Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots

Joan Beaufort
Portrait in the Forman Armorial, 1562
Queen consort of Scots
Tenure12 February 1424 – 21 February 1437
Coronation21 May 1424
Queen regent of Scotland
Regency1437 – 1439
MonarchJames II
Bornc. 1404[1]
The Palace of Westminster, England
Died15 July 1445(1445-07-15) (aged 40–41)
Dunbar Castle, East Lothian, Scotland
Burial
Perth Charterhouse, Scotland
Spouse
Issue
Detail
HouseBeaufort
FatherJohn Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset
MotherMargaret Holland

Joan Beaufort (c. 1404 – 15 July 1445)[2] was Queen of Scots from 1424 to 1437 as the spouse of King James I.[3]

Background and early life

Joan Beaufort was a daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, a legitimised son of John of Gaunt by his mistress (and later third wife) Katherine Swynford.[4] She was born in 1404.[5] Joan's mother was Margaret Holland,[6] the granddaughter of Joan of Kent (wife of Edward the Black Prince) from her earlier marriage to Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent. Joan was also a half-niece of King Henry IV of England, first cousin once removed of Richard II, and great-granddaughter of Edward III. Her uncle, Henry Beaufort, was a cardinal and Chancellor of England.[4]

King James I of Scotland met Joan during his time as a prisoner in England, and knew her from at least 1420.[6] She is said to have been the inspiration for King James's famous allegorical romantic poem, The Kingis Quair,[7] written during his captivity, after he saw her from his window in the garden.[8] The poem described her as 'beautee eneuch to mak a world to dote.'[9]

The marriage was at least partially political, as their marriage was part of the agreement for his release from captivity[10] under the Treaty of London (4 December 1423).[11] From an English perspective an alliance with the Beauforts was meant to establish Scotland's alliance with the English, rather than the French.[6] Negotiations resulted in Joan's dowry of 10,000 marks being subtracted from James's substantial ransom.[12]

Queen of Scotland

Arms of Joan as queen consort of Scotland

On 12 February 1424, Joan Beaufort and King James were wed at St Mary Overie Church in Southwark.[6][13] They were feasted at Winchester Palace that year by her uncle, Cardinal Henry Beaufort. She accompanied her husband on his return from captivity in England to Scotland, and was crowned alongside him at Scone Abbey.

Joan was assigned lands in Scotland, including some in Perthshire, and she may have been influential in James's foundation of a Carthusian monastery in Perth in 1426. In 1428, James made magnates and bishops swear on oath of allegiance to Joan on succeeding to their lands and titles. In the same year she took part in negotiations for their eldest daughter's marriage to the French dauphin and undertook a royal progress to Inverness. From 1431, Joan received an annuity of £360 from the king and in 1435 he ordered the estates to give letters of fidelity to his queen.[14]

As queen, Joan often pleaded with the king for those who might be executed.[15] In 1429, Alexander Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, was captured after burning and pillaging in the Highlands and she pleaded for him to be pardoned.[16] In 1431 she interceded again to secure pardons for the Lord of the Isles and Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas, who had been imprisoned in Lochleven Castle.[14]

The royal couple had eight children, including the future James II, and Margaret of Scotland, future spouse of Louis XI of France.[6] She also remained in contact with her English family, with her brothers and uncles visiting Joan and her husband ahead of formal embassies.[17]

Regency

James I was assassinated in the Dominican Friary in Perth on 21 February 1437. Joan had also been a target of assassination along with her husband and was wounded,[5] but survived her injuries.[6] She put her husband's mutilated body on display,[18] and her letters to her family played an important role in spreading news and details of his murder in England and throughout Europe.[14]

Joan successfully directed her husband's supporters to attack his assassin Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl, but was forced to give up power three months later.[6] The prospect of being ruled by an English woman was unpopular in Scotland.[6] The Earl of Douglas was thus appointed to power, though Joan remained in charge of her son[6] and represented his interests.[17]

Later life

In July 1439, she married James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorne, after obtaining a papal dispensation for both consanguinity and affinity.[6] After the marriage she was styled Queen Dowager Joan of Scotland.[19] She was the second Scottish queen mother to remarry.[17]

