RJay asked Brian Wainwright:

What about Constance of York first intrigued you? As you have stated, very little was known about her but you must have uncovered something that made you want to find out more about her. Many of the women of the times almost seem like ghosts. One reads their names and not much more.

Brian Wainwright The escape with the Mortimer boys from Windsor. I came across a passing reference to it, and was intrigued. It was such an off-the-wall thing for a noblewoman to do, especially as she was the King's own cousin. So I did a lot of digging. She does appear in government records - mainly after she was widowed - and some published works refer to her, though few in detail.

In point of fact, The House of York in general, not just Constance, gets little attention during this era. This surprises me because her brother, Edward, was enormously influential under Richard II, and increasingly so under both Henry IV and Henry V, right up to his death at Agincourt. Edmund of Langley is often laughed off as a fool of no significance - the truth is more complex. He lacked Gaunt's power and influence because he had only a (relatively) small income. But he stood up against his brother Gloucester in the Parliment of 1387 and actually challenged him to combat over the proposed execution of Simon Burley. He was also a regular attender of councils and witness of charters under Richard II, and there is some evidence to suggest he was instrumental in establishing Henry IV on the throne.

You're right though. Medieval women are harder to pin down, just not impossible. It's particularly difficult with married women who scarcely show in the records at all. Widows who live quietly with no trouble don't show much either. My luck with Constance was that she was actually quite stroppy, even to the point of directly disobeying the King's orders on at least one occasion. So she got herself into the government records.

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