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Birth:          ABT 1310 Hainaut, Belgium
Death:          1380 Ghent

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paon_de_Roet
Sir Paon de Roet (c.1310-1380), also called Payne Roet and sometimes Gilles Roet, 
was a herald and knight from Hainaut who was involved in the early stages of the 
Hundred Years War. He became attached to the court of King Edward III of England 
through the king's marriage to Philippa of Hainaut.

He is most notable for the fact that he became the ancestor of the monarchs of 
England and of Scotland. The children of his daughter Katherine, mistress and later 
wife of the king's son John of Gaunt, were given the surname Beaufort and her great-
granddaughter Margaret Beaufort gave rise to the Tudor dynasty while her 
granddaughter Joan Beaufort married into the Stuart dynasty. Another of his 
daughters, Philippa, also made a notable marriage to the poet Geoffrey Chaucer.
Career[edit]

Early life[edit]

Born about 1310 in Hainaut, he was "probably christened as Gilles,"[1] in English 
'Giles' and in Latin 'Egidius', a name used in each generation of the knightly family 
who were feudal lords of the town of Le Roeulx.[2] However he became known as 
Paon or Payne, written in Latin as Paganus.

He may have been inspired to seek his fortune in England by the example of Fastre de 
Roet, who accompanied John of Beaumont in 1326, when, with three hundred 
followers, he went to fight for the English against the Scots. Fastre was a younger 
brother of Eustace VI, last lord of Le Roeulx and a descendant of 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 Le Roeulx, while his brother Eustace survived till 1336. Paon was, like 
Fastre, a younger brother, if not of Eustace VI then of a collateral line.[2]

In England[edit]

Paon de Roet may have come to England as part of 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 official list of knights who accompanied the queen from Hainaut. 
However, Froissart says he was one of a number of additional young knights and 
squires who added to the queen's retinue, referred to as 'pluissier jone esquier', i.e. 
"plusiers jeunes escuyers" ('other young squires'); Speght (1598)[3]

Froissart's account of the history of English monarchs includes a genealogical tree, 
the relevant part of which begins with Paon's name. He is described as "Paganus de 
Rouet Hannoniensis, aliter dictus Guien Rex Armorum" ("Paon de Rouet of Hainaut, 
also called Guyenne King of Arms"). The latter part refers to the title of King of Arms 
granted by Edward III to Roet for the territory of Guyenne (Aquitaine) which was 
controlled by Edward.

France and Hainaut[edit]

In 1347, Roet 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 (the so-
called Burghers of Calais).[4]

He had returned to the lands of Hainaut, probably by 1349. He went to serve the 
queen’s sister, Marguerite, who was the empress of Germany, and his three younger 
children—Walter, Philippa and Katherine—were left in the care of Queen Philippa.[5] He 
died in Ghent in 1380.

Family[edit]

Paon had three daughters, Katherine, Philippa and Isabel (also called Elizabeth) de 
Roet, and a son, Walter. Isabel was to become Canoness of the convent of St. 
Waudru at Mons in Hainaut, c. 1366. Philippa married the poet Geoffrey Chaucer in 
1366. They met while still children when they were attached to the household of 
Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster.[6]

Katherine became governess to the daughters of John of Gaunt. After the death of 
John's wife Blanche in 1369, Katherine and John began a love affair which would 
bring forth four children born out of wedlock and would endure as a lifelong 
relationship. However, John made a dynastic marriage to Constance of Castille, a 
claimant to the throne of Castile, after which he called himself "King of Castille". 
When Constance died he married Katherine and legitimised their children.

Tomb[edit]

Paon de Roet's tomb was in Old St Paul's Cathedral, near Sir John Beauchamp's tomb 
(commonly called "Duke Humphrey's"). The antiquary John Weever had previously 
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".[7]

By 1658, viewed without its brass plate and effigies, this tomb was described by 
William Dugdale. The tomb, 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 in 1666. A modern monument in the crypt lists De Roet amongst the important 
graves lost.

The former inscription was as follows:
" Hic Jacet Paganus Roet Miles Guyenne RexArmorum Pater Catherine Ducisse 
Lancastrie."
(Here lies Paon de Roet, knight, Guyenne King of Arms, father of Katherine Duchess 
of Lancaster)


Marriage To ----- ----- ()
    m.  

Notes


Children by ----- ----- 
DE ROET Katherine (25 Nov 1350 - 10 May 1403)

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