John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt. Later (Renaissance) painting.
From here.
See full picture
from here.
John of Gaunt
(see here
and here),
Duke of Lancaster,
born Mar 1340,
mar 1stly, 1359 to
Blanche Plantagenet
[descendant of Aoife Mac Murrough]
and had issue:
- Philippa Plantagenet,
mar John I, King of Portugal and had issue.
- Elizabeth Plantagenet,
mar John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter and had issue.
- Henry IV, born 1366, succeeded 13th Oct 1399 (House of Lancaster).
through his wife inherited
Kenilworth Castle,
Warwickshire
(later held by
Robert Dudley),
he was the
effective ruler late Edward III - early Richard II,
appears in Richard II
by Shakespeare,
the TV movie Richard II (1978)
has John Gielgud as John of Gaunt,
patron of
John Wycliffe,
the "Morning Star of the Reformation",
who produced the first English translation of the Bible 1382,
mar 3rdly, 1396, to his long-time mistress Catherine Roet
[born 1350],
by whom he had already had illegitimate issue,
his children by Catherine Roet were legitimated by statute 1397
"for all purposes save succession to the crown"
(i.e. this line is not in the Royal line of succession,
but of course we have other Royal Descents),
he died 3rd Feb 1399, age 58 yrs,
bur St.Paul's Cathedral, London,
see biography,
never king himself, but within months of his death his son became king,
Catherine died 10th May 1403, Lincoln, age 53 yrs,
bur Lincoln Cathedral,
he had issue by Catherine Roet:
-
John de Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset,
born 1373,
mar Margaret Holland
[descendant of Edward I
and of Aoife Mac Murrough]
and
had issue:
- John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, had issue:
- Margaret Beaufort
(see here),
mar Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond
and had issue (House of Tudor).
- Thomasine Beaufort,
mar Reginald de Grey, 7th Baron Grey de Wilton and had issue.
-
Edmund Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset (second creation),
mar Eleanor Beauchamp
[descendant of Edward I]
and
had issue:
-
Henry Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset,
associated with Joan Hill
and
had illegitimate issue:
-
Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester.
- Margaret Beaufort,
mar
Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford
and had issue.
-
Joan Beaufort,
mar 1stly to James I, King of Scotland and had issue,
mar 2ndly to Sir James Stewart and had issue.
-
Joan de Beaufort
(see here),
born c.1379, Beaufort Castle, Anjou,
mar 2ndly, 1396, to
Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmoreland
and had issue. 
Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire, 2003.
From here.
See more images.
In Act 2, Scene 1
of Richard II,
John of Gaunt is given the immortal lines:
This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England
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