Joan of Kent: The First Princess of Wales

by Penny Lawne

  Managing the prince’s affairs took a considerable amount of time, and it was more than four years later when the last of the dower estates were confirmed to Joan. However, with a typically thoughtful and considered gesture, Joan requested that in the interim her son should receive her dower share of the income from the estates.13 With her place at Richard’s side confirmed, Joan was providing public affirmation of her concern that her son’s interests should come before her own. In the meantime Joan and Richard remained living at Kennington. This was Joan’s decision, determined to ensure that Richard’s daily routine was maintained, and that few, if any, changes were made to their household. His education, under the tutelage of Simon Burley, continued with few interruptions, and the strong network of support within the household, including his half-brother, John Holand, and his half-sister, Maud Courtenay, as well as the company of other young nobles, including John of Gaunt’s son Henry of Derby, who was the same age, and Robert de Vere, five years his elder, was retained. The Duchess of Brittany, Joan’s younger daughter, was almost certainly part of the household also, as John Montfort remained an exile from his own country and did not return to Brittany until August 1379, while the duchess did not join her husband there until 1382.14

  Gaunt returned from the prince’s interment with resolve and determination to reverse the proceedings of the Good Parliament. A meeting of the great council was called which he chaired as royal lieutenant and the Good Parliament was declared invalid and its acts annulled. A new speaker, Sir Thomas Hungerford, Gaunt’s steward and a member of his council, and who had also served the prince, was elected. Latimer was pardoned and resumed his seat, Sir Peter de la Mare was arrested and imprisoned, and Alice Perrers was allowed back to court. There was satisfaction for Gaunt in restoring Latimer, which Joan probably shared. Latimer had been one of the prince’s retainers, he had taken part in Gaunt’s expeditions, and had a family connection with Joan through Thomas Latimer, the son of Roger de la Warr’s sister. When he had been impeached, his mainpernors (guarantors for his attendance) had been John Clanvowe, William Neville, Philip la Vache, John Montague and William Beauchamp.15 Gaunt was personally enraged that his old friend William Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, had been one of Latimer’s principal prosecutors in the Good Parliament and, taking advantage of his initiative, ensured that Wykeham was banned from court and had his temporalities forfeited. His animosity towards Wykeham was intemperate and has never been fully explained; possibly Gaunt felt the bishop’s move against Latimer was a personal betrayal. Whatever the cause, it was certainly unfortunate, as the bishop had also been a close friend of the prince’s and was his principal executor after Gaunt. The two men needed to be able to work together. But for the time being Gaunt’s wishes prevailed, and Wykeham was in disgrace and his temporalities were granted to Richard. All the proceedings were now being directed by Gaunt, who lost no time in restoring his family’s solidarity and its prestige, making his own loyalties quite clear. Richard was created Prince of Wales, while Gaunt’s youngest brother, Thomas of Woodstock, was made constable of England.

  In January 1377 Parliament was called again, and Gaunt arranged for his nephew to preside over proceedings, hoping no doubt that the young prince’s presence would encourage the Commons to unify in support of the Crown. His hopes were largely met as the Commons quickly responded by voting for the requested poll tax. There was no doubt of Richard’s popularity. Just two days before Parliament convened, on 25 January, the City of London organised a tremendous entertainment for the young prince, arranging for a company of 130 mummers to ride out to Kennington from Newgate through Cheapside and across London Bridge. The event was well planned with the mummers dressed in various guises such as knights and squires and various clerical officials, and bearing a gift of loaded dice for the young prince. Joan and John of Gaunt ensured a public display of royal unity by appearing with Richard when he received the revellers, together with his royal uncles Edmund of Langley and Thomas of Woodstock, and various other members of the aristocracy. Richard played dice with some of the mummers and won three gold objects, wine was provided and there was a party atmosphere, with dancing accompanied by minstrels.16

