Line #47 Literature/Katherine


1	[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/33609.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:280:''Foi Vanquera.'']]
3
4	''Katherine'' is a work of HistoricalFiction by Anya Seton. It tells the story of major events in Fourteenth Century England from the perspective of Katherine de Roet, a yeoman's daughter, who becomes the mistress and eventual wife of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster.
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6	''Katherine'' was relatively well-researched and tries to be historically accurate wherever historical facts are attested. It is commonly found on lists of the best works of HistoricalFiction.
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8	----
9	!!This novel provides examples of the following:
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11	* AffectionateNickname:
12	** Geoffrey Chaucer calls his wife "Pica" (as does Queen Philippa) to save them confusion in a royal household filled with women named after the queen.
13	** John uses the French pronunciation of Katherine (Katrine) with Katherine as well as calling her "lovedy".
14	* AllPsychologyIsFreudian:
15	** John of Gaunt is first drawn to Katherine because she reminds of him of a beloved childhood nurse. He is also haunted by her son's (his childhood playmate) accusation that he is a foundling.
16	** Teenage Blanchette has a lot of FreudianExcuse that come to a head when an older boy she has a crush on clearly prefers Katherine... and then she overhears a friar accuse her mother of murdering her father. [[spoiler:Katherine and Duke John didn't know till that moment that Hugh, her husband, was murdered by a friend of the Duke's.]]
17	* ArrangedMarriage:
18	** Katherine and Hugh Swynford, ''de facto'' if not ''de jure''.
19	** Plenty of others (this is the European nobility after all) including some of Katherine and John's daughters
20	** [[spoiler: Blanchette]] avoided her unwanted arranged marriage by [[spoiler: catching scarlet fever]] and then [[spoiler: running away deliriously and joining a convent]].
21	** While both Pica and Chaucer willingly accepted their arranged match, their relationship was never better than tepid and they eventually settled into an amicable separation as each pursued his/her career in different royal retinues.
22	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Anya Seton tried to keep as close to the facts as she knew them, but new research has come out since that proves several aspects of the book wrong.
23	* AssholeVictim: Hugh Swynford's death sounds painful, but it's hard to mourn him.
24	* AwfulWeddedLife: The marriages of Edmund of Langley and Thomas of Woodstock to Isabel of Castile and Eleanor de Bohun are ''anything'' but happy.
25	** This eventually becomes the case for [[RoyalBrat Elizabeth of Lancaster]] and [[TheCasanova John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter]].
26	* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: [[spoiler: Nirac murders Hugh Swynford (who he always hated) when he learned that his patron, the Duke of Lancaster, was frustrated that Swynford wasn't dying of his war wounds.]]
27	* BastardBastard: The Beauforts' 'tainted' birth makes their future problematic despite their royal blood. John fixes everything by marrying their mother.
28	* BerserkButton: The rebels press John's when they publicly accuse him of being a changeling child. He goes on a RoaringRampageofRevenge until his sister-in-law summons [[MoralityPet Katherine]] to calm him down.
29	* BewareTheSillyOnes: [[spoiler: Nirac de Bayonne]]
30	* BigBrotherWorship: Edmund of Langley to his three older brothers.
31	* BigDamnHeroes: John prevents Hugh Swynford from molesting Katherine the first time they meet and has him punished accordingly, though Hugh still marries Katherine later.
32	** And again when the Duke shows up just in time when Katherine, abandoned by her servants, gives birth to Blanchette and a crazed Lady Nichola tries to run off with her, only for John to show up and stop her at just the right moment.
33	* BigFancyHouse: Subverted with Hugh Swynford's rundown estate, Kettlethorpe.
34	* TheBlackDeath: [[spoiler:It kills Isolda Neumann, Philippa and Katherine's grandparents, Blanche of Lancaster, and Anne of Bohemia.]]
35	* BloodSpatteredInnocents: [[spoiler:Blanchette ends up covered in Brother William's blood when he's murdered by Wat Tyler and his men.]]
36	* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: John and Katherine.
37	** Ditto for Edward the Black Prince and Joan of Kent. Joan is savvy to this trope and convinces Katherine to go and comfort John when he's threatening to execute Pieter Neumann.
38	* ByronicHero: John of Gaunt. He's sensitive , moody, arrogant, and hungry for glory and adoration.
39	* CallingTheOldManOut: Michael de la Pole calls John out on his apathy about Constanza and Catalina after the Peasants' Rebellion.
