Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland
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Joan Beaufort (Template:C. 1377 – 13 November 1440) was the youngest of the four legitimised children and only daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (third surviving son of King Edward III), by his mistress, later wife, Katherine de Roet.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> She married Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and in her widowhood became a powerful landowner in the north of England.
Early life
[edit]The year and place of Joan's birth is unknown. She may have been born at Kettlethorpe in Lincolnshire, the seat of the Swynford family, or at Pleshey in Essex, the home of Joan Fitzalan, Countess of Hereford.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> The usual date given for Joan's birth is 1379, as wine was ordered by John of Gaunt to be sent with all speed to Kettlethorpe in that year and he dated a couple of documents at that time from Kettlethorpe; thus, Joan's father may have been present for her birth or arrived shortly thereafter. Alison Weir, however, believes 1377 may be more accurate.<ref name=":1"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Joan may have been named after Joan of Kent, at the time of her birth Dowager Princess of Wales.<ref name=":1"/> In September 1396 she, together with her siblings, the children of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford, were legitimised by papal bull.<ref name=":0"/>
Marriages and issue
[edit]First marriage
[edit]In 1386 her father arranged for her to be betrothed to Robert Ferrers, 5th Baron Boteler of Wem<ref name=":0"/> (d. c. 1395). The marriage took place in 1391/2 at Beaufort-en-Vallée, Anjou and the couple remained in the household of her father.<ref name=":1"/> Ferrers died only three years after the marriage, having had two daughters by Joan:<ref name=":0"/>
- Elizabeth Ferrers, 6th Baroness Boteler of Wem (1393–1474).<ref name=":8">Template:Cite book</ref> She married John de Greystoke, 4th Baron Greystoke (1389–1436) on 28 October 1407 in Greystoke Castle, Greystoke, Cumberland, and had issue. She is buried at Black Friars Church, York.
- Mary or Margery (1394 – 25 January 1457/1458). She married her stepbrother, Sir Ralph Neville, son of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmoreland, before 1411 in Oversley, Warwickshire and had issue.
Second marriage
[edit]
In November 1396 Joan married, secondly, to the recently widowed Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland (d. 1425),<ref name=":1"/> who had twelve children by his first wife and fathered a further fourteen by Joan.<ref name=":1"/> On the marriage her father settled on the couple for life an annuity of £206 13s 4d.<ref name=":1"/> The couple's primary residence was the ancient Neville seat of Raby Castle in the county of Durham.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref> Joan Beaufort and Ralph Neville had the following 14 children:<ref name=":7"/>
- Lady Katherine Neville (c. 1397 – c. 1483),<ref name=":0"/> married, firstly, on 12 January 1411 John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk; married, secondly, Sir Thomas Strangways; married, thirdly, John Beaumont, 1st Viscount Beaumont; married, fourthly, Sir John Woodville (d. 12 August 1469).
- Lady Eleanor Neville (c. 1398 – 1472), married, firstly, Richard le Despenser, 4th Baron Burghersh, married, secondly, Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland.<ref name=":0"/>
- Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury (1400–1460), married Alice Montacute, suo jure 5th Countess of Salisbury.<ref name=":0"/> Had issue
- Henry Neville (c. 1402), died in infancy<ref name=":0"/>
- Robert Neville (1404–1457), Bishop of Durham<ref name=":0"/>
- William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent (c. 1405 – 1463), married Joan Fauconberg<ref name=":0"/>
- John Neville (c. 1406), died in infancy<ref name=":0"/>
- George Neville, 1st Baron Latimer (c. 1407 – 1469)<ref name=":0"/>
- Lady Anne Neville (c. 1408 – 1480), married Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham.<ref name=":0"/>
- Thomas Neville (c. 1410), died as a child<ref name=":0"/>
- Cuthbert Neville (c. 1411), died in infancy<ref name=":0"/>
- Joan Neville (c. 1412 – 1453), became a nun of the Order of St. Clare<ref name=":0"/>
- Edward Neville, 3rd Baron Bergavenny (c. 1414 – 1476), married Elizabeth Beauchamp<ref name=":0"/>
- Lady Cecily Neville (1415–1495) ("Proud Cis"), married Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and mothered kings Edward IV and Richard III.<ref name=":0"/>
Life
[edit]In 1399 Joan was made a Lady of the Order of the Garter by King Richard II.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Although that king had created Ralph as the first Earl of Westmorland, Ralph sided with Joan's half-brother Henry Bolingbroke, who deposed Richard in 1399 and assumed the throne as King Henry IV.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":5">Template:Cite book</ref> Joan and Ralph were granted numerous offices, lands, wardships and pensions under Henry IV.<ref name=":4"/><ref name=":5"/> Joan was named in royal grants as "the King's sister."<ref name=":3"/>
Ralph and Joan used their relationship with Henry IV to seek out the best marriages for their children, often purchasing the wardships and marriages of children orphaned by aristocratic rebellions.<ref name=":0"/> For example, in 1423, Ralph purchased the wardship of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York who lived with the family at Raby Castle<ref name=":5"/> and was accordingly later married to Cecily Neville, one of the daughters of Richard and Joan. J. R. Lander called these machinations "the most amazing series of child marriages in English history."<ref name=":0"/><ref name=":6">Template:Cite book</ref> By the time of her death, Joan was the mother of an earl, three barons, a countess, three duchesses and a bishop.<ref name=":6"/>
In about 1413 Joan invited the mystic Margery Kempe to the family home<ref name=":0"/> and it is likely that she helped to fund Margery's pilgrimage to Jerusalem.<ref name=":0"/> In 1422 Joan acquired an indult permitting her to stay with any order of nuns attended by "eight honest women."<ref name=":0"/>
Later life and death
[edit]After Ralph's death in 1425, the title Earl of Westmorland passed to Ralph's eldest grandson from his first marriage but many of the Neville lands were transferred to Joan's eldest son Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury.<ref name=":4"/> This sparked the Neville–Neville feud between the two lines descended from Ralph, which continued into the Wars of the Roses.
During her widowhood Joan became a patron of literature.<ref name=":7">Template:Cite book</ref> In about 1430 Joan and her family were depicted by Pol de Limbourg in the Neville Book of Hours.<ref name=":3"/> In 1428 Joan undertook a religious pilgrimage and joined the Sisterhood of the Abbey of St. Alban's.<ref name=":0"/> At some point during her widowhood Joan swore a vow of chastity.<ref name=":0"/>
Death and burial
[edit]Joan died on 13 November 1440 at Howden in Yorkshire<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> and was buried beside her mother in Lincoln Cathedral.<ref name=":3"/><ref name=":2"/>
Descendants
[edit]Joan Beaufort was the mother of Cecily, Duchess of York, and thus was a grandmother of kings Edward IV and Richard III. The latter was defeated in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth by Henry VII who replaced him as king. Henry then married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, and their second son later became King Henry VIII. Henry VIII's sixth wife, Catherine Parr, was also a descendant of Joan through her eldest son Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, thus Henry's third cousin. The 5th Earl of Salisbury was father to Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, "the Kingmaker" (father of queen consort Anne Neville and Isabel Neville, Duchess of Clarence).
References
[edit]- Pages with broken file links
- 1370s births
- 1440 deaths
- Beaufort family
- Neville family
- Ladies of the Garter
- Wives of knights
- English countesses
- Daughters of English dukes
- 14th-century English nobility
- 14th-century English women
- 15th-century English nobility
- 15th-century English landowners
- 15th-century English women
- Burials at Lincoln Cathedral
- English patrons of the arts
- Illegitimate children of English royalty