Humphrey of Lancaster, Duke of Gloucester

Humphrey was the fourth son of Heinrich Bolingbroke , later King of England, and Mary de Bohun. Thus, he was a brother to Henry the Fifth , John Bedford and other prominent figures and activists of that time. He received the name Humphrey in honor of his maternal grandfather.

Already in early youth, the youngest son of the king was awarded the Order of the Garter . In 1414 , Humphrey received the title of Duke of Gloucester , and a year later became the guardian lord of the Five Ports and an on-site judge (he was responsible for the affairs of the royal forest ). The duke participated in the Hundred Years War and was even injured in the Battle of Agincourt . In 1422 , he marries Jacob of Bavaria and, thus, joins in disputes about the title of Count of Holland . In 1425, the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, challenged Humphrey to a duel, but it did not take place. Within a few years, Humphrey and Jacob divorced. Meanwhile, Gloucester's crowned brother passed away and he became regent of England under Henry Six . After the death of the Duke of Bedford in 1435, he was also the heir to the throne until the end of his life. The period of the regency was uneasy, since the influential party of Cardinal Beaufort, later joined by Henry VI's wife Margarita of Anjou and her favorites, demanded a peace with France. In 1441, on suspicion of witchcraft, Eleanor Cobham , the duke's morganatic wife, was arrested, and six years later he himself was accused of treason, imprisoned, and died of a blow in Suffolk . According to rumors, Humphrey was poisoned.

The only daughter of the Duke and Eleanor, Antigonus , married Henry Gray , the second Earl of Tankerville. The great-grandson and namesake of the statesman was the famous robber Humphrey Kinaston.

It is known that Gloucester was a great philanthropist: he wrote books and teachers from Italy, patronized the poet John Lidgate and the historian John Capgrave . The Duke's Library is located in Oxford . In addition, he built a palace in Greenwich , where Elizabeth I was later born (destroyed during the civil war).

In the popular mind, Humphrey "Good" is an outstanding statesman and military figure, defender of England from the French adversaries and court intrigues. In this idealized form, he appears in Shakespeare in Henry VI.

The duke was buried in Hereford (the grave was restored in 2000 at the expense of the English freemasons). However, commoners who loved him believed that his remains rest under the slab of the old St. Paul (in reality, John Gaunt was buried there). In the time of Elizabeth I, beggar nobles who had nothing to eat walked around the grave at lunch time. Since then, the expression "to dine with Duke Humphrey" means "to remain without dinner."

• Harriss GL Humphrey, duke of Gloucester (1390-1447) // Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. - Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004-2014.
• Tout TF Humphrey (1391-1447) // Dictionary of National Biography / Edited by Sidney Lee. - London: Elder Smith & Co, 1891. - Vol. Xxviii. Howard - Inglethorpe. - P. 241-248.

• Britannic article
• * Humphrey Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester (neopr.) . thePeerage.com. Date of appeal October 21, 2018.