| Joan of Acre | |
|---|---|
| Countess of Hertford | |
| Spouse | Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford m. 1290; dec. 1295 Sir Ralph de Monthermer[1] m. 1297; wid. 1307 |
| Issue | |
| Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Hertford Eleanor de Clare Margaret de Clare Elizabeth de Clare Mary mac Duff, Countess of Fife Joan de Monthermer Thomas de Monthermer, 2nd Baron Monthermer Edward de Monthermer |
|
| Father | Edward I Longshanks |
| Mother | Eleanor of Castile |
| Born | April 1272 Acre, Kingdom of Acre |
| Died | 7 April 1307 (aged 34–35) Clare Castle, Clare |
| Burial | 23 April 1307 Clare Priory, Suffolk |
Joan of Acre (April 1272 – 23 April 1307) was the daughter of King Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile.[2] She is most notable for her marriage to Ralph de Monthermer and the claim that miracles have allegedly taken place at her grave. She is also notable for the multiple references of her in literature.
Contents |
Birth and childhood
Joan, or Joanna, of Acre as she is sometimes referred to, was born in the spring of 1272 in Syria, while her parents, King Edward I and Queen Eleanor of Castille, were on the crusade.[3] She was the only English princess to be born outside of her native land, in the city of Acre, where her name derives from.[3] Her parents departed from Acre shortly after her birth, traveling to Sicily and Spain[4] before leaving Joan with her grandmother in Ponthieu, France.[5] Joan lived for several years in France where she spent her time being educated by a bishop and “being thoroughly spoiled by an indulgent grandmother.”[6] Joan was free to play among the “vine clad hills and sunny vales”[7] surrounding her grandmother’s home, although she required “judicious surveillance.”[8]
As Joan was growing up with her grandmother, her father was back in England, already arranging marriages for his daughter. He wanted to gain both political power and more wealth with his daughter, so he conducted the arrangement in a very “business like style”.[9] He finally found a man suitable to marry Joan (aged 5 at the time), Hartman, son of King Rudoph I, of Germany. Edward then brought her home from France for the first time to meet him.[10] As she had spent her entire life away from Edward and Eleanor, when she returned she “stood in no awe of her parents”[6] and had a fairly distanced relationship with them.
Unfortunately for King Edward, his daughter’s suitor died before he was able to meet or marry Joan. The news reported that Hartman 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] Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester, who was almost thirty years older than Joan and newly divorced was his first choice.[13] 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 two thousand silver marks.[14] By the time all of these negotiations were finished, Joan was twelve years old.[14] Gilbert de Clare became very enamored with Joan, and even though she had to marry him regardless of how she felt, he still tried to woo her.[15] He bought her expensive gifts and clothing to try to win favor with her.[16] The couple were married on 30 April 1290 at Westminster Abbey, and had four children together.[17] They were:
Joan's first husband, Gilbert de Clare died on 7 December 1295.[18]
Secret second marriage
Joan had been a widow for only a little over a year when she caught the eye of Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in Joan’s father’s household.[19] Joan fell in love and convinced her father to have Monthermer knighted. It was unheard of in European royalty for one in power to even converse with a man who had not won or acquired importance in the household. However, in January during the year 1297, the couple was secretly married.[20] Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer, and Joan of Acre blind-sided her father with this secret while he was already planning another marriage for his daughter to Amadeus V, Count of Savoy.[20] The arrangements for this marriage were quickly made through written letters. The date was to be 16 March 1297. Joan of Acre was in dangerous predicament, as she was already a wedded wife, unbeknownst to her father. She sent her son and daughters to Edward I, their grandfather, in hopes that their sweetness would win his favor.
Her plan did not work.[21] He soon found out the intentions his daughter had, but did not realize she had already committed to them.[18] Upon finding out, he took all of Joan’s lands into his own hands and continued on with his planning of the arranged marriage between Joan and Amadeus of Savoy.[17] Soon after the seizure of her lands, Joan told her father of that she had married Monthermer. He was enraged and retaliated by immediately imprisoning Monthermer at Bristol Castle.[17] The people of the land had differing opinions on the princess’ matter, however, and has been argued that ones who were most upset were those who wanted Joan’s hand in marriage.[22]
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 honor a gallant youth.”[23] It is said that not only this claim, but the possibility of the appearance of a pregnant stomach seemed to soften Edward’s attitude towards the situation.[22] Joan's first child by Monthermer was born in October 1297, and it is possible that this pregnancy compelled her to marry Ralph; by the summer of 1297, when the marriage was revealed to Edward I, Joan's condition would certainly have been apparent, and would have convinced Edward that he had no choice but to recognize his daughter's marriage.
At last, her father relented for the sake of his daughter and released Monthermer from prison in August 1297.[17] Monthermer paid homage 2 August and getting the title of Earl of Gloucester and Earl of Hertford, rose to favor with the King during Joan's lifetime.[24].
