Editing Alice Perrers

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}

{{Short description|English royal mistress}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Alice de Salisbury
| image              = Alice Perrers and Edward III.jpg
| caption            = Painting by [[Ford Madox Brown]]
| other_names        = {{plainlist|
* Alice de Windsor
* Alice Perrers
}}
| birth_name         = Alice Salisbury  
| birth_date         = circa 1348
| birth_place        = [[Hertfordshire]], [[England]]
| death_date         = 1400/1401 
| death_place        = Gaynes Park, [[Upminster]], [[England]]
| resting_place      = [[Church of St Laurence, Upminster]], [[England]]
| known_for          = [[Mistress (lover)|Mistress]] of [[Edward III of England]]
| spouse             = Janyn Perrers (m. 1360; his death in 1364)<br>Sir [[William de Windsor]] (m. 1375; his death in 1389)
| partner            = [[King Edward III of England]]
| children           = 3<br />including Sir [[John de Southeray]]
}}

'''Alice de Salisbury''', also known as '''Alice de Windsor''' (circa 1348 &ndash;1400/1401) was a [[English and British royal mistress|mistress]] of King [[Edward III]] of England. As a result of his patronage, she became the wealthiest and most influential woman in the country. She was widely despised and accused of taking advantage of the king in his old age.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Alice Perrers |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alice-Perrers |access-date=18 May 2022 |website=britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite DNB |wstitle=Perrers, Alice |last=Kingsford |first=Charles Lethbridge |authorlink=Charles Lethbridge Kingsford |volume=45}}</ref>

== Life ==

=== Early life ===
Alice was born around 1348. No [[birth certificate|birth record]] remains, but it seems that Perrers was the [[surname]] of her first husband.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Ormrod |first=W. M. |date=2006 |title=Who Was Alice Perrers? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25094322 |journal=The Chaucer Review |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=219–229 |doi=10.1353/cr.2006.0005 |jstor=25094322 |issn=0009-2002|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Her ancestry has been the topic of much speculation, which is detailed below. Around 1360, at the age of 12, she married Janyn Perrers, a [[Bench jeweler|jeweler]] who died around 1364.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ormrod |first1=W. M. |date=2008 |title=The trials of Alice Perrers |journal=Speculum |volume=83 |issue=2 |page=369 |doi=10.1017/S0038713400013361 |jstor=20466215 |s2cid=154399794}}</ref><ref>Laura Tompkins, 'Alice Perrers and the Goldsmiths' Mistery: New Evidence Concerning the Identity of the Mistress of Edward III', ''The English Historical Review'', 130:547 (December 2015), pp. 1361-1391 {{doi|10.1093/ehr/cev319}}</ref>
[[File:Philippa of Hainault-mini.gif|left|thumb|Queen Philippa, employer of Alice Perrers at her coronation in 1330]]

=== Life at the royal court ===
Perrers became a part of the [[Royal household|household]] of [[Philippa of Hainault|Queen Philippa]] (1310/1315–1369) as a ''domicella'' ("damsel") before 1359.<ref name=":1" /> She became the [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]] of the king, [[Edward III of England|Edward III]] (1312–1377) around 1366, when she was around 18 years old and the King 55.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alice Perrers |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alice-Perrers |access-date=7 November 2018 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> During the Queen's life, they had three children together. Three years after their relationship started, the Queen died, which devastated the 
King, causing him to lean more on Perrers. This resulted in her receiving more, mostly negative, attention from the [[Royal court|court]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

Perriers exploited Edward's growing senility and convinced him to buy her the same jewels over and over again, which she would then turn in for more cash.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Herman |first=Eleanor |title=Sex With Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge. |date=2004 |publisher=HarperCollins |edition=1st |location=New York, NY |language=English}}</ref> She amassed a fortune of more than [[Pound sterling|£]]20,000, by doing so, which would be worth around £6,000,000 as of 2016.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}} 

