John of Gaunt was the third son of Edward III. Born in Flanders during war, he grew up to be an individual who divided opinion. On one hand he was a brilliant leader of troops, a forward-thinking patron of the arts and religion and a devoted family man. On the other he was derided as a rich and sinful man who supported his nephew unstintingly and paid a heavy price in terms of cost. What John did do is to found the Lancastrian line through the Wars of the Roses.
This is not an excessively long book, it is tightly written and very readable. The key things that come through are around John's loyalty to his family. He gave up the woman he loved as he felt that he was being sinful and he supported his nephew Richard over his own brother due to a deathbed promise to the boy's father. There have not been many biographies of John, even though he is a key figure in 15th century politics and this is excellent. ( )

This is a well-researched and well written biography of one of the most prominent of Medieval characters who did not actually become king. He was the third son of King Edward III, and grew up against the background of the early stages of the Anglo-French conflict known to later generations as the Hundred Years War, learning from the military exploits of his father and his elder brother Edward, the Black Prince. In many ways he was a conventional nobleman of his times, a military figure and a mainstay of the thrones of his father and later of his nephew King Richard II against the growing power of the nascent Parliament and of the common people, as shown in the so-called Peasants' Revolt. At the same time, he is possibly best known to many readers now for his famous love affair with Katherine Swynford, mother of his illegitimate children, who were later legitimised after they got married in the last decade of his life, after the death of his second wife Constance of Castile. This of course paved the way in the following century for the conflict known as the War of the Roses. At his death he was witnessing his Lancastrian inheritance from his first wife Blanche being severely challenged by the increasingly tyrannical King Richard II. This is a well rounded account of the subject's life, though of course much is unknown about his life especially in his earlier years, and a lot of this period is about the events of the time, and mentioning that John was or may have been involved. Definitely worth a read for anyone interested in Medieval history. ( )

This was one of my anticipated reads for 2021. I’ve been a fan of Helen Carr and her podcast Hidden Histories for quite some time now, so I was excited for her book. The Red Prince did not disappoint, which has made me so happy. Helen Carr does a fantastic job in detailing John’s life and ties in the socio-economic and political environment that he lived in. There were a few parts that I had to re-read, but it was mainly because I accidentally speed read through them. (Also, as an American, the British spellings sometimes confused me, but that wasn’t much of an issue in the end.) I read this in my Kindle app, and I do plan to buy a physical copy sometime soon. I highly recommend this as a read. ( )