Il labirinto

Katherine De Roet

Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster (also spelled Synford), née (de) Roet (also spelled (de) Rouet, (de) Roët, or (de) Roelt) (probably 25 November 1350 – 10 May 1403), was the daughter of Sir Payne (or Paen/Pain/Paon) (de) Roet (also spelled (de) Rouet, (de) Roët or (de) Roelt), originally a Flemish herald from County of Hainaut, later knighted.

Katherine became the third wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and their descendants were the Beaufort family, which played a major role in the Wars of the Roses. Henry VII, who became King of England in 1485, derived his claim to the throne from his mother Lady Margaret Beaufort, who was a great-granddaughter of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford.

The children of Paganus Ruet (argued by modern-day genealogist Lindsay Brook and followed by author Weir^[2] as "probably christened as Gilles") included Katherine, her sister Philippa, a son, Walter, and the eldest sister, Isabel (also called Elizabeth) de Roet (Canoness of the convent of St. Waudru's, Mons, c. 1366). Katherine is generally held to have been his youngest child. Weir^[2] argues, based upon her review of limited fragmentary evidence, that Philippa was the junior and that both were children of a second marriage.

Paon de Ruet is found early, in a legal document, in the form Paganus de Rodio — referring to Rodium, the mediaeval Latin form corresponding to the Roeulx, or Le Rœulx, the name of a town of 3000 inhabitants, 8 miles north-east of Mons, on the highway leading from Mons to Nivelle. Paon de Ruet may have been impelled to seek his fortune in England by the recital of the exploits of Fastre de Ruet, who accompanied John of Beaumont in 1326, when, with three hundred followers, he went to assist the English against the Scots. Fastre was the younger brother of the last lord of Roeulx descended from the Counts of Hainault. He and his brother Eustace fell into pecuniary straits, and were obliged to alienate their landed possessions. Fastre died in 1331, and was buried in the abbey church of Roeulx, while his brother Eustace survived till 1336. Paon was, like Fastre, a younger brother — possibly of a collateral line.

As the king was in the North, a number of the Flemings returned home without proceeding further than London, but Paon de Ruet was one of those who remained in England in the retinue of Philippa of Hainaut, accompanying the young queen in her departure from Valenciennes to join her youthful husband Edward III in England at the close of 1327. His name does not appear in the list of knights who accompanied the queen from Hainault, however, described by Froissart to be among additional knights referred to as 'pluissier jone esquier'. Speght (1598)^[3] prefixed to his history a genealogical tree which began: 'Paganus de Rouet Hannoniensis, aliter dictus Guien Rex Armorum' describing de Ruet as Guienne King of Arms. Upon the coronation of Henry the Fifth (1413), Sir William Bruges held the same title in the fifth year of the King's reign (Edmondson 1. 104) and the same monarch was accompanied to France before Agincourt by a herald bearing that name (Wylie, Reign of Henry the Fifth 1. 493).

In 1347, Ruet was sent to the siege of Calais, and was one of two knights deputed by Queen Philippa to conduct out of town the citizens whom she had saved.

[Froissart, 5.215 : "Et au matin elle fist donner a casqun sys nobles [say, $150], et Ies fist conduire hors de l'oost par messire Sanse d'Aubrecicourt et messire Paon de Ruet, si avent que il vorrent, et que il fu avis as deus chevaliers que il estoient hors dou peril, et au departir il les commanderent a Dieu, et retournerent li chevalier en l'oost."] He had returned to the lands of Hainault, probably by 1349, and Katherine was born the following year.

Katherine's birth date in 1350 is assumed to be 25 November, as that is the feast day of her patron, St. Catherine of Alexandria. The family returned to England in 1351, and it is likely that Katherine stayed there during her father's continued travels.

Katherine married in St Clement Danes Church, Strand, London in abt. 1366 to "Hugh" Ottes Swynford, a knight from the manor of Kettlethorpe in Lincolnshire, son of Thomas Swynford and Nicole Druel. Katherine was known to have borne the following children by him: Thomas (21 September 1368 – 1432), Blanche (born 1 May 1367), and possibly Margaret Swynford (born c. 1369), who was a nun nominated at the prestigious Barking Abbey by command of Richard II.

Katherine became attached to the household of John of Gaunt as governess to his daughters Philippa of Lancaster and Elizabeth of Lancaster. The ailing duchess Blanche had Katherine's daughter Blanche (her namesake) placed within her own daughters' chambers and afforded the same luxuries as her daughters; additionally, John of Gaunt stood as godfather to the child. Katherine's sister, Philippa, attached to Queen Philippa's household, married the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, whose poem The Book of the Duchess commemorated Blanche's death by plague in 1369. Speght (1598)^[3] said of Philippa's marriage: 'He [Chaucer] matched in marriage with a Knight's daughter of Henault, called Paon de Ruet, king of Armes, as by this draught appeareth, taken out of the office of the Heraldes.' M Speght's authority Stow (1592)^[4] recorded: 'He [Chaucer] had to wife the daughter of Paine Roete alias Gwine [ed. 1631, Guian] king at armes, by whom he had issue Tho. Chaucer.'

