The Death of Margaret II of Hainaut and William V’s Consolidation of Power (1356)

In July 1356, Margaret II of Hainaut died, leaving her son, William V, Count of Holland and Hainaut, in possession of the entire Holland-Hainaut inheritance. With her passing, the long-running Hook and Cod Warsbetween Margaret and William officially came to an end, as William was now undisputed ruler of these territories.

William V’s Rule Over Holland and Hainaut

• After years of civil conflict, William now controlled Holland, Zeeland, and Hainaut, unifying the strategic lands of the Low Countries.
• His reign continued to be shaped by internal power struggles between the urban elite (Cods) and the noble factions (Hooks), though he emerged as a strong ruler.

Marriage to Maud of Lancaster

• William V was married to Maud of Lancaster, a sister of Blanche of Lancaster.
• This marriage strengthened his ties to the English royal family, as Blanche was married to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, a key figure in English politics and the Hundred Years' War.
• These connections aligned William with English interests, further embedding Holland and Hainaut into the broader Anglo-French conflicts.

Legacy and Impact

• With Margaret’s death in 1356, William became the undisputed ruler of his domains, marking the end of the direct conflict between mother and son.
• His marriage to Maud of Lancaster cemented ties with England, potentially influencing future Dutch-English relations.
• However, William’s rule would later be overshadowed by his mental illness, leading to internal instability in Holland and Hainaut.

The death of Margaret II in 1356 marked the final resolution of the Hook and Cod Wars, allowing William V to rule a united Holland and Hainaut, though his reign would face future challenges.

The fourth son of Edward III of England, John of Gaunt (born across the English Channel in Ghent, whence his name, anglicized to Gaunt, derives), in 1359 marries Blanche, heiress of Lancaster.

Having thus secured her large holdings, he becomes duke of Lancaster.

Geoffrey Chaucer, whose father, John Chaucer, a prosperous London wine merchant with some influence in the court of Edward III, had by 1357 been placed as a seventeen-year-old page in the household of Elizabeth de Burgh, countess of Ulster and wife of the king’s third son, Lionel.

During military service in France in 1359, Chaucer had been captured near Reims but had been ransomed by the Crown.

Chaucer is believed to have studied, in the early 1360s, at the Inns of Chancery and the Inns of Court, and possibly at Oxford, as further preparation for an administrative career at court.

He marries Philippa de Roet, an aristocratic lady, in 1366.

Chaucer by 1367 becomes a yeoman, or valet (vallectus), in the household of King Edward; in 1368, he is mentioned as the king's armiger (esquire).

Blanche, duchess of Lancaster and wife of John of Gaunt, Edward’s fourth son, dies in 1368.

Chaucer in late 1369 or early 1370 writes “The Book of the Duchess,” an elegy for Blanche cast as a traditional French dream-vision and written in eight-syllable lines rhymed in couplets, a form characteristic of French poetry.

John of Gaunt, English king Edward III’s fourth son, secures the large holdings of his wife, Blanche, heiress of Lancaster, at her death in 1368 and becomes duke of Lancaster.