by Penny Lawne
Thomas was initially away for several months. His orders in Brittany were to secure all the captured towns, execute grants of Breton castles by Edward III to English nominees and, most importantly, ensure the truce was observed. Shortly before his arrival in late April 1354, Hugh Calverley, the English commander of the garrison at Becherel, was defeated and captured in a fight with the French marshal, d’Audrehem. This threatened the English position in the north-east of the duchy. Thomas’ first act on arriving was to join his own force with that of local allies and to launch a counter-attack, sweeping through north-eastern Brittany and into Lower Normandy. By June Thomas was satisfied that he had restored English authority in the area and drew his campaign to a close.12 Edward III must have viewed his activities with a mixture of irritation and satisfaction. Thomas’ aggressive actions had flouted the truce, but he had swiftly and successfully protected the English position. Having exerted his authority decisively Thomas returned to England, possibly for further reinforcements and supplies but probably in response to orders from the king. Pleased that English dominance in the duchy had been reasserted, in November Edward III entrusted Thomas with the custody of the young heir to the duchy, John Montfort, now aged about fifteen. The boy had reached an age where it was more appropriate for him to return to his own land rather than remain with the royal household, and the king now had a competent lieutenant on whom he could rely to keep the boy safe.
Thomas returned to England in the early autumn of 1354, but he was only in England for a matter of weeks. When he returned to Brittany at the end of November Joan sailed with him. They evidently anticipated that Joan’s sojourn in the duchy would be commensurate with her husband’s, as they appointed Randolf Saleby and John Raynford jointly to act as their attorneys in their absence.13 Joan was unusual among her contemporaries in accompanying her husband to his military command in Brittany. In this she followed the example set by Queen Philippa, who notably escorted her husband on campaign whenever she could, but few noblewomen did so. The majority stayed in England tending to their family and their estates, and they were not encouraged to do otherwise. It would hardly have been practical if all of the English nobility participating in the French campaigns had taken their wives with them. It was possibly unwise, and certainly rare, for a noblewoman of Joan’s standing to accompany her husband, even to a securely held command. Although hostilities between France and England were theoretically in abeyance, and Thomas had successfully established military superiority in the duchy, the situation could change at any time. Thomas was a hard-headed soldier and it is most unlikely that he brought Joan because he could not bear to be parted from her. The king may have encouraged Thomas to take his wife, as Joan’s presence added to the care which would be provided to John Montfort. However, there is no evidence that Edward III made this a requirement of placing the boy in Thomas’ custody. Why, therefore, did Thomas take her, and why did Joan agree? The likelihood is that this was a further precautionary step in safeguarding his marriage. Joan’s inheritance from her brother had made her an even more desirable match than when Thomas had married her in 1341. The legal validity of their marriage remained questionable. While Joan was with him, Thomas was confident of being able to deal with any renewed threat. Leaving her behind when he took up the Brittany command was unavoidable, but he had done what he could to secure his position by applying to the Pope for ratification of the papal bull confirming the validity of their marriage. Nevertheless, the threat remained. Once he had secured his position in the duchy, it probably seemed to Thomas that it was safer for Joan to accompany him rather than stay in England.
Thomas was also well aware that despite Edward III’s tacit support in helping him to legitimise his marriage the king did not regard it with unqualified approval. Since John’s death the king had given Joan due recognition of their relationship, by referring to her in official records as ‘the king’s kinswoman’, but there was a lack of warmth.14 Although there was no set pattern for the transference of a title through the female line, Thomas could reasonably have expected the earldom of Kent to be conferred on him when John died, and Edward III had signally failed to do so. The king clearly felt that he had done enough to support Thomas. The marriage debacle had not reflected well on Edward III, and he was not yet prepared to give Thomas the public endorsement which elevating him to the earldom would have given. Ambitious for his sons as well as himself, Thomas naturally hoped to change the king’s mind. Taking Joan with him to Brittany gave a public demonstration of the consolidation of their marriage, and Thomas no doubt hoped that in the process Edward III would fully restore him to favour; this, for him, far outweighed any advantage that might have been gained by Joan remaining in England.
