Joan of Kent: The First Princess of Wales

by Penny Lawne

41. Stansfield, ‘The Holland Family’, p. 310; M. M. N. Stansfield, ‘Holland, Thomas, fifth Earl of Kent (1350–1397)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004).

  42. CPR 1377–1381, p. 141; Stansfield, ‘The Holland Family’, pp. 69, 71.

  43. David Green, The Battle of Poitiers 1356 (Stroud, 2002), p. 17.

  44. Michael Jones, ‘John de Montfort’, ODNB.

  45. The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, p. 161.

  46. McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, p. 403; Rot Parl iii 15.

  47. CPR 1377–1380, pp. 121–2.

  48. Saul, Richard II, pp. 30–34.

  49. Bodley, Ms Eng, hist. C. 775 indenture of 13 May 1378 recording delivery by William Sleford of plate charged to him under Edward III to John Bacon, keeper of jewels and plate of R11. Her arms are engraved on plate used for food and drink and records refer to her as ‘Madame la Meer’. I am indebted to Jenny Stratford of Royal Holloway for this reference.

  50. E. Fellowes, The Knights of the Garter (London), pp. 102–104. Evidence of membership comes from the account of Alan Stokes, keeper of the Great Wardrobe, for expenditure in connection with the celebration of the Garter feast in 1379. TNA E101/400/12. This list includes Mary duchess of Brittany, which is clearly a mistake by the scribe as Joan’s daughter Joan became duchess of Brittany in 1365, some time after the death of her predecessor, Princess Mary, who was John Montfort’s first wife.

  51. James L. Gillespie, ‘Ladies of the Fraternity of Saint George and of the Society of the Garter’, Albion 17 (1985), p. 263.

  52. TNA E403–466 lists payments to military commanders April 1378. John Holand was not a commander but he is mentioned by Froissart at the siege of St Malo (Froissart, Oeuvres, Lettenhove, ix, 68).

  53. Foedera, iv, p. 28.

  54. John of Gaunt’s Register 1379–1383, p. 327.

  55. CChR, p. 263; Stansfield, ‘The Holland Family’, p. 56; Goodman, John of Gaunt, p. 75. In February 1380 Joan made a grant of special grace to mayor and citizens of Canterbury while at Kennington, her son Thomas Holand also made grant from Kennington the same month.

  56. The Complete Peerage, vii, p. 154.

  57. Stansfield, ‘The Holland Family’, p. 57.

  58. CPR 1377–1381, p. 488.

  59. Stephen Friar and John Ferguson, Basic Heraldry (London, 1993), p. 84.

  60. The earlier grants were confirmed in October 1381. Stansfield, ‘The Holland Family’, pp. 63, 70.

  61. Stansfield, ‘The Holland Family’, pp. 70, 71.

  62. Stansfield, ‘The Holland Family’, p. 70.

  63. Froissart, 1969, vol. 9, pp. 131–2, 182.

  64. John of Gaunt’s Register 1379–1383, pp. 112, 181, 231.

  65. CPR 1377–1381, pp. 168, 272, 275, 329, 330; CPR 1381–1385, pp. 20.

  66. CPR 1377–1381, pp. 463, 595, 616/676?

  67. CPR 1377–1381, p. 170; CPR 1381–1385, pp. 15, 20.

  68. CPR 1377–1381, p. 385.

  69. CPR 1377–1381, pp. 156, 170, 564; CIPM, xvi, pp. 110–111.

  70. McFarlane, Lancastrian Kings and Lollard Knights, pp. 185, 189; CPR 1377–1381, pp. 185, 453.

  71. McFarlane, Lancastrian Kings and Lollard Knights, pp. 188–190.

  72. BL, Add. Ch 27703.

  73. CPR 1377–1381, pp. 92–3, 357; CPR 1381–1385, pp. 78, 201, 424; CCR 1381–1385, p. 634.

  74. CPR 1381–1385, pp. 4, 13, 20.

  75. CPR 1381–1385, p. 18.

  76. CPR 1377–1381, p. 626.

  77. CPR 1377–1381, pp. 267, 282, 293, 322, 334, 376, 382, 391, 392, 393, 440, 460, 483, 506, 529, 543, 546, 590, 626.

  78. Goodman, John of Gaunt, p. 78.

  79. John of Gaunt’s Register 1379–1383, pp. 112, 181, 231.

  80. I have relied on Alistair Dunn, The Great Rising of 1381: The Peasants’ Revolt and England’s Failed Revolution (Stroud, 2002) for the sequence of events in the Peasants’ Revolt.

