I suddenly saw a man in black
Reclining, seated with his back
Against an oak, a giant tree
‘Oh Lord,’ I thought, ‘who can that be?’1
Katherine Swynford had also grown up at the court of Queen Philippa, her fellow Hainaulter, and, being a few years younger than Blanche, had seen the beautiful duchess blossom, win the heart of Gaunt and become his wife. She had been present on the outskirts of the charmed royal circle, properly clothed and fed according to her rank, her education and manners overseen, so that she became, in Holinshed’s words, ‘a woman of such bringing up and honourable demeanour’ that she could command the respect of those who knew and served her. When the court feasted at Christmas and saints’ days, the young Katherine was sitting in the same hall, only further down the lavish tables; she would have walked behind the queen and her children in stately procession, echoed their prayers and sat on cushions on the royal platform to watch the men joust. She probably even attended Blanche’s wedding at Reading Abbey, a pretty girl of 8 or 10 admiring the bride’s jewels and dreaming of her own future.
A favourite of popular novelists, Katherine’s name has long been associated with scandal. She set tongues wagging during her lifetime by blurring the boundaries between the roles of servant and mistress, when the concept of service was broad enough to include devotion between members of the same class, and the notion of the household, or family unit, was a fluid and expandable concept that might include friends, allies and staff. By the time she became John of Gaunt’s mistress, Katherine had already passed her formative years at the side of Queen Philippa, married one of Gaunt’s knights and served in the nursery of Blanche of Lancaster. In fact, Gaunt had probably already noticed her but, like his father, he was devoted to his wife. The affair he conducted before his marriage with Marie de St Hilaire was no secret but no rumours of other relationships before 1368 have survived. Yet, just as Edward was to turn to Alice Perrers for comfort in the final years of the queen’s infirmity, Gaunt’s affair with Katherine followed in the wake of his grief.
Katherine’s father was Gilles de Roet, or Roelt, later known as Pan, Paon or Payne, who was born around 1310, probably in the province of Hainault, in modern-day Belgium. Bisected by the River Haine, from which its name derived, the province’s principal towns were Mons, Cambrai and Charleroi, set amid largely agricultural country. Pan’s birthplace has been suggested as Le Roeulx, a district lying to the north-east of Mons, and the village of Guignies, lying to the south of Tournai, although the latter might be a confusion caused by the title ‘Guyenne King of Arms’ on his tomb. The confusion may be clarified by an official reference to him as ‘Paganus de Rodio’, which uses the Latinised form of Roeulx. Froissart suggests Pan was one of the young squires who came to England in Philippa’s train on her marriage to Edward III and remained in her service after the majority returned home following the wedding in January 1328. This would confirm a birthdate of 1310 or shortly after, which would place the squire Pan in his late teens. He is unlikely to have been married at that point, so his wife or wives may have been drawn from the English court, or been brought there on Philippa’s arrangement, though their identities and nationalities are unknown. Equally, there is uncertainty about the order of arrival of his four children, Walter, Katherine, Isabel (or Elizabeth) and Philippa, whose key life events suggest that they were born between the mid-1330s and late 1340s. The theory that Pan married twice, producing Isabel and Walter first, followed by Philippa and Katherine a decade later, is a plausible one.2 Isabel was placed in the convent of Sainte Waudru in Mons during her adolescence, at some point after 1349, rising to become its canoness and dying around 1366, the year when her younger sisters were entering marriage. By 1355, Walter was a Yeoman of the Chamber to the Black Prince, also suggesting he had been born by at least 1340. Pan appears to have returned to Hainault for a time in 1350 and 1351, when he features on several occasions in the accounts of Philippa’s sister Margaret.
The timing of this absence raises questions about the arrival of the sisters Katherine and Philippa de Roet. Either they were both born in England before 1350 or Pan entered a second marriage during his years of absence and fathered two girls in Hainault. It is even possible that the timing of Isabel’s entry to the convent was prompted by this second marriage. With no references to any wife of Pan’s, it may be that the second Mrs de Roet was a Hainaulter who died during or shortly after childbirth. They may even have met at Margaret’s court. Equally, Philippa and Katherine might have been born in the late 1340s and left, along with Walter, in the household of the English Queen while their father travelled abroad with Isabel, his eldest child. Pan was back in England by the end of 1351 or early 1352, in the train of Countess Margaret, who was forced to flee after being defeated at the Battle of Vlaardingen. In time, each of Pan’s children entered the service of a different member of the English royal family: Walter under the Black Prince, Katherine under the queen and Philippa into the Irish establishment of Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster, the wife of Gaunt’s elder brother, Lionel of Antwerp. It was while she was in attendance on Elizabeth’s daughter, born in 1355, that Philippa met her future husband, the poet-to-be Geoffrey Chaucer.
