Bothwell, James, 'The management of position: Alice Perrers, Edward III, and the creation of a landed estates, 1362-1377', Journal of Medieval History 24 (1998), 31-51

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Quick Summary

Alice Perrers, mistress of King Edward III, became one of the wealthiest landowning women in medieval England

  • Perrers accumulated lands the size of an earldom through her good business sense
  • She didn’t exploit her position as the king’s mistress to accumulate wealth
  • She had her lands confiscated in the Good Parliament of 1376
Key Conclusion

Bothwell explores the accumulation of lands and property by Alice Perrers, mistress of Edward III, who became one of the wealthiest landowning women in later fourteenth-century England. The article concludes that unlike many male royal favourites, Alice Perrers accumulated an estate of over fifty manors in twenty-five different counties – something approaching the size of an earldom – primarily through her own business sense rather than through direct royal intervention.

Content Overview

Bothwell’s findings challenge existing studies which predominantly present a view that Perrers used her ‘womanly charms’ to enslave an increasingly senile Edward III and exploit her position as the king’s mistress. Instead, Bothwell argues that although the original financial impetus for her ventures may have come from the king, Perrers managed her wealth and transactions ‘in a way which was all her own’ (p. 48). In a closing summary, Bothwell states: ‘If any one line can sum up the purpose of this article, then, it has been to study how an individual can enhance power through the intelligent use of status.’ (p. 49).

Further Findings

In 1376 Perrers was the victim of a political attack in the Good Parliament, and the following year her estates were confiscated. The article suggests that this downfall may have been the result of Perrers’s failure to make powerful allies who were dependent upon her largesse (generosity). Instead, her alliances with other members of the nobility, such as John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, were based on temporary shared political interests. When political circumstances changed in 1376-7, such friends were no longer willing to help her.

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