Alice Perrers Alice Perrers Alice Perrers (1348–1400) was a fourteenth-century English royal mistress whose lover and patron was King Edward III of England. She met him originally in her capacity as a lady-in-waiting to Edward's consort, Philippa of Hainault. She went on to become the wealthiest woman in the land. However, she was despised by many and was accused of taking advantage of the far older king with her youth, beauty, and opportunistic character. Perrers was born in 1348 (exact date unknown). While no direct evidence has been found to identify her parentage, new evidence suggests that she was the daughter of
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,