by Penny Lawne
36. Wilton Diptych, exterior panel. On the left-hand panel, Richard II’s personal heraldic emblems. On the right-hand panel (which would be uppermost when the diptych is closed) is the white hart, Richard’s personal emblem, which he adopted from Joan.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the team at Amberley, especially Nicola and Alex.
I would like to thank Professor Nigel Saul, of Royal Holloway, who kindly read the first draft of the book, for his encouragement, expertise and many helpful comments. Thanks to my family, in particular my husband Pete for his love and support, and my sons David and Richard for their enthusiasm, suggestions, and proofreading skills.
Notes
Full details of all works cited can be found in the bibliography. For books, the full title is given for the first reference, and thereafter short titles are used. The following abbreviations are used in the footnotes:
CChR Calendar of Charter Rolls
CCR Calendar of Close Rolls
CFR Calendar of Fine Rolls
CIPM Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem
CPR Calendar of Patent Rolls
RBP Register of the Black Prince
TNA The National Archives
Introduction
1. Jean Froissart, Chronicles, ed. S. Luce et al. (15 vols, Société de l’Histoire de France, Paris, 1869–1975), p. 304.
2. Joan was the daughter of the Earl of Kent. She is not referred to by any of the contemporary chroniclers as the Fair Maid of Kent; George Frederick Beltz, Memorials of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (London, 1861), p. 18. However the designation is now commonly used to describe her, e.g. Richard Barber, ‘Joan, suo jure countess of Kent, and princess of Wales and of Aquitaine (called the Fair Maid of Kent) (c. 1328–1385)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004).
3. The Garter story first appears in Polydore Vergil, Anglicae Historiae: Libri Vigintiseptum (1570), p. 379. It was repeated by John Selden, Titles of Honour (London, 1672), 11, p. 658. Joan is first named as the countess by Camden at the end of the seventeenth century. This is discussed by Richard Barber, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine (Woodbridge, 1978, reprinted 1998), pp. 85–87.
4. The first Prince of Wales was Edward I’s son, Edward of Carnarvon, who became Edward II. He married Princess Isabella of France after he became king, so she became Queen Isabella and was never Princess of Wales. Edward III’s eldest son Prince Edward is better known to historians as the Black Prince but this name was not used during his lifetime. The name was first used by John Leland in the mid-sixteenth century. The origin of the name is not known. Richard Barber, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine (Woodbridge, 1978 reprinted 1998), p. 242. The contemporary designation of Prince Edward or the prince is used throughout this book.
5. Jean le Bel, Chronique, ed. J. Viard and E. Déprez (2 vols, Société de l’Histoire de France, Paris, 1904–5), I, p. 124; James L. Gillespie, ‘Ladies of the Fraternity of Saint George and of the Society of the Garter’, Albion, 17 (1985), p. 259–278. Gillespie suggests Joan’s beauty served as an inspiration for chivalry, citing this banquet as an example.
6. See works by Juliet Vale, Edward III and Chivalry: Chivalric Society and its Context 1270–1350 (Woodbridge, 1982); Maurice Keen, Chivalry (London, 1984); Richard Barber, The Knight and Chivalry (Woodbridge, 1995); Nigel Saul, For Honour and Fame Chivalry in England 1066–1500 (London, 2011).
