Katherine Swynford by Alison Weir
The Story of John of Gaunt and his Scandalous Duchess
Although Anya Seton’s Katherine is a work of fiction, for a long time it was the only popular source of information about Katherine Swynford and, in fact, it was after reading Katherine that Alison Weir decided that she would like to know more about the real life and times of the heroine.
The reason that Katherine Swynford is best known through a work of fiction is no doubt due to the problems inherent in writing a biography of her. Producing a biography of a figure from the 14th century was always going to be difficult, especially when the party in question left no written records or correspondence, but Alison Weir is a historian of such high calibre that she has managed to investigate every original source available and is able to make educated guesses wherever necessary.
Katherine Swynford
Katherine de Roet was born in 1350, the daughter of a Flemish herald from Hainault who was knighted just before his death in battle. After being educated at the convent of Romsey in Hampshire, Katherine married Hugh Swynford, an English knight, in 1366 and went on to have three children with him.
Katherine Swynford was employed in the household of the infamous John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, as the governess to his two daughters, Philippa of Lancaster and Elizabeth Plantagenet, from his first marriage. At some point before 1373 Katherine became the official mistress of John of Gaunt.
Despite having Katherine as his mistress, John of Gaunt still took Constance of Castile as his second wife and it was only in 1396, two years after Constance’s death, that he married Katherine. Katherine had had four children by John of Gaunt and they were all legitimized by the marriage and they, along with their mother, were held in high esteem by their half-brother, the future Henry IV.
The relationship between Katherine and John of Gaunt was of huge political importance during their lifetimes but also hugely influential on British history as a whole. The York, Tudor and Stuart dynasties all descend from their children, as do such important figures as Winston Churchill and Bertrand Russell. There’s even a link of George W. Bush.
Popular History
Alison Weir is often described as writing popular history and, while it is true that her books are almost always bestsellers, their popularity is due to the excellent historical detail that Weir always provides as much as it is because of her wonderfully approachable writing style.
Weir was faced with a difficult job when it came to sourcing contemporaneous information about Katherine; the clerical chroniclers of the time were unsurprisingly harsh about John of Gaunt’s “unspeakable concubine” while there were no records left by Katherine or her friends. However, by a combination of meticulous research, discerning judgement and educated guesswork, Weir has produced a wonderful biography. More can now be known about Katherine Swynford than was ever possible before.
Alison Weir has great skill at bringing out the backgrounds of her principle subjects and highlighting the political and social conditions in which they lived. Katherine Swynford is, therefore, also an excellent source of information about life at the courts of Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV as well.
Alison Weir is undoubtedly one of the best historians writing today and so, ultimately, Katherine Swynford is an easy to read biography that is rich in historical detail even if, occasionally, Katherine is rather eclipsed by other, better documented historical figures.
Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and his Scandalous Duchess by Alison Weir
ISBN 978-0712641975, Vintage, 2008, £8.99, pp 384
Katherine Swynford
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