Mistress of the Monarchy (23 page)

Katherine must have embarked upon her affair with John of Gaunt knowing exactly what she was doing, and being aware of the risks she was taking and the penalties that society could impose. That she chose to be his mistress in the light of this knowledge suggests that she loved him enough for the consequences not to matter, and that this, and the protection, security and benefits that such a relationship could afford her, were not only welcome to her, but of more importance than the stigma attached to being a partner in adultery and losing her reputation.

Much of what we know of Katherine Swynford’s years as John of Gaunt’s mistress is recorded in
John of Gaunt’s Register
, which survives for the periods 1372–6 and 1379–83. This covers much of the period in question, although three vital years are missing, as are the years following their parting. These missing records would surely have contained more clues as to the truth of the relationship between Katherine and John, so their loss is only to be lamented. Nevertheless, as will shortly become clear, there is much that can be inferred from the information that
has
come down to us.

* * *

John of Gaunt spent the Christmas of 1372 at Hertford Castle with Constance. Game from Ashdown Forest in Sussex and five dozen rabbits from Aldbourne were delivered there for the Christmas feasts, while the Duke’s valet brought him cloth of gold, furs, silk and linen from his wardrobe at the Savoy.
⁸
On Christmas Eve, Alyne Gerberge was dispatched to the Savoy to collect some jewels and precious stones that the Duke intended to give as New Year’s gifts, as well as jewels given by Edward III and the Black Prince to the Duchess Constance, who doubtless wanted to wear them during the festive season. It is tempting to speculate that some of the other jewels were intended as presents for Katherine Swynford, whose New Year gifts from her royal lover were almost never recorded in his
Register
. Her presents were probably paid for out of the large sums of money that the Duke frequently arranged to be ‘given into my own hands for my own secret business’.
⁹
Philippa Chaucer’s gifts were recorded, however, and at this New Year of 1373, she received six silver-gilt buttons attached to an embroidered strip of fabric called a ‘buttoner’,
¹⁰
which indicates that, after less than a year in Constance’s service, she had become highly regarded by both the Duke and Duchess. Her life would now have been centred mainly upon the Lancastrian household, which was as well, because royal duties were keeping her and her husband increasingly apart: Chaucer was in Italy at this time on official business, and would not return until the following May.

John was still at Hertford on 10 January 1373, but soon afterwards he moved to the Savoy, where he remained until June, apart from a brief visit to Hertford in early February to celebrate the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary with his wife.
¹¹
Katherine Swynford, meanwhile, had given birth to John’s child, but was probably back at the Savoy by 31 March, for it was on that date that Edward III rewarded her for bringing news of Catalina of Lancaster’s birth to him the previous year.

Writing after 1378, the chronicler Knighton describes Katherine as being in the Duchess Constance’s household. Certainly she would have been there from time to time, but probably not as a lady-in-waiting, for none of the many grants to her by the Duke would be in made in consideration of her good service to his second wife, although several were awarded in regard to her devotion to his first. Instead, John had found another post for Katherine that would facilitate her being near him as often as possible, and which would be eminently suited to her character and talents. He appointed her
magistra
— which means mistress, directress, leader or, more loosely, governess — to his daughters, Philippa, now thirteen, and Elizabeth, ten, and perhaps to his six-year-old heir Henry, too,
until a governor was appointed for the boy in 1374. Effectively, Blanche’s children would now have two stepmothers — the Duchess Constance, and Katherine Swynford, who was mistress in different senses to them and their father.

We do not know the exact date on which Katherine was appointed governess, and it has been suggested that she had fulfilled this role whilst she was in Blanche of Lancaster’s household. But she would have been quite young at that time, and frequently pregnant; moreover, continuity would have been an important factor, and there is no evidence to show that she was employed by the Duke between 1368 and 1372, when it appears that others were caring for the ducal daughters. An undated letter of
c
.1376 from a woman called Maud to John of Gaunt identifies Maud as a former nurse to young Philippa,
¹²
and in 1370, Alyne Gerberge was rewarded with a lifetime annuity for caring for Philippa in the aftermath of Blanche’s death. In November 1371, we find that Lady Wake was serving as governess to all three of the Duke’s children.
¹³
But she would not have been able to remain in the post of governess for long because she was preoccupied with bearing her husband a dozen children throughout the 1370s and 1380s. So by 1373, there was definitely a vacancy to be filled.