Philippa’s marriage certainly took place before an annuity was granted to her by Edward III in September 1366. It may even have been a year or more before this. The date of Katherine’s, however, is less certain and, for convenience, is estimated to have taken place around the same time. This is probably placing both marriages way too late and two entries in the Calendar of the Fine Rolls may shed some light upon Katherine’s nuptials. In November 1361, the lands of Thomas de Swynford of Lincoln were taken into the king’s hands following his death and the following January, a Walter de Kelby of Lincoln was ordered to ‘deliver to Hugh, son and heir of Thomas de Swynford, knight, the lands late of his said father, as the king has taken his homage and fealty’.3 Thus, on 31 January 1362, Hugh de Swynford came into his inheritance, which can only imply that he was also of age. Therefore, Hugh had been born before January 1341, making him a close, if not exact, contemporary of John of Gaunt, into whose service he may have transferred once his previous master, the Black Prince, left England. Katherine was being referred to by her married name by the start of 1365, along with her position in the ducal household, so it would seem that the marriage took place during this interval, probably soon after her fourteenth birthday. This may have fallen as early as 1362. Hugh was not a particularly good catch as a mere knight, but he and Katherine had the same status and they are likely to have been matched by Gaunt or the queen, rather than to have fallen in love, although this cannot be ruled out. It might even have been Blanche who suggested the loyal Swynford as a suitable husband.
Katherine’s married home was Kettlethorpe Manor in Lincolnshire, a rather disappointing manor that Swynford leased from Gaunt and which was in need of much repair by the 1350s. As with all married women at court, Katherine had to balance the personal and public aspects of her life, engaging in periods of service that required her to accompany the duchess to the various Lancaster properties, and to run her manor and manage the needs of its dependents. The time she spent with her husband would have been intermittent and brief, as he was frequently abroad in Gaunt’s service, spending an entire year in France in 1366–67. It would seem natural for the lives and concerns of wives to have been shared, following a similar relation of service to that established by the duke and his squire overseas.
Although the timing of Katherine’s childbirths is uncertain, it would appear that she conceived quickly and her first daughter was born around 1363 and named after Blanche, with Gaunt standing as godfather. The little girl was raised alongside princesses Philippa and Elizabeth as a playmate and it is possible that the timing of her birth allowed her mother to act as wet nurse to the latter: the early life of Henry’s cousin Richard shows it was common in the royal family for the wives of trusted retainers to fulfil this function.4 Over the next couple of years, Katherine may have borne two more daughters, Margaret and Dorothy, before the arrival of her son Thomas in February 1367, at a time when Hugh and Gaunt were away fighting in Castile. Thomas might have arrived at Kettlethorpe, or possibly while Katherine was staying with Blanche at a house in central Lincoln, reputed to be owned by Gaunt in his capacity as Earl of Lincoln. On 25 February, Thomas was christened at the church of St Margaret, which used to stand within the cathedral close, a short walk from the site of Gaunt’s house on the High Street. Katherine was probably still in Lincoln, or at Kettlethorpe, when Blanche bore Henry less than two months later; presumably, she returned to the duchess’ service once she was churched and recovered. When not incapacitated by childbirth, Katherine’s role, along with other women in Blanche’s chamber, would have been to take care of the children and support the duchess through pregnancy and birth. No doubt her own experiences would have been considered valuable and she shared in the highs and lows of Blanche’s various losses as well as the babies that thrived.
