A Lancastrian Polity? John of Gaunt, John Neville and the War with France, 1368-88

Summary

It has become almost axiomatic to point out that the political life and aspirations of John of Gaunt were, in an English context, quite singular. His life and career have, over the past decade, been the subject of much interest by students of later medieval English politics. First as earl of Richmond, then as duke of Lancaster, Gaunt’s relentless political machinations were the genesis of a distinct, Lancastrian ‘party’. This in turn provided him with a power base of great regional authority, which was capable of serving not only his own changing interests, but also of providing his son the one great treasure that the duke never allowed himself: the throne of England. The origins of Gaunt’s political circle, and of Lancastrian polity generally, begin with the French campaigns of his youth, and with the assembly in his retinue of a close-knit group of soldier-politicians. This group of knights, barons and magnates – many his tenants or neighbours in the north – was initially assembled for war in France but became, for him and his son, an important basis for domestic political power.

John of Gaunt thus made a formative contribution to Lancastrian government through the creation of a large, durable, flexible and effective political organisation, which we might term his affinity. Its most prominent early members – quite apart from those involved in routine estate management and functions of local governance within his English dominions – were those originally assembled for military service abroad. Over time, however, his pattern of retaining shifted, reflecting his new-found interest in domestic political affairs following the death of his father. He quickly became the leader of the north’s political community, cemented by his appointment as royal lieutenant of the Scottish Marches, a position which was probably modelled on those held by his brothers, Lionel and Edward, in Ireland, Wales and Aquitaine. As John’s interests shifted from the Continent back to England, so too did many leading northerners not already in his service gravitate toward him. These men, who were valuable in part because they wielded influence of their own, in turn received patronage and offices from both the crown and the duchy of Lancaster. It is these men who would later prove to be instrumental in Henry Bolingbroke’s coup, and who would assume important positions in his government.