Katherine had the requisite skills and experience, and she had certainly helped to look after Blanche’s children during their mother’s lifetime, which would have been a factor that John must have taken into account when choosing her as his daughters’ governess, because in everything that mattered, she was going to be a mother to them. John’s children were still sharing a joint household in 1372,
¹⁴
so the likeliest date for Katherine’s preferment was after the birth of John Beaufort, around the spring of 1373. It may be that the children had been looked after in the interim by the
damoiselle
Amy de Melbourne, who was rewarded in 1375 by John of Gaunt for her care of them, or that Amy was an assistant to both Lady Wake and Katherine Swynford. From 1372, Amy and Alyne Gerberge were entrusted to look after the jewel coffers of the Duke’s womenfolk, and Alyne was then not only caring for Philippa but also dressing the Duchess Constance’s hair and setting in place her coronet. We know that the Duke thought highly of Amy because he sent her a pipe of wine each Christmas from 1372 onwards.
¹⁵

Katherine’s appointment as governess was timely, because John was travelling abroad and expected to be away for some time. The war was going catastrophically, and England needed to intervene quickly, otherwise Aquitaine, that precious jewel in the Plantagenet crown, would be irrevocably lost. On 1 March 1373, John had begun to gather an army, having sealed an indenture to go campaigning in France for a year.

Katherine must by now have faced up to the painful fact that the demands of his position, and the likely necessity for her to spend long periods in the country discreetly bearing his children, might mean that they would often be apart.

On 23 April, the Duke gave orders for Tutbury Castle, which had been damaged in a storm, to be put in good repair, so that his wife and children could reside there during his absence in France.
¹⁶
Tutbury, where Blanche had died, was a mighty fortress perched high above the banks of the River Dove, and lay eleven miles south-west of Derby. John of Gaunt, who often stayed there for the excellent hunting in the vicinity, had built the red sandstone gatehouse in 1362, and carried out many works there over the years, so as to make the castle a fitting residence for his Queen. Below the castle stood St Mary’s Priory, a Benedictine house under the Duke’s patronage.
¹⁷

By now, Katherine had perhaps taken up her duties as governess. In the fourteenth century, a ‘mistress’s’ role was to supervise the upbringing of the girls committed to her charge until the day they married, and to set a good and virtuous example for them to follow.
¹⁸
The emphasis was more on character training than the acquisition of skills, although learning the conduct expected of high-born females was important too. Formal education was not normally part of the governess’s remit: the teaching of the Scriptures and devotional works, reading, writing, English, French and perhaps a little Latin would have been undertaken by household chaplains. Katherine, however, was unusual in that she had grown up in one of the most cultivated courts in Christendom, and was part of an aristocratic circle in which learning in women was encouraged, so she herself may have imparted some of her own knowledge to the two princesses.

Above all, noble girls were to be protected from the snares of the flesh and the wiles of men, which was why so many were brought up in convents. In this respect, Katherine was perhaps not the wisest choice as governess, and her appointment may have led to a few knowledgeable eyebrows being lifted, but in all others she was eminently fitted for the office, otherwise John of Gaunt would surely not have appointed her; in thrall as he was to Katherine’s charms, he could never have compromised the education of his daughters, nor their moral welfare, for both were princesses of the blood and expected to make good political marriages. This argues that Katherine was discreet and did not flaunt her position in any way, and also that her intimate connection with John of Gaunt was not widely known at this time, nor her reputation compromised. Had it been, her appointment would have been cause for open scandal,
which it was not. Chaucer may be referring obliquely to Katherine in ‘The Physician’s Tale’ where he wryly observes that governesses with a past were well suited to be poachers turned gamekeepers,
¹⁹
but this was written years later, and does not reflect contemporary opinion in the early 1370s. Above all, with the crown of Castile beckoning, John would not have wished to offend his wife by his indiscriminate promotion of his mistress.

