Blanche of Lancaster

Blanche of Lancaster (25 March 1342 – 12 September 1368) was a member of the English royal House of Plantagenet and the daughter of the kingdom's wealthiest and most powerful peer, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster. She was the first wife of John of Gaunt, the mother of King Henry IV, and the grandmother of King Henry V of England. Lineage Blanche was born on 25 March 1342, according to her father's inquisitions post mortem. She is also said to have been born as late as 1347, but this has been called into question as that would mean she had her first child at only about age 13. She was the younger daughter of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his wife Isabel de Beaumont. She and her elder sister Maud, Countess of Leicester, were born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lindsey. Maud married Ralph de Stafford and then William I, Duke of Bavaria. Since Maud left no surviving children upon her death, her younger sister inherited the entirety of her father's titles and very considerable estates. Marriage