40	* CharacterWitness: Katherine saves a serf, Cob, from the stockades when she returns to Hugh's manor. When the Savoy Palace is set on fire by rebels, Cob rescues a near-unconscious Katherine from the building and takes her to the nearby village. Katherine later returns the favor by saving Cob from being [[CruelAndUnusualDeath Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered]] by Richard II and Thomas of Woodstock after the rebellion is suppressed and frees him from serfdom.
41	* CluelessChickMagnet: Katherine has a lot of men enchanted by her beauty, but she only has eyes for the Duke.
42	* CoolBigSis: Duchess Blanche behaves like one towards Katherine, inspiring the girl's devotion to her.
43	* CorruptChurch: Most of the higher-ranking clergy are greedy and self-serving. Special mention goes to William of Wykeham and William Courtenay.
44	* CrazyCatLady: The mentally fragile Lady Nichola lives in isolation at Kettlethorpe with only a kitten for company.
45	* ControlFreak: Katherine's sister, Phillipa.
46	* DaddysGirl: Constanza is one in a decidedly creepy way, literally worshiping the memory of her father, the aptly nicknamed Pedro the Cruel. John is understandably squicked.
47	** Elizabeth is one as well, and John is noted to be fonder of her than he is of Philippa, his oldest.
48	** Blanchette has fond memories of her father Hugh, unlike her mother.
49	* DecadentCourt: The English royal court. It only gets more deadly and decadent after Richard II comes of age.
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51	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Plenty of this since the novel is set in the 14th century.
52	** Most of the characters are of the opinion that marriage is about securing alliances and producing heirs, not love.
53	** Nearly everyone thinks that Katherine is an UngratefulBastard for not jumping at the chance to marry a landed knight like Hugh Swynford.
54	** The example most likely to bother modern readers is Katherine's willingness to force her shy 14-year-old daughter to marry a much older man she can't stand, even though Katherine herself was coerced into an arranged marriage at age 16. (She does of course call off the betrothal once Blanchette [[spoiler:contracts scarlet fever]].)
55	** John openly expresses the opinion that it doesn't matter whether Pedro the Cruel was a tyrant or not because he was still an anointed king.
56	** No one has a good word to say about the Basques or the French, and opinions of the Flemish decline after Queen Philippa's death (she was a Hainaulter and universally beloved) as the economy dives and the English begin to blame Flemish immigrants for their poverty, resulting in the murder of several Flemings during the 1381 Peasants' Revolt.
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58	* DeathByChildbirth: [[spoiler:Mary de Bohun, Henry Bolingbroke's first wife, dies this way.]]
59	* DeathOfTheHypotenuse:
60	** [[spoiler:Hugh Swynford]]
61	** [[spoiler:The Infanta Constanza, John of Gaunt's second wife, daughter of the deposed King of Castile, but not until after John has spent nearly twenty years 'making her as happy as it was her nature to be'.]]
62	* TheDitz: Edmund of Langley and his first wife, Isabel of Castile.
63	* DomesticAbuse: Hugh Swynford's late father physically abused his second wife, Nichola.
64	* DrivenToSuicide:
65	** [[spoiler:Lady Nichola eventually drowns herself during a storm.]]
66	** [[spoiler:Katherine tries to kill herself after believing that Blanchette died and hearing that John denounced her as a WickedWitch he no longer loved. However, she's stopped by the kindly GoodShepherd, Father Clement.]]
67	* DoubleInLawMarriage: The brothers John of Gaunt and Edmund of Langley marry the sisters Constanza and Isabel of Castile.
68	* EmoTeen: Blanchette, though she has good reason. Constanza of Castile is older than a teenager but still ''very'' emo.
69	* EvilUncle: Most of England thinks that John of Gaunt is one to Richard. They're wrong.
70	** Thomas of Woodstock, however, is a straight example.
71	* TheFairFolk: Lady Nichola claims that they talk to her and tell her of the future. Most of the other characters write her off as a TalkativeLoon, though.
72	* GemEncrusted: Several items throughout the novel. Most especially:
73	** Some of the holy relics in Waltham Abbey.
74	** Anything worn by UsefulNotes/RichardTheSecond.
75	* GoldDigger: Alice Perrers, who actually steals rings off the King's fingers just after he dies.
76	* GoodShepherd:
77	** Brother William, a friar who genuinely cares about the poor and suffering and the souls of those under his care. [[spoiler:He evens performs a HeroicSacrifice to save Katherine and Blanchette from Wat Tyler's army.]]
78	** Father Clement, a hunchbacked priest who [[spoiler:stops Katherine from committing suicide.]]
79	* GoodStepmother: Philippa, Elizabeth, and Henry of Lancaster regard Katherine as one.
