John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford

John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, was the third surviving son of Henry IV and served as regent of France for the infant Henry VI. A capable commander and administrator, he maintained the Anglo-Burgundian alliance and defeated French forces at Verneuil in 1424. Joan of Arc’s campaigns and the later defection of Burgundy undermined English power. Bedford died in 1435 shortly before the peace of Arras, after which the English position deteriorated rapidly.

Bedford appears in historical fiction about Joan of Arc, Henry VI and the end of the Hundred Years’ War. Conn Iggulden’s Wars of the Roses sequence begins in the political aftermath of the English occupation he tried to preserve. Novelists often portray him as the competent last architect of Lancastrian France, making his death a clear marker between temporary stability and accelerating defeat.

In Georgette Heyer’s My Lord John, the unfinished novel follows the early development of the future Duke of Bedford and his relationship with his brothers, especially the future Henry V. It presents the House of Lancaster from within, showing how royal children were drawn into warfare and responsibility…