A Queen’s Education and Upbringing: Catherine of Lancaster’s Life as a Lancastrian Princess

Catherine of Lancaster’s betrothal to the ten-year-old heir to the throne of Castile, the future Enrique III, was negotiated between Juan I, king of Castile, and Catherine’s parents, Constanza de Castilla and Gaunt, in 1388. By the time the marriage took place in 1393, Catherine was twenty years old. Catherine of Lancaster was educated in England. Several Mirrors of Princes and conduct books were available to her parents, including Walter of Milemete’s to guide how they prepared her from infancy to be queen of Castile. As reading matter, books like the legends of saints were owned by her guardian, Joan Burghersh, Lady de Mohun. Court games, like chess, were no doubt played and there is evidence for hunting among the female members of the Lancaster household. Devotion to the Virgin, including pilgrimage, could have been learned both from John of Gaunt and Joan Burghersh.