However, Thomas and Joan would not have taken their two sons with them to Brittany. They were no more than four and two years old, and far too young to have provided companionship for John Montfort. In their absence it is probable that they were placed with a relative rather than left in the care of family servants. Thomas was notably close to his own family, with his brother Otto as his invariable lieutenant, while his brothers Robert and Alan and his nephews John Holand and John de la Warr all served with him, but there was a marked lack of suitable female members to take on the role of caring for his sons. Among his brothers the only suitable candidate was Robert’s wife, at Thorpe Waterville in Northamptonshire. But there were other, arguably more appropriate, alternatives. As Joan’s inheritance secured his sons’ future it would be natural for Thomas to look to his wife’s side of the family, and although his sister-in-law Elizabeth, John’s widow, had entered a convent and taken the veil shortly after John’s death, his formidable and immensely capable aunt-in-law Lady Blanche Wake was available to assist. Blanche Wake was the widow of Joan’s uncle Thomas Wake, sister to the Duke of Lancaster, and the king’s cousin. Her main residence was at Bourne Castle in Lincolnshire. She had no children of her own, and the substantial estates she enjoyed were all Wake properties which would pass to Joan on her death. Although Blanche may have had no great liking for Thomas Holand, Joan’s children were her family and this was extremely important. Blanche was resolute in her determination to protect her family’s interests, and had no hesitation in using her Lancastrian influence to do so. She demonstrated this in July 1354 when her dower manor at Colne in Huntingdonshire was burned down by the Bishop of Lisle’s officials. Undaunted by the identity of her antagonist, Blanche embarked on a spirited two-year legal battle, demanding Edward III’s support by invoking their familial relationship. The bishop was comprehensively defeated despite appealing for the Pope’s intervention.15 None of the family could doubt Blanche’s tremendous energy and abilities, and when her brother Henry, Duke of Lancaster, made his will in March 1360 he had no hesitation in appointing his ‘very dear sister Lady Wake’ as his principal executor.16 Blanche would have relished the opportunity to school the young Thomas, as he would eventually inherit the Wake estates. Even in old age she showed a willingness to look after the children of her relatives, caring for John of Gaunt’s young family in the early 1370s after the death of his wife, Blanche, while John was abroad. An indication of the ties forged between Blanche, Joan and Thomas Holand is their common interest in Stamford and its Franciscan Grey Friars church, where they all chose to be buried. Joan’s eldest son, and her heir, Thomas, also developed a special affection for Bourne, as he chose to be buried there rather than in any of the other resting places on his estates, ignoring Stamford, where his parents were buried.17 The other possible guardian for their two sons was Lady Elizabeth de Burgh, who, although now elderly, was notably sociable. Elizabeth’s household accounts record a visit by the Countess of Kent in October 1355; this could have been Joan returning from Brittany and collecting her sons from her cousin’s care.18
Joan left England in November 1354 and sailed to Brittany with Thomas. She had not been to the duchy before, and there is no record of where she stayed. The main centres of English administration in Brittany
were the town of Vannes, in the south, and the port of Brest, on the north-west coast. Vannes had been in English hands since 1343 and Thomas’ predecessors as lieutenant had sited their council and administrative headquarters in the town, with the mint. Edward III had a high regard for Vannes, describing it as the best town after Nantes, which remained under the influence of the French king.19 In all probability Thomas also chose to be based in Vannes, and occupied the same buildings as the previous king’s lieutenants. What was life like for Joan in Brittany? As there are no records or accounts of her stay there it is only possible to speculate. As a child in the queen’s household she had spent many months abroad, in Ghent where she had married Thomas and then outside Calais while it was besieged. As the wife of the king’s lieutenant in Brittany, her position was quite different. Although it is unlikely she enjoyed many luxuries, Joan would have brought several servants with her, and quite possibly a few of the wives of her husband’s knights to keep her company. It was usual for a commander to regularly spend time with his leading knights, especially over meals, and as Thomas’ wife Joan may have presided over dinners. Apart from his own relatives, Thomas’ retinue consisted of knights with a gentry background, all of whom were serving soldiers looking for advancement in their chosen profession. They were largely separated from their families, and Joan would have been one of very few women with whom they had contact overseas, as well as being in a position of seniority because of her husband’s position and her royal birth. It is also likely that Thomas and Joan had occasion to entertain the local nobility who supported the English cause. Joan’s responsibilities would also have included caring for John Montfort; quite possibly she had a hand in ensuring his continuing education while he was with them.
Accompanying Thomas to Brittany inevitably brought Joan into much closer contact with the war, even if he was careful to keep her well away from any actual fighting. With the progress of the war as an everyday topic of conversation, she would have at least become familiar with aspects of it. The war in France was an everyday fact of life for Joan, brought up in the English court, but her experience hitherto had been limited. Now she was seeing a different side of war, more able to appreciate the grim purpose and necessity of the skills and practice gained by knights participating in the colourful jousting tournaments she had watched and enjoyed. Living in a war-torn land, Joan cannot have been entirely sheltered from the harsh truths of conflict, and when travelling within the duchy she may have seen at first hand the effect on the local population. Joan’s experiences with Thomas gave her a more intimate knowledge and greater understanding of the realities of warfare than most of her peers would have had, and probably made her more at ease with the men around her, while they may have come to hold her in greater respect for being a part of their working lives.
