Joan Holland
Encyclopedia
Joan Holland was the third daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent
, and Alice FitzAlan. She married four times. Her first husband was a duke
, and the following three were baron
s. All of her marriages were most likely childless.
, Lancashire
, England, one of the ten children of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent
and Lady Alice FitzAlan
, sister of Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel
. She was niece of Richard II of England
, son of her paternal grandmother, Joan of Kent
by her second marriage to Edward, the Black Prince
. Joan had five sisters: Alianore became Countess of March ; Margaret became Countess of Somerset and later Duchess of Clarence; Eleanor became Countess of Salisbury; Elizabeth married Sir John Neville; and Bridget became a nun at Barking Abbey
. Her eldest brother Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey
was beheaded in 1400 by a mob of angry citizens at Cirencester
for his role in the Epiphany Rising
, which was aimed against the life of King Henry IV of England
, who had usurped the throne of King Richard. Thomas's heir to the earldom of Kent was her second eldest brother Edmund Holland
.
, son of Edward III of England
and Philippa of Hainault
, ca. 4 November 1393. As a result of this marriage, she was styled Duchess of York
. They had no children.
In 1399, Joan and her sister Margaret were invested as "lady companions of the Garter
." They were granddaughters of Joan
, the "Fair Maid of Kent" who inspired Edward III's founding of the Order of the Garter, according to popular legend.
After Langley's death in 1402, Joan married (before 9 August 1404) William de Willoughby, 5th Lord Willoughby de Eresby
(c. 1370-1409), a Knight of the Garter, son of Robert de Willoughby, 4th Lord Willoughby de Eresby, and Alice Skipwith. Upon her marriage, she became The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, or Lady Willoughby. Lord Willoughby died on 30 November 1409.
Her third marriage (after 6 September 1410) was to Henry le Scrope
, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham
. That year, Scrope was made a Knight of the Garter. He served Henry IV
as treasurer, and was executed in 1415 following the failure of his plot
with the Earl of Cambridge
(Joan's former stepson, being the son of her first husband, and nephew by marriage, being the husband of Anne de Mortimer
, her sister's daughter) to assassinate Henry V and place Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March (Joan's nephew) on the throne. (The Earl of March had been the heir presumptive of Richard II
. In 1399 Richard was forced to abdicate in favour of Henry IV, and for the next few decades Mortimer served as a focal point for conspiracies aimed at removing Henry IV and his heirs from the throne.) Lord Scrope and Cambridge were both beheaded
on 5 August 1415 at Southampton
Green, Hampshire, England. Cambridge's then four-year old son, Richard Plantagenet
, ultimately championed his father's cause, which evolved into the Wars of the Roses
and the Yorkist claimants achieving the throne.
Less than a year later, before 27 April 1416, Joan married her fourth and final husband, Sir Henry Bromflete, son of Sir Thomas Bromflete and Margaret St. John.
She died on 12 April 1434. Her husband, Bromflete, was summoned to Parliament as the 1st Lord Vesci (or Vessy) on 24 January 1449. He died on 16 January 1469.
Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent
Thomas Holland , 2nd Earl of Kent, 3rd Baron Holand KG was an English nobleman and a councillor of his half-brother, King Richard II of England.-Family and early Life:...
, and Alice FitzAlan. She married four times. Her first husband was a duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
, and the following three were baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
s. All of her marriages were most likely childless.
Family
Lady Joan Holland was born around 1380 in UphollandUpholland
Upholland is a civil parish and village in West Lancashire, England. It is situated approximately 3 miles east of Skelmersdale, also in West Lancashire, and 4½ miles west of Wigan in Greater Manchester.-Geography:...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England, one of the ten children of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent
Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent
Thomas Holland , 2nd Earl of Kent, 3rd Baron Holand KG was an English nobleman and a councillor of his half-brother, King Richard II of England.-Family and early Life:...
and Lady Alice FitzAlan
Alice FitzAlan (1350-1416)
Alice Holland, Countess of Kent , formerly Lady Alice FitzAlan, was an English noblewoman, a daughter of the 10th Earl of Arundel, and the wife of the 2nd Earl of Kent, the half-brother of King Richard II. She was the maternal grandmother of Anne Mortimer, thus an ancestor of King Edward IV and...
, sister of Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel
Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel
Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel and 9th Earl of Surrey KG was an English medieval nobleman and military commander.-Lineage:...
. She was niece of Richard II of England
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
, son of her paternal grandmother, Joan of Kent
Joan of Kent
Joan, Countess of Kent , known to history as The Fair Maid of Kent, was the first English Princess of Wales...
by her second marriage to Edward, the Black Prince
Edward, the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Aquitaine, KG was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and his wife Philippa of Hainault as well as father to King Richard II of England....
. Joan had five sisters: Alianore became Countess of March ; Margaret became Countess of Somerset and later Duchess of Clarence; Eleanor became Countess of Salisbury; Elizabeth married Sir John Neville; and Bridget became a nun at Barking Abbey
Barking Abbey
The ruined remains of Barking Abbey are situated in Barking in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in east London, England, and now form a public open space.- History :...