Sometime after Blanche's 1369 death, but before the Duke's second marriage, Katherine and John of Gaunt consummated a romantic affair which would entail four children being born out of wedlock to the couple, and would endure as a lifelong relationship. Two years after the death of the Duke's second wife, Infanta Constance of Castile, Katherine and John of Gaunt married on 13 January 1396 in Lincoln Cathedral. Records of their marriage kept in the Tower and elsewhere list: 'John of Ghaunt, Duke of Lancaster, married Katharine daughter of Guyon King of Armes in the time of K. Edward the 3, and Geffrey Chaucer her sister'. John and Katherine's four children had been given the surname "Beaufort" and were legitimized as adults by their parents' marriage with approval by King Richard and the Pope. Although legitimized, the Beauforts were barred from inheriting the throne by a clause in the legitimation act inserted by their half-brother, Henry IV, although modern scholarship has disputed the authority of a monarch to alter an existing parliamentary statute. This was later revoked by the monarch Edward VI, placing Katherine's descendants back within the legitimate line of inheritance; in fact, the Tudor dynasty, including Edward, were direct descendants of John and Katherine's eldest child, John Beaufort.

Katherine Swynford's tomb in 1809

After John of Gaunt's death, Katherine became dowager Duchess of Lancaster. She outlived him by four years, dying on 10 May 1403. Her tomb and that of her daughter, Joan Beaufort, are under a carved-stone canopy in the sanctuary of Lincoln Cathedral. Joan's is the smaller of the two tombs; both were decorated with brass plates — full-length representations of them on the tops, and small shields bearing coats of arms around the sides and on the top — but those were damaged or destroyed in 1644 during the English Civil War. A hurried drawing by Dugdale records their appearance.

Also defaced in 1644, and removed of any precious or semi-precious metals, was the tomb of her father Paon de Ruet / Roet in St. Paul's, near Sir John Beauchamp's tomb (commonly called Duke Humphrey's). It was recorded that "Once a fair marble stone inlaid all over with brass, nothing but the heads of a few brazen nails are at this day visible, previously engraven with the representation and coat of arms of the party defunct, thus much of a mangled funeral inscription was of late times perspicuous to be read". It, along with the tombs of many others, including John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster's, were completely destroyed in the Great Fire of London. The former inscription regarding Paganus Roet (styled as 'Guinne', 'Guyenne', or 'Gwinne' the king at arms or master of arms, often shortened simply to the frank reference to 'armes' as 'Guiles' or 'Giles') was as follows: " Hic Jacet Paganus Roet Miles Guyenne Rex Armorum Pater Catherine Ducisse Lancastrie." By 1658, viewed without its brass plaquard and effigies, it was described by Dugdale as: "In australi ala, navi Ecclesue opposita (prope tumulum D. Johannis de Bellocampo), sub lapide marmoreo, jacet Paganus Roet, Rex Armorum tempore Regis Edwardi tertii".

By Hugh Swynford:

• Margaret Swynford (born c. 1363), became a nun at the prestigious Barking Abbey in 1377 with help from her future stepfather John of Gaunt, where she lived the religious life with her cousin Elizabeth Chaucer, daughter of the famous Geoffrey Chaucer and Katherine's sister Philippa de Roet.^[2]
• ?Dorothy Swynford (born c. 1366). It was suggested in 1846 by Thomas Stapleton that there was a third daughter named Dorothy who married Thomas Thimelby of Poolham near Horncastle, Lincolnshire, who was Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1380 and died in 1390. There is no current evidence to support this claim.^[2]
• Sir Thomas Swynford (1367–1432), born in Lincoln while his father Sir Hugh Swynford was away on a campaign with John of Gaunt in Castile fighting for Peter of Castile.^[2]
• Blanche Swynford (after 1375), named for the Duchess of Lancaster, and also a godchild of John of Gaunt.^[2]

By John of Gaunt:

Coat of arms that Katherine Swynford adopted after her marriage to John of Gaunt as Duchess of Lancaster: three gold Catherine wheels ("roet" means "little wheel" in Old French) on a red background. The wheel emblem shows Katherine's devotion to her patron saint, Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel.^[2]

• John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (1373–1410)
• Henry Beaufort, Cardinal (1375–1447)
• Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter (1377–1426)
• Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland (1379–1440)