[[File:Eduard3 novaStatuta.jpg|thumb|King [[Edward III]], Alice Perrers' lover and patron]]
Perrer's power further grew between 1370 and 1376. She reportedly provoked fear, and no one dared to sue her. She was seen as an ambitious, calculating, cold-hearted opportunist who manipulated the elderly King. Towards the end of Edward III's life, Perrers was even accused of making his life miserable, and it is reported that she even stole the rings off his fingers after the King died.<ref name="historytheinterestingbits.com">{{cite web |date=31 July 2015 |title=Alice Perrers, Mistress of the King |url=https://historytheinterestingbits.com/2015/07/31/alice-perrers-mistress-of-the-king/ |access-date=16 May 2018 |website=Historytheinterestingbits.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gambier-Parry |first1=T.R. |year=1932 |title=Alice Perrers and Her Husband's Relatives |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=47 |issue=182 |pages=272–276 |doi=10.1093/ehr/xlvii.clxxxvi.272}}</ref> 

As the King's health was ailing, Perrers contracted a secret marriage in November 1375, at the age of 27, with 53-year-old [[Sir]] [[William de Windsor]], [[Baron]] Windsor (circa 1325–1384) to ensure her safety and [[livelihood]] after Edward's death. He was the King's [[lieutenant]] in [[Ireland]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ormrod |first1=W. M. |date=2008 |title=The trials of Alice Perrers |journal=Speculum |volume=83 |issue=2 |page=372 |doi=10.1017/S0038713400013361 |jstor=20466215 |s2cid=154399794}}</ref> De Windsor spent long periods of time away from England, thus making it less probable that the King would discover the marriage. The couple remained together until the death of the husband on 15 September 1384, but had no children.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

=== Exile ===
In 1376, an ordinance aimed specifically at Perrers set penalties for women who practised "maintenance", interfering in the due process of the law.<ref name="The trials of Alice Perrers">{{cite journal |last1=Ormrod |first1=W.M. |date=2008 |title=The trials of Alice Perrers |journal=Speculum |volume=83 |issue=2 |page=370 |doi=10.1017/S0038713400013361 |jstor=20466215 |s2cid=154399794}}</ref> A contemporary description of the ordinance is as follows:

<blockquote>Because a complaint was made to the king that some women have pursued various business and disputes in the king's courts by way of maintenance, bribing and influencing the parties, which thing displeases the king; the king forbids any woman to do it, and especially Alice Perrers, on penalty of whatever the said Perrers can forfeit and of being banished from the realm.<ref name="The trials of Alice Perrers" /></blockquote>

Perrers was tried for [[corruption]] and subsequently [[exile]]d from England by the [[Good Parliament]], her lands [[Forfeiture (law)|forfeit]]. In May 1379, the [[Lord High Treasurer|royal treasurer]] [[Thomas de Brantingham|Thomas Brantingham]] delivered 21,868 pearls confiscated from Alice Perrers to the royal wardrobe.<ref>Laura Tompkins, 'Edward III's Gold-Digging Mistress', Cathleen Sarti, ''Women and Economic Power in Premodern Royal Courts'' (Leeds: ARC, 2020), pp. 61, 67.</ref> She was later able to return and regain some of her lands, but she would spend the rest of her life trying to get everything back.<ref name=":2" />
[[File:Upminster 021.jpg|thumb|Church of St Laurence in Upminster, where Alice Perrers was buried]]

=== Death ===
Perrers died during the winter of 1400/1401, aged around 52, and was buried in the [[Church of St Laurence, Upminster|Church of St Laurence]] in [[Upminster]].

