Joan of Acre
Joan of Acre | |
---|---|
Countess of Hertford Countess of Gloucester | |
Born | April 1272 Acre, Kingdom of Acre |
Died | 23 April 1307 (aged 35) Clare Castle, Clare, England |
Burial | 26 April 1307 |
Spouse |
|
Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford Eleanor de Clare Margaret de Clare Elizabeth de Clare Mary de Monthermer Joan de Monthermer Thomas de Monthermer, 2nd Baron Monthermer Edward de Monthermer | |
House | Plantagenet |
Father | Edward I of England |
Mother | Eleanor of Castile |
Joan of Acre (April 1272 – 23 April 1307) was an English princess, a daughter of
She was married twice; her first husband was Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, one of the most powerful nobles in her father's kingdom; her second husband was Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in her household whom she married in secret.
Joan is most notable for the claim that
Birth and childhood
Joan (or Joanna, as she is sometimes called) of Acre was born in the spring of 1272 in the
As Joan was growing up with her grandmother, her father was back in England, already arranging marriages for his daughter. He hoped to gain both political power and more wealth with his daughter's marriage, so he conducted the arrangement in a very "business-like style". and had a fairly distanced relationship with them.
Before he was able to meet or marry Joan, Hartman died. It was reported that he had fallen through a patch of shallow ice while "amusing himself in skating" while a letter sent to the King himself stated that Hartman had set out on a boat to visit his father amidst a terrible fog and the boat had smashed into a rock, drowning him.[11]
First marriage
Edward arranged a second marriage almost immediately after the death of Hartman.[12][13] Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, who was almost 30 years older than Joan and newly divorced, was his first choice.[14] The earl resigned his lands to Edward upon agreeing to get them back when he married Joan, as well as agreed on a dower of 2,000 silver marks.[15] By the time all of these negotiations were finished, Joan was 12 years old.[15] Gilbert de Clare became very enamoured with Joan, and even though she had to marry him regardless of how she felt, he still tried to woo her.[16] He bought her expensive gifts and clothing to try to win favour with her.[17][18] The couple were married 30 April 1290 at Westminster Abbey, and had four children together.[19] They were:
- Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford
- Eleanor de Clare
- Margaret de Clare
- Elizabeth de Clare
Joan's first husband, Gilbert de Clare, died on 7 December 1295.[20]
Secret second marriage
Joan had been a widow for a little over a year when she caught the eye of Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in Joan's father's household.[21] Joan fell in love and convinced her father to have Monthermer knighted. It was unheard of in European royalty for a noble lady to even converse with a man who had not won or acquired importance in the household. However, Joan secretly married Ralph in January 1297.[22] Joan's father was already planning another marriage for Joan to Amadeus V, Count of Savoy,[22] to occur on 16 March 1297. Being already married, unbeknownst to her father, Joan was in a dangerous predicament.
Joan sent her four young children to their grandfather, in hopes that their sweetness would win Edward's favor, but her plan did not work.[23] The king soon discovered his daughter's intentions, but not yet aware that she had already committed to them,[20] he seized Joan's lands and continued to arrange her marriage to Amadeus of Savoy.[19] Soon after the seizure of her lands, Joan told her father that she had married Ralph. The king was enraged and retaliated by immediately imprisoning Monthermer at Bristol Castle.[19] The people of the land had differing opinions on Joan's predicament. It has been argued that the noblemen who were most upset were those who wanted her hand in marriage.[24]
With regard to the matter, Joan famously said, "It is not considered ignominious, nor disgraceful, for a great earl to take a poor and mean woman to wife; neither, on the other hand, is it worthy of blame, or too difficult a thing for a countess to promote to honour a gallant youth."
Joan and Monthermer had four children:
- Duncan Macduff, 8th Earl of Fife[27]
- Joan de Monthermer, born 1299, became a nun at Amesbury.
- Thomas de Monthermer, 2nd Baron Monthermer, born 1301.
