[Sidenote: Speight knoweth not the name of Chaucer's wife, nor doth Thynne.] IN THE TITLE OF Chawcer's mariage yo{ u} saye, yo{ u} cannotte fynde the name of the Gentlewomanne whome he maryed. Trulye, yf I did followe the conceyte of others, I sholde suppose her name was Elizabethe, a waytinge womanne of Quene philippe, wyfe to Edwarde the thirde & daughter to Willi{ a}m erle of Henalte. but I favor not their oppynyone, for, althoughe I fynde a recorde of the pellis exitus, in the tyme of Edwarde the thirde, of a yerely stypende to Elizabethe Chawcer, domicellæ reginæ Philippæ, wh{ ic}he domicella dothe signyfye one of her waytinge gentlewomen: yet I cannott for this tyme thinke this was his wyfe, but rather his sister or kinswomanne, who after the deathe of her mystresse Quene philippe did forsake the worlde, and became a nonne at Seinte Heleins in london, accordinge as yo{ u} haue touched one of that profess{ i}one in primo of kinge Richarde the seconde.
[Sidenote: The children of John of Gaunt born pre-nupt, and legytymated by the Pope and the Parliament.] In the Latyne stemme of Chawcer you saye, speakinge of Katherine Swyneforde, Que postea nupta Johanni Gandauensi tertij Edwardi Regis filio, Lancastriæ duci, illi procreavit filios tres et vnica{ m} filia{ m}. Wherbye we may inferre that Johne of Gaunte had these childrene by her after the mariage. Whiche is not soo for he had all his children by her longe before that mariage, so that they beinge all illegitimate were enforced afterwarde vppon that maryage to be legytymated by the poope; & also by acte of Parliamente, aboute the two & twentythe of kinge Richarde the seconde; so that yo{ u} cannott saye, que postea nupta procreavit Lancastriæ duci tres filios, etc.