What on earth did the archbishop say to Edward III about Queen Philippa….?

We have all probably heard the story of John of Gaunt being an illegitimate commoner because he was swapped at birth for a royal baby girl who died when the queen “overlay” her in bed. Only a boy from the town of Ghent could be found as a replacement. So there was no royal blood in John’s veins at all! This story was always used to discredit Gaunt, progenitor of the House of Lancaster. (See here).

But have we all heard of the taint of illegitimacy being attached to Edmund of Langley, progenitor of the House of York? I hadn’t, until now. But do the facts surrounding Edmund’s birth really stand up to close examination? Was Edward III‘s beloved Queen Philippa an unfaithful wife? If not, how did she manage to become pregnant when the king was away for two months at the siege of Tournai? How indeed.

Philippa of Hainault (24 June 1310 (or 1315) – 15 August 1369)—from Philippa of Hainault, Queen of England (1314?-1369) [Queen of King Edward III] (luminarium.com)

That is something that Edward III himself might have wished to know when in the autumn of 1340 John de Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, spoke separately to the king and queen about each other! What on earth for? As Ian Mortimer states in The Perfect King, one possibility is conjugal infidelity. This wouldn’t apply to Edward because medieval marriage didn’t restrict the husband from playing around, only the wife. Nevertheless, Archbishop Stratford could have been very disapproving if Edward was occupying other women’s beds. But he could only wag his holy finger at the king. However, if Philippa had a lover, that was very serious indeed. Because it cast doubt on not only her fidelity but the legitimacy of any child she bore.

If the archbishop had raised some subject other than Edward’s marriage it’s hard to think what could require speaking to each party separately about the other. So let’s go with the possibility of Philippa’s unfaithfulness and examine all the relevant dates, to see if that was indeed what the archbishop might have been insinuating.

From mid-July 1338 until the end of November 1340 (from Philippa of Hainault: Mother of the English Nation, Warner 129/130) Edward and Philippa were out of England. Philippa went to Antwerp in the July 1338 when she was in the last third of her pregnancy. On 29 November 1338, while Edward III was travelling in Germany, his fifth child by Philippa, Lionel of Antwerp, was born. Edward had returned in time to spend several weeks with his wife at Christmas that year. (Warner 135)

On 6 January 1339 Philippa’s purification took place in Antwerp (Warner 136) and in May 1339, about six months after Lionel’s birth, still in Antwerp or perhaps Diest, Philippa was pregnant again with their sixth child.

John of Gaunt was born 6 March 1340 in Ghent, but Edward III was in England for this birth. On 24 June 1340 the king enjoyed his great naval victory at the Battle of Sluys. Philippa hurried from Ghent to be with him for all the congratulations and celebrations. On 10 July 1340 (Warner 139) Edward returned to Ghent and saw his new son John for the first time.

Mortimer states in Perfect King 177 that on 23 July 1340 Edward had commenced the siege of French-controlled Tournai and was there in person. Warner gives August and September 1340 for the siege. Did Philippa remain in Ghent or accompany Edward to the siege of Tournai or the Treaty of Espléchin. It’s hard to know, but a few months earlier she’d rushed from Antwerp to Sluys to be with him when he won the naval battle. So they did seize all opportunities to be together. But if she was with him, it’s very unlikely indeed that she also had a lover. So possible malicious whispers about unfaithful queens would surely have been snuffed.

Edward and Philippa had certainly been together again by 12 September 1340 (Perfect King 183—Warner 143) because this is the date when it’s believed she conceived her seventh child. So, if she had stayed in Ghent throughout, we should consider whether he went back to her. Tournai is approximately 34 miles from Ghent, as the crow flies, and Espléchin 38 miles. These distances are surely nothing to a warrior in the peak of condition like Edward. The siege of Tournai lasted two months, so nipping back to Philippa a couple of times would be a great temptation to him. He was a man who needed his wife! I think the necessary time together could have been achieved, and if it was then there’s no doubt in my mind that Edmund of Langley was trueborn.

Throughout this period Edward was beleaguered by various matters, including his own financial situation. He’d had to call off the siege when he was almost at the point of victory, and the Treaty of Espléchin had followed on 25 September 1340. He knew he’d soon have to return to England to sort it all out, and he was an angry man.

In the meantime he finally went back to Ghent on 28 September 1340—so maybe this (not 12 September) was when he and Philippa were reunited and their seventh child was conceived? If the pregnancy was healthy and following the usual full 38-week gestation period, a sixteen-day discrepancy at the end doesn’t seem too great because even in the medieval period babies did survive being premature, although by no means as premature as today’s medical care ensures.

On 25 October 1340 Philippa was still in Ghent, and on 18 November 1340 Edward was to write his astonishing letter to the Pope, in which, according to Mark Ormrod’s Yale English Monarchs’ Edward III , he accused the Archbishop of Canterbury of having “….deliberately refused to supply him with funds, intending thus to effect his ruin and death….”

Philippa would probably have known at that point that she was just pregnant. She had borne so many children that she would have recognised the very earliest sign, I’m sure. I certainly knew at one month, because I felt very different. It’s a strong almost otherworldly sensation that I can remember well all these decades later, so I have no doubt that Philippa was aware.