Katherine would have been responsible for teaching Philippa and Elizabeth the accomplishments that would befit them to adorn courts and rule their own establishments: courtesy, conversation, good carriage, dancing, singing, embroidery, courtly games and household management. These were probably all skills in which Katherine herself was more than proficient. Although she was only about twenty-three, she was already the mother of at least four children, and experienced not only in the ways of courts, but also in running her own establishment at Kettlethorpe. Lady Wake, who was the same age, had been even younger when she looked after the Lancastrian siblings. Katherine was pious too, and this would have had some bearing on her influence over her charges. She was also responsible for their diet, their clothing and the accoutrements of their chamber.

Although Katherine was indeed in many ways qualified for her post, it seems to have been something of a sinecure, for clearly she was not always resident with her charges, and it would appear that the demands of the Duke and her own family came first. Thus we must conclude that being appointed governess was in part a ploy to lend Katherine respectability while ensuring that she could remain within the Duke’s orbit and be available when he needed her, not only in bed but also at board, because she probably acted as hostess and graced his table in the absence of the Duchess. Yet there is evidence to show that she did spend a lot of time with Philippa and Elizabeth, that she indeed fulfilled her official role as their governess, and that even if she did so only on a part-time basis, she certainly had overall control of her charges. During her absences, she seems to have delegated their care to others such as Amy de Melbourne, while
John of Gaunt’s Register
also records occasional payments to ladies with whom the two princesses were sometimes sent to stay.

Occupying an official position gave Katherine a legitimate reason for residing in one or other of the ducal households. Such evidence as we have indicates that her duties and commitments, official or otherwise, sometimes necessitated her lodging with the Duchess Constance’s household, something that could not have happened unless Katherine was the soul of discretion and tact, given that John desired not to offend his wife,
in whom he had invested all his political ambitions. Yet it appears that the Duchess’s Castilian ladies were already aware in 1373 that Katherine was John’s mistress. Their gossiping so annoyed the Duke that he packed them all off to Nuneaton Abbey, hoping that the Abbess would teach them discretion. By the end of 1374, they were chafing at the conventual regime at Nuneaton, and begging to be allowed to leave, but it was not until 1375 that John relented and sent them to live in Leicester with some of his trusted retainers; later, he arranged marriages for a number of them.
²⁰

If her ladies knew what was going on between the Duke and Katherine, the chances are that Constance did too. It has been suggested that her Spanish pride was affronted by Katherine, but it may be that the young Duchess took a more realistic view of such matters. She herself, after all, was the daughter of a royal mistress, and she came from a royal house famed for its high rate of bastardy. Preoccupied as she was with regaining her throne, and preferring to remain secluded with her Castilian entourage, she was perhaps relieved to know that her husband’s sexual needs were being met by another woman. Her later acknow-ledgement that she herself was at fault with regard to the failure of their marriage suggests she was aware that she had made little effort to be a loving wife, or had defaulted in some other way. If she never loved her husband, she could hardly blame him for seeking love elsewhere, and perhaps she was not unduly troubled by the fact that it was John’s passion for Katherine that was preventing him from making a success of their marriage. Furthermore, in the years to come, Katherine’s baseborn children by John would pose no threat to Constance’s own legitimate issue. Nor, it appears, did Katherine ever seek to interfere with John’s plans to conquer Castile, which was the most important thing in view in Constance’s life, and which, during the first two years of her marriage, seemed a realistically attainable goal. Hence Constance would have regarded her sojourn in England as purely temporary, and might well have reasoned that, once Castile was regained, she and John would live there, King and Queen in their own realm, and that her position would be unassailable. Thus Katherine could hardly have posed any real threat to Constance.