John of Gaunt Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Relationship with Geoffrey Chaucer== John of Gaunt was a patron and close friend of the poet [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], best known for his work ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]''. Near the end of their lives, Lancaster and Chaucer became brothers-in-law. Chaucer married [[Philippa Roet|Philippa (Pan) de Roet]] in 1366, and Lancaster took his mistress of nearly 30 years, [[Katherine Swynford]] (de Roet), who was Philippa Chaucer's sister, as his third wife in 1396. Although Philippa died {{circa|1387}}, the men were bound as brothers and Lancaster's children by Katherine—John, Henry, Thomas and Joan [[House of Beaufort|Beaufort]]—were Chaucer's nephews and niece. Chaucer's ''[[The Book of the Duchess]]'', also known as the ''Deeth of Blaunche the Duchesse'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Chaucer |date=1984 |first=Geoffrey |chapter=The Legend of Good Women |editor-last=Benson |editor-first=L. D. |editor-last2=Robinson |editor-first2=F. N. |title=The Riverside Chaucer |url=https://archive.org/details/riversidechaucer0000chau |url-access=registration |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |place=Boston |page=[https://archive.org/details/riversidechaucer0000chau/page/600 600] |isbn=0-395-29031-7 |author-link=Geoffrey Chaucer |editor-link=Larry Benson |editor-link2=Fred Norris Robinson }}</ref><!-- DEETH, BLAUNCHE, & DUCHESSE are correct Middle English spellings, please do not change --> was written in commemoration of [[Blanche of Lancaster]], John of Gaunt's first wife. The poem refers to John and Blanche in [[allegory]] as the narrator relates the tale of "A long castel with walles white/Be Seynt Johan, on a ryche hil" (1318–1319) who is mourning grievously after the death of his love, "And goode faire White she het/That was my lady name ryght" (948–949). The phrase "long castel" is a reference to Lancaster (also called "Loncastel" and "Longcastell"), "walles white" is thought to likely be an oblique reference to Blanche, "Seynt Johan" was John of Gaunt's name-saint, and "ryche hil" is a reference to Richmond; these thinly veiled references reveal the identity of the grieving black knight of the poem as John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and Earl of Richmond. "White" is the English translation of the French word "blanche", implying that the white lady was Blanche of Lancaster.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilcockson |date=1987 |first=Colin |chapter=Explanatory Notes on 'The Book of the Duchess' |editor-last=Benson |editor-first=L. D. |editor-last2=Robinson |editor-first2=F. N. |title=The Riverside Chaucer |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |place=Boston |pages=[https://archive.org/details/riversidechaucer0000chau/page/966 966–976] |isbn=0-395-29031-7 |editor-link=Larry Benson |editor-link2=Fred Norris Robinson |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/riversidechaucer0000chau/page/966 }}</ref> Believed to have been written in the 1390s, Chaucer's short poem ''Fortune'', is also inferred to directly reference Lancaster.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gross |date=1987 |first=Zaila |chapter=Introduction to the Short Poems |editor-last=Benson |editor-first=L. D. |editor-last2=Robinson |editor-first2=F. N. |title=The Riverside Chaucer |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |place=Boston |page=[https://archive.org/details/riversidechaucer0000chau/page/635 635] |isbn=0-395-29031-7 |editor-link=Larry Benson |editor-link2=Fred Norris Robinson |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/riversidechaucer0000chau/page/635 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |date=1965 |first=G. G. |title=A New View of Chaucer |url=https://archive.org/details/newviewofchaucer0000will |url-access=registration |publisher=Duke University Press |place=Durham |page=[https://archive.org/details/newviewofchaucer0000will/page/55 55] |author-link=George G. Williams }}</ref> "Chaucer as narrator" openly defies [[Fortuna|''Fortune'']], proclaiming he has learned who his enemies are through her tyranny and deceit, and declares "my suffisaunce" (15) and that "over himself hath the maystrye" (14). ''Fortune'', in turn, does not understand Chaucer's harsh words to her for she believes she has been kind to him, claims that he does not know what she has in store for him in the future, but most importantly, "And eek thou hast thy beste frend alyve" (32, 40, 48). Chaucer retorts that "My frend maystow nat reven, blind goddesse" (50) and orders her to take away those who merely pretend to be his friends. ''Fortune'' turns her attention to three princes whom she implores to relieve Chaucer of his pain and "Preyeth his beste frend of his noblesse/That to som beter estat he may atteyne" (78–79). The three princes are believed to represent the dukes of Lancaster, [[Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York|York]], and [[Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester|Gloucester]], and a portion of line 76, "as three of you or tweyne," to refer to the ordinance of 1390 which specified that no royal gift could be authorised without the consent of at least two of the three dukes.{{sfn|Gross|1987|p=635}} Most conspicuous in this short poem is the number of references to Chaucer's "beste frend". ''Fortune'' states three times in her response to the plaintiff, "And also, you still have your best friend alive" (32, 40, 48); she also references his "beste frend" in the envoy when appealing to his "noblesse" to help Chaucer to a higher estate. A fifth reference is made by "Chaucer as narrator" who rails at ''Fortune'' that she shall not take his friend from him. While the envoy playfully hints to Lancaster that Chaucer would certainly appreciate a boost to his status or income, the poem ''Fortune'' distinctively shows his deep appreciation and affection for John of Gaunt. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page