7. David Green, The Black Prince (Stroud, 2001), pp. 19–36 discusses the prince’s reputation.
8. Life of the Black Prince by the Herald of Sir John Chandos, ed. M. K. Pope and E. C. Lodge (Oxford, 1910), p. 48.
9. Chronique des quatre premiers Valois (1327–1393), ed. S. Luce (Société de l’Histoire de France, Paris, 1862), p. 123.
10. Life of the Black Prince, p. 48.
11. Froissart, vi, p. 367, xvi, p. 142.
12. Walsingham, T., Historia Anglicana, ed. H. T. Riley (2 vols, Rolls series, 1863–64), i, p. 296; Knighton’s Chronicle 1337–1396, ed. G. H. Martin (Oxford, 1995), p. 185; Chronicon Anglie 1328–1388, ed. E. M. Thompson (Rolls series, 1874), p. 50; Chronica Johannis de Reading et Anonymi Cantuariasis 1346–1367, ed. J. Tait (Manchester, 1914), pp. 212–213; Ranulf Higden, Polychronicon, Ranulphi Higden Monachi Cestrensis, ed. C. Babington and J. R. Lumby (9 vols, Rolls Series, London, 1865–86), viii, p. 360; J. Capgrave, Chronicle of England, ed. F. Hingeston (London, 1858), p. 221; Chronicle of John Hardyng, ed. H. Ellis (London, 1812), pp. 331–332.
13. Walsingham, Anglicana, i, p. 301; Eulogium Historiarum sive Temporis; ed. F. S. Hayden (3 vols, Rolls series, London, 1858–63), p. 236; The St Albans Chronicle, 1, 1376–1394; The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, ed. J. Taylor, W. Childs and L. Watkiss (Oxford, 2003), pp. 92–93; The Westminster Chronicle, 1381–1394, ed. L. C. Hector and B. Harvey (Oxford, 1982), p. 114; The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, pp. 424–425, 758–759.
14. Peck, Annals of Stamford (XII, 1727); F. Chambers, The Fair Maid of Kent, An historical and biographical sketch (Margate, 1877); M. le Colonel Babinet ‘Jeanne de Kent princess de Galles et d’Aquitaine’, Bulletin de la Societé des Antiquaries de l’Ouest, 6 (1894), p. 438.
15. The Complete Peerage, ed. G. E. Cokayne., VII, pp. 153–154; Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1908), pp. 393–393. Richard Barber, Joan suo jure countess of Kent and princess of Wales and of Aquitaine (called the Fair Maid of Kent), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004).
16. These include: W. M. Ormrod, The Reign of Edward III (Stroud, 2000) and Edward III (Yale, 2011); Ian Mortimer; The Perfect King (London, 2006); David Green, The Black Prince (Stroud, 2001); Nigel Saul, Richard II (New Haven and London, 1999); R. Barber, Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine (Woodbridge, 1996); Anthony Steel, Richard II (Cambridge, 1941); Anthony Goodman, John of Gaunt: The exercise of princely power in fourteenth century Europe (1992). Works on Queen Isabella are Paul Doherty, Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II (2003) and Alison Weir, Isabella (2005). John of Gaunt’s third wife, Katherine Swynford, has also received attention: Jeanette Lucraft, Katherine Swynford (Stroud, 2006); Alison Weir, Katherine Swynford (London, 2007).
17. Margaret Galway, ‘Joan of Kent and the Order of the Garter’, University of Birmingham Historical Journal, 1 (1948), pp. 13–50. ‘Chaucer’s Sovereign Lady’, Modern Language Notes, Vol. 33, No. 2 (1938), pp. 145–199.; ‘Chaucer’s Hopeless Love’, Modern Language Notes, Vol. 60, No. 7 (1945), pp. 431–439. Her assertions were immediately disputed; Walter E. Weese, ‘Alceste and Joan of Kent’, Modern Language Notes, Vol. 63, No. 7 (1948), pp. 474–477.
18. Galway, ‘Joan of Kent and the Order of the Garter’, pp. 13–50. See also Antonia Gransden, ‘The alleged rape by Edward III of the countess of Salisbury’, English Historical Review, 87 (1972), pp. 333–344. Gransden suggests this story and The Vow of the Heron were examples of war propaganda. She does not consider Joan as a candidate for the story.
19. Carolyn P. Collette, ‘Joan of Kent and Noble Women’s Roles in Chaucer’s World’, The Chaucer Review, Vol. 33, No. 4 (1999), pp. 350–359.
