Katherine Swynford
| Katherine Swynford | |
|---|---|
| Duchess of Lancaster | |
Katherine's tomb, the larger tomb, next to the tomb of her daughter, Joan Beaufort
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| Born | 25 November 1350 |
| Died | 10 May 1403 (aged 52) |
| Spouse | Hugh Swynford John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster |
| Issue | Blanche Swynford Thomas Swynford Margaret Swynford John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset Cardinal Henry Beaufort Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland |
| House | House of Lancaster (by marriage) |
| Father | Payne de Roet |
Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster (November 25, 1350 – May 10, 1403) (also spelled Katharine or Catherine), was the third wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, a son of King Edward III. She had been the Duke's lover for many years before their marriage. The couple's children, born before the marriage, were later legitimated during the reign of the Duke's nephew, Richard II. When the Duke's son from his first marriage overthrew Richard, becoming Henry IV, he introduced a provision that neither they nor their descendants could ever claim the throne of England.
Their descendants were members of 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 Margaret Beaufort, who was a great-granddaughter of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford. His legal claim to the throne, however, was through a matrilineal and previously illegitimate line and Henry's first action was to declare himself king "by right of conquest" retroactively from 21 August 1485, the day before his army defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.
Katherine was the daughter of Paon de Roet, a herald, and later knight, who was "probably christened as Gilles". She had two sisters, Philippa and Isabel (also called Elizabeth) de Roet, and a brother, Walter. Isabel later became Canoness of the convent of St. Waudru's, Mons, c. 1366. Katherine is generally held to have been his youngest child. However, Alison Weir argues that Philippa was the junior and that both were children of a second marriage. Katherine's sister Philippa, a lady in the royal household of Philippa of Hainault, married the poet Geoffrey Chaucer.
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