and Richard, "that valiant crook-back prodigy," Duke of Gloucester, and afterwards King of England: the surviving daughters were, 1. Anne, who first married Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, Lord Admiral, and secondly, Sir Thomas Saint Leger, by whom she had Anne, mother of Thomas Manners, Earl of Rutland; 10 2. Elizabeth, who married John de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, whose son John, Earl of Lincoln, was intended by his uncle Richard III., to be declared heir to the throne in case he died without issue; 3. Margaret, who became the second wife of Charles, Duke of Burgundy; she was famous for her support of the pretender, Perkin Warbeck, whose cause she may be presumed to have espoused out of her hatred to the House of Lancaster, which she never strove to conceal.

9 The historian Comines says, "I myself saw the Duke of Exeter, the King of England's brother-in-law, walking barefoot after the Duke of Burgundy's train, and earning his bread by begging from door to door." Vol. iii. chap. 4.

10 Lineal ancestor of the present Duke of Rutland; he was beheaded at Exeter, by order of his tyrannical brother-in-law, Richard III.

CHAPTER XII.

"Old John of Gaunt! time-honour'd Lancaster."

The Descent of EDWARD IV. and HENRY VII. from JOHN of Gaunt.

́OHN of Gaunt,' or Ghent, his birth-place, Earl of

JOHN

Richmond, was the fourth son of Edward III., one of the "seven phials of his sacred blood," and marrying his kinswoman Blanche, 1359, daughter and heir of Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Lancaster, great grandson of Henry III., assumed that title in right of his wife, according to Dugdale, although other writers state that it was conferred upon him by his father. He was besides, Earl of Leicester, Lincoln, and Derby, according to some authorities. By his wife Blanche he was father of two sons, John and Edward who died young, and of Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Hereford, afterwards king as Henry IV., whose descendants have been considered in a former chapter,

1 John of Gaunt bore, "Quarterly, France and England, a label of three points azure, each charged with as many fleur-delys or," which were the arms of his first wife's father.

and to this first marriage some writers ascribe his two daughters, Philippa, married to John, King of Portugal, and Elizabeth, who became the wife of her kinsman John Holland (son of Joan the Fair Maid of Kent), Duke of Exeter. The duchess Blanche died in 1369, and John of Gaunt married secondly, Constance, eldest daughter and co-heir of Peter the Cruel, King of Castile and Leon, by Maria di Padilea, and in her right he claimed the succession to that throne, but in the end obtained nothing but the empty title of king, which he afterwards resigned for a large sum of money. He had one daughter by this marriage, Catherine, who married her cousin Henry III., King of Castile, and from them descended the Emperor Charles V., Ferdinand I., and the reigning House of Austria.

The Duke of Lancaster2 in 1396 married thirdly, Catherine Swynford, widow of Sir Otes Swynford,

2 John of Gaunt died in 1399, in the last year of his nephew Richard II., being fifty-nine years old, although called by the poet "aged Gaunt." In the early scenes of the play of " Richard II." Gaunt takes a prominent part; and he is made by the poet to give that splendid description of England beginning with

"This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle."

Richard's injustice towards the son of Gaunt, the banished Hereford, has been alluded to in a former chapter. The protection afforded by John of Gaunt to the great reformer Wiclif must always redound to his honour, especially as his countenance

and "eldest daughter and co-heir of Sir Payn Roet" (Glover), a knight of Hainault and Guienne, king at arms. This alliance gave great offence to his proud brothers the Dukes of York and Gloucester, as Catherine, who was governess to John of Gaunt's daughters, had borne him several children before their marriage, who were however legitimated by act of parliament in 1397. These children were, John Beaufort, created by Richard II. Earl of Somerset, and Marquis of Dorset; Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, "that haughty prelate," better known in history and Shakspeare as Cardinal Beaufort; and Thomas Beaufort, Earl of Dorset, and Duke of Exeter; and one daughter, Joan Beaufort, who married Ralph Nevill, first Earl of Westmoreland, an important personage in Shakspeare's "Henry IV." parts 1 and 2, and introduced also in " Henry V." and in part 3 of "Henry

3

of "the Lollards" drew upon him at one time the hatred of the populace. Equally to his praise is the patronage he bestowed upon Geoffrey Chaucer," our laureat poet" (Glover), who married Philippa Roet, sister of the duke's third wife, Catherine Swynford. The arms of Sir Payn Roet were, "Gules, three catherine wheels or."

3 The following inscription was placed on the tomb of Joan, Countess of Westmoreland, who died 1440 and was buried in the cathedral church of Lincoln by her mother Catherine Swynford; (Glover and Leland).

“Filia Lancastriæ Ducis, inclita spousa Johanna

Westmerland primi subjacet hic Comitis."

VI.," whose thirteenth child, Cicely, married Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, by whom she was mother of Edward IV.

AS HENRY VII. founded his pretensions to the English throne in virtue of his descent from John of Gaunt through the Beaufort male branch, we will continue the family of the Duke of Lancaster. The eldest son of Catherine Swynford, John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, who held many distinguished offices, married MARGARET HOLLAND, daughter of THOMAS, Earl of Kent,5 (son of Joan the Fair Maid of Kent), by ALICE FITZ-ALAN, daughter of RICHARD, Earl of Arundel, whose wife was ELEANOR, daughter of HENRY Plantagenet, grandson of HENRY III. The children of John Beaufort who died in 1410 were, Henry and Thomas, who died without issue; JOHN ; Edmund, "regent o'er the French;" (he is the "proud Duke of Somerset" who figures in the "second part of King Henry VI." and his son Henry is the "Duke

In the original patent of legitimation, and in the copy entered on the rolls of parliament, there was no reservation of the royal dignity, which exception first occurs in the exemplification by Henry IV. in 1407.

5 Thomas Holland bore for arms, "Azure, semé de lys, a lion rampant gardant or." The arms of Richard Fitz-alan were, "Gules, a lion rampant or." John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, bore "Quarterly, France and England, a border componé, argent and azure."