John of Gaunt This was the counterpart to his brother, the Black Prince's, "shield for peace" (on which the ostrich feathers were white), and may have been used in jousting. The ostrich feather arms appeared in stained glass above Gaunt's chantry chapel in St Paul's Cathedral. John of Gaunt is a character in William Shakespeare's play "Richard II". Shortly before he dies, he makes a speech that includes the lines "This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars ... This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England". He is also referred to by Falstaff
The Twelve of England sealed by the marriage of John I of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt) and before the death of John the Gaunt in 1399. Narrowing the window further, it was probably sometime after 1389, when John of Gaunt returned to England from his failed Iberian campaign, and before the death of John of Gaunt's wife, the Duchess of Lancaster, Constance of Castile in 1394. The common date frequently cited is 1390. The Duchess's Castilian nationality may lend credence to such an event, and her twelve ladies-in-waiting were also, likely, Castilian rather than English, which may explain