Queen of England from 1403 to 1413
Joan of Navarre
, also known as
Joanna
(
c.
1368
? 10 June 1437) was
Duchess of Brittany
by marriage to
Duke John IV
and later
Queen of England
as the second wife of
King Henry IV
. She served as regent of Brittany from 1399 until 1403 during the minority of her son. She also served as regent of England during the absence of her stepson
Henry V
in 1415.
[2]
Four years later he imprisoned her and confiscated her money and land. Joan was released in 1422, shortly before Henry V's death.
Joan was a daughter of
Charles II of Navarre
and
Joan of France
.
[3]
Duchess of Brittany
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On 2 October 1386, Joan married her first husband, Duke
John IV of Brittany
(known in traditional English sources as John V).
[4]
She was his third wife and the only one with whom he had children.
John IV died on 1 November 1399 and was succeeded by his and Joan's son, John V. Her son being still a minor, she was made his guardian and the regent of Brittany during his minority. Not long after, King
Henry IV of England
proposed to marry her. The marriage proposal was given out of mutual personal preference rather than a dynastic marriage. According to the
Encyclopædia Britannica
, affection developed between Joan and Henry while he resided at the Breton court during his banishment from England. Joan gave a favourable reply to the proposal, but stated that she could not go through with it until she had set the affairs of Brittany in order and arranged for the security of the duchy and her children.
[2]
Joan knew that it would not be possible for her to continue as regent of Brittany after having married the king of England, nor would she be able to take her sons with her to England. A papal dispensation was necessary for the marriage, which was obtained in 1402.
[2]
She negotiated with the duke of Burgundy to make him guardian of her sons and regent of Brittany. Finally, she surrendered the custody of her sons and her power as regent of Brittany to the duke of Burgundy, who swore to respect the Breton rights and law, and departed for England with her daughters.
[2]
Queen of England
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On 7 February 1403, Joan married Henry IV at
Winchester Cathedral
. On the 26th, she held her formal entry to London, where she was crowned queen of England.
Queen Joan was described as beautiful, gracious and majestic, but also as greedy and stingy, and was accused of accepting bribes. Reportedly, she did not have a good impression of England, as a Breton ship was attacked outside the English coast just after her wedding. She preferred the company of her Breton entourage, which caused offence to such a degree that her Breton courtiers were exiled by order of Parliament, a ban the king did not think he could oppose given his sensitive relation to the Parliament at the time.
[2]
Joan and Henry had no surviving children, but it appears that in 1403 Joan gave birth to stillborn twins.
[6]
She is recorded as having had a good relationship with Henry's children from his first marriage, often taking the side of the future
Henry V
in his quarrels with his father. Her daughters returned to France three years after their arrival on the order of their brother, her son.
Queen dowager
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In 1413, her second spouse died, succeeded by her stepson Henry V. Joan had a very good relationship with Henry, who allowed her use of his royal castles of
Windsor
,
Wallingford
,
Berkhamsted
and
Hertford
during his absence in France in 1415.
[6]
Upon his return, however, he brought her son Arthur of Brittany with him as a prisoner. Joan unsuccessfully tried to have him released.
[2]
This apparently damaged her relationship with Henry.
In August 1419 the goods of her personal confessor, Friar Randolph, were confiscated, although the itemised list shows the objects actually belonged to Joan. The following month, Randolph came before Parliament and claimed that Joan had "plotted and schemed for the death and destruction of our said lord the King in the most evil and terrible manner imaginable".
[6]
Her large fortune was confiscated and she was imprisoned at
Pevensey Castle
in Sussex and later at
Leeds Castle
in Kent. She was released upon the order of Henry V in 1422, six weeks before he died.
[7]
After her release, her fortune was returned to her, and she lived the rest of her life quietly and comfortably with her own court at
Nottingham Castle
, through Henry V's reign and into that of his son,
Henry VI
. She died at
Havering-atte-Bower
in Essex and was buried in
Canterbury Cathedral
next to Henry IV.
John Foxholes, of Cheryton, in Hampshire is described as her "receiver general" in 1433.
[8]
Issue
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Her first marriage to Duke
John IV of Brittany
produced 9 children:
- Joan of Brittany (
Nantes
, 12 August 1387 – 7 December 1388).
- Isabelle of Brittany (October 1388 – December 1388).
- John V, Duke of Brittany
(Chateau de l'Hermine, near Vannes, Morbihan, 24 December 1389 – manoir de La Touche, near Nantes 29 August 1442). Married
Joan of France
, daughter of
King Charles VI of France
and
Isabeau of Bavaria
, in 1396. Had issue.
- Marie of Brittany
(Nantes, 18 February 1391 – 18 December 1446), Lady of
La Guerche
, married at the Chateau de l'Hermine (
Vannes
) on 26 June 1398 to
John I of Alencon
,
Count of Alencon
and
Perche
, later
Duke of Alencon
.
- Margaret of Brittany (1392 – 13 April 1428), Lady of
Guillac
, married on 26 June 1407,
Alain IX, Viscount of Rohan
and Count of Porhoet (d. 1462)
- Arthur III, Duke of Brittany
(
Chateau de Succinio
, 24 August 1393 – Nantes, 26 December 1458). Married firstly
Margaret of Burgundy
(m. 1423; died 1442); secondly, Joan of Albret (m. 1442; died 1444); and thirdly,
Catherine of Luxembourg
(m. 1445). No issue.
- Gilles of Brittany (1394 –
Cosne-sur-Loire
, 19 July 1412), Lord of Chantoce and Ingrande.
- Richard of Brittany
(1395 –
Chateau de Clisson
2 June 1438), Count of
Benon
,
Etampes
, and
Mantes
, married at the Chateau de Blois, Loir-et-Cher on 29 August 1423
Margaret d'Orleans, Countess of Vertus
, daughter of
Louis of Valois, Duke of Orleans
. Had issue.
- Blanche of Brittany (1397 – bef. 1419), married at Nantes on 26 June 1407
John IV, Count of Armagnac
.
Her second marriage to
King Henry IV of England
produced two infants who did not survive:
Ancestry
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Ancestors of Joan of Navarre, Queen of England
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References
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- ^
Jones, Michael (2004). "Joan [Joan of Navarre] (1368?1437), queen of England, second consort of Henry IV | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography".
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/14824
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Strickland, Agnes. Lives of the Queens of England From The Norman Conquest. ? L.: Bell and Daldy, 1864. ? Т. I (I/VI). ? pp. 455?496.
- ^
Leese, Thelma Anna (2007).
Blood Royal: Issue of the Kings and Queens of Medieval England, 1066?1399
. Heritage Books Inc. p. 219.
- ^
Jones, Michael (1988).
The Creation of Brittany
. London: Hambledon Press. p.
123
.
ISBN
090762880X
.
- ^
Boutell, Charles
(1863).
A Manual of Heraldry, Historical and Popular
. London: Winsor & Newton. pp.
276
.
- ^
a
b
c
Hollman, Gemma.
Royal Witches: From Joan of Navarre to Elizabeth Woodville
. The History Press, 2019.
- ^
Jones, Michael (29 May 2014). "Joan [Joan of Navarre] (1368?1437)".
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/14824
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
- ^
Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; year: 1433; image seen at:
http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H6/CP40no689/aCP40no689fronts/IMG_0459.htm
; entry with "Hertf" in the margin, and William Bridde as plaintiff, (in Latin)
- ^
Neil D. Thompson and Charles M. Hansen,
The Ancestry of Charles II, King of England
(American Society of Genealogists, 2012).
External links
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Royal consorts in England until 1603
| Royal consorts in Scotland until 1603
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