So here is the latest of Kathryn Warner‘s series about Edward II’s family. As the title suggests, it is focussed on the lives of Edward III’s eleven grandaughters, nine of whom were paternally descended including four by John of Gaunt. The first, Philippa of Clarence, was born in 1355 and the last to die was Joan Beaufort, in 1440. Ten of them married and the other, Isabel of Gloucester, became a nun and then an abbess in the Minoresses’ convent. Their descendants include Maximilian I, Phillip II and Catherine of Aragon, Edward IV and Richard III, Isabel and Anne Neville, Henri IV, Mary Stuart and noble families such as the Staffords, Percies and Poles.

This is an excellent book, adding several other pieces to the Edward of Caernarvon jigsaw.


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  1. […] first creation was Thomas of Woodstock, youngest son of Edward III. He wasn’t a very pleasant man and pushed his nephew Richard II too far and was arrested. […]

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  2. […] a borough since at least the reigns of Henry II/III. It would even have its own mint by the end of Edward III’s reign. Go to these comments to read about a coin discovered in a field near Berkeley. Alas, not […]

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  3. […] son between Robert and Otes in age) who really broke the mould. Again, he distinguished himself in Edward III‘s wars. There is no doubt he was a soldier of considerable courage and resourcefulness. […]

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  4. […] have recently come across the argument (again) that Edward III‘s purported enfeoffment made Gaunt and his son the rightful heirs of Edward […]

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  5. […] to her as Coucy leads to a little confusion with Isabel de Coucy, daughter of Edward III and wife of Enguerrand de Coucy VII. This is especially evident in the lengthy biographical […]

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  6. […] now. But do the facts surrounding Edmund’s birth really stand up to close examination? Was Edward III‘s beloved Queen Philippa an unfaithful wife? If not, how did she manage to become pregnant […]

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