A Review of Joan of Kent: The First Princess of Wales; or, Popular vs Academic History

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14th Century, England, Joan of Kent, Princess

Joan of Kent, the first woman to hold the title ‘Princess of Wales’, lived a life that should be thrilling: romance – three marriages, at least one of which was probably a love match; scandal – one of those marriages was bigamous, another clandestine – topped off with the glitter of royalty as the daughter-in-law of Edward III and mother of Richard II. Therefore it’s surprising that Penny Lawne is the first to write a full-length bibliography of Joan.

But where are the lines drawn between non-fiction work aimed at a more general audience, and clearly academic work?

The dilemma is this: Lawne has written the only biography of Joan of Kent, the mother of the king Richard II. But it reads more like popular history than an academic tome, and I’m struggling to know whether it’s acceptable to refernce in academic writing.

To start with, the cover doesn’t help: it’s pretty much an example of the current vogue in historical romance covers (think Philippa Gregory): headless woman in vaguely historical dress.But since there aren’t really any contemporary images of Joan herself, other than one small manuscript illustration and possibly a stone head, I can’t really blame the publishers for using a fictional image.

Lawne’s book is based on her own PhD thesis, so the research is solid. The problem is, there is very little surviving evidence, so much of her descriptions and suppositions are based on the people around Joan: her husbands, chiefly Edward, Prince of Wales; her sons, and other nobles who led lives at a similar social strata. This is helpful for drawing a fuller picture of medieval life for the casual reader, but less useful for the historical researcher. Unfortunately, it also leads to many uses of the phrases ‘she must have…’, ‘probably…’. This was offputting to me, although I will admit to being alone in that problem; as I already hold a degree in medieval history, I probably know more than the average reader.

Another problem (to me, at least), is that Lawne is very definitely in love with her subject, to the extent that she also wrote an article calling Joan of Kent the ‘perfect princess‘. Enthusiasm for your subject can never be a bad thing, but it runs the risks of becoming blind to their faults.

The book is published by Amberley Publishing, a delf-described specialist in history books, and retails at £20 for hardback and £9.99 for paperback, much more approachable than the £40, £50 or higher required for an academic tome. Fortunately, I was able to borrow it from my library. Despite my reservations, it’s certainly a good starting point for research on Joan’s life, even if I don’t always agree with Lawne’s deductions, and for that, it will remain in my bibliography… for now.

 

 

A Fourteenth-Century Parent Trap: Mary and Philippa de Coucy

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England, Isabella de Coucy

17th century line engraving of Robert de Vere and Philippa de Coucy, National Portrait Gallery. Note the wildly seventeenth century versions of medieval dress!

As the daughters of Isabella de Coucy, Mary and Philippa were the granddaughters of the English king Edward III and his wife, Philippa of Hainault. Their father, Enguerrand de Coucy, married Isabella whilst a hostage in the English court and began serving England.

However, Enguerrand later returned to his native loyalty to France, and the couple effectively separated. In a fourteenth-century version of The Parent Trap, Isabella and their younger daughter Philippa returned to England, whilst Mary stayed in France with Enguerrand. The couple never reunited.

Mary de Coucy (1366-1405)

• Also known as: Marie, Dame de Coucy and d’Oisy, Countess of Soissons
  • Not to be confused with: Marie de Coucy (1218-1249) daughter of an earlier Enguerrand de Coucy, queen of Scotland and wife of Alexander II
• Parents: Enguerrand de Coucy (1340-1397) and Isabella de Coucy (1332-1379)
• Spouse: Henry (Henri) of Bar
• Offspring:
  • Enguerrand (1387-1400)
  • Robert of Bar, through whom Marie was the ancestress of the Bourbon kings of France and Mary, Queen of Scots

As her father’s heir to his French estates, Marie became Countess of Soissons in her own right on his death. Marie married Henry, the son of Robert, the duke of Bar, producing Enguerrand in 1387, who predeceased his mother in 1400, and Robert.

Philippa de Coucy (1366-1405)

• Also known as: Countess of Oxford, Duchess of Ireland
• Parents: Enguerrand de Coucy (1340-1397) and Isabella de Coucy (1332-1379)
• Spouse: Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford
• Offspring: None

Philippa produced no children, but had arguably a more scandalous life than her sister, as her husband repudiated her for another woman.

Robert de Vere was a royal ward when the right of his marriage was granted to Enguerrand and Isabella de Coucy, Philippa’s parents. Wardships and the marriages of heirs were a traditional form of income in the medieval period.

Robert and Philippa married around the 5th October, 1376, when Philippa was between 9 and 6, and Robert about 14.