20. W. M. Ormrod, ‘In Bed with Joan of Kent: The King’s Mother and the Peasants’ Revolt’, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts in Late Medieval Britain: Essays for Felicity Riddy, ed. J. Wogan-Browne, R. Voaden, A. Diamond, A. Hutchison, C. M. Meale, and L. Johnson (Turnhout, 2000).
21. See works by Juliet Vale, Edward III and Chivalry: Chivalric Society and its Context 1270–1350 (Woodbridge, 1982); Maurice Keen, Chivalry (London, 1984); Richard Barber, The Knight and Chivalry (Woodbridge, 1995).
22. K. P. Wentersdorf, ‘The Clandestine Marriages of the Fair Maid of Kent’, Journal of Medieval History, 5 (1979), pp. 203–231. Throughout the book the spelling of Holand is as it appears in the contemporary accounts, rather than the later spelling of ‘Holland’.
23. J. Chamberlayne, ‘Joan of Kent’s Tale: Adultery and Rape in the Age of Chivalry’, Medieval Life, 5 (1996), pp. 1–12.
24. Mark
Ormrod considers that the nickname ‘Fair Maid of Kent’ is partly sardonic and a reflection that Joan acquired a reputation for sensuality during her lifetime because of her marital history. W. Mark Ormrod, Edward III (New Haven and London, 2011), p. 418.
1 A Royal Inheritance 1301–1330
1. Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent, and Margaret Wake were probably married in Paris in the late autumn of 1325. On 2 October 1325 Edmund was granted papal dispensation to marry Margaret and the marriage would have taken place shortly afterwards. Calendar of Papal Registers, Papal Letters, 1305–1342 (London, 1902), p. 246. They returned to England in the entourage of Queen Isabella in September 1326. Their first child was probably born shortly before or after this. As births were not generally recorded it is impossible to know for certain whether Joan or Edmund was their first born, but it is likely, as has generally been assumed, that Edmund was their eldest child. There have been suggestions that Joan was born on 19 or 29 September 1328 (Alison Weir, Britain’s Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (London, 2002), p. 94 gives 29 September; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/joan_of_kent cites 19 September), but there is no evidence to support either date. It is probable that Joan was born early in 1328, making her twelve in the spring of 1340 when she entered into a clandestine marriage with Thomas Holand, which was later held in the papal court to be valid on the grounds of Joan’s consent.
2. Flores Historiarum, ed. H. R. Luard, 3 vols (Rolls Series, London, 1890), iii, pp. 110, 304. Edmund was born on 5 August 1301 at Woodstock palace.
3. Calendar of Patent Rolls 1327–1330 (London, 1900), p. 499.
4. Calendar of Close Rolls 1323–1327 (London, 1900), p. 622.
5. Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem (London, 1900), ix, p. 455. James Byrne attested that the date of John’s birth was Tuesday 7 April 1330. However, in 1330 Easter Sunday was on 8 April, so John was either born on Saturday 7 April or Tuesday 3 April.
6. Nicholas Orme, Medieval Children (London, 2003), pp. 27–35.
7. Edmund was born on 5 August 1301 at Woodstock palace.
8. Seymour Phillips, Edward II (London, 2010), p. 39.
9. An indenture detailing the preparations is described by Michael Prestwich, Edward I (2nd edition, New Haven and London, 1997), p. 131.
10. CPR 1301–1307, p. 7.
11. TNA E101/368/12, 4.
12. Her household expenditure was added to theirs. TNA E101/369/15.
13. Jean le Bel, Chronique, i, p. 101; Jean Froissart, Chronicles, ed. G. Routledge (London, 1891), p. 28.
14. Paul Doherty, Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II (London, 2003), p. 11.
15. TNA E101/373/7, m. 4.
16. Phillips, Edward II, pp. 14–65, 96–101. Phillips suggests that Edward II may have seen Gaveston as the elder brother he never had.
