John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford also known as John Platagenet (June 20, 1389 - September 14, 1435) was the fourth son of King Henry IV of England by Mary de Bohun, and acted as regent for his nephew, King Henry VI of England.
He was created Earl of Kendal, Earl of Richmond and Duke of Bedford in 1414 by his brother, King Henry V. In 1423 he married Anne, daughter of duke John the Fearless of Burgundy. After her death in childbirth in 1432, he remarried, his second wife being Jacquetta of Luxembourg.
After the death of Henry V in 1422, John vied with his younger brother, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, for control of the kingdom. He was declared regent of France, the boy king being technically heir to the throne of that country as well as to England. Bedford defeated the French several times, until the arrival of Joan of Arc on the scene rallied the opposition. In 1431, Bedford had Joan tried and executed at Rouen, then arranged a coronation for the young Henry VI at Paris. While negotiating the Treaty of Rouen, he died at his home and was buried at Rouen Cathedral.
John, Duke of Bedford, writes a letter to the city of London in which he expresses discomfort with some of the provisions of Henry V's will, and putting forward his claim to some special position in England, based on his close blood ties to the late king.
The council of Regency is formally established by the house of Lords, consisting of Archbishop Chichele, Bishops Beaufort, Morgan, Wakering, and Kemp, the Dukes of Gloucester and Exeter, the Earls of Norfolk, Northumberland, March and Warwick, the Barons FitzHugh, Tiptoft and Cromwell and the knights Walter Hungerford and Walter Beauchamp.
John, Duke of Bedford and Regent of France, marries Anne, the sister of Philippe le Bon, duke of Burgundy.
He was the second son of Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford, by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John Howland of Streatham, Surrey, was born on 30 September 1710.
Bedford was hostile to John Wilkes, and narrowly escaped from a mob favourable to the agitator at Honiton in July 1769.
The duke held many public offices: lord-lieutenant of Bedfordshire and Devon, and chancellor of Dublin University among others, and was a knight of the garter.
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