of Grosmont, Henry (b. ABT 1300, d. 24 MAR 1361)

Note: Henry, 1st Duke of Lancaster, was the greatest nobleman of his day and one of Edward III's most trusted lieutenants. He inherited from his father four earldoms and lands in twenty-six counties that yielded an income of 8,380 pounds a year.

Lancaster served his king as soldier, diplomat, and administrator. He served in fifteen expeditions to Scotland, Flanders, Brittany, and Aquitaine between 1333 and 1360. He was in command on six of these expeditions, and the King's lieutenant on another seven. He also served on six diplomatic missions and participated in twelve truce conferences. Further, he took part in two crusades, one against the Moors in Algeciras, and another with the Teutonic Knights against the Slavs in Prussia.

So highly did the King value him that in 1337 he created him Earl of Derby and in 1351 Duke of Lancaster, the first English Dukedom to be created, excepting only the Duchy of Cornwall, created for the King's heir, Edward, the Black Prince. Further, Lancaster was a founder Kinght of the Garter.

His life is known in unusual detail for the period, because Lancaster was the author of The Book of the Holy Doctors, a sort of autobiography apparently written as a form of pennance. From its pages he emerges as a complex but likeable man.

Lancaster and his duchess had no sons and he expected his inheritance to be divided between his daughters. But only Blanche survived, carrying her father's lands and titles to her husband, John of Gaunt, whose son Henry IV founded the royal house of Lancaster. The great Lancastrian inheritance remains to this day a separately administered part of the crown lands and the title Duke of Lancaster is the only title, other than Duke of Cornwall, that does not merge with the Crown, and the Queen is Duke (not Duchess) of Lancaster.

The best modern biography of him is by K. Fowler, The King's Lieutenant: Henry of Grosmont, First Duke of Lancaster 1310-1361 (1969).

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Hicks
Title: Michael Hicks, Who's Who in Late medieval England (London: Shepheard-Wa
lwyn, 1991)
lwyn, 1991.

Page: pp. 108-110

Given Name: Henry

Death: 24 MAR 1361 Leicestershire

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: ED Mann

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: CP
Title: Complete Peerage

Given Name: Edmund

Death: 5 JUN 1296 Bayonne, France

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: ED Mann

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: CP
Title: Complete Peerage

Given Name: Blanche

Death: 2 MAY 1302 Paris, France

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Henry III

Death: 16 NOV 1272

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Eleanor

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: John

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Maud

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: John

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Isabel

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Given Name: Fulk

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Eleanor

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Henry

Death: 1314

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Given Name: Eleanor

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Given Name: Ranulph

Death: AFT 18 APR 1331

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Given Name: Euphemia

Death: 1329 Warkworth, Northumberland

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Given Name: Hugh

Death: 1325

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Given Name: Edmund

Death: 1331

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Given Name: Henry

Death: 27 FEB 1352

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Given Name: Idoine

Death: 24 AUG 1365

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: ED Mann

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: CP
Title: Complete Peerage

Given Name: Henry

Death: 22 SEP 1345 Leicester, Leicestershire

Change: Date: 9 Feb 2003