17. Vita Edwardi Secundi, ed. N. Denholm-Young (London, 1957), p. 15.
18. CPR 1301–1307, pp. 460, 528; Clifford J. Rogers, War Cruel and Sharp (Woodbridge, 2000), p. xiii.
19. Michael Prestwich, Edward I (2nd Edition, New Haven and London, 1997), pp. 549–552.
20. CPR 1301–1307, p. 460. The charter is dated 31 August 1301.
21. Vita Edwardi Secundi, p. 15.
22. Calendar of Charter Rolls 1300–1326 (London, 1916), pp. 202–203.
23. CChR 1300–1326, pp. 205–206.
24. J. S. Hamilton, Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, 1307–1312, Politics and Patronage in the Reign of Edward II (Wayne State University Press, 1988), pp. 100–101.
25. CPR 1313–1317, p. 360. The manors were Ashford (Derby) Kenton, Shebbear, Lifton, Chettiscombe, Braunton (Devon) Collingham (York) and tenements in Beesby and Waltham (Lincoln).
26. CChR 1300–1326, p. 304.
27. CChR 1300–1326, p. 304; T. Rymer, Foedera, Conventiones, Litterae etc, ed. G. Holmes (20 vols, London, 1704–35), I, p. 188.
28. CPR 1317–1321, pp. 139, 187, 269, 105.
29. CChR 1300–1326, p. 416.
30. Vita Edwardi Secundi, pp. 104–105.
31. The Complete Peerage, vii, pp. 142–143.
32. Phillips, Edward II, p. 385.
33. The Complete Peerage, xii, p. 295.
34. The Complete Peerage, xii, p. 297–302; CIPM, iii, pp. 448–450.
35. The Complete Peerage, xii, p. 302.
36. Calendar of Close Rolls 1307–1313 (London, 1900), p. 70. Margaret appears to have named her own daughter after her mother.
37. CPR 1307–1313, pp. 196, 218–219, 224, 434.
38. Their younger brother seems to have died.
39. CPR 1307–1313, pp. 196, 218–219, 224, 434; G. E. C., xii, p. 302; CCR 1307–1313, p. 413.
40. The Complete Peerage, xii, p. 324; CIPM, vi, pp. 426–427.
41. CPR 1317–1321, pp. 581, 597; Calendar of Fine Rolls 1319–1327 (London, 1900), pp. 62, 71.
42. TNA E101/378/11.
43. Vita Edwardi Secundi, p. 117; The Anonimalle Chronicle, 1307–1334, from Brotherton Collection MS29, ed. W. R. Childs and J. Taylor, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, 147 (1991), pp. 104–105.
44. The Complete Peerage, vii, p. 137.
45. CFR 1319–1327, p. 68; CIPM, vii, p. 222
46. The earldom of Cornwall remained vacant until 1336 when Edward III bestowed it on his own younger brother, John of Eltham.
47. CPR 1317–1321, p. 597; CFR 1319–1327, pp. 62, 68, 71; TNA E101/378/11; Calendar of Memoranda Rolls Michaelmas 1326–Michaelmas 1327 (London, 1916), p. 42. In 1327 Edmund stated he had only received an annual income from Edward II of 2000 marks in fee, and 355 marks for life (given with the earldom) (CChR 1327–1341, p. 20; CFR 1319–1327, p. 68).
48. Anonimalle 1307–1334, pp. 106–107.
49. Anonimalle 1307–1334, pp. 106–109.
50. Phillips, Edward II, p. 417.
51. The Complete Peerage, vii, p. 142.
52. The Complete Peerage, vii, p. 142.
53. This is evidenced by the charter witness lists which show Edmund witnessing 11.4 per cent of charters in 1322, compared to 26.5 per cent in 1323. J. S. Hamilton, ‘Charter Witness Lists for the Reign of Edward II’, The Fourteenth Century, ed. N. Saul, pp. 13–16.
54. The War of Saint Sardos 1323–1325 Gascon Correspondence and Diplomatic Documents, ed. P. Chaplais (Camden, 3rd Series, 87, London, 1954), pp. viii–xii, 24–25.