  81. The manor at Wickhambreaux no longer exists but it is still possible to see the church of St Andrew’s, which Joan would have known. A new church was built in the fourteenth century on the site of the original Norman church (which itself replaced the previous Saxon church). However, there are no arms or other regalia in the church which relate to Joan or her family.

  82. Anonimalle 1333–1381, p. 137; Dunn, The Great Rising of 1381, p. 77.

  83. Quote cited from The Chronicles of Jean Froissart in Lord Berners Translation, selected, edited and introduced by Gillian and William Anderson (London, 1963), p. 162; Froissart, Oeuvres, vol. ix, p. 391.

  84. The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham p. 415, Anonimalle 1333–1381 p. 139.

  85. Saul, Richard II, p. 63.

  86. Anonimalle 1333–1381, p. 600; The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham pp. 150–180.

  87. Froissart, Oeuvres, vol. ix, p. 397; Anonimalle 1333–1381 pp. 139–150.

  88. A. Tuck, Richard II and the English Nobility (London, 1973), pp. 52–53.

  89. The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, p. 431; Anonimalle 1333–1381 pp. 145–146; Westminster Chronicle, pp. 6–8.

  90. Dunn, The Great Rising of 1381, p. 87, referring to a pre-1381 inventory of possessions.

  91. Anonimalle 1333–1381, p. 143.

  92. Anonimalle 1333–1381.

  93. The Chronicles of Jean Froissart in Lord Berners’ Translation, Selected, Edited and Introduced by Gillian and William Anderson (London, 1963), p. 169.

  94. The Chronicles of Jean Froissart, p. 168.

  95. The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, p. 425; The Chronicles of Jean Froissart, p. 169.

  96. The Chronicles of Jean Froissart, p. 174.

  97. Stansfield, ‘The Holland Family’, p. 58.

  98. The Chronicles of Jean Froissart, p. 178. Testamenta Vetusta, i, p. 109; d’Angle’s executors were William Beauchamp, William Neville, Lewis Clifford and John Clanvowe.

  99. CPR 1381–1385, p. 25.

  100. Anthony Goodman, The Loyal Conspiracy (London, 1971), p. 170; CPR 1381–1385, pp. 71, 78–79.

  101. She intervened on behalf of Thomas Sampson, a prominent Suffolk rebel, in 1383. CPR 1383–1385, pp. 226, 229, 268, 319, 332, 441, 448.

  102. M. Clarke, ‘The Wilton Diptych’, Fourteenth Century Studies (Oxford, reproduced 1968), pp. 273–292, concludes the Wilton Diptych was painted no earlier than 1395; Binski, Westminster Abbey and the Plantagenets, Kingship and the Representation of Power 1200–1400, p. 203.

  103. Green, The Black Prince, p. 218 notes the suggestion that it was commissioned by Maud Courtenay. Dillian Gordon, Making and Meaning: The Wilton Diptych (London, 1993), p. 59 suggests it is unlikely the diptych was commissioned by anyone other than Richard II himself for his personal use.

  104. Gordon, Making and Meaning: The Wilton Diptych, p. 49.

  105. Tout, Administrative History, vi, p. 17.

  106. Goodman, John of Gaunt, p. 284.

  107. Calendar of Ancient Deeds, i, p. 166; Stansfield, ‘The Holland Family’, p. 70.

  108. TNA E403/481, m. 12; C136/92/11; CPR 1381–1385, p. 98.

  109. TNA E403/481, m. 12; C136/92/11; CPR 1381–1385, p. 98.

  110. CCR 1381–1385, p. 77.

  111. Saul, Richard II, pp. 89–90.

  112. Saul, Richard II, p. 90.

  113. Tout, Administrative History, v, p. 280. The sum was never paid to Anne.

  114. CCR 1381–1385, p. 54; Tout, Administrative History, v, p. 261.

  115. TNA SC8/269/13410; SC8/249/12447.

  116. TNA SC8/180/9000; SC8/180/117678.

  117. Testamenta Vetusta, i, p. 145.

  118. CIPM, xv, pp. 181–183.

  119. CMisc Inq Vol. IV 1377–1388 pp. 145, 148. The commission found in favour of the bishop of Lincoln.

  120. BL, Eg. Ch 2130.

  121. Scattergood, English Court Culture in the Later Middle Ages, p. 23.

  122. Richard F Green, King Richard II’s Books Revisited, The Library 5th Service, 31 (1976), pp. 238–239.


  123. CCR 1377–1381, p. 374.

  124. Peter Fleming, ‘Sir Lewis Clifford (1330–1404)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004).

  125. Margaret Galway, Chaucer’s Sovereign Lady, Modern Languages Review Notes, xxx III April 1938, pp. 145–199. Galway argues that Joan was Chaucer’s inspiration for Queen Alceste in The Legend of Good Women, and that Chaucer harboured a secret love for Joan. Galway also suggests that Joan asked Chaucer to write The Legend of Good Women.

