by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Born March 31, 1373, at Hertford Castle in Hertfordshire, England, Catherine of Lancaster was the elder but the only surviving child of the two children of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and his second wife Constance of Castile. Catherine’s paternal grandparents were King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. Her maternal grandparents were King Pedro I of Castile and his first wife Maria de Padilla. Catherine was a half-sister of King Henry IV of England.

Catherine had one younger brother who died in infancy:

• John of Lancaster (1374 – 1375)

Catherine had seven half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to Blanche of Lancaster:

• Philippa of Lancaster (1360 – 1415), married King João I of Portugal, had issue
• John (c.1362/1364), died in infancy
• Elizabeth of Lancaster (1364 – 1426), married (1) John Hastings, 3rd Earl of Pembroke  (2) John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, had issue  (3) John Cornwall, 1st Baron Fanhope, had issue
• Edward of Lancaster (born and died 1365)
• John of Lancaster (born and died 1366), died in early infancy
• King Henry IV of England (1367 – 1413), married (1) Mary de Bohun, had issue including King Henry V of England  (2)  Joanna of Navarre, no issue
• Isabella of Lancaster (born 1368), died young

Catherine had four half-siblings from her father’s relationship with his mistress and subsequently his third wife Katherine Swynford:

• John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (1373–1410), married Margaret Holland, had issue, great-great-grandparents of King Henry VII
• Henry, Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester (1375–1447), unmarried
• Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter (1377–1426), married Margaret Neville of Horneby, no surviving issue
• Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland (1379–1440), married (1) Robert Ferrers, 5th Baron Boteler of Wem, had issue, ancestors of many notable persons including Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother; Diana, Princess of Wales; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; George Washington, etc. (2) Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, had 14 children, grandparents of King Edward IV and King Richard III

Catherine’s parents had married in 1371, as part of a calculated plan for the English to gain control of the Kingdom of Castile, now part of Spain. In 1369, King Pedro I of Castile was killed by his half-brother, who then assumed the throne of Castile as King Enrique II of Castile. Catherine’s mother Constance was the elder surviving daughter, the co-heiress of her father with her younger sister Isabella, and a claimant to the throne of Castile. After his marriage to Constance, John of Gaunt assumed the style of King of Castile in the right of his wife. Constance’s younger sister Isabella of Castile accompanied her sister to England. In 1372, Isabella married John of Gaunt’s younger brother, Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, as part of a dynastic alliance to further the English claim to the crown of Castile.

The English were never able to gain control of the Kingdom of Castile. In 1388, under the Treaty of Bayonne, Constance, Duchess of Lancaster renounced all claims to the Castilian throne and accepted the proposal of her first cousin King Juan I of Castile, to marry her daughter Catherine to his son, the future King Enrique III of Castile. The marriage would end the conflict between the descendants of Pedro I of Castile and Enrique II of Castile and give legitimacy to the House of Trastámara, which would become the first ruling house of a united Kingdom of Spain.

On September 17, 1388, at the Cathedral of Saint Antoninus of Pamiers in Palencia, Kingdom of Castile, now in Spain, fifteen-year-old Catherine of Lancaster was married to her nine-year-old second cousin Enrique, who received the title Prince of Asturias at that time. He was the first person to hold this title, and it designated him as the heir apparent. Today Prince or Princess of Asturias is the title used by the heir apparent or heir presumptive to the throne of Spain.

Probably, the marriage was not consummated for some time due to Enrique’s young age. Eventually, Catherine (Catalina in Spanish) and Enrique had three children:

• Maria of Castile (1401 – 1458), married Alfonso V, King of Aragon and Naples, no children
• Catalina of Castile (1403 – 1439), married Infante Enrique of Aragon, Duke of Villena, no children
• Juan II, King of Castile (1405–1454), married Maria of Aragon, had four children but only Enrique IV, King of Castile survived childhood.

