John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster |John of Gaunt|
|Father||Edward III of Windsor, King of England|
|Mother||Philippa of Hainault| 6 March 1340| Ghent, Flanders
(now in Belgium) |Died||3 February 1399 Leicester Castle,
Leicestershire |Burial||St Paul's Cathedral, City of London|
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (second creation), KG (6
March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was a member of the House of
Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of
England and Philippa of Hainault. He was called "John of Gaunt"
because he was born in Ghent, then rendered in English as Gaunt.
When he became unpopular later in life, scurrilous rumours and
lampoons circulated that he was actually the son of a Ghent
butcher, perhaps because Edward III was not present at the
birth. This story always drove him to fury. As a younger brother
of Edward, Prince of Wales (Edward, the Black Prince), John
exercised great influence over the English throne during the
minority of his nephew, Richard II, and during the ensuing
period