James was an ally of the young William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas, and plotted with him to overthrow Alexander Livingston, governor of Stirling Castle, during the minority of James II.[20] Livingston arrested Joan on 3 August 1439[21] and forced her to relinquish custody of the young king until his majority.[6] She was released on 31 August 1439.[21] Joan died in 1445[17] at Dunbar Castle[21] and was buried beside her first husband in the Carthusian Priory at Perth.[13]

Issue

16th-century manuscript illustration showing James I of Scotland and Queen Joan Beaufort, from the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh

With James I of Scotland Joan had six daughters and two sons:[22]

With James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorne:[23]

Ancestry

Notes

  1. ↑ "Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scotland". Medievalists.net. 27 February 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  2. ↑ Weir, Alison (18 April 2011). Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. Random House. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-4464-4911-0.
  3. ↑ Amin, Nathen (15 August 2017). The House of Beaufort: The Bastard Line that Captured the Crown. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-4765-4.
  4. 1 2 "James I and Joan Beaufort: A Royal Love Story". History... the interesting bits!. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  5. 1 2 Cannon, John (2009), "Joan Beaufort", A Dictionary of British History, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780199550371.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-955037-1, retrieved 11 September 2024
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Brown 2004.
  7. ↑ "The Kingis Quair: Introduction | Robbins Library Digital Projects". d.lib.rochester.edu. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  8. ↑ Marshall 2003, pp. 49–50.
  9. ↑ Cannon, John; Hargreaves, Anne (1 January 2009), "Joan Beaufort", The Kings and Queens of Britain, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780199559220.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-955922-0, retrieved 11 September 2024
  10. ↑ "Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scotland: Biography on Undiscovered Scotland". undiscoveredscotland.co.uk. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  11. ↑ "treaty of London". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  12. ↑ Marshall 2003, pp. 50–51.
  13. 1 2 3 Weir 2008, p. 232.
  14. 1 2 3 Wingfield, Emily (2023), Scotland's Royal Women and European Literary Culture, 1424 - 1587, Brepols, Turnhout, pp. 47 & 48, ISBN 9782503600291
  15. ↑ Marshall 2003, pp. 51–52.
  16. ↑ Darsie, Heather R. (2024). Stuart Spouses: A Compendium of Consorts from James I of Scotland to Queen Anne of Great Britain. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. p. n.p. ISBN 978-1-39909-592-1. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 Downie, Fiona Anne (23 October 2006). She is But a Woman: Queenship in Scotland 1424–1463. Birlinn Ltd. ISBN 978-1-78885-342-2.
  18. ↑ Morrison, Susan (10 May 2024). "Stewart Widows Club: Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots, and a tale of true love, murder and savage revenge". The Scotsman. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  19. ↑ Cokayne, G. E. et al, eds. (2000) The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14. 1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes. Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000, volume I. p. 312
  20. ↑ Venning, Timothy (2013). The Kings & Queens of Scotland. Barnsley: Amberley. p. n.p. ISBN 978-1-39909-592-1. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  21. 1 2 3 Ewan, Elizabeth L.; Innes, Sue; Reynolds, Sian; Pipes, Rose (27 June 2007). Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women. Edinburgh University Press. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-7486-2660-1.
  22. ↑ Richardson, Douglas. Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd Edition, 2011. Douglas Richardson. pp. 579–582. ISBN 978-1-4610-4520-5.
  23. ↑ Weis, Frederick Lewis; Beall, William Ryland (1999). The Magna Charta Sureties, 1215: The Barons Named in the Magna Charta, 1215, and Some of Their Descendants who Settled in America During the Early Colonial Years. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-8063-1609-3.
  24. ↑ Morrison, Elspeth (18 December 2007). The Dorothy Dunnett Companion: Volume II. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-307-42844-8.
  25. ↑ Weir 2008, p. 93.
  26. ↑ Weir 2007, p. 6.
  27. ↑ Marshall 2003, p. 50.
  28. 1 2 3 Weir 2008, p. 125.
  29. ↑ Weir 2008, pp. 94, 125.
  30. ↑ Weir 2008, p. 77.

References

Further reading

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