[Sidenote: Speight knoweth not the name of Chaucer’s wife, nor
doth Thynne.] IN THE TITLE OF Chawcer’s mariage yo{u} saye,
yo{u} cannotte fynde the name of the Gentlewomanne whome he
maryed. Trulye, yf I did followe the conceyte of others,
I sholde suppose her name was Elizabethe, a waytinge womanne of
Quene philippe, wyfe to Edwarde the thirde & daughter to
Willi{a}m erle of Henalte. but I favor not their oppynyone, for,
althoughe I fynde a recorde of the pellis exitus, in the tyme of
Edwarde the thirde, of a yerely stypende to Elizabethe Chawcer,
domicellæ reginæ Philippæ, wh{ic}he domicella dothe signyfye one
of her waytinge gentlewomen: yet I cannott for this tyme thinke
this was his wyfe, but rather his sister or kinswomanne, who
after the deathe of her mystresse Quene philippe did forsake the
worlde, and became a nonne at Seinte Heleins in london,
accordinge as yo{u} haue touched one of that profess{i}one in
primo of kinge Richarde the seconde.
[Sidenote: The children of John of Gaunt born pre-nupt, and
legytymated by the Pope and the Parliament.] In the Latyne
stemme of Chawcer you saye, speakinge of Katherine Swyneforde,
Que postea nupta Johanni Gandauensi tertij Edwardi Regis filio,
Lancastriæ duci, illi procreavit filios tres et vnica{m}
filia{m}. Wherbye we may inferre that Johne of Gaunte had these
childrene by her after the mariage. Whiche is not soo for he had
all his children by her longe before that mariage, so that they
beinge all illegitimate were enforced afterwarde vppon that
maryage to be legytymated by the poope; & also by acte of
Parliamente, aboute the two & twentythe of kinge Richarde the
seconde; so that yo{u} cannott saye, que postea nupta procreavit
Lancastriæ duci tres filios, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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