Welcome to my collection of information on Katherine Roet Swynford, daughter of a Hainault herald, wife of an English knight, sister-in-law to the poet Geoffrey Chaucer and lover, finally third wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and son of England’s Edward III.
Katherine is perhaps best known to many as the heroine of the 1954 historical fiction novel “Katherine” by Anya Seton. You can read more about the genre and its popularity here. The Setons were a well-known American literary family with ancient ancestral roots in Scotland. Unfortunately, the post-1950s world has taken a rather dim view of historical fiction/historical romance novels and, additionally, the Victorian era which saw the production of a prodigious amount of antiquarian information for historians was itself the prisoner of its own era of sexual biases and resulted in what little information was then known of Katherine being presented in a hostile manner.
Fortunately, Katherine has been freed from literary insignificance and scorn by two modern historians, namely, Jeanette Lucraft and her recent work “Katherine Swynford: The History of a Medieval Mistress,” and the popular historian Alison Weir’s “Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and his Scandalous Duchess.” These works are long overdue and serve to reintroduce us to a more scholarly and objective treatment of the woman who would end up being the ancestress of nearly every British monarch since the accession of the Tudor dynasty.
Here I wish to share the fruits of my 30 years of researching Katherine, her life and times. Consider this your essential Katherine Swynford Internet Portal.
Enjoy your stay and visit often!
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