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The Duchesses of Lancaster: an Examination of English

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The Duchesses of Lancaster: an Examination of English THE DUCHESSES OF LANCASTER: AN EXAMINATION OF ENGLISH NOBLEWOMEN’S EXERCISE OF POWER AND INFLUENCE DURING THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY A Thesis by AMANDA ELIZABETH SANDERS Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University-Commerce in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May 2015 THE DUCHESSES OF LANCASTER: AN EXAMINATION OF ENGLISH NOBLEWOMEN’S EXERCISE OF POWER AND INFLUENCE DURING THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY A Thesis by AMANDA ELIZABETH SANDERS Approved by: Advisor: Judy Ford Committee: Kathryn Jacobs William Kuracina Head of Department: Sharon Kowalsky Dean of the College: Salvatore Attardo Dean of Graduate Studies: Arlene Horne iii Copyright © 2015 Amanda Elizabeth Sanders iv ABSTRACT THE DUCHESSES OF LANCASTER: AN EXAMINATION OF ENGLISH NOBLEWOMEN’S EXERCISE OF POWER AND INFLUENCE DURING THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY Amanda Elizabeth Sanders, MA Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2015 Advisor: Judy Ford, PhD The new trend among historians has been to explore how women of the lower and middling classes exercised different types of power and agency daily. Until recently noblewomen of the Middle Ages have been overlooked in this discussion of female agency because historians tend to exclude the privileged class. This project will rectify the situation by analyzing the exercise of power and influence in the nobility by comparing the wives of John of Gaunt. Additionally, the project will examine these women against the context of the hierarchal- organized nobility in late-medieval England. Instead of subsuming all nobility into an undifferentiated category of elite, this analysis will consider what effect membership in the aristocracy, royalty, and gentry respectively, had on the use of power and influence by medieval women. The argument within this thesis is that these three women specifically, Lady Blanche of Lancaster, Infanta Constance of Castile, and Lady Katherine Swynford, acted not only as representatives of their social status, but also possessed individuality, a sphere of influence, and autonomy unique to the Middle Ages. Therefore, by examining these women and the levels in the nobility of England to which they belonged through the lens of their power and influence this v project will provide a better understanding of women of the English nobility and illustrate how the changes occurring throughout the late Middle Ages affected them as individuals, as women, and contributed to their effect on history. In examining this gender-specific study certain conclusions will arise. Primary, women of the nobility did exert certain types of influence at the least and power at the most. Secondly, these women can stand as representations of these classes because of their unique position of marriage with Gaunt and, more importantly, because noblewomen were expected to weld an amount of power and influence at times, regardless of legal status. However, for the vast majority of time, since the fourteenth century, scholars have overlooked Blanche, Constance, and Katherine and noblewomen in general. To formulate this project, a range of evidence is taken from primary literature, other relevant primary sources, historical monographs, and published articles. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank Dr. Judy Ford, Dr. Kathryn Jacobs, and Dr. William Kuracina, my Thesis Committee, for all of the effort and support they provided in the creation of this work. Without their aid and direction this project would not have been possible. I want to give my gratitude to my wonderful and loving family: Garry, Patricia, Donna, Judy, Mark, Parker, and Zara. A huge portion of thanks goes to Danny, my husband, who has been the perfect supporter for this project, a good shoulder to lean on, and a listening ear in times of frustration and desperation. Finally, I wish to dedicate this thesis to: my great-aunt, Vera, who has in many ways been my inspiration for life, my mother-in-law, Doris, who brought to life the medieval ideas of queenship, chivalry, and art, and to all the others who have gone on before to become a part of history. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. THE INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 The Fourteenth Century ..................................................................................... 3 The Three Duchesses of Lancaster ................................................................... 11 The Historiography of Women in the Late Middle Ages ................................... 14 2. MY GOODE FAIRE WHITE .................................................................................. 28 Blanche as Daughter and Wife ......................................................................... 32 The Power and Agency of Blanche in the Nobility ........................................... 41 The “Lady Bryght” ........................................................................................... 56 3. THE EMPEROURES DOGHTER ........................................................................... 68 Tumultuous Castile .......................................................................................... 74 The Long Interlude ........................................................................................... 83 The Invasion of the English .............................................................................. 86 Constance’s Ideas and Exercise of Power ......................................................... 89 Chaucer’s Constance ...................................................................................... 108 4. THE ABOMINABLE TEMPTRESS ..................................................................... 113 Katherine’s Childhood and Education ............................................................ 119 Katherine as Landed Gentry ........................................................................... 123 In the Widow’s Robes .................................................................................... 136 The Beautiful Mistress ................................................................................... 143 The Most Powerful Duchess in All the Land .................................................. 156 5. SOME CONCLUSIONS ON THE DUCHESSES .................................................. 161 viii BIBLIOGRAPHY Edited Primary Sources .................................................................................. 167 Secondary Sources ......................................................................................... 168 VITA ................................................................................................................................... 176 1 Chapter 1 THE INTRODUCTION Hir name is Bountee set in womanhede, Sadnesse in youthe and Beautee prydelees And Pleasaunce under governaunce and drede; Hir surname is eek Faire Rethelees The Wyse, yknit unto Good Aventure, That, for I love hir, she sleeth me giltelees.1 The established trend among social historians is to explore the ways in which lower class women exercised various types of power and agency in their everyday lives. This intense focus on lower class women have left noblewomen out of the historical discussion. The noblewomen remain the subjects of fictional romances and poetry while their own agency, influence, autonomy, and power are forgotten under the giant shadow of wealth and power their husbands possessed. These noblewomen are thrust into the background, both for being too wealthy for the current research preference and not masculine enough in the older generations of medieval historians. This endeavor will rectify the situation by analyzing the exercise of agency and autonomy in the female nobility by comparing Lady Blanche of Lancaster (1345-1368), Infanta Constance of Castile (1354-1394), and Lady Katherine Swynford (1345-1403), the three wives of the famous John of Gaunt (1340-1399).2 Additionally, the project will examine these three women against the context of the hierarchal-organized nobility in late-medieval England. Instead of subsuming all nobility into an undifferentiated category of elite, this analysis will consider 1 Geoffrey Chaucer, “A Complaint to His Lady,” The Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry Benson, Robert Pratt, and Fred N. Robinson, 3rd ed., (Oxford: Houghton Miffin, 1987), 642. Also note that where applicable the original Middle English is used throughout the rest of the thesis. 2 For further reading see Sydney Armitage-Smith, John of Gaunt: King of Castile and Leon, Duke of Aquitaine and Lancaster (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905); Anthony Goodman, John of Gaunt: The Exercise of Princely Power in Fourteenth-Century Europe, (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992); Norman F. Cantor, The Last Knight: The Twilight of the Middle Ages and the Birth of the Modern Era (New York: Harper Perennial, 2004); Charles William Empson, John of Gaunt: His Life and Character (London: Ladies Printing Press, 1874). 2 what effect membership in the aristocracy, in royalty, and in the gentry, respectively, had on the exercise of power and influence by medieval women. The goal of this thesis was to argue that these three women, specifically, Blanche of Lancaster, Constance of Castile, and Katherine Swynford acted not only as representatives of their social status, but also possessed individuality, a sphere of influence, and autonomy worthy of historical analysis.3 By examining these women and the levels in the English nobility to which they belonged through the lens of their agency, autonomy,
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