55. The War of Saint Sardos, pp. 24–25.
56. Foedera, ii, I, p. 562.
57. The War of Saint Sardos, pp. 64, 104, 120, 126, 142, 217, 236. Despenser wrote directly to Edmund’s officers. Chaplais suggests that all of these men owed their position to Despenser and had been sworn to secrecy by him.
58. Ibid, p. 143. In July 1324 Edward II had ordered Edmund to protect Caillou.
59. The War of Saint Sardos, p. 217.
60. CCR 1323–1327, p. 380.
61. Anonimalle 1307–1334, p. 119; The War of Saint Sardos, pp. 238, 240, 252, 271.
62. Calendar of Papal Registers, Letters, 1305–1342, p. 246. Dispensation was granted to Edmund on the grounds that he and Margaret were related within the third or fourth degree. Through Margaret’s mother, she and Edmund shared a common ancestor, Eleanor of Castile.
63. Vita Edwardi Secundi, p. 141; Foedera, ii, p. 606.
64. Vita Edwardi Secundi, p. 142.
65. The Complete Peerage, xii, p. 302.
66. CCR 1323–1327, pp. 576–582.
67. Henry Eastry, prior of Christchurch Canterbury, wrote to Archbishop Reynolds on 16 April that he had seen a letter from Edmund assuring the king that he had not aligned himself with any foreign power and requesting permission to return to England. N. Fryde, The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II 1321–1326 (Cambridge, 1996), p. 179.
68. CCR 1323–1327, p. 464.
69. Phillips, Edward II, p. 501.
70. Flores, iii, pp. 232–233 Edmund returned to England with Isabella.
71. CPR 1324–1327, p. 327; CCR 1327–1327, p. 650.
72. Phillips, Edward II, p. 50
9.
73. Flores, iii, p. 234; Annales Paulini, ed. W. Stubbs (Rolls Series, London, 1882), pp. 317–318.
74. CPR 1330–1334, p. 72 cites Edmund as his father’s heir. His exact date of birth is not known.
75. Calendar of Memoranda Rolls Michaelmas 1326–Michaelmas 1327 (London, 1916), p. 42.
76. CPR 1327–1330, p. 23.
77. CChR 1327–1341, pp. 2, 4, 5; CCR 1323–1327, p. 622; CPR 1327–1330, p. 97; CMR Michaelmas 1326–Michaelmas 1327, pp. 9, 10, 11.
78. Froissart, Chronicles, Luce, i, p. 87.
79. Edmund received grants in Surrey, Kent and Sussex, for example, where Isabella retained the castles of Rochester, Leeds, Guildford, Pevensey and the town of Sandwich herself. CMR Michaelmas 1326–Michaelmas 1327, p. 11.
80. Edward II’s fate has been the subject of considerable conjecture, and the possibility that he did not die in September 1327 strongly asserted by some historians. Paul Doherty, Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II (London, 2003); Ian Mortimer, The Greatest Traitor (London, 2003); The Perfect King (London, 2006); ‘The Death of Edward II in Berkeley Castle’, English Historical Review, 120 (2005), pp. 1175–1214.
81. Doherty, Isabella, p. 149. Doherty cites TNA C53/114/7 stating that Edmund witnessed a charter there.
82. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls of the City of London, 1324–1457, ed. A. H. Thomas (London, 1926), p. 72.
83. Annales Paulini, p. 344; Holmes, ‘The Rebellion of the Earl of Lancaster, 1328–1329’, Bulletin of Institute of Historical Research, xxviii (1995), p. 85. Holmes cites ‘Historia Roffensis’ in Wharton, Anglia Sacra (London, 1691), I, p. 368.
84. CPR 1327–1330, p. 391.
85. Adae Murimuth, Continuatio Chronicarum, ed. E. M. Thompson (Rolls Series, London, 1889), p. 256; The Brut, or The Chronicles of England, ed. F. W. D. Brie (EETS, original series, cxxxvi, 1908), i, p. 263.