John de Southeray John de Southeray John de Southeray (1364 - 1383) was an illegitimate son of King Edward III of England by his mistress Alice Perrers. He was the oldest of Perrers' three acknowledged illegitimate children by her royal lover. He was knighted in April 1377, alongside the future King Richard II. That same year, he was married to a daughter of Henry de Percy, 3rd Baron Percy; she divorced him in 1380, claiming she had not consented to the marriage. During the abortive Castilian campaign led by his half-brother the Earl of Cambridge in 1381, John led a contingent of English
Mistress (lover) pregnancy. It is noteworthy that the ballad-maker assigned this role to the knight's mistress ("leman" was the term common at the time) rather than to his wife. In the courts of Europe, particularly Versailles and Whitehall in the 17th and 18th centuries, a mistress often wielded great power and influence. A king might have numerous mistresses, but have a single "favourite mistress" or "official mistress" (in French, "maîtresse en titre"), as with Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. The mistresses of both Louis XV (especially Madame de Pompadour) and Charles II were often considered to exert great influence over their