It is likely that Joan was occasionally left in Vannes when Thomas needed to travel. Although he had exerted his authority in his first few months in Brittany, there remained a number of individual fortresses held by different commanders who were refusing to acknowledge the authority of the English Crown. Thomas’ personal presence was probably required to extend his control and fulfil his orders, necessitating leaving Joan behind. Whatever sympathies Thomas might have had for the defiant captains, he achieved considerable success in bringing them into line and also proved remarkably adept at exerting financial control in the duchy, appointing officials to collect the local taxes in a methodical way.20 Edward III was obviously satisfied with his lieutenant, as he renewed Thomas’ appointment in February 1355 to run for another year, once again with the revenues from the duchy being assigned to him in June 1355.21 Thomas returned to England with Joan in July 1355 to get reinforcements, and they sailed back to Brittany almost immediately, in August.22 By July Joan had been away from England for eight months, a long time to have been separated from her two boys, and she may not have had the opportunity to see them in her short stay. Joan was nevertheless willing to accompany Thomas back to Brittany, although she must have known that she might not be able to see her sons for several more months. However, in September, within weeks of arriving back in Brittany, Thomas received news that he was to be replaced as lieutenant in Brittany by Henry, Duke of Lancaster. This would mean that Joan would be returning to England much sooner than she had anticipated.
Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster, had succeeded to his father’s dignities in 1345, and he had been Edward III’s principal adviser and his leading commander for some years. Henry was also the king’s cousin. His appointment heralded a change of policy in the conduct of the war with France rather than any royal dissatisfaction with Thomas. Shortly before Christmas 1354 the king had sent an embassy, led by Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel, to Avignon, to formally sign the draft treaty of Guines. In the Pope’s presence Lancaster had duly pronounced the terms of the peace, and confirmed Edward III’s willingness to sign the treaty, but to his consternation the French ambassadors had refused to do likewise, saying they could not consent to it.23 Considering how favourable the proposals were to Edward III, the French refusal to honour the terms of the agreement was not entirely surprising. Nevertheless their action does not seem to have been anticipated and Edward III reacted angrily when he heard the news. According to Froissart he declared that since peace could not be made at Avignon he would wage war more strongly in France than ever before. In the early months of 1355 the king conferred with his council and his leading commanders, devising a new strategy. The decision was made to launch a fresh attack in France, this time in the form of two major expeditions which would commence when the truce expired in June 1355. Edward III, with Lancaster at his side, was to lead the main expedition into Normandy, relying on the support of Charles of Navarre, the Count of Evreux, who controlled the Cotentin and parts of Normandy. Navarre was John II’s son-in- law, and had fallen out with the French king. The second expedition was to be into Gascony, in response to a plea for help from the Gascons, who had suffered repeated French raids which had weakened English control of the duchy. At Westminster in April 1355 the council agreed that Prince Edward would lead the Gascon expedition, supported by the earls of Warwick, Suffolk and Oxford – and William Montague, Earl of Salisbury.24 Both expeditions were to be large-scale mounted raids intended to devastate the countryside, so emphasising the weakness of the French king and his inability to protect his subjects in the hope that John II might be enticed into battle.
Edward III had planned to leave England in August, but was delayed at Portsmouth by bad weather. When he received news from spies that Charles of Navarre had made peace with John II, and that French troops were being sent to the ports in Normandy to ambush him when he arrived, he called the expedition off on 12 September. In the meantime, Prince Edward had already embarked from Plymouth for Bordeaux. A change of plan was needed, and the king decided the Duke of Lancaster should take command of the Anglo-Navarrese army and launch a new attack from Brittany. It was therefore appropriate to appoint Lancaster lieutenant in Brittany, replacing Thomas Holand.25 But almost immediately the king and his advisers had second thoughts, and the Brittany project was deferred in favour of an expedition from Calais, making use of the originally mobilised army and arrangements. In late October Edward III and his reassembled army sailed to Calais with Lancaster at his side, and on landing they were joined by troops from Flanders, Brabant and Germany. Their resulting campaign through Picardy was closely shadowed by the French king and his much larger army, while in Gascony the prince led his small force on a devastating eight-week chevauchée to the Mediterranean and back. Sir John Wingfield, one of the prince’s knights, and a member of his council, reported that the countryside and towns which were destroyed in the prince’s raid produced more revenue for the King of France than half his kingdom.26 Edward III’s efforts were less obviously successful, as he was unable to engage John II in battle, despite giving the French king ample provocation and several opportunities to attack him, even sending him a personal challenge for single armed com
bat. After a campaign of only three weeks Edward III realised that he was not going to draw John II into battle, discharged his foreign support and returned to England in November 1355.
Thomas’ whereabouts during these two campaigns is not known. His absence from the record of the list of commanders in each campaign is distinctly curious, considering his reputation and loyal service. Conducting two major offensives against France, Edward III had need of every able-bodied knight and there is no obvious reason why he would not have made use of the talents of one of his best commanders. As Lancaster’s commitments with the king delayed his departure for Brittany, Thomas would not have immediately relinquished his command in September, thus ensuring that he would have been unable to join the prince in time to take part in the Gascony campaign.27 This might also explain why he was not given a senior command in the king’s campaign. His charge, John Montfort, is known to have been with Edward III during the Picardy campaign, in the company of the king’s two younger sons, and it seems likely that the king ordered Thomas to bring the boy in person rather than delegate this duty. Once back in England Edward III was almost immediately engaged in a fresh campaign against the Scots, who had taken advantage of his absence to seize Berwick, but again there is no record that Thomas was part of his army.