Thomas Chaucer

Thomas Chaucer (c. 136718 November 1434) was an English courtier and politician. The son of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer and his wife Philippa Roet, Thomas was linked socially and by family to senior members of the English nobility, though he was himself a commoner. Elected fifteen times to the Parliament of England, he was Speaker of the House of Commons for five parliaments in the early 15th century. Parental connections Thomas Chaucer was a relative by marriage of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, through his aunt Katherine Swynford. Katherine (born Roet) was the sister of his mother, Philippa Roet. Swynford was first Gaunt's mistress, and then his third wife. Their four children, John Beaufort, Henry Beaufort, Thomas Beaufort and Joan Beaufort, were first cousins to Thomas Chaucer, and all prospered: John's family became Earls and subsequently Dukes of Somerset, Henry a Cardinal, Thomas became Duke of Exeter, Joan became Countess of Westmorland and was grandmother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III. King Henry IV, the son of John of Gaunt by his first marriage to Blanche of Lancaster, was half-brother to Thomas Chaucer's Beaufort first cousins. Thomas was able to buy Donnington Castle in Berkshire for his only daughter Alice de la Pole. Marriage Early in life, Thomas Chaucer married Matilda (or Maud) Burghersh, second daughter and coheiress of Sir John Burghersh, nephew of Henry Burghersh (1292–1340), Bishop of Lincoln (1320–1340) and Lord Chancellor of England (1328–1330), younger son of Robert de Burghersh, 1st Baron Burghersh (died 1305), and a nephew of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere. The marriage brought him large estates, including the manor of Ewelme, Oxfordshire.