The descendants of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt are significant in British history. Their son, John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, was great-grandfather of Henry VII, who established the Tudor dynasty and based his claim to the throne on his mother's lineage to John of Gaunt's father, Edward III. John Beaufort also had a daughter named Joan Beaufort, who married King James I of Scotland and thus was an ancestress of the House of Stuart.^[5] John and Katherine's daughter, Joan Beaufort, was grandmother of the English kings Edward IV and Richard III, whom Henry VII defeated at the Battle of Bosworth; Henry's claim was strengthened by marrying Elizabeth of York, eldest daughter of Edward IV. It was also through Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmoreland that the sixth queen of Henry VIII, Catherine Parr, descended.^[6] John of Gaunt's son — Katherine's stepson — became Henry IV after deposing Richard II (who was imprisoned and died in Pontefract Castle, where Katherine's son, Thomas Swynford, was constable and is said to have starved Richard to death for his stepbrother). John of Gaunt's daughter by his first marriage to Blanche of Lancaster, Philippa of Lancaster, was great-great-grandmother to Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII and mother of Mary I of England. John of Gaunt's child by his second wife Constance, Catherine (or Catalina), was great-grandmother of Catherine of Aragon as well.

Attrazione fatale

Ricordate Rododendra Spiaccicù,lettori miei?
L'avevamo lasciata innamorata persa di Ireneo che l'aveva salvata da Maciste Trappoloni (vedi "Veglione di Carnevale").
Debbo dirvi che non solo non è rinsavita,ma ha fatto passare al nostro beneamato pretone una vera settimana di passione.
Ma andiamo con ordine.
Da tempo Ireneo è rimasto senza colf a causa del suo caratteraccio infame che nessuno sopporta e tempo fa ha deciso di trovarne un'altra,mettendo un annuncio economico sul "Corrierino del parroco campagnolo".
Siccome la fortuna è cieca ma la sfiga ci vede benissimo,chi ha letto detto annuncio se non la Rododendra,che ha colto la palla al balzo per stare accanto all'amato bene?
Inizialmente la Rododendra,ottima cuoca e casalinga superlativa, si è rivelata per il Cornacchioni un autentico dono di Dio,ma ben presto i nodi sono venuti al pettine in modo a dir poco catastrofico.
LUNEDI'- Da tempo Ireneo trovava bigliettini hard ovunque,dal confessionale al cassetto delle mutande.Vedendo che il fenomeno persisteva (in un giorno solo ha trovato ben 426 bigliettini uno più sconcio dell'altro,sparsi per ogni dove)si è rivolto al Cuccurullo,che in un battibaleno ha individuato la colpevole.
La Rododendra è ancora viva perchè al giorno d'oggi colf come lei scarseggiano
MARTEDI'- Ireneo è stato tutto il giorno a Firenze e,tornato a casa,ha deciso di farsi una doccia per lavar via la stanchezza.
La Rododendra,senza pensarci su più di tanto,è andata a far la doccia pure lei e,nuda bruca, gli ha dichiarato il suo amore.
Il pretone è schizzato via dalla doccia così com'era e in preda al panico è uscito di casa .
Non vi dico le omeriche risate dei paesani.
MERCOLEDI'- Ireneo è andato dall'Orapronobis.Raffreddato dopo l'episodio di ieri,ha starnutito ed ha tirato fuori il fazzoletto di tasca.
Insieme a quello sono venute fuori ben 50 foto nude della Rododendra in tutte le pose possibili e immaginabili.
La squilibrata aveva escogitato questo bel sistema perchè lui si ricordasse di lei!
L'Ildebrando gli ha fatto una tal lavata di capo da ridurlo in lacrime.
Tornato a casa,ireneo avrebbe voluto giustiziare la Spiaccicù,ma per l'appunto era il suo giorno di libertà e lui si è dovuto sfogare prendendo a capocciate il water.
GIOVEDI'- Beccata la Clementina a confessarsi,la Rododendra si è messa in testa di avere una rivale,ed ha quindi provveduto a sbarazzarsene mandandola in ospedale (60 giorni salvo complicazioni)
VENERDI'- La Spiaccicù oggi è andata dalla Marianna e le ha detto che attende un figlio da Ireneo.
La nostra sindachessa a furia di ridere si è fatta venire una colica.
SABATO- Ireneo,svegliatosi di soprassalto,si è ritrovato la Rododendra nuda nel letto,inondata di "Pisch du chat n5"
Per difendere il suo onore, ha dovuto tramortire la pazza a seggiolate.
DOMENICA-Tramortito il pretone a candelabrate,la Rododendra si è barricata con lui nel campanile e ha chiesto a Cuccurullo un elicottero per fuggire in Nepal con l'amato bene.
Per stanarla ci sono voluti i NOCS e 8 di loro sono finiti all'ospedale.
Sono passati dieci giorni.
Rododendra è stata rinchiusa nel manicomio criminale di Montelupo ed è guardata a vista per timore di evasione.
Ireneo adesso gira armato e ha messo il filo spinato elettrificato intorno alla canonica.Ne sa qualcosa il povero postino,che si è beccato una scossa da 220 volt che per poco non lo spediva al Creatore.
Stretta la foglia,larga la via,dite la vostra che ho detto la mia

Jean Jaures

Jean Auguste Marie Joseph Jaures (1859-1914) was, until the immediate pre-war years, a popular as well as charismatic leader of the French Socialist Party.