80	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Blanche of Lancaster is a blonde and a generous, kind person.
81	* HairTriggerTemper: There are multiple mentions of the infamous Plantagenet temper, particularly John's.
82	* HaveAGayOldTime: Subverted. Describing Nirac, Seton writes: "He was gay." She meant he had a playful demeanor, of course. But Nirac probably was a homosexual.
83	* HeelRealization: Face to face with his tearful young wife after the horrors of the Peasants' Rebellion John of Gaunt abruptly realizes what a total heel he's been towards her, and worse to their child. He gets better.
84	* HellHound: The pooka of Kettlethorpe is often referred to, but never actually appears.
85	* TheHighQueen: Although old and dying of edema, Philippa of Hainault is still a kind and generous person who is much beloved.
86	* HotBlooded: Hotspur. He insists on challenging the much-older John of Gaunt to a duel.
87	* IdenticalGrandson:
88	** Henry of Lancaster is said to greatly resemble his maternal grandfather, Henry de Grosmont.
89	** Joan Beaufort greatly resembles her dark-haired grandmother, Philippa of Hainault.
90	* IAmNotPretty: Early on in the novel, Katherine bemoans her reddish-blonde hair and small breasts. The men she meets don't seem to share the same view.
91	* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Blanche, the Duchess of Lancaster, John of Gaunt's first wife.
92	* TheIngenue: Katherine, at first, as she grew up in a Coventry and knew nothing of the court.
93	* {{Jerkass}}: Hugh Swynford and Thomas of Woodstock.
94	** John of Gaunt behaves like a jerkass occasionally too, especially towards his unwanted second wife and their child. After Katherine gives him the brush off he recognizes what a cad he's been and spends the next twenty years making it up to them both.
95	** Philippa Chaucer's court-inspired pragmatism mixed with her sharp tongue can make her come off this way when her sister or her husband aren't behaving the way Philippa thinks they should.
96	* JerkassHasAPoint: When Katherine first arrives at the castle her sisters and the ladies-in-waiting see her as a mere country bumpkin. The much-hated Alice Perrers however points out that Katherine is gorgeous and the men will see this if they can't.
97	* LadyMacbeth: William Latimer's greedy and arrogant wife is a near-perfect examples.
98	* LaughingMad: [[spoiler:Katherine bursts into hysterical laughter at the sight of Brother William's gory death.]]
99	* LonelyDollGirl: Katherine's teenage daughter Blanchette who spends most of her time in her chamber playing with puppets.
100	* LovedINotHonorMore: Katherine's sleeping conscience comes roaring to life after she discovers her husband was murdered to clear the way for her and John. That and the loss of Blanchette leads to her decision to give up the relationship. John does not take it well.
101	* LoveTriangle: Katherine, John of Gaunt, and Hugh Swynford.
102	** And one with Geoffrey Chaucer, Philippa de Roet, and Duchess Blanche. Nothing ever comes of it, but it's clear Geoffrey isn't particularly in love with his wife.
103	* MiddleChildSyndrome: John of Gaunt has a bad case of it.
104	* TheMistress:
105	** Alice Perrers, to King Edward, and a shameless one at that.
106	** Katherine, to John of Gaunt, during his second marriage.
107	* MoralityPet:
108	** Blanchette to Hugh.
109	** Anne of Bohemia to UsefulNotes/RichardTheSecond. After her death from plague, he becomes much more paranoid and unstable.
110	* NeatFreak: Again, Katherine's sister, Phillipa de Roet.
111	* MadWomanInTheAttic: Lady Nichola Swynford, Hugh's abused and mentally unstable stepmother, who has lived in isolation at the rundown manor Kettlethorpe for years. Katherine fears that she will become like Lady Nichola herself if compelled to live alone at Kettlethorpe, and later has the same misgivings about her reclusive daughter Blanchette.
112	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Katherine, upon realising [[spoiler: how much she's neglected Blanchette after she collapses from scarlet fever.]]
113	* MyGreatestFailure: Katherine still searches for Blanchette years after she disappears. [[spoiler: Blanchette had been in Coventry all along and does return at the novel's end, after finally forgiving her mother, when she had previously blamed her for Hugh's death.]]
114	* OldRetainer: Gibbon, to the Swynfords.
115	* ParentalHypocrisy: Katherine is angry and embarrassed at Blanchette's resistance to her ArrangedMarriage, but much earlier in the novel she reacted similarly when courted by Hugh Swynford.
116	* PatronSaint: Katherine is shown praying and making vows to St. Katherine her name saint and patroness. Later John dedicates a chapel to the Saint in thanks for Katherine's survival.
