Joan of Kent: The First Princess of Wales

by Penny Lawne

  Joan showed a considerable interest in several of the young clerks in her service. William Harpele was with her before her marriage to the prince, and his two brothers benefited from Joan’s affection for William. In 1365 Laurence Harpele became her clerk and received a canonry and prebend (income) through her offices, while John Harpele had become squire to the prince by 1367.81 Four applications by Joan to the Pope on behalf of a young man called William Croule have survived, starting in September 1363 with her request for him to be ordained priest while he was twenty. By 1365 he had become a constant member of her household and just a month after Prince Edward’s birth, in May 1365, she asked for a benefice valued at 30 marks on his behalf, later that year asking for it to be increased by 15 marks. In 1366 she obtained the church of Paston in Northamptonshire for him (he would receive the benefice from Peterborough Abbey).82 In 1365 and 1366 she asked for canonries, several with prebends, for more of her clerks: Thomas Yerd, Thomas Bullesden, John Ludham, Simon Lothebury and Hugh Bukunhull.83 On 1 September 1365 an increased annuity of £10 was granted to Joan’s yeoman of the wardrobe, Stephen, for his good service to her and the prince.84 This was evidently a personal request by Joan as the annuity was to be funded from her Cottingham estate. While patronage was expected of a woman in Joan’s position, and there is nothing unusual in these requests, it is notable that in each case she was giving these young men the crucial first step in their career, just as she had with Robert Braybrooke. These gestures show that she thought carefully about the effect of her intervention. The picture that emerges is one of interest and concern, with a thoughtful and considered approach to making rewards and requests on behalf of others. In this way Joan fulfilled her expected role, and provided quietly effective patronage while not drawing attention to herself, in contrast to her husband’s more public and lavish generosity.

  Without more detailed records it is only possible to make some reasonable suppositions about Joan’s lifestyle at this time. Her time seems to have been divided between the archbishop’s palace and abbey of St Andrews in Bordeaux and the castle at Angoulême, holding court in each, sitting alongside the prince on formal occasions. She may have accompanied the prince on some of his progresses through the duchy, but most of her time was spent in Bordeaux and Angoulême. Bordeaux was the administrative capital from where the prince’s principal staff conducted their state business, a bustling city with an ever-changing population arriving and departing from its busy port. Although Bordeaux was the largest centre in the principality Joan appears to have spent more of her time in Angoulême, a smaller and less busy centre; certainly she did throughout the latter part of 1364, most of 1365 and the early part of 1366, often without the prince while he travelled to other centres. Presiding with the prince over their court occupied much of her time, as did playing hostess to the constant large number of guests while at the same time taking responsibility for supervising the upbringing of her children, as well as her household and staff. However, when the prince was away her lifestyle would have been considerably quieter. It was in every sense a royal existence, closely paralleling the lifestyle she had seen as a child and preparing her for the day when she would have to take Queen Philippa’s place. The resemblance between Joan and her mother-in-law is in some ways striking, and it is easy to conclude that Joan consciously modelled her behaviour on Philippa’s. It was also, presumably, a happy time for her, surrounded by her expanding family.

  Then, in the autumn of 1366, Joan’s Aquitanian idyll ended. After only six years of peace, the prince was once again going to war, although this time the campaign was in Spain, in response to a call for aid from an ally rather than as a result of a new English initiative in France. South of Aquitaine was a collection of smaller kingdoms including Navarre, Aragon, Granada and Castile, the last being the largest and richest as well as having a strong navy. When the war with France had started in 1340 both sides had made approaches to each of these kingdoms in the hope of securing their allegiance, with Castile the most potentially valuable. Castile initially was neutral, more concerned about the security of its own southern borders. In 1343 King Alfonso XI had called for assistance, receiving papal endorsement for his Crusade against the Moors. In the temporary lull in hostilities between France and England the Castilian king had attracted support from a large number of prestigious knights, including Edward III’s close friend the Earl of Salisbury, his cousin Henry, then Earl of Derby, as well as knights seeking adventure and preferment, like Thomas Holand. In 1345 Alfonso had turned his back on his English friends and entered into an alliance with France, but by 1348 Edward III had persuaded the Castilian king to reconsider an alliance with England, and it was agreed that Alfonso’s son Pedro would wed Princess Joan. When the princess died of the plague when embarking for Spain, Pedro had married the French princess Blanche of Bourbon instead, and succeeded his father two years later when Alfonso died in 1350. Notwithstanding the support given to France by the Castilians, most obviously when their navy fought Edward III in the sea battle at Winchelsea, diplomatic negotiations had continued. Just before the prince was granted Aquitaine in 1362, Pedro agreed to an Anglo-Castilian alliance, and the treaty was formally completed at St Paul’s Cathedral on 22 June 1362.85

