Individual Details
Joan of Acre
(1272 - 1307)
thePeerage.com
Joan of Acre1
F, #101910, b. circa April 1272, d. 23 April 1307
Last Edited=21 Jan 2011
Consanguinity Index=1.39%
Joan of Acre was born circa April 1272 at Acre, Israel.2 She was the daughter of Edward I 'Longshanks', King of England and Eleanor de Castilla, Comtesse de Ponthieu. She married, firstly, Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester, son of Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Gloucester and Matilda de Lacy, on 30 April 1290 at Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, England.2 She married, secondly, Ralph de Monthermer, Earl of Gloucester before 2 August 1297, without her father's consent, although this was pardoned on 2 August 1297. She died on 23 April 1307 at Clare, Suffolk, England.3 She was buried at Priory Church of the Austin Friars, Clare, Suffolk, England.3
She was also known as Joan Plantagenet.4 From 30 April 1290, her married name became de Clare. From 1297, her married name became Monthermer.
Children of Joan of Acre and Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester
Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester5 b. 10 May 1291, d. 24 Jun 1314
Lady Eleanor de Clare+1 b. Oct 1292, d. 30 Jun 1337
Margaret de Clare+1 b. 1293, d. Apr 1342
Elizabeth de Clare+6 b. 16 Sep 1295, d. 4 Nov 1360
Children of Joan of Acre and Ralph de Monthermer, Earl of Gloucester
Mary de Monthermer+1 b. 1298, d. a 1371
Joan de Monthermer1 b. 1299
Thomas de Monthermer, 2nd Baron Monthermer+1 b. 1301, d. 1340
Edward de Monthermer, 3rd Baron Monthermer1 b. 1304, d. b 3 Feb 1340
Citations
[S106] Royal Genealogies Website (ROYAL92.GED), online http://www.daml.org/2001/01/gedcom/royal92.ged. Hereinafter cited as Royal Genealogies Website.
[S11] Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 82. Hereinafter cited as Britain's Royal Families.
[S11] Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families, page 83.
[S125] Richard Glanville-Brown, online, Richard Glanville-Brown (RR 2, Milton, Ontario, Canada), downloaded 17 August 2005.
[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 244. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
[S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume III, page 245.
******************
From Wikipedia
Joan of Acre (April 1272 – 23 April 1307) was an English princess, a daughter of King Edward I of England and Queen Eleanor of Castile.[2] The name "Acre" derives from her birthplace in the Holy Land while her parents were on a crusade.
She was married twice; her first husband was Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, one of the most powerful nobles in her father's kingdom; her second husband was Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in her household whom she married in secret.
Joan is most notable for the claim that miracles have allegedly taken place at her grave, and for the multiple references to her in literature.
Contents
1 Birth and childhood
2 First marriage
3 Secret second marriage
4 Relationship with family
5 Death
6 Joan in fiction
7 Ancestry
8 Footnotes
9 References
Birth and childhood
Joan (or Joanna, as she is sometimes called) of Acre was born in the spring of 1272 in the Kingdom of Acre, Outremer, now in modern Israel, while her parents, Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, were on crusade.[3] At the time of Joan's birth, her grandfather, Henry III, was still alive and thus her father was not yet king of England. Her parents departed from Acre shortly after her birth, traveling to Sicily and Spain[4] before leaving Joan with Eleanor's mother, Joan, Countess of Ponthieu, in France.[5] Joan lived for several years in France where she spent her time being educated by a bishop and “being thoroughly spoiled by an indulgent grandmother.”[6] Joan was free to play among the “vine clad hills and sunny vales”[7] surrounding her grandmother’s home, although she required “judicious surveillance.”[8]
As Joan was growing up with her grandmother, her father was back in England, already arranging marriages for his daughter. He hoped to gain both political power and more wealth with his daughter's marriage, so he conducted the arrangement in a very “business like style”.[9] He finally found a man suitable to marry Joan (aged 5 at the time), Hartman, son of King Rudoph I, of Germany. Edward then brought her home from France for the first time to meet him.[10] As she had spent her entire life away from Edward and Eleanor, when she returned she “stood in no awe of her parents”[6] and had a fairly distanced relationship with them.
Unfortunately for King Edward, his daughter’s suitor died before he was able to meet or marry Joan. The news reported that Hartman had fallen through a patch of shallow ice while “amusing himself in skating” while a letter sent to the King himself stated that Hartman had set out on a boat to visit his father amidst a terrible fog and the boat had smashed into a rock, drowning him.[11]
First marriage
Edward arranged a second marriage almost immediately after the death of Hartman.[12] Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, who was almost thirty years older than Joan and newly divorced, was his first choice.[13] The earl resigned his lands to Edward upon agreeing to get them back when he married Joan, as well as agreed on a dower of two thousand silver marks.[14] By the time all of these negotiations were finished, Joan was twelve years old.[14] Gilbert de Clare became very enamored with Joan, and even though she had to marry him regardless of how she felt, he still tried to woo her.[15] He bought her expensive gifts and clothing to try to win favor with her.[16] The couple were married on 30 April 1290 at Westminster Abbey, and had four children together.[17] They were:
Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford
Eleanor de Clare
Margaret de Clare
Elizabeth de Clare
Joan's first husband, Gilbert de Clare died on 7 December 1295.[18]
Secret second marriage
Joan had been a widow for only a little over a year when she caught the eye of Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in Joan’s father’s household.[19] Joan fell in love and convinced her father to have Monthermer knighted. It was unheard of in European royalty for a noble lady to even converse with a man who had not won or acquired importance in the household. However, in January 1297 Joan secretly married [20] Ralph. Joan's father was already planning another marriage for Joan to Amadeus V, Count of Savoy,[20] to occur 16 March 1297. Joan was in a dangerous predicament, as she was already married, unbeknownst to her father.
Joan sent her four young children to their grandfather, in hopes that their sweetness would win Edward's favor, but her plan did not work.[21] The king soon discovered his daughter's intentions, but not yet aware that she had already committed to them,[18] he seized Joan’s lands and continued to arrange her marriage to Amadeus of Savoy.[17] Soon after the seizure of her lands, Joan told her father that she had married Ralph. The king was enraged and retaliated by immediately imprisoning Monthermer at Bristol Castle.[17] The people of the land had differing opinions on the princess’ matter. It has been argued that the ones who were most upset were those who wanted Joan’s hand in marriage.[22]
With regard to the matter, Joan famously said, “It is not considered ignominious, nor disgraceful for a great earl to take a poor and mean woman to wife; neither, on the other hand, is it worthy of blame, or too difficult a thing for a countess to promote to honor a gallant youth.”[23] