The Red Prince: The Life of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster by Helen Carr

 

Publication Date:

May 25, 2021

Genre: 

History, British Medieval History

Length:  

304 pages

Series:

No

Book description courtesy of Amazon books:

Son of Edward III, brother to the Black Prince, father to Henry IV and the sire of all the Tudors. Always close to the English throne, John of Gaunt left a complex legacy. Too rich, too powerful, too haughty… did he have his eye on his nephew’s throne? Why was he such a focus of hate in the Peasants’ Revolt?

In examining the life of a pivotal medieval figure, Helen Carr paints a revealing portrait of a man who held the levers of power on the English and European stage, passionately upheld chivalric values, pressed for the Bible to be translated into English, patronised the arts, ran huge risks to pursue the woman he loved… and, according to Shakespeare, gave the most beautiful of all speeches on England.

My Thoughts:

This is the first book I've read by this author and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. It had a narrative style and although there were some parts that I skimmed over and got a little bored with at times, I think that is because some of Gaunt's life includes details of how he handled the governing of England, Parliament, Richard II's reign, etc and it's hard to make some of those parts super exciting. Carr did an excellent job of making him seem human and giving us real reasons why he made the decisions he did. I had read about John of Gaunt but mostly as a precursor to the Wars of the Roses, or as the love of Katherine Swynford. This was the first book that delved into just him and his life.

The most unique part for me was his obsession with becoming ruler of Castile. I'd never heard about this, probably because it didn't relate to either of the two topics I mentioned above. But it is worth reading about in its own right. He just couldn't get the outcome he wanted to materialize and because the claim came through his wife, Constance of Castile, and not himself directly, it made it all the more improbable. He did manage to marry their daughter, Catherine of Lancaster, to the man who would become the future King Henry III of Castile, thus securing the throne through his bloodline indirectly, but having to give up all rights to any rule of Castile himself. I found this story fascinating and wonder why it isn't told more often. The attemped invasion, family dynamics, and loss of his dream are quite a tale.

Throughout the book it is clear that Gaunt was a devoted family man, despite fathering children outside of wedlock with Katherine, who sincerely wanted to preserve the royal bloodline and do what he thought was best for the country. When his nephew Richard II sends the country into chaos he attempts to salvage things through his son Henry, but dies just months before knowing how it all played out in his family's favor.

I have been very interested in the Hundred Years War, and the period in England between Edward III and Henry IV. It took this book to make me realize that I only need to study the life of John of Gaunt to get a glimpse into the entire period. He was there for almost all of it and his accomplishments and chivalric legacy are remarkable. Not everyone loved him and some saw him as arrogant toward the common man at times but I think he was a man of his age and status and did the best he could with what he was given. Carr's book covered it all thoroughly and I admire her for taking the subject on as there are very few books dedicated to this time period.