Jaures was born in Castres, France on 3 September 1859 and attended the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. After graduating Jaures was employed as a teacher at the lycee of Albi between 1881-83, and thereafter at the University of Toulouse from 1883-85.

In 1885 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies without representing any political party, although he suffered defeat four years later, in 1889. He then returned to university where in 1891 he presented for his doctorate.

A by-election in 1893 saw Jaures returned to the Chamber as an Independent Socialist. Once again, in 1898, he suffered defeat at the polls, although following his re-election in 1902 he remained in the Chamber until his assassination in 1914.

Involved in the Dreyfus affair in 1894 as a supporter of Dreyfus, Jaures argued that Alfred Dreyfus' treason conviction was based upon forged evidence. It has been suggested that it was Jaures' evidence in the Dreyfus trial that cost him his electoral seat in 1898.

A co-founder in 1904 of the socialist newspaper L'Humanite (along with Rene Viviani and Aristide Briand, both future French Prime Ministers), Jaures was a man of numerous talents. A prolific writer, he proved himself as capable at giving a speech as penning it.

With his political instincts inspired by the French Revolution, Jaures conventionally opposed imperialism in all its forms; yet in other aspects he was less orthodox in his socialism, in that he continued to believe in the rights of the individual over the state.

A firm advocate of the Second International socialist movement, he accepted their argument preventing its members from participating in so-called 'bourgeois' governments. As such he never accepted a position within the French cabinet; which meant, given his leadership of the party (since 1905), that the Socialist Party was also denied a role in government.

As the storm clouds of war approached, Jaures' popularity waned somewhat, as he continued to advocate closer relations with Germany. Indeed, at the height of the July Crisis of 1914 he travelled to Brussels to try to persuade German socialists to strike against potential war in Europe.

Shortly after his return from Brussels to Paris, on 31 July 1914, Jaures was murdered by a 29 year old nationalist fanatic, Raoul Villain; three days later Germany declared war with France.

Henriette Caillaux

Sposa senza amore per rispetto delle convenzioni sociali e per mantenere il suo status economico, visse per undici anni come madre e moglie esemplare, poi ci fu il colpo di fulmine per l'avvenente e maturo ministro degli finanze Chaillaux, che era un uomo sposato. Lei volle chiedere subito il divorzio, ma lui temeva per le sue rielezioni e prese tempo. La moglie di lui scoprì la tresca, chiese ed ottenne una piena confessione scritta del fragrante adulterio, da usare a suo tempo a proprio favore per il divorzio, che ottenne a condizioni vantaggiosissime dopo le elezioni. Una volta liberi entrambi si sposarono e tutto sembrava volgere al meglio quando Le Figarò iniziò una selvaggia campagna politica diffamatoria contro il ministro delle finanze che mise a dura prova l'equilibrio nervoso della donna, non poteva più uscire a testa alta per la strada poichè, l'integrità di suo marito veniva messa in discussione. Tutto peggiorò quando Le Figarò annunciò la pubblicazione dei telegrammi che incriminavano il ministro per scorrettezza politica,  assieme alle lettere conservate dalla ex moglie che provavano la fragranza dell'adulterio mentre ancora era sposato. Non si seppe mai quale delle due minacce indusse Henriette a recarsi armata alla redazione de Le Figarò e a freddare il direttore a colpi di arma da fuoco. Fu assolta grazie a una sapiente difesa e all'appoggio del marito che fu poi arrestato a sua volta proprio per la pubblicazione dei compromettenti telegrammi.

Pianto dei poeti (Merini)

Ruba a qualcuno la tua forsennata stanchezza
o gemma che trapassi il suono
col tuo respiro l'ombra che sta ferma
di fronte ad un porto di paura
quel trascendere il mito
come se fosse forzatamente azzurro
o chi senza abbandono
che non sanno che il pianto dei poeti
è solo canto.
Canto rubato al vecchio del portone
rubato al remo del rematore
alla ruota dell'ultimo carro
o pianto di ginestra
dove fioriva l'amatore immoto
dalle turbe angosciose di declino
io sono l'acqua che si genuflette
davanti alla montagna del tuo amore

Libri dimenticati:Alla Giamaica

Bellissimo romanzo di Daphne Du Maurier,da legere anche se non all'altezza di "Rebecca la prima moglie

Frase del giorno

Per voi sono ateo,per Dio sono una leale opposizione (Woody Allen)