. Her eldest brother Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey
Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey
Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey, 3rd Earl of Kent, 4th Baron Holland, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.-Early life and family:...
was beheaded in 1400 by a mob of angry citizens at Cirencester
Cirencester
Cirencester is a market town in east Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles west northwest of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswold District. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural College, the oldest agricultural...
for his role in the Epiphany Rising
Epiphany Rising
The Epiphany Rising was a failed rebellion against Henry IV of England in January 1400.-Background:After the murder of Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester in 1397, Richard II rewarded those who had supported him against Gloucester and the Lords Appellant with a plethora of new titles.Upon...
, which was aimed against the life of King Henry IV of England
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
, who had usurped the throne of King Richard. Thomas's heir to the earldom of Kent was her second eldest brother Edmund Holland
Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent
Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent, 5th Baron Holand, KG was the Earl of Kent in ca. 1400 – ca. 1407. He was the 106th Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1403....
.
Life
Lady Joan married Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of YorkEdmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York
Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, 1st Earl of Cambridge, KG was a younger son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, the fourth of the five sons who lived to adulthood, of this Royal couple. Like so many medieval princes, Edmund gained his identifying nickname from his...
, son of Edward III of England
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
and Philippa of Hainault
Philippa of Hainault
Philippa of Hainault, or, Philippe de Hainaut was the Queen consort of King Edward III of England. Edward, Duke of Guyenne, her future husband, promised in 1326 to marry her within the following two years...
, ca. 4 November 1393. As a result of this marriage, she was styled Duchess of York
Duchess of York
Duchess of York is the principal courtesy title held by the wife of the Duke of York. The title is gained with marriage alone and is forfeited upon divorce. Four of the twelve Dukes of York did not marry or had already assumed the throne prior to marriage, therefore there have only ever been eleven...
. They had no children.
In 1399, Joan and her sister Margaret were invested as "lady companions of the Garter
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
." They were granddaughters of Joan
Joan of Kent
Joan, Countess of Kent , known to history as The Fair Maid of Kent, was the first English Princess of Wales...
, the "Fair Maid of Kent" who inspired Edward III's founding of the Order of the Garter, according to popular legend.
After Langley's death in 1402, Joan married (before 9 August 1404) William de Willoughby, 5th Lord Willoughby de Eresby
Baron Willoughby de Eresby
Baron Willoughby de Eresby is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created by writ in 1313 for Robert de Willoughby of Eresby Manor, near Spilsby, Lincolnshire. The fourteenth Baron was created Earl of Lindsey in 1626. His great-grandson, the fourth Earl and seventeenth Baron, was created...
(c. 1370-1409), a Knight of the Garter, son of Robert de Willoughby, 4th Lord Willoughby de Eresby, and Alice Skipwith. Upon her marriage, she became The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, or Lady Willoughby. Lord Willoughby died on 30 November 1409.
Her third marriage (after 6 September 1410) was to Henry le Scrope
Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham
Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham KG was a favourite of King Henry V of England but he was executed for his involvedment in the Southampton Plot.-Biography:...
, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham
Baron Scrope of Masham
The title Baron Scrope of Masham was created in the Peerage of England on 25 November 1350 as a barony by writ for Henry le Scrope, son of Geoffrey le Scrope and first cousin of Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton. It was abolished by attainder in 1415 after the 3rd Baron was executed as...
. That year, Scrope was made a Knight of the Garter. He served Henry IV
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
as treasurer, and was executed in 1415 following the failure of his plot
Southampton Plot
The Southampton Plot of 1415 was a conspiracy against King Henry V of England, aimed at replacing him with Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March. The three alleged ringleaders were Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, Mortimer's brother-in-law; Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham The...
with the Earl of Cambridge
Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge
Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge was the younger son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York and Isabella of Castile....
(Joan's former stepson, being the son of her first husband, and nephew by marriage, being the husband of Anne de Mortimer
Anne de Mortimer
Anne de Mortimer, Countess of Cambridge was an English noblewoman in line of succession for the throne of England...
, her sister's daughter) to assassinate Henry V and place Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March (Joan's nephew) on the throne. (The Earl of March had been the heir presumptive of Richard II
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
. In 1399 Richard was forced to abdicate in favour of Henry IV, and for the next few decades Mortimer served as a focal point for conspiracies aimed at removing Henry IV and his heirs from the throne.) Lord Scrope and Cambridge were both beheaded
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
on 5 August 1415 at Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
Green, Hampshire, England. Cambridge's then four-year old son, Richard Plantagenet
Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York
Richard Plantagenêt, 3rd Duke of York, 6th Earl of March, 4th Earl of Cambridge, and 7th Earl of Ulster, conventionally called Richard of York was a leading English magnate, great-grandson of King Edward III...
, ultimately championed his father's cause, which evolved into the Wars of the Roses
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...
and the Yorkist claimants achieving the throne.
Less than a year later, before 27 April 1416, Joan married her fourth and final husband, Sir Henry Bromflete, son of Sir Thomas Bromflete and Margaret St. John.
She died on 12 April 1434. Her husband, Bromflete, was summoned to Parliament as the 1st Lord Vesci (or Vessy) on 24 January 1449. He died on 16 January 1469.
Ancestry
External links
- Joan Holland on ancestry.com
- Joan Holland on thepeerage.com
- Margery Willoughby, her possible daughter, on tudorplace.com.ar (note that Margery is listed as a daughter of Lucy le Strange)