14th-century English princess
Joan of England
(19 December 1333 or 28 January 1334 – 2 September 1348) was a daughter of
Edward III
and his wife,
Philippa of Hainault
. She died in
the Black Death
that struck Europe in 1348.
Life
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]
Joan, also known as Joanna, was born in the
Tower of London
.
As a child she was placed in the care of
Marie de St Pol
, wife of
Aymer de Valence
and foundress of
Pembroke College, Cambridge
.
She grew up with her sister
Isabella
, her brother
Edward
, and their cousin
Joan of Kent
.
In 1336, Joan was betrothed to the eldest son of
Otto, Duke of Austria
, with the stipulation that she would receive her education at the Austrian court.
However, Edward III showed reluctance in sending her and delayed her departure, promising that he would personally accompany her the following year.
Fanciful 16th-century depiction of Joan
In 1338, Joan accompanied her father on his campaign to
Antwerp
.
Later, they traveled to
Koblenz
, where they met
Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor
,
and were his special guests at the
Imperial Diet
in the church of
Saint Castor
. Edward III was crowned vicar-general of the
Holy Roman Empire
and formed an alliance with Louis against
Philip VI of France
,
but in 1341 the emperor deserted him.
Joan travelled with Louis IV's consort,
Margaret of Hainault
, to
Munich
and remained at court there for nearly a year before finally being brought to the Austrian court in the autumn of 1339.
Around this time, Duke Otto passed away, and Edward sensed that the new
Duke of Austria
was swayed towards France.
As a result, he decided to dissolve the marriage agreement and insisted on Joan's return home in 1340.
In 1345, she was betrothed to
Peter of Castile
, son of
Maria of Portugal
and
Alfonso XI of Castile
.
In the summer of 1348, she left England with the blessing of her parents. Thanks to a heavily armed retinue she was, perhaps, the most protected woman of Europe at the time, and it is said that her
trousseau
alone required an entire ship.
[
citation needed
]
The travel schedule included a visit to one of her family's
castles
in
Bordeaux
.
Death
[
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]
As Joan embarked on her journey,
the Black Death
had not yet appeared in England, and it is unlikely that the party was aware of the danger. Despite the severe outbreak of plague in
Bordeaux
, at first it did not occur to Joan and her advisors to leave town. Soon, they watched in horror as the members of the entourage began falling sick and dying.
Robert Bouchier
, the leader of the retinue, died on 20 August.
Joan feared for her life and was probably moved to the small village of Loremo, where she remained for some time. However, she could not escape the disease and became its first victim in the camp, suffering a violent, quick attack and dying on 2 September 1348.
Some accounts document that Joan was buried in
Bayonne Cathedral
, and her statue, in
Westminster Abbey
, is on the South Side of her father's tomb.
Letter to Alfonso
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]
Here is an excerpt from the letter that King
Edward III
sent to King
Alfonso of Castile
(translated by
Rosemary Horrox
in her book
The Black Death
):
[21]
- We are sure that your Magnificence knows how, after much complicated negotiation about the intended marriage of the renowned Prince Pedro, your eldest son, and our most beloved daughter Joan, which was designed to nurture perpetual peace and create an indissoluble union between our Royal Houses, we sent our said daughter to Bordeaux, en route for your territories in Spain. But see, with what intense bitterness of heart we have to tell you this, destructive Death (who seizes young and old alike, sparing no one and reducing rich and poor to the same level) has lamentably snatched from both of us our dearest daughter, whom we loved best of all, as her virtues demanded
- No fellow human being could be surprised if we were inwardly desolated by the sting of this bitter grief, for we are humans too. But we, who have placed our trust in God and our Life between his hands, where he has held it closely through many great dangers, we give thanks to him that one of our own family, free of all stain, whom we have loved with our life, has been sent ahead to Heaven to reign among the choirs of virgins, where she can gladly intercede for our offenses before God Himself.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Horrox, R.
The Black Death (Manchester Medieval Sources)
. Manchester University Press, 1994.
Sources
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- Illegitimate:
Joan, Lady of Wales
- Richard FitzRoy
- Oliver FitzRoy
- Geoffrey FitzRoy
- John FitzRoy
- Henry FitzRoy
- Osbert Gifford
- Eudes FitzRoy
- Bartholomew FitzRoy
- Maud FitzRoy
- Isabel FitzRoy
- Philip FitzRoy
- William de Forz
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- Illegitimate: Edmund Leboorde
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