Alice Perrers Philippa of Hainault, the respected and matronly queen of Edward III. Alice's beauty and charm caught the eye of King Edward III while at court. Shortly after, around 1366, when she was only 18 years of age (the king was 55), she became the mistress of Edward III. Only when Philippa died in 1369 of dropsy did Alice's affair with the king become more visible. Their affair aroused envy and hatred of Alice, as she was only 21 years old. Following the queen's death, a devastated Edward leaned heavily on her considerable abilities; her courtly dominance accelerated by his loss.
Alice Perrers her lands forfeit. She was later able to return to England and work to regain some of her lands. Alice Perrers died in the winter of 1400/1401 at 52 years old and was buried in the church of St Laurence, Upminster. Perrers is thought to have served as the living prototype of Geoffrey Chaucer's oft-married Wife of Bath in the Canterbury Tales. Her influence on literature may also have extended to William Langland's Lady Mede in Piers Plowman. In that work, the Lady represents, to the dreaming narrator, a woman of high status, one adorned with jewels and fine robes,