- Edward de Monthermer, born 1304 and died 1339.
Relationship with family
Joan was the seventh of Edward I and Eleanor's fourteen children. Most of her elder siblings died before the age of seven, and many of her younger siblings died before adulthood.
Joan, like her siblings, was raised outside her parents' household. She lived with her grandmother in Ponthieu for four years, and was then entrusted to the same caregivers who looked after her siblings.[30] Edward I did not have a close relationship with most of his children while they were growing up, yet "he seemed fonder of his daughters than his sons."[29]
However, Joan of Acre's independent nature caused numerous conflicts with her father. Her father disapproved of her leaving court after her marriage to the Earl of Gloucester, and in turn "seized seven robes that had been made for her".[31] He also strongly disapproved of her second marriage to Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in her household, even to the point of attempting to force her to marry someone else.[31][32] While Edward ultimately developed a cordial relationship with Monthermer, even granting him two earldoms,[31] there appears to have been a notable difference in Edward's treatment of Joan as compared to the treatment of the rest of her siblings. For instance, her father famously paid messengers substantially when they brought news of the birth of grandchildren, but did not do this upon the birth of Joan's daughter.[33]
Joan retained a fairly tight bond with her siblings. She and Monthermer both maintained a close relationship with her brother, Edward, which was maintained through letters. After Edward became estranged from his father and lost his royal seal, "Joan offered to lend him her seal".[34]
Death
Joan died 23 April 1307, at the manor of Clare in Suffolk.[26] The cause of her death remains unclear, though one popular theory is that she died during childbirth, a common cause of death at the time. While Joan's age in 1307 (about 35) and the chronology of her earlier pregnancies with Ralph de Monthermer suggest that this could well be the case, historians have not confirmed the cause of her death.[35]
Less than four months after her death, Joan's father died. Joan's widower, Ralph de Monthermer, lost the title of Earl of Gloucester soon after the deaths of his wife and father-in-law. The earldom of Gloucester was given to Joan's son from her first marriage, Gilbert, who was its rightful holder. Monthermer continued to hold a nominal earldom in Scotland, which had been conferred on him by Edward I, until his death.
Joan's burial place has been the cause of some interest and debate. She is interred in the Augustinian priory at Clare, which had been founded by her first husband's ancestors and where many of them were also buried. Allegedly, in 1357, Joan's daughter, Elizabeth De Burgh, claimed to have "inspected her mother's body and found the corpse to be intact",
Joan in fiction
Joan of Acre makes an appearance in Virginia Henley's historical romance Infamous. In the book, Joan, known as Joanna, is described as a promiscuous young princess, vain, shallow and spoilt. In the novel she is only given one daughter, when she historically had eight children. There is no evidence that supports this picture of Joan.[36]
In The Love Knot by Vanessa Alexander, Joan of Acre is an important character. The author portrays a completely different view of the princess from the one in Henley's novel. The Love Knot tells the story of the love affair between Ralph de Monthermer and Joan of Acre through the discovery of a series of letters the two had written to each other.[37]
Between historians and novelists, Joan has appeared in various texts as either an independent and spirited woman or a spoiled brat. In Lives of the Princesses of England by Mary Anne Everett Green, Joan is portrayed as a "giddy princess" and neglectful mother.[38] Many have agreed to this characterisation; however, some authors think there is little evidence to support the assumption that Joan of Acre was a neglectful or uncaring mother.[39]
Ancestry
Ancestors of Joan of Acre Alberic III, Count of Dammartin | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
14. Simon de Dammartin | ||||||||||||||||
29. Mathilde of Clermont | ||||||||||||||||
7. Joan, Countess of Ponthieu | ||||||||||||||||
30. William IV, Count of Ponthieu | ||||||||||||||||
15. Marie, Countess of Ponthieu | ||||||||||||||||
31. Adèle of France | ||||||||||||||||
References
- ^ called Earl of Hertford, jure uxoris; later 1st Baron Monthermer
- ^ Weir (2008), pp. 83–84
- ^ Green (1850), p.318
- ^ Green 1850, p. 319
- ^ Parsons (1995), p.39
- ^ a b Parsons (1995), p.40
- ^ Green (1850), p 319
- ^ Green (1850), p.320
- ^ Green (1850), p.321
- ^ Green (1850), p321.
