CATHERINE

See also:

• CATHERINE SWYNFORD (c. 1350-.14.03)

SWYNFORD (c. 1350-.14.03)  , wife of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, was a daughter of Sir Payne Roelt, a knight who came to England from Hainault in the train of Edward III.'s queen, Philippa . About 1367 she married Sir Hugh Swynford (1340-1372), a Lincolnshire man, by whom she had a son, Thomas (c . 1368-1433), who was a friend and companion of Henry IV. both before and after he came to the English throne . Soon after her husband's death in 1372 Catherine became the mistress of John of Gaunt, and in 1396, nearly two years after the duke had become a widower for the second time, she was married to him at Lincoln . She died at Lincoln on the loth of May 1403 . By John of Gaunt Catherine had four children, all of whom were born before their marriage . They were declared legitimate in 1397 and took the name of Beaufort from one of their father's castles in Anjou (see BEAUFORT) .