Editing Joan of Kent (section)

==Early life==
[[File:2083004 cb788d1c.jpg|thumb|[[Arundel Castle]] in Sussex, where Joan, her mother and siblings were placed under [[house arrest]]]]
Joan was born in around 1328 at [[Woodstock Palace]]. She was the daughter of [[Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent]], by his wife, [[Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell]]. Edmund was the sixth son of King [[Edward I of England]], and his second son by his second wife, [[Margaret of France, Queen of England|Margaret of France]], daughter of King [[Philip III of France]]. Edmund was always a loyal supporter of his eldest half-brother, [[Edward II of England|King Edward II]], which placed him in conflict with that monarch's wife, Queen [[Isabella of France]] and her lover [[Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March]]. Edmund was executed in 1330 after Edward II was deposed; and Edmund's widow and four children (including Joan, who was only two years old at the time) were placed under house arrest in [[Arundel Castle]] in Sussex, which had been granted to Edmund in 1326 by his half-brother the king following the execution of the rebel [[Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel]]. It was a time of great strain for the widowed Countess of Kent and her four children. They received respite after the new king, [[Edward III]] (Joan's half-first cousin), reached adulthood and took charge of affairs. He took on the responsibility for the family and looked after them well.