Katherine Roet and Her Swynfords

Fifteen years after publishing my article on the Swynford family into which Katherine Roet married, I am distressed by those writers who continue in the same old treads of half-truths and suppositions, some of which are unfounded.

For starters, it is still claimed that it is claimed that Thomas and Hugh held the Lincolnshire manor of Coleby.  This is incorrect; they held a hy third ownership in 1345.  It likely wasn't prosperous even then inasmuch in 1361 the holding was described as barren or not very productive.  The property did have a windmill and dovecoat, both of which indicate some degree of wealth in the past but seemingly not during the period of Thomas and Hugh Swynford's 1/3 share of it.

It is also, strangely, continued to be claimed that Sir Thomas Swynford's wife was one Nichola Arderne, widow of Sir Ralph Bassett.  This is almost certainly not the case.  And it is important for dating the birth of Hugh Swynford, Thomas' son, who has been assumed to have been born ca. 1340.

Kettlethorp has  been historically assumed to be the place of the Swynford family going back many generations.  This is also not true.   The property changed hands in the period immediately preceding Sir Thomas' ownership of it and was even later than the acquisition of the 1/3 interest of Coleby, taking place in 1356; the prior owner was of the St. Croix family.  This means that Hugh, Katherine's husband who was born ca. 1340, was born and grew up someplace else.

By the time Hugh Swynford and Katherine Roet were married, her future was by no means certain.  Her husband, Hugh, was a knight of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and possibly of his brother before him, Edward, the 'Black Prince" of Wales.  But this meant little in the wages in addition to the meager rents due to him as 1/3 owner of Coleby and sole owner of Kettlethorpe.  The detail of their marriage is lost, even the date and location.  As for the location, it has been and still is popularly said to have taken place at St. Clement Danes of London, a medieval church that no longer exists.  But in 40 years of looking, I have never seen an attribution or source of any kind attesting to the place.

The year of the marriage is an entirely different matter.  One good method of backdating a marriage date is a known or testified date of an heir born of the marriage.  For many, many years it has been dated according to the testified birthdate of Hugh and Katherine's son, Thomas, likely named for his grandfather.