117	* ThePhilosopher: Whenever Creator/GeoffreyChaucer meets someone, or encounters some new situation, he internally philosophizes--sometimes in [[Literature/TheCanterburyTales beautiful poetic verse]]--on that person's future and human life in general.
118	* ThePlague: Of course; this is 14th Century England. Specific cases:
119	** [[spoiler:Isolda Neumann, John of Gaunt's foster mother till age eight]], died during TheBlackDeath.
120	** [[spoiler:Blanche, the Duchess of Lancaster]]
121	** [[spoiler:Katherine]], but [[spoiler:she caught it as a child and survived]].
122	* PlainJane: Philippa of Lancaster and Anne of Bohemia are Type 2.
123	* PlanetOfSteves: Justified, for historical accuracy.
124	** Quite a few female characters are named Phillipa. (Evidently many people named their daughters after the Queen.) Creator/GeoffreyChaucer invoked the trope to explain why they instead call Katherine's sister Pica.
125	** Averted with Katherine's daughter Blanche, who is named for the Duchess of Lancaster. The younger Blanche is called Blanchette throughout.
126	** Katherine has two sons named Tom (one to Hugh, one to John of Gaunt), both born on the feast of St. Thomas. She calls the younger one Tamkin.
127	* PersonalHorror: John of Gaunt is mortified as a child when accused by Pieter Neumann of being a [[SwitchedAtBirth changeling]].
128	* PrettyBoy: Young Richard II. Scarcely an appearance by him goes by where his girlish prettiness is not remarked on.
129	* RedheadInGreen: Katherine frequently wears green gowns.
130	* RichBitch:
131	** Princess Isabella de Coucy is vain, spoiled, and condescending.
132	** Eleanor de Bohun, the wife of Thomas of Woodstock, is a wealthy heiress and as big of a {{Jerkass}} as her husband.
133	* RoyalBrat: UsefulNotes/RichardTheSecond, so very much. His aunt, Isabella, was one as well and never grew out of it.
134	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: John of Gaunt especially, as well as some of his brothers. King Edward was said to have been this in his younger days, before the story.
135	* SeekingSanctuary:
136	** Pieter Neumann sought refuge in a church after being discovered by John of Gaunt, thus saving his life, but not preventing him from being exiled.
137	** [[spoiler: Blanchette, after realizing Katherine's connection to her father Hugh Swynford's death.]]
138	* ShipperOnDeck: The captal de Buch, Hawise, and Joan of Kent ship John/Katherine.
139	* ShotgunWedding: Katherine's middle-class friend Hawise is only allowed to marry her boyfriend after she gets pregnant.
140	* SilkHidingSteel: Katherine grows into this, eventually.
141	* SmallNameBigEgo: Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, has a high opinion of his own importance because he is the husband of Edward III's granddaughter, Philippa, countess of Ulster. Much to his annoyance, however, everyone treats him like a BrattyHalfPint instead.
142	* StatuesqueStunner: Katherine is mentioned as being willowy and slender, though John is still OneHeadTaller.
143	* SuddenlySuitableSuitor: Joan Beaufort is in love with Ralph Neville but can't marry him because she's a bastard. That changes after her parents marry and she's legitimized by the Pope.
144	* TakingTheVeil: [[spoiler: Blanchette.]]
145	* TookALevelInJerkass: Jack Maudelyn, Hawise's husband, becomes an angry and violent man after going to war in France.
146	* TheUnfavourite:
147	** Catalina, John of Gaunt's daughter with his unloved second wife, Constanza. He is indifferent even when her life is endangered during the rebellion. But he winces when his tearful young wife mentions 'he often doesn't want to see Catalina' when they are reunited. He hadn't realized how obvious he was.
148	*** It's also noted John is often irritated by his oldest daughter, Philippa, but he dotes upon Elizabeth and his bastards.
149	** Thomas of Woodstock to Edward III.
150	* UnwantedSpouse: Poor Hugh Swynford, though he did try to rape Katherine when he first met her, so her disdain for him is understandable. And poor Constanza of Castile - though the latter at least gets a happy ending.
151	* WarriorPrince: John of Gaunt and his older brothers, Lionel and Edward.
152	%% * WhatBeautifulEyes: Katherine's grey eyes are often commented upon, and Blanchette is the only one of her children who inherits them.
153	* WhenSheSmiles: Katherine thought Blanche was plain-looking when she first saw her at a royal dinner, but when Blanche smiled, she thought Blanche was the most beautiful person she'd ever seen.

Context Literature / Katherine