== Lands ==
At the height of her power, Perrers possessed 56 [[Manor house|manors]], [[castle]]s and town houses in over 25 [[County|counties]] of [[England]], only 15 of which were gifts from the king. These properties included [[Playford Hall]] in Suffolk,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bothwell |first=James |year=1998 |title=The management of position; Alice Perrers, Edward III, and the creation of a landed estates, 1362–1377 |journal=Journal of Medieval History |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=31–51 |doi=10.1016/s0304-4181(97)00017-1}}</ref>  and the manor of Gaynes in [[Upminster]], [[Essex]]. When property disputes arose with the [[abbot]] of [[St Albans|St. Albans]] in 1374, Perrers, with the King's authority behind her, sat in the [[court]] to intimidate the [[judge]]s and ensured that the abbot abandoned his claim.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

==Influence on literature==
Perrers is thought to have served as the [[prototype]] for [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s [[Wife of Bath]] in ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Braddy |first=Haldeen |year=1946 |title=Chaucer and Dame Alice Perrers |journal=Speculum |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=222–228 |doi=10.2307/2851319 |jstor=2851319 |s2cid=161165433}}</ref> She was also a major [[Patronage|patron]] of Chaucer.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harley |first1=Marta Powell |date=1993 |title=Geoffrey Chaucer, Cecilia Chaumpaigne, and Alice Perrers: a closer look |journal=The Chaucer Review |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=78–82 |jstor=25095830}}</ref>{{clarify|reason=Bald statement needs expanding|date=January 2022}} Her influence on literature may also have extended to [[William Langland]]'s Lady Mede in ''[[Piers Plowman]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rogers |first=William Elford |title=Interpretation in Piers Plowman |publisher=The Catholic University of America Press |year=2002 |isbn=9780813210926 |location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> Langland describes Lady Meed wearing rings of purest "perreize", a word for precious stones possibly chosen to play on the surname Perrers.<ref>Laura Tompkins, 'Edward III's Gold-Digging Mistress', Cathleen Sarti, ''Women and Economic Power in Premodern Royal Courts'' (Leeds: ARC, 2020), p. 62.</ref>

== Ancestry ==
As no birth record of Alice Perrers remains, many unfounded theories have arisen about her parentage. The earliest tradition spoke of a lowly birth, either as a niece of [[William of Wykeham]] (1320/1324–1404), [[Bishop of Winchester]] and [[Lord Chancellor]], or as the daughter of a [[Weaving|weaver]] from [[Devon]]. According to contemporary [[chronicler]] [[Thomas Walsingham]], she was "from the town of Henny" and "of low birth" as the daughter of a [[Thatching|thatcher]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ormrod |first1=W.M. |date=2006 |title=Who was Alice Perrers? |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/article/194328 |journal=The Chaucer Review |volume=40 |issue=3 |page=219 |doi=10.1353/cr.2006.0005 |access-date=30 September 2018|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Walsingham's account is often questioned because of his open hostility against the [[royal court]] and especially Perrers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tompkins |first1=Laura |date=2015 |title=Alice Perrers and the goldsmith's mistery: New evidence concerning the identity of the mistress of Edward III |journal=English Historical Review |volume=130 |issue=547 |page=1362 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cev319 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Other evidence suggests that her [[Birth name|birth surname]] was Salisbury<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-08-18 |title=Alice Perrers: From royal mistress to one of England's wealthiest |url=https://royalcentral.co.uk/features/alice-perrers-from-royal-mistress-to-one-of-englands-wealthiest-164367/ |access-date=2022-05-18 |website=Royal Central |language=en-GB}}</ref> and that she had at least one brother, John.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tompkins |first1=Laura |date=2015 |title=Alice Perrers and the goldsmith's mistery: New evidence concerning the identity of the mistress of Edward III |journal=English Historical Review |volume=130 |issue=547 |pages=cev319 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cev319 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ormrod |first1=W. M. |date=2008 |title=Alice Perrers and John Salisbury |journal=English Historical Review |volume=123 |issue=501 |page=381 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cen011}}</ref>