  126. The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, pp. 723–727; Goodman, John of Gaunt, p. 100.

  127. The Complete Peerage, vii, p. 154.

  128. Goodman, John of Gaunt, pp. 102–3.

  129. Chronicon Angliae, p. 364; The Westminster Chronicle 1381–1394, ed. L. C. Hector and R. Harvey (Oxford, 1982), pp. 114–115; Chronicon Adae de Usk, 1377–1421, ed. E. M. Thompson (London, 1904, pp. 143–144.

  130. The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, pp. 751; The Westminster Chronicle 1381–1394, p. 114.

  131. Ranulph Higden, Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, Monachi Castrensis, ed. C. Babington and J. R. Lumby (9 vols, Rolls Series, London, 1865–86), ix, pp. 57–58.

  132. The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, p. 751.

  133. Calendar of Ancient Petitions relating to Wales, ed. W. Rees, Board of Celtic Studies, History and Law Series, 2 (Cardiff, 1935), p. 415. (249) No 12447.

  134. There is an original MSS in the University of London library, and a second MSS in Worcester College, Oxford.

  135. Binski, Westminster Abbey and the Plantagenets, Kingship and the Representation of Power 1200–1400, p. 202.

  136. MS.61, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Frontipiece to Troilus and Criseyde. Ford Maddox Brown.

  137. CCR 1381–1385, p. 553.

  138. Stansfield, ‘The Holland Family’, p. 61.

  139. Froissart, Oeuvres, Lettenhove, xi, p. 271.

  140. Chronicon Angliae, p. 365; The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, p. 759.

  141. Collection of the Wills of the Kings and Queens of England, pp. 78–81. The list included three silk curtains or hangings, a pallet bed covered in fine material, probably silk, two supports, and two camaca cushions, with an embroidered quilt: ‘unuum lectum de cama pallata in camaca rub’ et radiate de auro cum appartu, videlicet, cum dorfsor’ciel integro, uno quilt quolibet operat’ in broderia de v hachements in compass, 111 curtins (curtains or hangings) de Tarteren (another rich silk fabric) rub’ verberat 1 transversiam de syndone, 1 etc.’ Camaca was a fine material, possibly silk.

  142. This is almost certainly another mistake made by the scribe, and that Joan intended appointing Henry, rather than William, Norton. William Norton is described as a yeoman of the prince’s and then of Richard II (CPR 1377–1381, pp. 207, 278, 335) whereas Henry Norton, described as Joan’s esquire, received a grant for life from Joan in April 1380 ‘in consideration of his services to her and to her daughter de Courtenay’ and Henry was ordered by Richard II to be one of those guarding Joan when the royal army went to Scotland in June 1385 (CPR 1377–1381, p. 463; CPR 1381–1385, p. 553).

  143. Chaucer Life Records, ed. Martin M. Crow and Clair C. Olson (Oxford, 1966), 103F.

  144. The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, p. 759.

  145. Foedera, vii, 527.

  146. On the opposite side of the altar to the prince, directly parallel, lies Henry IV and his wife Joan of Navarre. One wonders how the prince might have felt about being juxtaposed with his son’s usurper.

  147. Gordon, Making & Meaning: The Wilton Diptych, p. 49.

  Conclusion: Joan’s Legacy

  1. Christine de Pizan, The Treasure of the City of Ladies, translated by Sarah Lawson (London, 2003); pp. 21, 29, 32, 39, 40, 41, 54.

  2. Christine de Pizan, The Treasure of the City of Ladies, pp. 19–21.

  3. It is similarly tempting to speculate on her influence on Chaucer, for example, in his depiction of his perfect heroine Prudence, in The Melibee.

  4. Chronicle of Adam Usk 1377–1421, p. 63.

  5. Scattergood, English Court Culture in the Later Middle Ages, p. 23.

  6. Saul, Richard II, p. 16.

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