John of Gaunt John of Gaunt John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 13403 February 1399) was an English prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the third of the five sons of King Edward III of England who survived to adulthood. Due to his royal origin, advantageous marriages, and some generous land grants, Gaunt was one of the richest men of his era, and an influential figure during the reigns of both his father, Edward, and his nephew, Richard II. As Duke of Lancaster, he is the founder of the royal House of Lancaster, whose members would ascend to the throne
John of Gaunt at Richard's behest. It may be that he felt he had to maintain this posture of loyalty to protect his son Henry Bolingbroke (the future Henry IV), who had also been one of the Lords Appellant, from Richard's wrath; but in 1398 Richard had Bolingbroke exiled, and on John of Gaunt's death the next year he disinherited Bolingbroke completely, seizing John's vast estates for the Crown. John of Gaunt was a patron and close friend of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, most famously known for his work "The Canterbury Tales". Near the end of their lives, Lancaster and Chaucer became brothers-in-law.