  The proceedings of the parliament in January 1377 did not go as smoothly as Gaunt had hoped. The bishops in convocation refused to grant the requested poll tax until the Bishop of Winchester was reinstated. Gaunt’s animosity towards Wykeham was unabated, and was no doubt exacerbated by the fact that the leader of the convocation was an old adversary, Bishop Courtenay, who had also played a prominent role in the Good Parliament. Gaunt refused to agree. A personal battle of wills developed between him and Bishop Courtenay. Courtenay’s response was to summon Gaunt’s protégé, the radical Oxford theologian and scholar John Wyclif, to appear before the convocation to answer charges regarding his teachings on the Church. Wyclif was an obvious and easy target. In sermons and treatises he advocated a devout and simple life, critical of what he saw as secular preoccupation among many of the clergy, and he had bravely preached against ecclesiastical abuses. He was also fiercely against the war with France, describing it as evil. Although his anti-papal and anti-clerical opinions were received with sympathy in some quarters, including that of Gaunt, his views were controversial and potentially heretical. Courtenay arranged for Wyclif to be summoned to appear before a bench of bishops on the charge of heresy. Gaunt realised that the attack was really directed at him rather than his protégé, and engaged several doctors of divinity to speak in Wyclif’s defence, attending the inquiry in the lady chapel of St Paul’s in person. However, his insistence on bringing an armed following with him did nothing to reduce the tension, and a bitter row broke out between him and Courtenay.

  Wyclif’s trial was well publicised, and inconclusive. When it broke up in confusion, there were rumours that Gaunt had either threatened or harmed the bishop. Angry mobs of Londoners took to the streets, looking for ways to attack Gaunt. The violence soon got out of hand, despite Courtenay’s attempts to placate the rioters.17 Gaunt’s Savoy Palace was attacked, and anyone wearing his livery was in danger of being assaulted. Gaunt himself, with his companion Henry Percy, was having dinner at the house of Sir John d’Ypres, eating oysters, and as the mob advanced they were forced to flee for their lives. Gaunt chose to take to the water and row to Kennington, trusting that Joan would take them in, and that she would be able to protect him. Meanwhile the Londoners proclaimed Gaunt to be a traitor, and bills were posted suggesting he was the son of a butcher in Ghent and a changeling, not the real son of Edward III and Queen Philippa. With feelings running high, it was a difficult and dangerous situation. However, Joan had no hesitation in giving Gaunt and Percy shelter, or in using her personal influence to defuse the situation. According to the chronicler Walsingham, ‘the princess, after hearing what they had to say, consoled them with such words as she could for the time being, promising to settle the whole issue to their advantage, as in fact she did’.18 She immediately sent three of her most trusted knights, Aubrey de Vere, Simon Burley and Lewis Clifford, to speak directly with the citizens of London, entreating with them that they make peace with the duke. Walsingham records that ‘she asked the citizens to be reconciled to the duke on the grounds that she was pleading for this and loved them, and to bring such serious disturbances to an end because of the wider trouble that usually followed such civil strife’. Joan knew that the Londoners held her in high regard and she was right to appeal to them in her own name. For love of her they agreed, albeit grudgingly. According to Walsingham, they agreed, saying that ‘with all respect that out of regard for her they would do whatever she commanded’.19 The duke was not forgiven, and his behaviour not forgotten, but for the time being peace and harmony was restored.

