Katherine, Lady Berkeley, English benefactor and founder of the chantry school at Wotton-under-Edge, died on 13 March 1385.
Katherine, Lady Berkeley died on 13 March 1385, less than five months after formally endowing her chantry school at Wotton-under-Edge. Her death closed a life notable for its unusual independence: following the death of her husband, Thomas III, 8th Lord Berkeley, she chose to remain a widow for approximately two decades rather than remarry, retaining control over her own resources and affairs at a time when widowhood offered one of the few avenues of legal and financial autonomy available to women.
Her passing did not diminish the impact of her educational foundation; the school she established continued to operate and evolved over the centuries into Katharine Lady Berkeley's School, which survives today as one of England's oldest schools. Her death is documented in connection with the Berkeley family records and the historical accounts of Berkeley Castle, with which she was closely associated throughout her adult life.
Katherine's legacy rests almost entirely on the educational institution she left behind rather than on any surviving personal writings or portraiture, which is typical for women of her era regardless of rank. The precision with which both her endowment and her death are dated — rare for a medieval woman outside royalty — allows historians to reconstruct a clear timeline of her final, most historically significant act of philanthropy.