Bastard Blood and Chivalric Honor: Illegitimacy, Warfare, and Service in Late Medieval England, 1350-1500

Medieval inheritance was a system that prioritized the survival and prosperity of a family throughout the generations. While its inheritance laws prioritized the continuation of a noble family's bloodline, illegitimate sons (those born outside of a traditional marriage relationship) were almost completely exempt from this system. These bastard children had to make their own way in life. This task was accomplished to varying degrees of success and through a variety of methods. Regardless of whether or not an illegitimate son had the support of his father, many turned to the military as a means of gaining wealth and political power. This thesis explores how illegitimate sons in England from the year 1350 to 1500 navigated their ambiguous status in society through military service. Using both quantitative and qualitative approaches, this thesis examines the lives and military careers of illegitimate sons across the kingdom and levels of nobility. The findings of this paper indicate that illegitimate sons used military service to advance their position in society to varying degrees of success, with skilled individuals becoming powerful lords and commanders and others fading away with little record of their existence surviving to the modern-day. While success varied in large part to the military skill of the individual and the support of the individual's father, military service provided a potential avenue for bastard sons to become integral parts of England's government and nobility when they otherwise would have not been able to achieve these heights.