Later traditions established a higher birth for her: it has been suggested that she was the daughter of John Perrers of [[Holt, Norfolk|Holt]] and wife of [[Sir]] Thomas of [[Narford]], or the [[Legitimacy (family law)|illegitimate daughter]] of an [[Earl of Surrey|Earl of Warenne]] (most likely [[Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl of Arundel|Richard Fitzalan]], 1346–1397) by a member of the Narford family. Haldeen Braddy has argued that she was the second wife of William Chaumpaigne of London and stepmother of Cecilia Chaumpaigne, the woman in whose [[Raptus|kidnapping or rape]] [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] might have played a role, but this has already been disproven by Martha Powell Harley.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Legal Documents – De raptu meo |url=https://chaumpaigne.org/the-legal-documents/ |access-date=2022-05-18 |language=en}}</ref> According to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]],'' she probably belonged to the [[Hertfordshire]] family of Perrers.<ref name=":0" />  This would likely make her the daughter of Sir Richard Perrers.<ref name=":1" />
{{Blockquote|text=At that same time there was a woman in England called Alice Perrers. She was a shameless, impudent [[harlot]], and of low birth, for she was the daughter of a [[thatchering|thatcher]] from the town of [[Great Henny|Henny]], elevated by fortune. She was not attractive or beautiful, but knew how to compensate for these defects with the seductiveness of her voice. Blind fortune elevated this woman to such heights and promoted her to a greater intimacy with [[Edward III of England|the king]] than was proper, since she had been the [[handmaiden|maidservant]] and [[mistress (lover)|mistress]] of a man of [[Lombardy]]. And while [[Philippa of Hainaut|the queen]] was still alive, the king loved this woman more than he loved the queen.|author=[[Thomas Walsingham]]|title=The St Albans Chronicle}}

== Issue ==
Perrers had three [[illegitimate children]] with King Edward III during the lifetime of Queen Philippa, thus between 1366 (when their relationship started) and 1369 (the queen's death):{{CN|date=June 2023}}

* Sir [[John de Southeray]] (circa 1364 – 1383), who married Maud Percy, daughter of [[Henry Percy, 3rd Baron Percy]] and had no issue;{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}
* Jane, (born circa 1365), who married Richard Northland;{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}
* Joan (circa 1366 – before January 1431),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://womenshistory.about.com/od/medbritishwomen/fl/Alice-Perrers.htm|title=Alice Perrers: Known as Edward III's Extravagent, Powerful Mistress|website=Womenshistory.about.com|access-date=16 May 2018|archive-date=1 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701015931/http://womenshistory.about.com/od/medbritishwomen/fl/Alice-Perrers.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> who married [[Robert Skerne]], a [[lawyer]] and [[member of parliament]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/skerne-robert-1437|work=History of Parliament|title=Robert Skerne|access-date=4 August 2018}}</ref>

From her marriage to William de Windsor, she had no children.<ref name="historytheinterestingbits.com" />

==In fiction==
[[Candace Robb]] features Alice Perrers in her Medieval Mysteries series and Perrers is the main protagonist in Robb's ''The King's Mistress'' written as [[Emma Campion]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/books-authors-campion/book-talk-candace-robb-finds-new-voice-as-emma-campion-idUSSGE65S0DY20100804|title = Book Talk: Candace Robb finds new voice as Emma Campion|newspaper = Reuters|date = 4 August 2010|last1 = Goldsmith|first1 = Belinda}}</ref> She appears in [[Anya Seton]]'s 1954 novel ''[[Katherine (Seton novel)|Katherine]]''. Alice Perrers is the main character in [[Vanora Bennett]]'s 2010 novel ''The People's Queen''. She is a character in [[Jean Plaidy]]'s ''Vow on the Heron''. She is portrayed in [[Rebecca Gablé]]'s ''Das Lächeln der Fortuna'', a historical novel in the German language about the time-period. She is the protagonist of the 2012 novel ''The King's Concubine'' by Anne O'Brien. She also appears in ''The Traitor's Noose'', the fourth novel in the ''Lions and Lilies'' series by Catherine A. Wilson and Catherine T. Wilson.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perrers, Alice}}
[[Category:1340s births]]
[[Category:1400 deaths]]
[[Category:Mistresses of English royalty]]
[[Category:English ladies-in-waiting]]
[[Category:14th-century English women]]
[[Category:14th-century English people]]
[[Category:Edward III of England]]