Alice Chaucer, Duchess of Suffolk

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Alice de la Pole, known as Alice Chaucer, Duchess of Suffolk (c. 1404–1475), was an English noblewoman and arts patron. She was the granddaughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer.

She married three times: Sir John Phelip, Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury, and William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk. In 1445 she served as a lady-in-waiting to Margaret of Anjou and became a notable patron of the arts.

In Ewelme, Oxfordshire, she ordered a set of tapestries showing the life of St Anne, which hung in her house where she welcomed visitors. After her third husband’s rise, she was honored as a Lady of the Order of the Garter, a rare distinction for a woman, reflecting her close ties to King Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou.

Alice was educated and book-loving. She owned a large library, including many French texts and religious books. Some of her books came from France, and she owned works such as The Four Sons of Aymon (Caxton), Christine de Pizan’s Le Livre de la Cité des Dames, and John Lydgate’s translations.

Politically, she was influential. After her husband William de la Pole was executed, she inherited his lands and money and helped support the crown with a loan. She faced a state trial in 1451 but remained powerful. Although she had Lancastrian connections, she later supported the Yorkists in the Wars of the Roses.

She held important roles at Wallingford Castle, including custodian of Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, and later of Margaret of Anjou in 1472. She remained a major landowner, with properties in many counties, and supported the arts and learning throughout her life.

Alice died in 1475 and was buried in St Mary’s Church, Ewelme, where a notable alabaster tomb shows her recumbent effigy and the Garter badge on her left wrist. Her son, John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, married Elizabeth of York, linking her family to the Yorkist kings. Her life is remembered as a striking example of an educated, independent medieval woman who promoted literature and art.