Monthermer and Joan had four children:
- Mary de Monthermer, born October 1297. In 1306 her grandfather King Edward I arranged for her to wed Duncan Macduff, 8th Earl of Fife.
- 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
Acre was the seventh child of Edward I and Eleanor’s fourteen children. Most of her older siblings died before the age of seven, and many of her younger siblings died before adulthood.[25] Of the survivors, included were Joan, four of her sisters, and her younger brother, Edward (later Edward II, King of England).[26]
Joan, like her siblings, was raised outside her family’s household. She lived with her grandmother in Ponthieu for four years, and was then confided to the same caregivers who looked after her siblings.[27] 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.”[26] In fact, most of Edward's children who survived to adulthood were daughters.[28]
However, Acre’s independent nature caused numerous conflicts between her and 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.”[29] 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.[29][30] While Edward ultimately developed a cordial relationship with Monthermer, even giving him the title of Earl [29], there appears to have been a notable difference in the 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 birth of Joan’s daughter.[31]
In terms of her siblings, Acre kept a fairly tight bond. She and Monthermer both maintained a close relationship with her brother, Edward II, which was maintained through letters. After Edward II became estranged from his parents and lost his royal seal, “Joan offered to lend him her seal” instead.[28]
Death
Joan of Acre died on 23 April 1307, at the manor of Clare in Suffolk.[24] 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.[32]
Less than four months after her death, Joan’s father, Edward I died. Ralph de Monthermer was stripped of his title as Earl of Gloucester soon after the deaths of his wife and father in law, though until his death he continued to hold a nominal earldom in Scotland that had been conferred on him by Edward I. The earldom of Gloucester was given to Joan’s son from her first marriage, Gilbert, who was its rightful holder from the time of Joan's death.[33]
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,”[32], which in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church is an indication of sanctity. This claim was only recorded in a fifteenth-century chronicle, however, and its details are uncertain, especially the statement that her corpse was in such a state of preservation that "when her paps were pressed with hands, they rose up again." Some sources further claim that miracles took place at Joan's tomb, from a cure of toothache to the fever, which was often fatal at the time.[32] But no cause for her beatification or canonization has ever been introduced.
Joan in fiction
Joan of Acre makes an appearance in Virginia Henley's historical romance, entitled Infamous. In the book, Joan, known as Joanna, is described as a promiscuous young princess, vain, shallow and spoiled. In the novel she is only given one daughter, when she historically has eight. There is no evidence that supports this picture of Joan.[34]
In The Love Knot by Vanessa Alexander, Edward the II’s sister, Joan of Acre is an important heroine in the novel. She portrays a completely different view of the princess than 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 between each other.[35]
Between historians and novelists, Joan has appeared in various texts as either a independent and righteous woman in European royalty 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.[36] Many have agreed to this characterization, however, some authors think there is little evidence to support the assumption that Joan of Acre was a neglectful and uncaring mother.[37]
Ancestry
Footnotes
- ^ called Earl of Hertford, jure uxoris; later 1st Baron Monthermer
- ^ Weir (2008), pp. 83-84
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ Green (1850), p.327
- ^ a b Green (1850), p.328
- ^ Green (1850), p329.
- ^ Green 1850, p329
- ^ 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), p347.
- ^ a b Oxford, p.627
- ^ Prestwich (1988), p.51
- ^ a b Prestwich (1988), p.52
- ^ Higginbotham (2009), p.1
- ^ a b Prestwich (1988), p.53
- ^ a b c Higginbotham (2009), p.2
- ^ Prestwich (1988), p.54
- ^ Prestwich (1988), p.55
- ^ a b c Higginbotham (2009), p.4
- ^ Prestwich (1988), p.56
- ^ Higginbotham (2009) p.4
- ^ Higginbotham, (2009) p.5
- ^ Green (1850), p. 342
- ^ Higginbotham (2009), p.5
References
- Costain, Thomas. A History of the Plantagenets, Vol III.
- Green, Mary Anna Everett. Lives of the Princesses of England. London: Henry Colburn, 1850.
- Higginbotham, Susan. "Joan of Acre and Ralph de Monthermer: A Medieval Love Story." Susan Higginbotham. 2 Mar. 2009 <http://www.susanhigginbotham.com>
- Stephen, Leslie (ed.) and Sir Sydney Lee (ed.). "Joan or Joanna of Acre, Countess." The Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. X. London: Oxford UP, pp. 626-627.
- Parsons, John Carmi. Eleanor of Castile. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995.
- Prestwich, Michael. Edward I. Berkeley: California UP, 1988.
- Underhill, Frances A. For Her Good Estate, 1999.
- Weir, Alison. Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. London: Vintage Books, 2008. ISBN 009953973X
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