  This was Joan’s first public foray into politics, and she risked her own reputation in coming to the aid of a man who was deeply unpopular, in doing so jeopardising her political neutrality. Yet she had shown no hesitation in doing so. Joan’s reaction to the crisis
, and her willingness to take independent action, indicates her confidence in her own ability. While her swift and immediate response showed the depth of her concern for Gaunt, and the close bond between them, it also showed that she was capable of handling a difficult and dangerous situation with considerable skill. Although she knew that the Londoners regarded her highly, she did not presume that they would automatically agree to her intervention. She was careful in her approach, exercising tact and discretion. Each of the three knights chosen was known for their association with the prince, and none were prominent in politics, so making them acceptable to the Londoners. They were also acceptable to Gaunt for the same reasons, while also being known and trusted by him; both Clifford and Burley had received gifts from him in the past.20 They were also loyal to Joan and Richard, Clifford being married to her friend Eleanor, while Burley was Richard’s tutor and de Vere one of the prince’s old retainers. Joan instructed them to appeal to the Londoners in her name, relying on her personal influence. There was no mention of the king or of Prince Richard, and she made no command. Appealing to the Londoners on the basis of their regard for her was shrewd, allowing them to concede without losing face. By acting quickly and tactfully her sure touch defused an explosive situation. John of Gaunt had been right to have faith in his sister-in-law. Joan had shown that she was a natural conciliator, possessing sensitivity and judgement. While Gaunt stayed with her at Kennington, they had an opportunity to discuss what had happened, and Joan may have helped her brother-in-law to see that his dogged intransigence over Wykeham had been largely responsible for creating the crisis. In future, John showed great respect for Joan’s judgement, and the strong bond between them was strengthened.

  The winter of 1377 was cold and hard, and melting snow caused floods in Northumberland.21 The king had spent Christmas at Havering-atte-Bower, and it is likely that he requested his heir’s presence. Due to Edward III’s deteriorating health and mental state the king was taking less interest in affairs and making fewer decisions. Joan, meanwhile, was increasingly seen as a force in politics. In February 1377 the lieutenant in Aquitaine, Thomas Felton (the prince’s old servant), noted that Henry of Trastámara in Castile appeared to be building up shipping and troops with a view to invading England with the assistance of a claimant to the title Prince of Wales, one Owain Lawgoch.22 A copy of Felton’s communication to his deputies was sent to Joan from one of her dower Welsh provinces, warning her of the threat of invasion, advising her to take appropriate measures, clearly anticipating that she would act on the information and be able to take effective steps to counter it.23 Joan may have received the letter at Kennington before she left the capital with Richard to spend time at Berkhamsted once the parliament had ended, and after conferring with her council the intelligence was passed directly to the king’s council at Westminster. The threat was treated very seriously and on 15 March orders were issued to Gaunt and others to fortify their castles in Wales to defend against an invasion. The writer of the letter, in addressing the letter to Joan rather than sending it directly to the king or even to Parliament, evidently regarded the Princess of Wales as a trusted and authoritative figure, and someone who could be depended on to resolve a matter of national emergency.

  Although Gaunt had earlier shown little enthusiasm for a renewed attack on France, he realised that the threat could not be ignored and he was at the forefront of the initiative to take active steps to ward off an invasion. A fresh expedition to France was proposed and on 23 April, St George’s Day, Prince Richard and his cousin Henry of Bolingbroke (Gaunt’s son) were knighted and admitted to the Order of the Garter, along with their uncle Thomas of Woodstock and other young nobles, in anticipation of their participation in the expedition. Ships were requisitioned, troops arrayed and contracts of service drawn up. The main expedition leaders were to be Prince Richard, Gaunt, Richard’s brother-in-law the Duke of Brittany, his uncle Thomas of Woodstock, the Earl of Warwick, Lord William Latimer, Sir Guy Brian, Sir Michael de la Pole and two of the prince’s knights, Sir Richard Stury and Sir Philip la Vache. Clearly the ten-year-old Prince of Wales was only expected to be leader in name only; Gaunt would be the principal captain. By June the preparations were well in hand with seventy ships in London, and the departure date imminent.24 Then, on 21 June, Edward III died. This changed everything. The expedition’s departure was immediately postponed, then delayed indefinitely, until eventually the whole affair was abandoned.

