Blanche of England
Encyclopedia
Blanche of England, LG
(Spring 1392 – 22 May 1409), also known as Blanche of Lancaster and Blanche Plantagenet, was an English princess of the House of Lancaster
.
She was the daughter of King Henry IV of England
by his first wife Mary de Bohun
.
, Blanche was the sixth of the seven children born during the marriage of Prince Henry of Lancaster and his wife Mary of Bohun. At the time of her birth, Henry was only Earl of Derby
and, thanks to his marriage, Earl of Northampton
and Earl of Hereford
; as the only surviving son of John of Gaunt
and Blanche of Lancaster
, he was the heir of the Duchy of Lancaster
. Blanche was named after her paternal grandmother.
Of her six siblings, five brothers and one sister, only the eldest brother, Edward, died in infancy. The other four brothers were, in order: Henry of Monmouth (later King Henry V of England
), Thomas, Duke of Clarence, John, Duke of Bedford and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
. Blanche's sister was Philippa
, who married Eric of Pomerania
, King of Denmark
, Norway
and Sweden
.
Mary of Bohun died on 4 June 1394 in Peterborough Castle after giving birth to her last child Philippa. Five years later, on 3 February 1399, after his father's death, Henry inherited the Duchy of Lancaster. Eight months later, on 13 October, he deposed his cousin King Richard II
and was crowned King Henry IV. Blanche and her siblings were then elevated to the rank of Royal Princess and Princes of England. Three years later, in 1402, her father was remarried, to Joanna, daughter of King Charles II of Navarre
and widow of Duke John V of Brittany. They had no children.
, who also took the German throne after the deposition of King Wenceslaus
: a marriage between Rupert's eldest surviving son Louis
and Henry IV's eldest daughter Blanche was soon arranged.
The marriage contract was signed on 7 March 1401 in London
; the bride's dowry was fixed in the amount of 40,000 Nobeln. The formal marriage between Blanche and Louis took place one year later, on 6 July 1402 at Cologne Cathedral
, Germany
. Despite its political nature, the marriage was said to be happy. Four years later, on 22 Jun 1406 in Heidelberg
, Blanche gave birth to a son, called Rupert after his paternal grandfather.
. One year later, pregnant with her second child, she died of fever in Haguenau
, Alsace
and was buried in the canonchurch of St. Mary (today St. Aegidius) in Neustadt in the Palatinate.
Her widower became Elector Palatine as Louis III in 1410 after the death of his father King Rupert and in 1417 married Matilda, daughter of Amadeo, Prince of Achaea
, member of the House of Savoy
, who bore him six children. Blanche's son Rupert (nicknamed the English) died aged nineteen in 1426, unmarried and without issue. Elector Louis III died ten years later and was succeeded by the eldest son of his second marriage, Louis IV.
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
(Spring 1392 – 22 May 1409), also known as Blanche of Lancaster and Blanche Plantagenet, was an English princess of the House of Lancaster
House of Lancaster
The House of Lancaster was a branch of the royal House of Plantagenet. It was one of the opposing factions involved in the Wars of the Roses, an intermittent civil war which affected England and Wales during the 15th century...
.
She was the daughter of King Henry IV of England
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
by his first wife Mary de Bohun
Mary de Bohun
Mary de Bohun was the first wife of King Henry IV of England and the mother of King Henry V. Mary was never queen, as she died before her husband came to the throne.-Early life:...
.
Family
Born at Peterborough Castle in NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, Blanche was the sixth of the seven children born during the marriage of Prince Henry of Lancaster and his wife Mary of Bohun. At the time of her birth, Henry was only Earl of Derby
Earl of Derby
Earl of Derby is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the end of the reign of Henry III and died in 1279...
and, thanks to his marriage, Earl of Northampton
Earl of Northampton
Earl of Northampton is a title that has been created five times.-Earls in for the Honour of Huntingdon, first Creation :*Waltheof *Maud, Countess of Huntingdon** m. Simon I de Senlis** m...
and Earl of Hereford
Earl of Hereford
The title of Earl of Hereford was created six times in the Peerage of England. See also Duke of Hereford, Viscount Hereford. Dates indicate the years the person held the title for.-Earls of Hereford, First Creation :*Swegen Godwinson...
; as the only surviving son of John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , KG was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault...
and Blanche of Lancaster
Blanche of Lancaster
Blanche of Lancaster, Duchess of Lancaster was an English noblewoman and heiress, daughter of England's wealthiest and most powerful peer, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster...