The three little girls, Elizabeth and Philippa of Lancaster and Blanche Swynford, would have been ready to establish their own chamber once they reached the age of 3 or 4. Having been weaned and encouraged to walk, their education in Christian virtues and good manners would have started as soon as they uttered their first words, long before their formal lessons began. Songs, music, prayers and stories would have played a significant part in their early lives, and many girls of the nobility were presented with their own Books of Hours at around the age of 5 or 6, progressing to the Bible and the Golden Legend. As they grew, Blanche and Katherine were their first teachers, encouraging them to learn their letters, to dance, embroider, to say their prayers and follow the example set by the female saints. They may have gone on to study Greek and Roman authors, as well as something of the natural sciences and theology. The ultimate goal of their education was to prepare them for marriage, with the accomplishments and virtues needed to secure a husband and the requisite skills to run their own future household. While this might, for Lancaster’s daughters, be in the position of queen, it was more likely to have been as the wife of a knight for Blanche Swynford. While the 1371–72 text of the Book of the Knight of La-Tour Landry, or the Goodman of Paris, would offer advice suitable for a girl of Blanche’s status, such as not travelling widely, eschewing vanity, gossip and not having her ‘herte moch on the world,’ her social milieu made it likely that she would make a more advantageous marriage than a mere knight. She could hardly match the £200 annual allowance for the Lancaster girls, which their father made in the year the Goodman of Paris wrote his book.
One of the poems often given to children to help them learn was an ABC. Set out in the form of an acrostic, each new stanza beginning with the next letter of the alphabet, these not only helped with reading and writing, but with imparting certain sets of beliefs, usually religious or cultural, regarding behaviour and manners. The ABC that Geoffrey Chaucer produced in the 1360s, La Priere Nostre Dame, might have been created at the request of Blanche of Lancaster or written and used after her death, expressing the core sentiments of her daughters’ education. Based on a prayer by Guillaume de Deguileville, written in the 1330s and revised in 1355, it presents a vanquished sinner appealing to the Virgin Mary, to whose status as a bountiful, ‘mighty, gracious lady’ of ‘unspotted maidenhead’ Blanche’s daughters might offer a secular parallel. Preparing to take roles as future wives, mothers and patrons, and to oversee their own household and perhaps even their own court, the girls would have learned that a great lady might replicate ‘the generous giver of full felicity, the haven of refuge, quiet and rest’, the comfort, sweetness and mercy of the ‘bright lady’, whose description echoes that of the duchess. The poem also mentions ‘kalendars and illuminated texts’ that are lit by the Virgin’s name, reflecting other reading that formed part of the girls’ education, along with reference to the stories of Isaac, Zachariah and Moses. Though the date of composition is not completely certain, it would seem likely that any existing copy of the ABC would have found its way into Gaunt’s nursery in the late 1360s or early 1370s, once the poet’s wife and sister-in-law were employed there. Katherine may well have read it to Blanche, Thomas and Margaret.
It appears that Katherine had borne her three children by Hugh Swynford by 1368, so she may have been with Blanche at Tutbury Castle when she died that September. It is almost certain that as an intimate member of her household, Katherine would have travelled to London to attend her mistress’ funeral, perhaps being lodged in Gaunt’s splendid Savoy Palace on the Thames. Over the following two years, she disappears from view as other women played more prominent roles in Lancaster’s nursery: Blanche Lady Wake, their great aunt, was appointed as governess to their children in 1369 and in 1370 Alyne Gerberge, the wife of Gaunt’s squire, was rewarded for her good service ‘during the death of our beloved companion’. The nursery also expanded to include Arundel, Mowbray and Percy cousins, including young Henry Hotspur, occasionally bringing them into contact with the de Bohun girls, Eleanor and Mary, the latter of whom would marry Gaunt’s eldest son. No doubt Henry of Derby grew up close to Katherine’s son Thomas Swynford, as they were close in age and would remain staunch allies throughout their lives.
These arrangements were part of a necessary restructuring of Lancaster’s establishment. There was no longer any need for a separate chamber and staff for the duchess, although some of those previously in her employ would have made the transition to the households of her children, while others might have found work under Gaunt in another capacity, or were simply retired from his service. Young Philippa and Elizabeth had lost a mother, but surely Gaunt would have thought carefully before depriving them of familiar faces who may have been something of a maternal substitute. Katherine’s name might not have been listed among these transitional promotions and payments because her reward was her daughter’s continuance in the chamber of the Lancaster girls, with all the advantages that brought. If she remained in service to them, providing some continuity with the past, she was balancing this with managing her own estate in Hugh’s absence.