Robert de Vere became one of the king Richard II’s favourites – ‘favourite’ being a catch-all term for ‘close friend’ to ‘lover’. However, the standing afforded by Robert’s closeness with the king was ruined when he divorced his wife, who was technically the king’s cousin. Little is known about Agnes Lancecrona, who Robert subsequently married. She probably came to England with Anne of Bohemia, Richard II’s wife, and was employed as a lady of the queen’s bedchamber. Few mentions of Agnes survive other than in reference to the scandal. Robert was exiled and died before 1392.

After her divorce, Philippa lived with her former mother-in-law, Maud de Offord, with a few recorded appearances at court, including accompanying Richard II’s second wife Isabella back to France after the king’s deposition. Philippa died on the 24th September, 1411, somewhere in England.

Sources and Further Reading 

James L. Gillespie, ‘Isabella, countess of Bedford (1332–1379)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.

M. H. Keen, ‘Coucy, Enguerrand (VII) de, earl of Bedford (c.1340–1397)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.

Anthony Tuck, ‘Vere, Robert de, ninth earl of Oxford, marquess of Dublin, and duke of Ireland (1362–1392)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.

The Daughters of Philippa of Hainault

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14th Century, Edward III, England, Joan Plantagenet (1335–1348), Margaret Countess of Pembroke, Mary of Waltham, Philippa of Hainault, Princess

This image depicts two daughters of Philippa of Hainault and Edward III, from the wall painting of St Stephen’s Chapel. Reconstructed by Ernest William Tristram. Parliamentary Art Collection

Philippa and Edward III had fourteen children altogether, the most of any English queen apart from Eleanor of Castile, who produced sixteen. Many of these children died very young, with only eight surviving long enough to become betrothed or married.

Last week’s post featured Isabella de Coucy, Countess of Bedford, the eldest daughter of Philippa of Hainault and Edward III of England, the longest-lived and only one of their daughters to produce offspring of her own. Philippa and Edward also had four younger daughters, Joan (born 1335), Mary (born), Margaret (born), and Blanche, born in 1342, who died in the same year.

The wall paintings to the north and south of the altar of St Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster, now mostly destroyed, were installed under the orders of Edward III. The north painting depicted the kneeling Edward with his sons, and the south showed Philippa with their daughters, believed to be Isabella, Joan, Mary, and a smaller Margaret in an inset, already deceased at the point of creation.

Joan Plantagenet (1335-1348)

 

This image shows Joan as one of the weepers on the tomb of her father, Edward III, Westminster Abbey. An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in London, Volume 1, Westminster Abbey

• Also known as: Joanna, Joan of England, Joan of the Tower
  • Not to be confused with: Joan of England, Queen of Sicily; Joan of England, Queen of Scotland; Joan of England, Lady of Wales; Joan of Acre, Countess of Gloucester; Joan of the Tower, Queen of Scotland; Joan of England, youngest daughter of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, died in infancy; Joan of Kent, wife of Edward, Prince of Wales and mother of Richard II
• Parents: Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault
• Spouse: betrothed to Peter of Castile
• Offspring: None

Although often known as Joan of the Tower (Joan de la Tour), Joan was actually born in the Palace of Westminster, not the Tower of London.

In 1340 Isabella and Joan joined their mother in following Edward III to the Low Countries for the war he was waging against France. When they were sent back to England for their safety, a household was set up for about two years, an unusual arrangement, as usually the royal children after the eldest son shared their mother’s household. For a time Isabella along with three of her surviving siblings, including Joan, Lionel, and John. Records indicate that Isabella had three damsels to attend her, in addition to sharing two damsels of the chamber with her sister Joan, as well as a shared esquire and one of her own, and two tailors. All the princes and princesses also had pages.

Joan also had two households of her own, the first to accompany her to Munich in 1339-40 during the negotiations for her marriage to the son of Frederick, Duke of Austria, which ultimately failed.

The second household accompanied Joan on her way to Spain to marry Peter, the son of the king of Castile, although sadly Joan died of the Black Death at Bordeaux in Gascony in 1348, before reaching her betrothed.

Mary of Waltham (1344-1361)

This image shows Mary as one of the weepers on the tomb of her father, Edward III, Westminster Abbey. An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in London, Volume 1, Westminster Abbey

• Also known as: Marie, Duchess of Brittany
  • Not to be confused with: Marie, Countess of Boulogne, daughter of Stephen and Matilda of Boulogne; Mary of Woodstock, seventh daughter of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile
• Parents: Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault
• Spouse: John de Montfort, Duke of Brittany
• Offspring: None

Queen Philippa took John de Montfort into her household as a child after the death of his father. Edward III had become involved in the dispute over the duchy of Brittany.