  The king died at his palace at Sheen during the evening of 21 June 1377. According to Walsingham, Edward III was attended solely by a priest who spent some time persuading the old king to make his peace with God, having been abandoned at the end by his knights and esquires, and by his mistress Alice Perrers, who left his bedside after stripping the rings from his hands, having already received great wealth and vast numbers of possessions from the infatuated king.25 If this account is correct, then it was a sad ending for a man who had been a hugely successful and popular king, and in direct contrast to the dignified and honourable death of his eldest son just eleven months beforehand. It seems inconceivable that his surviving children, John of Gaunt, Edmund of Langley, Thomas of Woodstock and Princess Isabella, would have abandoned their father in this way, and it is hard to imagine that Joan would have neglected her father-in-law, however difficult the personal relationship between them had been. Edward III had been in failing health for some time, and it may be that none of them realised quite how ill he had become, distracted by the preparations for the invasion of France. Indeed, Walsingham states that the king’s death came ‘almost unexpectedly’ and that ‘he was suddenly taken by surprise by the day of his death’.26 Joan was with Richard at Kennington when the news was brought to them, within easy travelling distance of Sheen; had they appreciated the king was dying they would have made haste to be with him. However, in contrast to Walsingham, Froissart describes the king as being surrounded by his family, and certainly his three sons, John, Edmund and Thomas, were all present at Sheen the following day.27

  Edward III had been king for fifty years, an extremely long time in an age where the average life expectancy was many years less than that. Most of the nobility, indeed most of the population, could not remember a time before Edward had been king. For most of his reign he had enjoyed huge popularity, and had successfully reconciled public opinion to his foreign policy. However, the glorious earlier days of his reign, the stunning victories he and his son had won in France, the spectacular celebratory tournaments and the enormous riches gained during the French campaigns were all becoming distant memories, while the last few years of his reign had been soured by successive crises, caused largely by the costly and unsuccessful French campaigns after 1369 which had achieved so little and tarnished the reputations of those participating (notably Gaunt) and by the increasingly tempestuous relationship between the Crown and Parliament. Economically, most of the population were still suffering from the combined effects of the Black Death, poor harvests and the taxes levied to pay for the war in France. Much was hoped for with a change of monarch, not least an end to the divisiveness and failure associated with those last years.

  The king himself was determined that his grandson would succeed him and did his best to ensure a smooth transition. The prince and the king had always been conscious that despite every effort they made the validity of the prince’s marriage would remain susceptible to challenge, and Richard’s position was greatly weakened by the fact that it was certain he would be a minor when the king died. Edward III did his best to make a last attempt to circumvent any possibility of his grandson being supplanted as his heir. In preparation for his death he drew up his will, one of the witnesses being Sir Richard Stury, and in an entail specifically designated Richard as his successor.28 He bolstered Joan’s position, confirming his public approval of her by mentioning her first in his will, leaving ‘the wife of our eldest son Edward’ 1,000 marks, although he was not able to bring warmth to the gesture, and the tone is coldly formal, unlike h
is reference to ‘our dear daughter Isabel for her support and that of her daughter 300 marks’.29 Richard was still only a child of ten and his peaceful accession to the throne was by no means assured. He could easily be displaced by a powerful and ambitious adult, especially if there was insufficient support. As Edward III lay dying, many in Parliament feared that Richard might not become king and that Gaunt intended to seize the throne for himself. If Richard was not the rightful heir, then Gaunt, as the king’s eldest surviving son, had a strong claim to be his successor. Gaunt was the richest and the most powerful noble in the land, and he was also, at thirty-seven, in the prime of life and supremely healthy. But Parliament’s suspicion of Gaunt was misplaced, as the duke remained steadfastly loyal to his father and older brother, and did everything in his power to support his nephew and ensure a smooth succession. However, Parliament’s distrust of Gaunt in demanding that Richard be created Prince of Wales after his father’s death had the additional effect of affirming their recognition and acceptance of Richard’s legitimacy, making a challenge to his position less likely. In the event, when Edward III died, no one came forward to challenge Richard’s right to succeed his grandfather.