In August 1369, Queen Philippa died at Windsor Castle. Amid rumours of a resurgence of the dreaded plague, she had passed away from what her contemporaries considered to be dropsy. Orders were given for mourning garments to be supplied to her family and servants, and lengths of black cloth were issued to her grandchildren Philippa and Elizabeth, as well as Blanche Swynford, as a ‘demoiselle of the daughters of the Duke of Lancaster’. It might have been fear of disease that delayed the queen’s funeral until the following January, or perhaps Edward was awaiting his son John, who returned from France that November and observed Christmas with his father and children at King’s Langley. Hugh Swynford also returned home and would have been reunited with Katherine and their offspring, probably at Kettlethorpe. At the end of December, they were rowed downriver to the capital. The queen’s body left Windsor on 3 January and was interred on the south side of the chapel to Edward the Confessor, in a tomb topped with a life-sized effigy and thirty-two small figures. Edward had spent the equivalent of around £3,000 following his wife’s request and commissioning a life-like memorial carved out of alabaster by Hennequin of Liège. Given her close connections with Philippa’s court, Katherine Swynford is likely to have attended.
It would have been difficult for Katherine to avoid gossip about the woman who replaced the queen in Edward’s affections. Alice Perrers was a similar age to Katherine and had served in Philippa’s household in the early 1360s, becoming the ageing king’s mistress at the age of 15, at around the time that Katherine wed Hugh. The rumours that she was the illegitimate daughter of a tavern whore are unlikely to have been true if Alice had been given a position as Philippa’s maid-in-waiting. During the last years of the queen’s life, the pair had been discreet enough, Alice leaving court in 1364 in order to bear an illegitimate son in secrecy. It was not unexpected for a king or aristocrat to seek sexual satisfaction among women of a lower class, especially during periods when their wives were unavailable through illness or childbirth. Blanche’s father Henry Grosmont had written in The Book of Holy Medicines of how he had loved and lost many women, preferring the embraces of common women to those of aristocrats, as they were ‘less censorious’ of his behaviour.5
Following the queen’s death, though, and in the process of bearing Edward two more children, Perrers began to accrue lands, estates, grants of money and jewels, some of which had belonged to Philippa, and loose tongues began to wag about her influence over the king, who turned 60 in 1372. That year, she would take Edward’s place on the marble throne of state to oversee the Court of the King’s Bench at Westminster and preside over a Smithfield tournament dressed as the Lady of the Sun, sparkling in Philippa’s jewels.6 Thomas Walsingham would refer to her as ‘a shameless woman and wanton harlot … being neither beautiful or fair, she knew how to conceal these defects with her flattering tongue’.7 It was an important lesson to Katherine about the sexual power a woman might yield over a man outside the usual rules of matrimony, about the degree of licence that a willing mistress might enjoy, or exploit, in providing for herself. It was also a reminder that although criticism was to be expected, the king’s protection was more than enough to silence it, keeping Alice safe for the duration of Edward’s lifetime. Or rather, of Edward’s sanity.
In June 1370, Gaunt sailed for France, to join the Black Prince and help him defend Aquitaine against a joint attack from Charles V of France and Enrique II of Castile. Hugh Swynford departed with him, unaware that he would never set foot on English soil again. He was little more than 30 when he died of unknown causes in Aquitaine on 13 November 1371. The last military action either had seen was the siege of Limoges a full fourteen months before and the fact that Gaunt had already returned to England, leaving Swynford behind, suggests that he was suffering from an illness that prevented him travelling. The news of Swynford’s death would have reached England later the same month, or in early December. A young widow with four children and a crumbling estate to run, Katherine’s future looked uncertain. However, Gaunt was mindful of her and Hugh’s service to his family and quickly stepped up to protect her, more than doubling her annuity and breaking custom to restore ownership of Kettlethorpe to her during her son’s minority. Dressed in her black widow’s weeds, she was invited to Hertford Castle to attend upon the new Duchess of Lancaster. Gaunt had taken a new wife while he was abroad but this time, the dynamic between duke, the duchess and Katherine was to prove very different. Within weeks, she and Gaunt had become lovers.
1 Chaucer.
2 Weir.
3 Fine Rolls, Edward III, November 1361, January 1362.
4 Given-Wilson.
5 Mortimer.
6 Weir.
7 Walsingham.