Mary and John married in about 1360, although Mary died less than a year later. John later married Joan Holland, the daughter of Joan of Kent before her marriage to Edward, the Prince of Wales.

Margaret of Windsor (1346-1361)

• Known as: Margaret of England, Countess of Pembroke
  • Not to be confused with: Margaret, Duchess of Brabant; Margaret of England, Queen of Scotland, daughter of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence
• Parents: Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault
• Spouse: John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

Offspring: None

In 1359, at the age of 12, Margaret married the eleven year old John Hastings, although she died less than two years later.

John later married Anne Mauny, the daughter of Sir Walter Mauny, who had followed Queen Philippa from Hainault.

Sources and Further Reading

 

R. Ian Jack, ‘Hastings, John, thirteenth earl of Pembroke (1347–1375)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004.

Michael Jones, ‘Montfort, John de, duke of Brittany and earl of Richmond (d. 1399)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004.

W. M. Ormrod, ‘Edward III and His Family‘, Journal of British Studies 26, 4 (1987), pp. 398-422.

W. M. Ormrod, ‘The Royal Nursery: A Household for the Younger Children of Edward III’, The English Historical Review 120, 486 (2005), pp. 398-415.

 

 

Archival Documents:

 

E 30/1718 Instructions to William Trussell, William Stury and others, sent to treat with the King of Castile for a marriage between his eldest son and Joan, daughter of Edward III. London.

SC 1/40/5 Isabella of Woodstock and Joan of the Tower, daughters of Edward III, to John de Offord, dean of Lincoln, chancellor: request for the discharge of taxation upon men who have performed their service. Dated at Fulham.

Isabella, favourite daughter of Edward III

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14th Century, Countess of Bedford, Edward III, England, Isabella de Coucy, Philippa of Hainault, Princess

This image depicts Philippa of Hainault and one of her daughters, probably Isabella, from the wall painting of St Stephen’s Chapel. Reconstructed by Ernest William Tristram. Parliamentary Art Collection

Isabella (1332-1379/82)

• Also known as: Isabella de Coucy, Countess of Bedford, Isabel of Woodstock
  • Not to be confused with: Isabella of France, queen of England (her grandmother); Isabel de Valois (second wife of Richard II)
• Parents: Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault
• Spouse: Enguerrand de Coucy
• Offspring:
  • Mary, Countess of Soissons
  • Phillippa de Vere, Duchess of Ireland

Isabella was the eldest daughter and second child of Philippa of Hainault and the English king Edward III. Philippa and Edward had at least twelve or thirteen children altogether, the most of any English queen apart from Eleanor of Castile, who produced sixteen. A number of these children died very young, with only eight surviving long enough to become betrothed or married. Four of these were daughters, Isabella, Joan, Mary, and Margaret.

The first of these, Isabella, was the longest lived and the only daughter to have children. Isabella was Edward and Philippa’s second child after their eldest son, Edward, the Prince of Wales, who died before his father and thus never became king. Isabella was probably named after her paternal grandmother, Isabella of France, who as the wife and associate in the deposition of Edward II had a rather salacious reputation and an uncertain relationship with her own son, Edward III. This follows something of a naming tradition within the royal family, as the firstborn daughters of several kings were named after the preceding queen: Edward I’s daughter Eleanor took the name of his mother, Eleanor of Provence, as did Edward II’s after his own mother Eleanor of Castile.

In 1340, Isabella and Joan joined their mother in following Edward to the Low Countries for the war he was waging. When they were sent back to England for their safety, a household was set up for Isabella, Joan, Lionel, and John, lasting for about two years, an unusual arrangement, as usually the royal children after the eldest son shared their mother’s household.  Records for this household indicate that Isabella had three damsels to attend her, in addition to sharing two damsels of the chamber with her sister Joan, as well as a shared esquire and one of her own, and the queen assigned another to her, named Esmon de Ekeney. All the princes and princesses also had pages. Isabella also had three tailors.

The unmarried Isabella was later provided with a household and independent lands in the 1350s.

Marriage Negotiations

Isabella is popularly believed to have been her father’s favourite daughter, which may have been partly why he allowed Isabella to be picky about her choice of future husband. Born in 1332, Isabella’s first marital prospects emerged at the age of three with Pedro, the heir to the throne of Castile, but Isabella’s younger sister Joan took her place.

Five years later, the next match proposed was with Louis, the son of the count of Flanders, but the negotiations fell through as the English supported a rebellion against the Count. This alliance was revisited, during the request for a papal dispensation for Isabella to marry the Duke of Brabant, but Louis, who had now inherited the title, married Marguerite de Brabant despite his promise to Isabella, after nine years of prevarication. Charles IV of Bohemia was also suggested. Richard II, Edward III’s successor and grandson through Edward, Prince of Wales, would later marry Anne of Bohemia, the daughter of Charles IV.

