- Alice Perrers
Alice Perrers (c. 1340 – 1400) is notorious as the mistress of King
Edward III of England . She served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Philippa. Her second husband was William of Windsor,Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . [T. R. Gambier-Parry, "Alice Perrers and Her Husband's Relatives," The English Historical Review, 47:186 (April, 1932), 272-276 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/553366] ]After Philippa's death, Alice's relationship with Edward became semi-official, although she had probably already had at least one child by him, a son named John. Edward lavished extravagant gifts on her, including Philippa's jewelry and the estate of
Wendover ,Buckinghamshire . On one occasion the king had her paraded as the 'Lady of the Sun,' dressed in golden garments.At the so-called
Good Parliament of 1376, Alice was temporarily banished from court but the political winds changed and she was able to return. As Edward III reached the end of his life and retired to Sheen Lodge, Alice advised him to take in tournaments as a form of recuperation. Achronicle r reported that Alice, alone with the king at his death, stripped the rings from Edward's fingers, but this was almost certainly an attempt to discredit Edward's court – and Alice – rather than an accurate portrayal of the facts.There has been scholarly speculation that Alice was the model for the Lady Mede character in
William Langland 'sPiers Plowman .Although multiple sources agree that John was a son of Edward, Alice and the king may have produced as many as four children together. Possible offspring are:
*Sir John de Southeray (c. 1364 – 1383) [Margaret Galway, "Alice Perrers's Son John" The English Historical Review, 66:259 (April 1951), 242-246 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/556687] ]
**Married Matilda Percy, daughter ofHenry Percy .
*Jane Plantagenet
**Married Richard Northland.
*Joan Plantagenet
**Married Robert Skerne.References
ee also
*
List of English royal mistresses
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