Through their son Juan II of Castile, Catherine and Enrique III are the grandparents of Isabella I, Queen of Castile, and great-grandparents of Catherine of Aragon (daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon), the first wife of King Henry VIII of England. Catherine of Aragon was named for her great-grandmother Catherine of Lancaster, Queen of Castile. Catherine and Enrique are the ancestors of all subsequent monarchs of the Kingdom of Castile and a united Kingdom of Spain.

On October 9, 1390, Catherine’s father-in-law, King Juan I of Castile, aged thirty-two, died after a fall from his horse, and her eleven-year-old husband became Enrique III, King of Castile. After a three-year regency, King Enrique III assumed full power. However, due to ill health in the latter part of his reign, Enrique delegated some of his power to his brother Ferdinand. Enrique died, aged 27, on December 25, 1406, in Toledo, Kingdom of Castile, now in Spain. King Enrique III’s son and successor was not quite two years old when he became King Juan II of Castile. His mother Catherine and his paternal uncle Ferdinand, who became King Ferdinand I of Aragon in 1412, were co-regents during his minority. When Ferdinand died in 1416, Catherine served as sole regent until she died in 1418. Her son King Juan II immediately took power, without continuing the regency.

On June 2, 1418, Catherine of Lancaster, Queen of Castile died from a stroke at age 45 in Valladolid, Kingdom of Castile, now in Spain. She is buried with her husband King Enrique III of Castile in the Capilla de los Reyes Nuevos (Chapel of the New Monarchs) in the Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo, also known as Toledo Cathedral in Toldeo, Kingdom of Castile, now in Spain.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Catherine of Lancaster – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Lancaster> [Accessed 2 April 2021].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Henry III of Castile – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_III_of_Castile> [Accessed 2 April 2021].
• Es.wikipedia.org. 2021. Catalina de Lancaster – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. [online] Available at: <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalina_de_Lancaster> [Accessed 2 April 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Constance of Castile, Duchess of Lancaster. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/constance-of-castile-duchess-of-lancaster/> [Accessed 2 April 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2017. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/john-of-gaunt-1st-duke-of-lancaster/> [Accessed 2 April 2021].

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Constance of Castile was the second wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the fourth but the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. Through their daughter Catherine, Constance and John are the great-grandparents of Queen Isabella I of Castile and León and the great-great-grandparents of Isabella I’s daughter Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII of England. Constance and John are the ancestors of all subsequent monarchs of the Kingdom of Castile and León and the united Kingdom of Spain.

Born in 1354 at the Castle of Castrojeriz in Castrojeriz, Kingdom of Castile, now in Spain, Constance of Castile was the second of the three daughters and the second of the four children of Pedro I, King of Castile and the first of his three wives Maria de Padilla, a Castilian noblewoman who had been his mistress. They married in secret in 1353. Although Pedro was forced to repudiate his marriage with Maria de Padilla to marry Blanche of Bourbon (no children), their relationship continued until she died in 1361.

Constance had three siblings:

• Beatrice of Castile (1353 – 1369), a nun at the Abbey of Santa Clara at Tordesillas
• Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York (1355 – 1392), married Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (brother of Constance’s husband John of Gaunt), had three children
• Alfonso, Prince of Asturias (1359 – 1362), died in childhood

Constance had had one brother from her father’s third marriage with Juana de Castro:

• Juan of Castile (1355 – 1405), married Elvira de Eril and Falces, had two children

Throughout the reign of Pedro I, King of Castile, the Castilian Civil War (1351 – 1369), a war of succession over the Kingdom of Castile, was fought between Pedro I and his half-brother Enrique, one of ten children of Pedro’s father King Alfonso XI of Castile and his long-time mistress Eleanor of Guzmán. In 1369, Pedro lost the civil war, his crown, and his life when he was stabbed to death by his half-brother who then succeeded to the throne as Enrique II, King of Castile. Constance was now a pretender to the throne of Castile and remained besieged in the Alcázar del Rey Don Pedro in Carmona for two more years until it was agreed that she could depart for territories of King Edward III of England now in present-day France.