As time passed, Isabella’s suitors became less illustrious. In 1359, with Isabella now at the ripe age of nineteen, Edward III arranged her marriage with Bernard, the son of one of his supporters from Gascony named Bernard Ezi, the sieur d’Albret. However, Isabella refused at the last moment before boarding the ship that was to take her to her new husband. Her father showed no sign of annoyance, perhaps because the match offered no particular benefits, especially after the possibilities of the throne of Castile and the trading possibilities with Flanders. Instead Isabella was awarded the £1000 promised if the marriage failed to proceed and over time acquired significant lands of her own in England.

Multiple failed engagements were typical for daughters of high status in the medieval period and no reflection on Isabella’s attractiveness or her own wishes. Medieval marriages, particularly those of high status, were arranged chiefly for political benefit. In this case, Edward III also had multiple more offspring to use as political pawns. Although all of the possibilities had been led with an eye to the Hundred Years’ War between England and France, their failure ultimately had little effect.

Enguerrand de Coucy

Isabella eventually married at the age of thirty-three, unusually late for a medieval woman of high status.  The chosen man was Enguerrand (or Ingelram/Ingram) de Coucy, about eight years her junior, a French hostage who had won Edward III’s favour to the extent that the king granted Enguerrand both English lands and the earldom of Bedford. Enguerrand also had loftier goals, pursuing his claim to his grandfather’s lands on the continent.

The marriage is popularly believed to have been at least partly a love match. However, far from disappointment at de Coucy’s lower status, Edward III may have actually encouraged if not suggested the match, as bringing in one the enemy’s supporter to his own fold was a major coup. Isabella enjoyed a lavish wedding, as was typical for the king’s eldest daughter, including gifts of gold crowns for the couple.

Isabella’s reluctance to marry may have stemmed from her spoilt childhood, or her unusually close relationship with her family, as she continued visiting England and the royal court frequently after her marriage.

Although for a time Enguerrand gave his allegiance to the Pope rather than to the English or French kings, eventually he returned to serving France again. This necessitated the forfeiture of the couple’s lands in England, although these were regranted to Isabella with the proviso that she remain in England. Later Isabella entered into a dispute over some of her lands with Alice Perrers, a prominent mistress of Edward III.

The couple’s younger daughter, Mary, stayed in England with Isabella, and their other child, Philippa, in France with her father.

Isabella had already been made a member of the Order of the Garter, created by her father Edward III, in 1376, and again after the departure of Enguerrand in 1379, the only female so honoured aside from her mother during the reign of Edward III.

Scholars differ over the exact date of Isabella’s death, but it was probably between the year 1379 and 1382.

Two contemporary statues of Isabella have since been destroyed, and the reconstructed image of the wall painting of St Stephen’s Chapel is no indication of what Isabella may have really looked like, simply based on contemporary ideals of beauty.

Next post: The Daughters of Philippa of Hainault

Sources and Further Reading

Joseph Bain, ‘Petition by the Lady Isabella, Countess of Bedford, temp. Richard II’, Archaeological Journal 36 (1879), pp. 174-176.

James L. Gillespie, ‘Isabella, countess of Bedford (1332-1379)‘, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004.

Jessica Lutkin, ‘Isabella de Coucy: The Exception Who Proves the Rule’, in Chris Given-Wilson (ed.), Fourteenth Century VI (Woodbridge, 2010), pp. 130-148.

W. M. Ormrod, ‘Edward III and His Family‘, Journal of British Studies 26, 4 (1987), pp. 398-422.

W. M. Ormrod, ‘The Royal Nursery: A Household for the Younger Children of Edward III’, The English Historical Review 120, 486 (2005), pp. 398-415.

Archival Documents:

E 30/1642 Promise by Louis, Count of Flanders, to marry Isabel daughter of Edward III. Dunkirk.

PHC/23 Settlement for the marriage of Isabella, daughter of Edward III, with Louis, Count of Flanders

SC 1/40/5 Isabella of Woodstock and Joan of the Tower, daughters of Edward III, to John de Offord, dean of Lincoln, chancellor: request for the discharge of taxation upon men who have performed their service. Dated at Fulham.

SC 8/41/2011 Petition by Isabel of Woodstock, Countess of Bedford

SC 8/95/4710 Isabella, Countess of Bedford, asks the King to give all the lordships, lands, tenements and other possessions taken into his hand when her husband, the Lord de Coucy, surrendered his homage to him, to certain friends of hers, to hold for term of life or according to the terms of the charters and letters patent she had for them, for her benefit.