On 22-Nov-21 8:20 AM, Peter Stewart wrote:
On 21-Nov-21 11:49 PM, Enno Borgsteede wrote:
On the English Wikipedia page for John of Gaunt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Gaunt
it is suggested that he was born 6 March 1340 in Ghent, without
further qualification of the exact location. On the Dutch page however,
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_van_Gent
there is a specific location, Saint Bavo's Abbey, and a later date: 24
June 1340.
Can anyone enlighten me on the option that both dates may be true,
meaning that the first is of his birth, and the second of his baptism,
3 months later, for which an abbey seems like a proper location.
Or was he born in the abbey, and should I either select one of these
dates, or take both with a grain of salt?
24 June 1340 is the date of the battle of Sluys, won by John's father. Afterwards Edward went back to Ghent, where he had spent the winter (he awarded himself the title 'king of France' there in January 1340). John
had been born in Ghent during the king's absence in March (Edward had
left for England in February).
The birth happened at the abbey of St Bavo because that is where the
pregnant queen lodged from her arrival. The precise date 6 March is not certain.
John's baptism presumably took place in Ghent shortly after the sea
battle on 24 June 1340 - Edward landed at Sluys and rode on to Ghent
after sending news of the victory to his allies including Jean III of
Brabant and supporters including Jacob van Artevelde at Thun-l'Évêque
near Cambrai. Jean of Brabant was the godfather after whom John of Gaunt
was named, and he held him at the font according to Froissart. An early-15th-century chronicle written at Saint-Denis claims that Jakob
van Artevelde was the boy's godfather and held him at the font, but it
is scarcely plausible that a burgess of Ghent was chosen as godfather to
an English prince, or that if this actually happened it would not have
been widely reported as a very extraordinary incident.
Peter Stewart
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