  Pedro’s change of heart was largely a matter of self-interest, as he had a rival for his throne in the shape of his illegitimate half-brother Henry of Trastámara. Henry had secured the backing of the kingdom of Aragon, and the support of the new King of France. John II, taken prisoner by the prince at Poitiers, had died in London in April 1364, and his death had signalled a change in French policy. Whereas John II had felt bound to honour the provisions of the Treaty of Brétigny, and to pay his ransom, his son and successor Charles V felt quite differently. Clever enough to appreciate that he needed to avoid open confrontation with Edward III, he made little effort to complete the outstanding ransom payments or treaty provisions, and it suited him well to encourage Pedro’s rival. In the autumn of 1365 Henry of Trastámara invaded Castile with the aid of an army of mercenaries (including English captains, one being Eustace d’Aubrichecourt, who appears to have left the prince’s service) raised under the auspices of the Aragonese king and led by the French generals Bernard du Guesclin and d’Audrehem, Marshal of France, with the tacit backing of France. Pedro immediately invoked the treaty, obliging Edward III to provide troops at Pedro’s expense to serve against his enemies.86 He was disappointed in Edward III’s initial response, which was simply to issue a proclamation forbidding English subjects to attack Castile, intended to deter English and Gascon subjects from joining Henry’s mercenary army. In February the Pope wrote to Joan, asking her to urge the prince to mediate between the Castilian and Aragonese kings, and to help the Bishop of Chichester foster peace between them.87 This is the first time the Pope is recorded asking for Joan’s assistance, indicating that by this time her influence on her husband was universally recognised, as there is no evidence that he had already made a similar request directly to the prince, who had been one of the main promoters of Anglo-Castilian treaty. But whatever the Pope hoped Joan might be able to achieve, it was already too late. By March 1366 Henry of Trastámara’s army had successfully taken most of Castile, and Henry had been crowned at Burgos while Pedro fled into exile. As Pedro’s fortunes waned the debate in England changed in tone, as a pro-French King of Castile was not only undesirable for England but also posed a significant threat to Aquitaine. The prince was a party to the discussions, writing letters to his father and sending his chamberlain Sir Nigel Loring to England in the spring of 1366. Whatever their personal feelings about Pedro (and the prince had no great fondness for the Castilian king) he was at least an ally and so a more desirable proposition than Henry of Trastámara. They would have to assist Pedro, and it would be the prince who would play the lead role in providing that assistance. Edward III called Parliament at the beginning of May, and it was agreed that a small force would be sent, led by the prince’s younger brother, John of Gaunt. In J
une orders were given for the requisitioning of shipping to use as transport. Meanwhile the prince began his own preparations, on 8 May ordering Sir Nigel Loring and his sixteen-year-old stepson Thomas Holand to bring a force of troops and sappers urgently to Gascony.88

  At the end of July 1366 the prince travelled from Bordeaux and met with Pedro outside Bayonne at Capbreton, where agreement for assistance was reached in principle. The basic understanding was that the prince would raise and command an army which would invade Castile and restore Pedro to his throne. The inference from the tone of the contemporary commentators is that the English were not overly enthusiastic in responding to Pedro’s request, and some historians have implied that it was the prince, anxious for another military campaign, who responded favourably to Pedro’s pleas for help and persuaded his father to go along with it.89 However, by the time the prince met Pedro at Capbreton the decision had already been taken in England that assistance should be given, and the prince was acting in response to instructions given by his father.90 A formal agreement was signed at Libourne on 23 September covering the practical details of the operation. King Carlos of Navarre was a necessary party to the deal, as his kingdom controlled passes into Castile which the prince would need to use, and he was promised substantial payment and territorial concessions. The prince agreed to pay for his own army and to pay King Carlos on the understanding that Pedro would repay him when his kingdom was regained. Pedro also promised to give areas of coastal land in the north of Castile to the prince and to give him the titles of Lord of Biscay and Castro Urdiales.91