- ^ Green (1850), p.323
- ^ Oxford, p. 626.
- ^ Wilkinson, p. 91
- ^ Green (1850), p.327
- ^ a b Green (1850), p.328
- ^ Green (1850), p329.
- ^ Green 1850, p329
- ^ Wilkinson, p. 91
- ^ a b c d Oxford, p. 626
- ^ a b "Joan or Joanna of Acre, Countess." Oxford, p. 626
- ^ Green (1850), p.342
- ^ a b Green (1850), p.343
- ^ Green (1850) p.345
- ^ a b Higginbotham (2009), p.3
- ^ Green (1850), p. 347
- ^ a b Oxford, p.627
- ^ Ailes 2019, p. 168.
- ^ Prestwich (1988), p.51
- ^ a b Prestwich (1988), p.52
- ^ Higginbotham (2009), p.1
- ^ a b c Higginbotham (2009), p.2
- ^ Prestwich (1988), p.54
- ^ Prestwich (1988), p.55
- ^ Prestwich (1988), p.53
- ^ a b c Higginbotham (2009), p.4
- ^ Higginbotham (2009) p.4
- ^ Higginbotham, (2009) p.5
- ^ Green (1850), p. 342
- ^ Higginbotham (2009), p.5
- ^ Hamilton 2010, p. viii; Carpenter 2004, pp. 532–536; Prestwich 1988, p. 574; O'Callaghan 1975, p. 681; Durand, Clémencet & Dantine 1818, p. 435; Howell 2004; Parsons 2004
Bibliography
- Ailes, Adrian (2019). "Medieval Armorial Seals in The National Archives (UK)". In Whatley, Laura J. (ed.). A Companion to Seals in the Middle Ages. Brill. pp. 155–180.
- Carpenter, David (2004). The Struggle for Mastery: The Penguin History of Britain 1066–1284. London, UK: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-014824-4.
- Costain, Thomas. A History of the Plantagenets, Vol III.
- Durand, Ursin; Clémencet, Charles; Dantine, Maur-François (1818). L'art de verifier les dates des faits historiques, des chartes, des chroniques et autres anciens monuments depuis la naissance de notre-seigneur (in French). Vol. 12. Paris, France: n.p. OCLC 221519473.
- Green, Mary Anna Everett. Lives of the Princesses of England. London: Henry Colburn, 1850. Google Books full text
- Hamilton, J. S. (2010). The Plantagenets: History of a Dynasty. London, UK: Continuum. ISBN 978-1-4411-5712-6.
- Howell, Margaret (2004). "Eleanor [Eleanor of Provence] (c.1223–1291), queen of England, consort of Henry III". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8620. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Lee, Sidney, ed. (1892). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 29. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 390.
- O'Callaghan, Joseph F. (1975). A History of Medieval Spain. Ithaca, US: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-0880-9.
- Parsons, John Carmi. Eleanor of Castile. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.
- Parsons, John Carmi (2004). "Eleanor [Eleanor of Castile] (1241–1290), queen of England, consort of Edward I". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8619. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 978-0-520-06266-5.
- Underhill, Frances Ann (1999). For Her Good Estate: The Life of Elizabeth de Burgh. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-21355-7.
- ISBN 978-0-09-953973-5.
- Wilkinson, L. (2020). Royal Daughters and Diplomacy at the Court of Edward I. In A. King & A. Spencer (Eds.), Edward I: New Interpretations (pp. 84-104). Boydell & Brewer. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781787446144
External links
- Media related to Joan of England, Countess of Gloucester at Wikimedia Commons