of the loyal knights who stuck by Richard II in 1399 - 1400; see Chris Given-Wilson, The Royal Household and the King's Affinity: Service, Politics and Finance in England 1360 - 1413 (London: Yale University Press, 1986), p. 225. It is possible that he was a member of the Lancastrian expedition as Froissart indicates.
Sir William Faringdon was an experienced soldier and diplomat in Iberian and Gascon affairs, and was commissioned by the crown in 1387 to negotiate with Portugal with the objective of securing Portuguese galleys to serve in English waters. If he was truly a member of this expedition, he must have been sent home by Lancaster in the autumn - perhaps to report on the progress of the expedition - as he was sent to Portugal by Richard II in 1387 as Vale notes.
Sir Hugh Hastings (? - 1396), kinsman of John Hastings, earl of Pembroke, whose heir presumptive he claimed to be. Hastings' participation on the expedition to Brittany is well-documented, and according to Goodman, he contracted to serve with Buckingham with a retinue of sixty men-at-arms (including himself serving as a banneret) and sixty archers.
Sir John de Southeray (1364/5 - c. 1383) was and illegitimate son of Edward III and Alice Ferrers. Froissart calls him alternatively ‘Soudree’ or ‘Soustree’, and says he was the bastard brother of the king of England, Richard II. Chris Given-Wilson notes that there can be little doubt that Froissart was confused in this matter, and that he is actually referring to his ‘bastard uncle’ John de Southeray. If this is accurate, Froissart is also mistaken in listing him as a participant in Gaunt’s campaign of 1386, as Given-Wilson and Curteis indicate that Southeray died sometime in 1383, making it impossible for him to have taken part in the later expedition to the Iberian Peninsula. He did, however, take part in the Portuguese expedition of 1381-2, in fact he was the leader of the mutiny against Edmund of Langley’s leadership of the campaign.
Sir John Clifton (? - 1403), a Lancastrian, son of Robert Clifton, who had died in October 1376. Kervyn de Lettenhove mentions Richard Cliton, but he had failed to find any mention of a person with this name; the SHF editors list him as Robert Clinton, but do not provide any further information.
Sir Hugh Calveley (? - 1394), son of David Calveley of Lea and his wife Joanna. Sir Hugh Calveley was one of the most impressive English captains of the period. His magnificent monument can still be seen in the choir of the parish church of St Boniface, Bunbury, Cheshire.
As Froissart has noted, John of Gaunt's wealth and influence had made him very unpopular with Richard II's circle of young courtiers, especially Thomas Mowbray, earl of Nottingham, and Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, and by 1384 they were determined to blacken the character of Lancaster. Richard II was susceptible to their efforts as it appears that the young king often regarded his uncle's influence as a constraint rather than a support. The faction hostile to Lancaster grew steadily bolder in their measures to discredit and dispose of the duke, and with tensions coming to a head between Gaunt and the king in 1385, a plot was hatched with the consent of Richard II to assassinate the duke during jousts held at Westminster Hall on 13-14 February. But the duke of Lancaster, forewarned, fled with his companions; see Goodman, John of Gaunt, pp. 101-2; Nigel Saul, Richard II, pp. 131-4. Despite a later reconciliation between uncle and nephew, for both parties the duke's decision to pursue his ambitions in Castile came as a relief, and Froissart reflects this in the passage above.
le paÿs, et aussi faisoient archiers. Ou hable et ou port de Brisco
avoit CC vaisseaulx tous appareilliéz pour le duc et pour ses gens parmi l’armee de Portingal, et estoit l’entencion du duc que
il emmenroit avec lui femme et enfans, et feroit des maria ges en Castille et en Portingal avant que il retournast, car il ne
vouloit pas si tost retourner. Et bien y avoit cause car il veoit les besoignes d’Angleterre dures et le roy son nepveu jeune, et avoit avecques lui
perilleux conseil pour quoy il s’en departoit plus volentiers454. Avant son departement, en la presence de ses freres il ordonna son filz monseigneur Henry conte d’Erbi lieutenant de tout ce qu’il avoit
en Angleterre, et mist avec lui saige et bon conseil. Le filz estoit
pour lors beau chevalier et jeune, et avoit esté filz de madame Blanche la tresbonne
duchesse de Lencastre; avecques sa mere madame la royne Phelippe
d’Angleterre. Je ne vy oncques deux meilleurs dames ne de plus
noble condicion, ne ne verray jamaiz et vesquisse mil ans, ce qui est impossible.
Quant le duc Jehan de Lencastre ot ordonné toutes ses
besoignes en Angleterre et il ot prins congié au roy et a ses freres,
il s’en vint a Brisco et fu la quinze jour. Endementres le navire se charga et
appareilla, et furent mis ens es navires et ballenieres plus de deux mil
chevaulx, lesquelz avoient pourveance de foin, d’avoine, litiere et d’eaue doulce bien et
largement. Si entra le duc de Lencastre en une galee, armee durement belle et
grande, et avoit deléz lui sa grosse nef pour son corps et pour la duchesse
Constance sa femme qui de grant couraige en aloit en ce voyage. Car elle esperoit
bien
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