  As soon as the agreement was signed the prince went to work to raise his army. It proved easy to obtain support, and he was joined enthusiastically by most of the Aquitanian nobility, and by men from the free companies in France, all of whom envisaged making their fortunes from the profits of a successful campaign. Nevertheless, the adventure promised in Spain was on a very different footing to the earlier campaigns in France. Despite the obligations imposed on England under the Anglo-Castilian treaty, and however much the language of the deal signed at Libourne dressed it up, the prince would in effect be acting as a mercenary, hired by one side in a civil war. Financial support from England was intended to be minimal, and the supporting force commanded by John of Gaunt modest in size. According to Froissart, some of the prince’s closest advisors had strong reservations about the enterprise, although their scruples were a personal objection to Pedro himself on the grounds that he ‘is now and has always been, a man of great pride, cruelty and wickedness’, rather than the viability of the project.92 From the outset the venture was risky in the extreme, with the financial basis being critically dependent not simply on the prince being successful but also on Castile being able to pay for the expenses of the major campaign. The only financial contribution Pedro was able to make at this stage was of his personal jewellery. Although the prince could rely on his own retinue, who formed the hub of the army, to cover most of their own expenses initially, huge sums of money were nonetheless needed to cover the initial expenses that would be incurred to pay for equipment and supplies, advance payments promised to the Gascon lords and the loan to Pedro to pay the King of Navarre. It has been calculated that the amount required, even before the army set out, was in the region of £100,000.93 The sheer expense of the enterprise was daunting and the quantities of ready cash needed far exceeded anything the prince had to hand. The prince resorted to melting down his own household gold and silver and to minting additional coins, and Edward III was forced to contribute a substantial sum in gold, simply to finance the start of the campaign. There is some evidence that the prince tried to control the costs by restricting the size of the contingents provided by individual lords, but this was in itself a difficult issue. The Lord of Albret was probably not the only noble to refuse, angered by what he may have considered an unwarranted limit on his opportunity to make a fortune in plunder.94 Nonetheless, Edward III and the prince confidently gambled that the prince would succeed, and that victory would ensure that the costs would be recovered, just as the diplomatic objective would be achieved.

  The prince’s army gathered during the autumn of 1366 in Dax, with the prince moving his court to Bordeaux to be nearer at hand, where he was joined by the Castilian king and his three daughters, Beatrice, Constance and Isabella. Joan and the prince stayed at the abbey of St Andrews. Pedro would naturally accompany the prince on campaign, while his daughters would remain, as surety for Pedro but treated as guests, in Joan’s care.95 John of Gaunt sailed from Plymouth early in December to join with Sir Robert Knolles in Brittany, having agreed to rendezvous with the prince at Dax where the main force was being assembled. Joan was in the last stage of her pregnancy by this time, and the prince was with her when their second son was born at the abbey of St Andrews in Bordeaux on 6 January 1367.96 Among the women attending Joan at the birth was Lady Anne Stury, wife to Richard Stury, one of the prince’s knights, and she brought the news of the birth to the prince.97 The baby was christened Richard three days later in the cathedral by the archbishop, with their guests the kings of Majorca and Armenia acting as his godfathers. Froissart was among the many guests. Joan ensured that a wet nurse, Mundina Danos, was engaged for the baby along with a cradle rocker named Eliona de France; both were local women.98

  According to Chandos Herald Joan was extremely unhappy at the prospect of her husband’s departure:

