(no subject)

Died on this day in 1399 aged 58 John of Gaunt(my toy,wikipedia). John of Gaunt was the 3rd son of Edward III; Edward's first son predeceased him, and *his* son became Richard II. But then John of Gaunt's son became Henry IV; I'm sure that there is a bunch of purported reasons why this was the Right Thing, but given that it involved overthrowing the reigning king and then ignoring his sons (still children) *and* the daughter of Edward III's second son it was presumably all about who had the largest Army. John of Gaunt had three wives; Blanche of Lancaster, Constance of Castile, and Katherine Swynford - it is through his marriage to Blanche that he was the Duke of Lancaster, and from here the House of Lancaster gets its name. Notable Lancastrian Margaret Beaufort however was descended not from Blanche but from Katherine, Katherine had children by John whilst she was his mistress (and he was married to Constance) but he later married her and had the children legitimated (although he wrote a law saying they couldn't Be King, which obviously had about as much effect on the future of the succession as any other rule about who Should Be King vis none, because it was all about Armies; or maybe these sorts of arguments actually persuaded people which Army they should join). Katherine's sister was married to Chaucer, which is kinda a cool random thing.

Born on this day in 1338 to Duke Peter I of Bourbon and Isabella of Valois Joanna of Bourbon(my toy,wikipedia). Grandmother of Isabella of Valois who married Richard II. Joanna was the wife of the King of France who was her first cousin; you'd think the wife of a King of France would merit more on wikipedia than her basic biographic details, but no. That kinda sucks.