Book description
Katherine Swynford was first the mistress, and later the wife, of
John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster. Her charismatic lover was one of
the most powerful princes of the fourteenth century and Katherine was
renowned for her beauty and regarded as enigmatic, intriguing and even
dangerous by some of her contemporaries.
In her impressive new book, Alison Weir has triumphantly rescued
Katherine from the footnotes of history, highlighting her key dynastic
position within the English monarchy. She was the mother of the
Beaufort, then the ancestress of the Yorkist kings, the Tudors, the
Stuarts and every other sovereign since - a prodigious legacy that has
shaped the history of Britain.
Alison Weir was born in London and now resides in Surrey. Before
becoming a published author in 1989, she was a civil servant, then a
housewife and mother. From 1991 to 1997, whilst researching and writing
books, she ran a school for children with learning difficulties before
taking up writing full-time. Her fourteen history books include
The
Six Wives of Henry VIII
,
Lancaster and York, Children of England
,
Elizabeth the Queen,
Eleanor of Aquitaine
,
Mary, Queen of Scots
,
Henry VIII: King and Court, Isabella,
Katherine Swynford
and, most recently
Lady in the Tower
. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