  [She] had right bitter grief at heart, and then she reproached the goddess of love who had brought her to such great majesty, for she had the most puissant prince in the world. Often she said, ‘Alas what should I do, God, and love, if I were to lose the very flower of nobleness, the flower of loftiest grandeur, him who has no peer in the world in valour? Death! Thou wouldst be at hand. No have I neither heart nor blood nor vein, but every member fails me, when I call to mind his departure, for all the world says this, that never did any man adventure himself on so perilous an expedition. O very sweet and glorious Father, comfort me in your pity.’ Then did the prince hearken to his gentle lady’s words; he gave her right noble comfort, and said to her, ‘Lady, let be your weeping, be not dismayed, for God has power to do all.’ The noble prince gently comforts the lady, and then sweetly takes leave of her, saying lovingly, ‘Lady, we shall meet again in such wise that we shall have joy, we and all our friends for my heart tells me so.’ Very sweetly did they embrace and take farewell with kisses. Then might you see ladies weep and damsels lament, one bewailing her lover and another her husband. The princess sorrowed so much that being then big with child, she through grief delivered and brought forth a very fair son, the which was called Richard. Great rejoicings did all make, and the prince also was right glad at heart, and all say with one accord, Behold a right fair beginning.99

  Chandos Herald wrote this in 1385, nearly twenty years later, and the account is clearly embroidered – there is, for example, no evidence that Richard was born prematurely or that Joan experienced any difficulty in the birth. In view of the outcome of the Spanish campaign it is hardly surprising that the herald depicted Joan being upset, as the prince’s leaving her in January 1367 did indeed mark a real turning point in their relationship. At the time there was no real reason for Joan to feel apprehension. It was their first parting, but Joan had been a soldier’s wife for many years and she would never have expected to keep the prince at her side throughout their married life.

  The prince left Bordeaux shortly after Richard’s christening and went south to Dax to join his army. He had succeeded in gathering an extremely large army, estimated variously at between 6,000 and 10,000 troops.100 Most of his entourage were with him, many of whom had served with him in 1355 and had been with him at Poitiers – as well as the greater Aquitanian nobility led by Armagnac and d’Albret. This was a major enterprise, and the prince could anticipate being absent for many months. Naturally he needed to make provision for the governance of Aquitaine, and he gave his deputies his instructions for the action they were to take in his absence.
It is perhaps surprising that the prince does not seem to have considered appointing his wife to be regent in his absence, but he had never envisaged Joan having a political role. Instead, Joan was to supervise what was left of their court. She watched as her husband left, taking with him her eldest son, Thomas Holand, supported by her friend Eleanor whose husband Roger de la Warr also accompanied him.101 It is possible that she had been joined by her sister-in-law, Elizabeth, as Elizabeth’s husband, Eustace d’Aubrichecourt, had just arrived to join the prince’s entourage.102 Prince Edward had not waited for his brother to arrive, and when John of Gaunt reached Aquitaine he first went to Bordeaux to pay his respects to his sister-in-law. Chandos Herald recalled that ‘night and morning the noble Duke of Lancaster rode until he came right to Bordeaux, and found there the princess, mistress of all honour, who welcomed him sweetly and very graciously asked news of her country, how they fared in England. And the duke recounted all.’103 It is unlikely that at this point the two knew each other very well. Joan was twelve years older than John, and it had been during Philippa’s confinement giving birth to John that Joan had entered into her secret marriage to Thomas Holand. Being so much younger John would barely have seen his cousin as he was growing up, though he would no doubt have heard about her circumstances. John was the closest to the prince of his brothers, and had lived in the prince’s household from March 1350 to May 1355 when he was an adolescent, but, by the time the prince married Joan, John was already married himself and occupied with his management of his own extensive affairs.104 Joan had not attended John’s wedding to Blanche of Lancaster, as she had been in France with Thomas Holand.105 When John arrived in Bordeaux it would have been natural for him to spend some time with Joan, bringing her up to date with news from England but also giving them a chance to get to know each other better. Seeing his new nephew Richard may have been poignant for John, as his wife was expecting their third child in a few months’ time. The few days John spent with Joan in Bordeaux were the start of a strong and lasting friendship between them. While John stayed with Joan he would also have met his future wife Constance (of Castile) for the first time.