| − | Catherine Swynford (c.1350-1403) was the mistress, then wife, of [[John of Gaunt]] and sister of the wife of [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]. She was married to a knight in John’s retinue, and became John’s mistress after the death of his wife, Blanche of [[Lancaster]] in a recurrence of the plague in 1368. She was governess to John’s children from his second marriage - to Constance of [[Castile]], and bore him children of her own, who were given the name [[Beaufort]] from one of his insignificant French estates. They were legitimised by Parliament after her marriage to John following Constance’s death in 1396 and became a powerful and politically active noble line. | + | '''Catherine Swynford''' (c.1350-1403) was the mistress, then wife, of [[John of Gaunt]] and sister of the wife of [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]. She was married to a knight in John’s retinue, and became John’s mistress after the death of his wife, Blanche of [[Lancaster]] in a recurrence of the plague in 1368. She was governess to John’s children from his second marriage - to Constance of [[Castile]], and bore him children of her own, who were given the name [[Beaufort]] from one of his insignificant French estates. They were legitimised by Parliament after her marriage to John following Constance’s death in 1396 and became a powerful and politically active noble line. |