by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Coat of Arms of the Duchy of Lancaster: Wikipedia

The Duchy of Lancaster is one of the two royal duchies in England and is held in trust for the Sovereign to provide income for the use of the British monarch.  The other royal duchy is the Duchy of Cornwall which provides a similar purpose for the eldest son of the reigning British monarch.  The monarch, regardless of gender, has the style of Duke of Lancaster.  The duchy comprises of 46,000 acres and includes urban developments, historic buildings, and farmland in many parts of England and Wales, and large holdings in Lancashire.  At the end of March 2013, the Duchy of Lancaster had £428 million of net assets under its control. The Sovereign is not entitled to the capital of the Duchy’s portfolio or to capital profits.  Revenue profits are distributed to the Sovereign and are subject to income tax.

• Official Website: Duchy of Lancaster

In 1265, King Henry III of England granted lands forfeited by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester to his second son Edmund Crouchback and created him Earl of Lancaster and Leicester. Over the years, more land was added to the original holdings making it quite profitable.  In 1315, Edmund Crouchback’s grandson Henry of Grosmont was created Duke of Lancaster and the lands were thereafter called the Duchy of Lancaster.  Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster became the wealthiest and most powerful peer in England.  So how did the Duchy of Lancaster get into the hands of the British Sovereign?  The connection is Blanche of Lancaster, Henry of Grosmont’s younger daughter.

Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster and father of Blanche of Lancaster, Credit: Wikipedia

The date of Blanche of Lancaster’s birth is not known for certain.  Many sources give March 25, 1345, as her birth date, and some sources believe her birth year was 1347, but she was born in Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, England.  Blanche’s father was Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, a great-grandson of King Henry III.  Her mother was Isabel de Beaumont, the youngest daughter of Henry de Beaumont, Earl of Buchan and Alice Comyn.  Blanche had only one sibling, an elder sister Maud.

On May 19, 1359, Blanche married John of Gaunt, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, in the Queen’s Chapel at Reading Abbey in Reading, England.  The bride was 14 and the groom was 19.  Blanche and John were third cousins, both being great-great-grandchildren of King Henry III.  This was an excellent match for both Blanche and John.  Blanche was marrying into the royal family and John’s wealth was greatly increased by marrying one of the richest heiresses in England.

Marriage of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster in Reading Abbey on 19 May 1359 by Horace Wright (1914)

Description of the above painting from the Reading Museum where the painting is on display: In this painting, John of Gaunt and his bride walk from beneath a gilded canopy towards the officiating Bishop of Salisbury. Four lords support the wedding canopy. The one nearest to Blanche is her father, Henry Duke of Lancaster. Close by is the poet Chaucer, clothed in black and bearing a scroll. On the throne is John’s father, King Edward III, beneath a crimson canopy decorated with the lions of England. Beside the King are two of the royal princes, Edward the Black Prince and Prince Lionel.

Blanche and John had seven children:

• Philippa (1360 – 1415), married King John I of Portugal, had nine children
• John (c.1362/1364), died in infancy
• Elizabeth (1364 – 1426), married (1) John Hastings, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, no children, marriage annulled (2) John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, had six children (3) John Cornwall, 1st Baron Fanhope, had two children
• Edward (born and died 1365)
• John (born and died 1366), died in early infancy
• King Henry IV of England (1367 – 1413), married (1) Mary de Bohun, had six children (2)  Joanna of Navarre, no children
• Isabella (born 1368), died young

Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster died of the plague in 1361.  Since Blanche’s father did not have any sons, Blanche and her sister Maud became his co-heiresses. Maud had first married Ralph, the son of Ralph, Lord Stafford when she was very young and was widowed at the age of eight.  When she was 13, Maud married Wilhelm I, Duke of Bavaria, Count of Zeeland, Holland, and Hainault.  The groom was a nephew of Blanche’s mother-in-law Queen Philippa.  Maud did not have any surviving children from either of her two marriages.  Maud died of the plague on April 10, 1362, but some believed she was poisoned at the instigation of her brother-in-law John of Gaunt.  Maud’s portion of her inheritance passed to Blanche and her husband upon her death.

At this time, it was common for extinct titles of heiresses’ fathers to pass to their husbands.  John of Gaunt was created Duke of Lancaster on November 13, 1362.  By that time, his wealth was immense.  He owned thirty castles and estates in England and France. His household was comparable in size and organization to that of a monarch and his annual income between £8,000 and £10,000 a year would be several million pounds in today’s terms.

Blanche died at age 23, possibly of the plague or possibly from childbirth complications, on September 12, 1368, while John was away at sea.  Her funeral was held at the Old St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England, and was attended by most of England’s nobility and clergy.  John held annual commemorations of Blanche’s death for the rest of his life and had a magnificent double tomb built at St. Paul’s for Blanche and himself.  Despite the fact that he married two more times, when John died in 1399, he was buried with Blanche.  Unfortunately, the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed Old St. Paul’s Cathedral and the tomb of Blanche and John.  Through her daughter Philippa who married King John I of Portugal, Blanche is the ancestress of many European monarchs.

Tomb of Blanche of Lancaster and John of Gaunt, destroyed during Great Fire of London of 1666. Photo: Wikipedia

So how did the Duchy of Lancaster get into the hands of the British monarchs?  When King Edward III died in 1377, he was succeeded by his ten-year-old grandson, King Richard II, the only child of King Edward III’s deceased eldest son Edward the Black Prince.  In 1398, John of Gaunt’s eldest son Henry Bolingbroke made an enemy of his cousin King Richard II and was banished for six years.  When John of Gaunt died in 1399, King Richard II confiscated the holdings of the Duchy of Lancaster and banished Henry Bolingbroke for life.  However, Henry was not having any of this.

While Richard was on a military campaign in Ireland, Henry returned to England to claim his inheritance. Supported by leading families, Henry regained control of the Lancastrian strongholds and captured Richard II. Richard abdicated and was imprisoned in Pontefract Castle where he later died.  Henry Bolingbroke was crowned King Henry IV on October 13, 1399.  The first act of King Henry IV was to declare that the Duchy of Lancaster would be held separately from the other possessions of the Crown, and should descend to his male heirs. This separation was confirmed in 1461 by King Edward IV when he stipulated that the Duchy would be held separate from other inheritances by him and his heirs, Kings of England.  Ever since, the Duchy of Lancaster has effectively passed to each reigning monarch. And it all started with the marriage of a 14-year-old girl in 1359.

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