So, to return to Archbishop Stratford. His interviews with the king and queen, had to have taken place before the letter was written to the Pope, and so he may or may not have known of the new pregnancy. Probably not. And where had he spoken so privately to Edward and Philippa? In Ghent? If they weren’t to return to England until the end of November and Edward wrote his drastic letter to the Pope on 18 November, then surely the interviews were before they returned to England? If indeed, if was Philippa’s fidelity that was in question at all.

To raise such a possibility was astonishing, because Edward and Philippa were known to have a very strong marriage. Edward never seemed willing to be parted from her for long if he could help it, and she accompanied him whenever possible. They were in love, there’s no doubt about that. Why would Stratford raise such a sensitive and important a matter? Did he believe whispers and truly believe she had taken a lover? We might never find out what he actually knew—if anything—but we do know that Stratford’s aim was the break-up the royal marriage, he didn’t succeed.

This is what Ian Mortimer has to say about Edward’s situation at this time: “….Taking a broader look at the situation in which Edward found himself in December 1340—narrowly escaping death by drowning, fleeing on horseback with a handful of knights and two clerks from the demagogue of Flanders, his marriage in jeopardy and, above all else, the frustration of being starved of money so that he had to give up the siege of Tournai when almost at the point of victory—one can understand his actions more easily….” In short, it had all become too much.

At the end of November and over Christmas 1340 (Warner 144) Edward and Philippa were in England, at Reading. She was now several months pregnant with Edmund of Langley. And it was now that Edward quarrelled mightily with Archbishop Stratford. Edward’s Plantagenet temper was bouncing around, and I don’t doubt that dealing with the Archbishop of Canterbury was high on his to-be-done list!

Anyway, on learning of Edward’s return, bringing with him the hot and vile Plantagenet temperament, the archbishop fled to Canterbury, from where he and the king exchanged angry letters. It all began to accumulate into an almighty row, with bitter accusations flying in all directions.

See Warner 143/4 for details of the quarrel, about which Warner concludes that Stratford accused Philippa of adultery but not of bearing another man’s child and passing it off as Edward’s. This can surely only mean the child in question was Edmund of Langley, because the John of Gaunt story has always been that her dead daughter was exchanged for a boy who wasn’t Philippa’s at all. Heaven forbid that Stratford was alluding to the eldest sons, Edward of Woodstock (the Black Prince) and Lionel of Clarence. Whatever, Edward didn’t confront her, as far as is known. Possibly he didn’t believe it. He certainly acknowledged all the children as his. But he was furious about all sorts of things at this point, so it was yet another blow for him.

Raging quarrel or not, in March 1341 (Perfect King 187) Edward’s need for money eventually forced him to summon a Parliament. Things now descended into farce. On 23 April 1341, St George’s Day (Perfect King 188) at the Painted Chamber in Westminster, Edward saw to it that Stratford was barred entry. And so it went on, with the archbishop returning and being barred again, and then forcing his way in, at which point Edward refused to attend, thus preventing the Parliament from proceeding. But eventually Parliament found the king to be in the wrong and Edward was forced to see his accusations refuted by just about everyone. He had to take Stratford back into favour, but the archbishop would never again enjoy his former influence. However, we still don’t know what it was that Stratford said to Edward and Philippa that so upset the king.

One thing is clear though, when he died Edward III was lain to rest beside Philippa in Westminster Abbey. In death they are still together. Archbishop Stratford certainly did not force them into eternity separately. And, one must believe, Edward considered all the children Philippa bore to be his, and only his.

Edmund of Langley (5 June 1341 – 1 August 1402)—from his parents’ tomb in Westminster Abbey

But, to follow the facts and be sure one must also look at what happened after Edmund’s birth on 5 June 1341. That’s 683 days ago from today! Almost exactly a month after the birth, on 7 July, Edward was present at Philippa’s churching at Langley. There followed the usual celebratory tournaments and other celebrations. The date of the churching was also the first date at which Edward could resume conjugal rights with his wife, and resume them he did, because she was soon pregnant again with a daughter, Blanche of the Tower. Mortimer and Warner differ slightly about Blanche’s birth date. Mortimer states March 1342 because of the churching date, but Warner believes the little girl’s birth to have been June 1342. Either could be correct. March would be the earliest, but June isn’t incorrect, it’s simply the result of a later conception.

So it would seem that Edward and Philippa were back on form! The only glitch? Well, it might not be a glitch at all, because it isn’t known if another story—of Edward III raping the Countess of Salisbury—has any basis in fact whatsoever. But it is supposed to have happened in mid-August 1342. If there was an incident of any kind, even just a kiss out of place, it might—only might—have been evidence of the hurt that Edward still felt about the whole Stratford business….and the suggestion that the queen had been unfaithful. Not that his private problems were the fault of the unfortunate lady of mid-August 1342, of course. So I am not excusing him if he did commit such violent crime, I’m simply second-guessing his frame of mind.

In my opinion supporters of the House of York can relax. There is no question of Edmund of Langley’s legitimacy. If Edward III had wanted to be with his wife from Tournai or Espléchin, he would. There has never been any doubt (at this stage in his career) about his virility, strength or ability to fix on any purpose. So he galloped to Philippa to spend time in her warm and loving bed! She did not have a lover, so maybe Stratford had heard the usual malicious whispers that circulate royal courts when couples are apart and gave them credence.

As for John of Gaunt….Well, supporters of the House of Lancaster may have to live with the tiresome persistence of the tale of his birth.