The Scandalous Love Life of Joan, Fair Maid of Kent
Let us take a look at Joan, the “Fair Maid of Kent”. While she is celebrated for her captivating beauty and undeniable charm, it’s her tumultuous love life that truly steals the spotlight, a tale of three marriages, each one dripping with controversy and scandal.
Her story begins on the 29th of September in either 1326 or 1327, the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent and Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness of Liddell. Her idyllic childhood abruptly ended when her father faced the executioner's axe in 1330 for his part in a daring but ill-fated attempt to rescue his half-brother King Edward II. Edward was imprisoned after having been forced to abdicate from the throne by his own wife, Isabella of France, and her lover, Roger Mortimer. In the wake of her father’s downfall, Joan and her family found themselves under house arrest within the formidable walls of Arundel Castle. It wasn’t until Edward III came of age and took the reins of power from the greedy and avaricious Mortimer, that the family’s fortunes improved. It was from this time that Joan, a first cousin of the King, blossomed in the proximity of the royal court. She would forge deep connections, especially with Edward, Prince of Wales, heir to the throne.
At the tender age of 12 or 13, she embarked on a clandestine love affair and marriage with the dashing 26 year-old Thomas Holland, an English nobleman from Lancashire. Their union, however, lacked the royal blessing it should have sought, shrouding the whole affair in a cloud of scandal. Shortly after their hushed nuptials, Thomas was dispatched to the continent, where he would dutifully serve under none other than Edward, the Prince of Wales, who would later earn the nickname “The Black Prince”. And as fate would have it, the prince would also become Joan’s third husband - a curious twist indeed.
This marriage remained a closely guarded secret, known only to the devoted couple themselves, Thomas’s plan was to make a name for himself in France in order to return and claim his bride openly to the court. But in a surprising twist, just months after Thomas’s departure for the battlefields of France, Joan’s family, unaware of her existing marriage, made plans for her to wed William Montagu, the heir to William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury.
It is quite conceivable that Joan chose not to disclose her prior marriage, possibly out of fear that it might spell dire consequences for Thomas, including the ominous spectre of treason, as Joan was after all a royal princess. Alternatively, perhaps it was a matter of loyalty to her family, especially her formidable mother. In this complex web of emotions and loyalties, it is easy to imagine the confusion that the young Joan felt, entangled in an intriguing tale of love and secrecy.
In 1348, the stage was set for a dramatic showdown when Thomas, fresh from his heroic exploits in France, returned as a celebrated figure. He had earned his stripes in the service of the Prince of Wales at Crecy and was steadfast in his resolve to reclaim his beloved wife. With unwavering determination, Thomas came clean about the clandestine marriage to none other than the King himself, and he even sought the intervention of the Pope. In the meantime William had ascended to the position of the 2nd Earl of Salisbury, following his father’s death in 1344, and he was certainly not about to yield without a fight. He took decisive action, confining Joan to prevent her from offering any testimony regarding the legitimacy of her secretive union with Thomas. But this captivity would not endure long as the church stepped in, compelling William to release her. In a remarkable turn of events, the ecclesiastical ruling went in Thomas’s favour, and Pope Clement VI annulled Joan’s marriage to Salisbury. His divine decree stated that Thomas and Joan undergo a proper church-sanctioned marriage ceremony. Over the next eleven years, their lives appeared to be brimming with happiness, as they welcomed the blessings of five children. Unfortunately the wheel of fate would turn again, and Joan would become a widow with Thomas’s death in 1360.
Not content with two scandalous unions Joan then lined up for a third, this time her partner in crime was none other than Edward, Prince of Wales. Now obviously Edward was no ordinary suitor, he was the heir to the throne, and his marital choices were expected to be driven by alliances and political power, certainly not entwined with the English nobility. In fact, it had been centuries, dating all the way back to 1066, since an heir to the throne had married into the English aristocracy. But love knows no boundaries, and Joan and Edward threw caution to the wind, exchanging vows with an unconventional twist, especially for royalty. They opted for “per verba de praesenti”, a marriage by word of mouth only - no bans, no priest, and no religious solemnity, just witnesses and consummation of their commitment, an act that earned stern disapproval from the church.
When news of their union reached the ears of the King and Queen, one can only imagine the shock and horror they felt, however for the sake of ensuring the legitimacy of future heirs, it was imperative that this union was made legal, and very quickly. It would prove to be a very expensive exercise, but desperate times called for desperate measures. The parties involved appealed to Pope Innocent VI, with a unanimous claim that their intention was always to gain the necessary dispensation after the fact. They insisted their love was so fervent that they simply could not wait. Money speaks all languages, and eventually the Pope acquiesced, on the 10th October, 1361, Edward and Joan were married at Windsor with all the regal pomp and ceremony befitting their status. The fact that this audacious union occurred a mere nine months after the passing of Joan’s previous husband, only served to get tongues wagging even more. Yet against all odds, it seemed that Joan and Edward shared a happy marriage, until the cruel hand of fate claimed Edward’s life in 1376. Despite all of the scandal, at a time when royal princesses had no say in their marital situation, Joan took her fate into her own hands, and was very lucky to have had two happy marriages.
Joan’s story did not end with Edward’s passing; she would go on to live another 19 years, playing a large part in her son’s life, especially when he became King Richard II on the death of his grandfather Edward III in 1377. When she died in August 1385, she was buried in Stamford, beside her first husband Thomas, Earl of Kent. However the question that lingers in the air is why she opted for this tranquil chapel in Stamford rather than the grandeur of Canterbury Cathedral, beside her illustrious prince. The absence of concrete evidence surrounding this choice evokes a touch of the romantic in me. Despite the evident happiness she found with her prince, I can’t help but wonder if she held onto a special place in her heart for her very first love.
Max
Joan of Kent photo Creative Commons/Public Domain
