The Duchess of Lancaster

The first duke of lancaster was a loyal friend of edward the third. henry accumulated great wealth from his successes and martial victories in france. He also had an extensive amount of land in england as well. So this made him the most wealthy nobleman in the country. When he died, probably of plague, in 13 61, blanche's older sisterMaude inherited all of her father's lands. And so that actually meant that john of gaunt inherited this land. This coupled with being a prince, this made him incredibly wealthy and incredibly weful.