Mistress of the Monarchy (53 page)

The Troilus Frontispiece. The lady in blue kneeling second from the left in the front may be Katherine Swynford.

Edward III and his eldest son, Edward, “the Black Prince.” They were two of the greatest paragons of chivalry in Christendom.

Philippa of Hainault, Edward III’s queen, who acted as a mother to Katherine Swynford from her infancy

Joan, “the Fair Maid of Kent.” Her marriage to the Black Prince caused some scandal.

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. This later portrait may be based on his tomb effigy. He was “a splendidly looking knight of noble stature.”

Blanche of Lancaster, first wife of John of Gaunt. Chaucer calls her “the flower of English womanhood.”

The wedding of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster in Reading Abbey, 1359. In this nineteenth-century representation, Henry, Duke of Lancaster stands behind his daughter, and the man in black by the pillar is meant to be Geoffrey Chaucer.

The Savoy, London. No image of the lost palace of John of Gaunt on the Strand survives; this image shows the location of the palace and the Tudor Hospital of the Savoy, which replaced it.

Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet who married Katherine Swynford’s sister Philippa, and was to benefit from Katherine’s liaison with John of Gaunt.

The great hall of Leicester Castle.

The ruins of Leicester Castle. Leicester Castle was one of the chief Lancastrian residences. Katherine may have come here when she first entered the service of the Duchess Blanche.

Kettlethorpe Hall, Lincolnshire: the manor house of the Swynfords. The gatehouse and fragmentary remains incorporated in the Victorian house survive from Katherine’s time.