Joan Beaufort was the youngest of the four legitimised children and only daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, by his mistress, later wife, Katherine de Roet. She married Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and in her widowhood became a powerful landowner in the north of England.
Margaret Holland was a medieval English noblewoman. She was a daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, who was the son of Joan "the Fair Maid of Kent". Margaret's mother was Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster.
Joan, Countess of Kent, known as the Fair Maid of Kent, was the mother of King Richard II of England, her son by her third husband, Edward the Black Prince, son and heir apparent of King Edward III. Although the French chronicler Jean Froissart called her "the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and the most loving", the appellation "Fair Maid of Kent" does not appear to be contemporary. Joan inherited the titles 4th Countess of Kent and 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell after the death of her brother John, 3rd Earl of Kent, in 1352. Joan was made a Lady of the Garter in 1378.
Elizabeth de Mowbray, Duchess of Norfolk was an English noblewoman and the wife of Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk.
John Northampton was a reformist Lord Mayor of London in 1381 and 1382, during dissension in favour of reform of its Common Council in the early years of Richard II's reign. When the oligarchic leaders of London were able to engineer the overthrow of his faction, even the book of records of reform legislation was burned, known as the Jubilee Book. The radical movements' mob politics heightened public reluctance to permit people's engagement in politics.
Margaret Beauchamp was the eldest daughter of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick and his first wife, Elizabeth de Berkeley. As the eldest child of a family without male issue, Margaret was expected to inherit from her father until her stepmother, Isabel le Despenser, gave him a son.
Philippa de Mohun was Duchess of York, as a result of her third marriage to Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York (c.1373–1415), Lord of the Isle of Wight, a grandson of King Edward III (1327–1377). She succeeded her third husband as Lady of the Isle of Wight (1415–1431).
Hengrave Hall is a Grade I listed Tudor manor house in Hengrave near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, England and was the seat of the Kitson and Gage families 1525–1887. Both families were Roman Catholic recusants.
Margaret of Prades was Queen of Aragon by marriage to King Martin of Aragon.
Lady Anne Butler, Countess of Ormond was the first wife of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond. She was the great-grandmother of Anne Boleyn.
Joan Vaux, Lady Guildford, also known as Mother Guildford, was an English courtier who was the Lady Governess to the Princesses Margaret Tudor and Mary Tudor. She accompanied Mary Tudor to France when she married King Louis XII in 1514.
Sir Gilbert Denys of Siston, Gloucestershire, was a soldier, and later an administrator. He was knighted by January 1385, and was twice knight of the shire for Gloucestershire constituency, in 1390 and 1395 and served as Sheriff of Gloucestershire 1393-4. He founded the family which provided more Sheriffs of Gloucestershire than any other.
Joan Leche, benefactress, was the wife successively of Thomas Bodley, and of Thomas Bradbury, Lord Mayor of London in 1509. She founded a chantry in London, and a grammar school in Saffron Walden, Essex. Her great-grandson, Sir John Leveson (1555–1615), was instrumental in putting down the Essex rebellion of 8 February 1601, and her great-grandson William Leveson acted as trustee for the original shareholders of the Globe Theatre.
John Hunt, le Hunt, Hunter or Hunter del Nash was an English-born judge who served briefly as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He was the ancestor of the prominent Longueville family of Wolverton.
Margaret Bourchier, Countess of Bath was an English Tudor noblewoman. She is notable for the three high-profile and advantageous marriages she secured during her lifetime, and for her success in arranging socially impressive marriages for many of her children. Through her descendants she is a common ancestor of many of the noble families of England.
Anne Denman was born in Olde Hall, Retford, Nottinghamshire. Through a second marriage with Thomas Aylesbury, she became the grandmother of Lady Anne Hyde, Duchess of York and great-grandmother of Queen Mary II and Queen Anne.
Adam Bamme was an English goldsmith and politician who served two non-consecutive terms as Lord Mayor of London in the 14th century.
Sir John Knyvet, of Southwick, Northamptonshire, Hamerton, Huntingdonshire and Mendlesham, Suffolk, was an English MP. In December 1421, he was a Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire.
Sir John Philipot was an English merchant and alderman of London. He was a member of the Grocers' Company, served as MP for London in 1371 and 1381, headed the opposition to John of Gaunt during the minority of Richard II, was appointed joint-treasurer for the war with France in 1377 at the request of the Commons, was Lord Mayor of London in 1378, and assisted Richard II during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Philpot Lane in London is named for him.
Joan Buckland was an English landowner and estate manager who held tenements in London, Northamptonshire and Essex, and who engaged in legal battles against royalty and aristocracy in order to collect money owed to her late husband. She is particularly known for her detailed will, which provides an insight into the contents of a fifteenth-century manor and into women’s book ownership.