On September 21, 1371, in English territory, at Roquefort near Bordeaux, Guienne (now in France), 31-year-old John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, King Edward III’s fourth but third surviving son, married 17-year-old Constance. This was John of Gaunt’s second marriage. His 23-year-old first wife Blanche of Lancaster, the wealthy heiress whose Duchy of Lancaster, to this day, is held in trust for the Sovereign to provide income for the use of the British monarch, died in 1368. Of John and Blanche’s seven children, three survived to adulthood including King Henry IV of England and Philippa of Lancaster who married King João I of Portugal.

Embed from Getty Images
The Savoy Palace, the London home of John of Gaunt

The marriage of Constance and John was a calculated plan for England to gain control of the Kingdom of Castile. After his marriage to Constance, John assumed the style of King of Castile in the right of his wife. On February 9, 1372, Constance made a ceremonial entry into London as the Queen of Castile, accompanied by John’s eldest brother, Edward (the Black Prince), Prince of Wales, along with an impressive escort of English and Castilian retainers and London dignitaries. Crowds lined the streets to see Constance as she traveled to Savoy Palace, the London residence of John of Gaunt, where she was ceremonially received by her husband.

Constance’s younger sister Isabella of Castile accompanied her to England. On July 11, 1372, Isabella married John of Gaunt’s younger brother, Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York as part of a dynastic alliance to further the English claim to the crown of Castile.

Constance and John of Gaunt had two children but only one survived infancy:

• Catherine of Lancaster (1373 – 1418), married King Enrique III of Castile, had three children including King Juan II of Castile
• John of Lancaster (1374 – 1375), died in infancy

The English were never able to gain control of the Kingdom of Castile. In 1388, under the Treaty of Bayonne, John of Gaunt and his wife Constance of Castile renounced any claim to the throne of Castile in favor of King Enrique III of Castile, the grandson of Constance’s half-uncle King Enrique II of Castile who had taken the throne from Constance’s father King Pedro I of Castile. The treaty further stipulated that King Enrique III of Castile should marry his second cousin Catherine of Lancaster, John and Constance’s daughter and the granddaughter of King Pedro I, thereby uniting the two opposing factions of the family. Also included in the treaty was the creation of the title Prince of Asturias as the title of the heir to the throne of Castile. Today Prince or Princess of Asturias is the title used by the heir apparent or heir presumptive to the throne of Spain.

Soon after King Edward III of England founded the Order of the Garter in 1348, women were appointed Ladies of the Garter but were not made companions. In 1378, Constance received the honor of being appointed the fourth Lady of the Garter.

Constance of Castile, Duchess of Lancaster died on March 24, 1394, aged 39 or 40, at Leicester Castle in Leicestershire, England. She was buried at the Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke, in Leicester, England, which was destroyed in the mid-16th century under the Dissolution of the Chantries Act during the reign of King Edward VI of England. In 1396, Constance’s widower John of Gaunt married his long-time mistress, Katherine Swynford, with whom he already had four children. John survived Constance by five years, dying on February 3, 1399, aged 58, at Leicester Castle in Leicestershire, England. He was buried with his first wife Blanche of Lancaster in a magnificent tomb at Old St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England which was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Constance of Castile, Duchess of Lancaster – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_of_Castile,_Duchess_of_Lancaster> [Accessed 1 April 2021].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Peter of Castile – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_of_Castile> [Accessed 1 April 2021].
• Es.wikipedia.org. 2021. Constanza de Castilla (1354-1394) – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. [online] Available at: <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constanza_de_Castilla_(1354-1394)> [Accessed 1 April 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2021. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/john-of-gaunt-1st-duke-of-lancaster/> [Accessed 1 April 2021].
• Ru.wikipedia.org. 2021. Констанция Кастильская, герцогиня Ланкастер — Википедия. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%9A%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F,_%D0%B3%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%86%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%8F_%D0%9B%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80> [Accessed 1 April 2021].

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.