Henry of Monmouth, Volume 1 | Page 7

Bolinbroke and Henry of Monmouth were born, their fathers
were subjects, and nothing of national interest was at the time
associated with their appearance in the world; at Henry of Windsor's
birth he was the acknowledged heir to the throne both of England and
of France.
[Footnote 2: Monomothi in Wallia natus v. Id. Aug.--Pauli Jov. Ang.
Reg. Chron.; William of Worcester, &c.]
[Footnote 3: At the foot of the Wardrobe Account of Henry Earl of
Derby from 30th September 1387 to 30th September 1388, (and
unfortunately no account of the Duke of Lancaster's expenses is as yet
found extant before that very year,) an item occurs of 341l. 12s. 5d.,
paid 24th September 1386, for the household expenses of the Earl and
his family at Monmouth. This proves that his father made the castle of
Monmouth his residence within less than a year of the date assigned for
Henry's birth.]
To what extent Henry of Monmouth's future character and conduct
were, under Providence, affected by the circumstances of his family
and its several members, it would perhaps be less philosophical than
presumptuous to define. But, that those circumstances were (p. 003)
peculiarly calculated to influence him in his principles and views and
actions, will be acknowledged by every one who becomes acquainted
with them, and who is at the same time in the least degree conversant
with the growth and workings of the human mind. It must, therefore,
fall within the province of the inquiry instituted in these pages, to take a
brief review of the domestic history of Henry's family through the years
of his childhood and early youth.
John, surnamed "of Gaunt," from Ghent or Gand in Flanders, the place
of his birth, was the fourth son of King Edward the Third. At a very
early age he married Blanche, daughter and heiress of Henry
Plantagenet, Duke of Lancaster, great-grandson of Henry the Third.[4]
The time of his marriage with Blanche,[5] though recorded with

sufficient precision, is indeed comparatively of little consequence;
whilst the date of their son Henry's birth, from the influence which the
age of a father may have on the destinies of his child, becomes matter
of much importance to those who take any interest in the (p. 004)
history of their grandson, Henry of Monmouth. On this point it has
been already intimated that no conclusive evidence is directly upon
record. The principal facts, however, which enable us to draw an
inference of high probability, are associated with so pleasing and so
exemplary a custom, though now indeed fallen into great desuetude
among us, that to review them compensates for any disappointment
which might be felt from the want of absolute certainty in the issue of
our research. It was Henry of Bolinbroke's custom[6] every year on the
Feast of the Lord's Supper, that is, on the Thursday before Easter, to
clothe as many poor persons as equalled the number of years which he
had completed on the preceding birthday; and by examining the
accounts still preserved in the archives of the Duchy of Lancaster, the
details of which would be altogether uninteresting in this place, we are
led to infer that Henry Bolinbroke was born on the 4th of April 1366.
Blanche, his mother, survived the birth of Bolinbroke probably not
more than three years. Whether this lady found in John of Gaunt a
faithful and loving husband, or whether his libertinism caused her to
pass her short life in disappointment and sorrow, no authentic
document enables us to pronounce. It is, however, impossible to close
our eyes against the painful fact, that Catherine Swynford, who (p. 005)
was the partner of his guilt during the life of his second wife,
Constance, had been an inmate of his family, as the confidential
attendant on his wife Blanche, and the governess of her daughters,
Philippa and Elizabeth of Lancaster. That he afterwards, by a life of
abandoned profligacy, disgraced the religion which he professed, is,
unhappily, put beyond conjecture or vague rumour. Though we cannot
infer from any expenses about her funeral and her memory, that
Blanche was the sole object of his affections, (the most lavish
costliness at the tomb of the departed too often being only in proportion
to the unkindness shown to the living,) yet it may be worth observing,
that in 1372 we find an entry in the account, of 20l. paid to two
chaplains (together with the expenses of the altar) to say masses for her
soul. He was then already[7] married to his second wife, Constance,

daughter of Peter the Cruel, King of Castile. By this lady, whom he
often calls "the Queen," he appears to have had only one child, married,
it is said, to Henry III. King of Castile.[8] Constance, the mother, is
represented to have been