, he was the heir of the Duchy of Lancaster
Duchy of Lancaster
The Duchy of Lancaster is one of the two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Cornwall. It is held in trust for the Sovereign, and is used to provide income for the use of the British monarch...
. Blanche was named after her paternal grandmother.
Of her six siblings, five brothers and one sister, only the eldest brother, Edward, died in infancy. The other four brothers were, in order: Henry of Monmouth (later King Henry V of England
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
), Thomas, Duke of Clarence, John, Duke of Bedford and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Pembroke, KG , also known as Humphrey Plantagenet, was "son, brother and uncle of kings", being the fourth and youngest son of king Henry IV of England by his first wife, Mary de Bohun, brother to king Henry V of England, and uncle to the...
. Blanche's sister was Philippa
Philippa of England
Philippa of England , also known as Philippa of Lancaster and anachronistically as Philippa Plantagenet, was the Queen of Denmark, Sweden and Norway from 1406 to 1430. She was the consort to Eric of Pomerania, who ruled the three kingdoms...
, who married Eric of Pomerania
Eric of Pomerania
Eric of Pomerania KG was King Eric III of Norway Norwegian Eirik, King Eric VII of Denmark , and as Eric King of Sweden...
, King of Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.
Mary of Bohun died on 4 June 1394 in Peterborough Castle after giving birth to her last child Philippa. Five years later, on 3 February 1399, after his father's death, Henry inherited the Duchy of Lancaster. Eight months later, on 13 October, he deposed his cousin King Richard II
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
and was crowned King Henry IV. Blanche and her siblings were then elevated to the rank of Royal Princess and Princes of England. Three years later, in 1402, her father was remarried, to Joanna, daughter of King Charles II of Navarre
Charles II of Navarre
Charles II , called "Charles the Bad", was King of Navarre 1349-1387 and Count of Évreux 1343-1387....
and widow of Duke John V of Brittany. They had no children.
Marriage
After his ascension to the English throne, King Henry IV wanted to make important alliances in order to maintain and legitimize his rule. One needed ally was King Rupert of GermanyRupert of Germany
Rupert of Germany from the House of Wittelsbach was Elector Palatine from 1398 and German King from 1400 until his death...
, who also took the German throne after the deposition of King Wenceslaus
Wenceslaus, King of the Romans
Wenceslaus ) was, by election, German King from 1376 and, by inheritance, King of Bohemia from 1378. He was the third Bohemian and second German monarch of the Luxembourg dynasty...
: a marriage between Rupert's eldest surviving son Louis
Louis III, Elector Palatine
Louis III, Count Palatine of the Rhine , was an Elector Palatine of the Rhine from the house of Wittelsbach in 1410–1436....
and Henry IV's eldest daughter Blanche was soon arranged.
The marriage contract was signed on 7 March 1401 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
; the bride's dowry was fixed in the amount of 40,000 Nobeln. The formal marriage between Blanche and Louis took place one year later, on 6 July 1402 at Cologne Cathedral
Cologne Cathedral
Cologne Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage Site...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Despite its political nature, the marriage was said to be happy. Four years later, on 22 Jun 1406 in Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
, Blanche gave birth to a son, called Rupert after his paternal grandfather.
Death and Aftermath
In 1408 Blanche was made Lady of the GarterOrder of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
. One year later, pregnant with her second child, she died of fever in Haguenau
Haguenau
-Economy:The town has a well balanced economy. Centuries of troubled history in the buffer lands between France and Germany have bequeathed to Haguenau a rich historical and cultural heritage which supports a lively tourist trade. There is also a thriving light manufacturing sector centred on the...
, Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
and was buried in the canonchurch of St. Mary (today St. Aegidius) in Neustadt in the Palatinate.
Her widower became Elector Palatine as Louis III in 1410 after the death of his father King Rupert and in 1417 married Matilda, daughter of Amadeo, Prince of Achaea
Amadeo, Prince of Achaea
Amadeus or Amedeo of Savoy was the son of James of Piedmont and his third wife Marguerite de Beaujeu. By James' will of 16 May 1366, he was declared his firstborn and heir. In 1367, he succeeded his father in his titles of Lord of Piedmont and Prince of Achaea...
, member of the House of Savoy
House of Savoy
The House of Savoy was formed in the early 11th century in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to eventually rule the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 until the end of World War II, king of Croatia and King of Armenia...
, who bore him six children. Blanche's son Rupert (nicknamed the English) died aged nineteen in 1426, unmarried and without issue. Elector Louis III died ten years later and was succeeded by the eldest son of his second marriage, Louis IV.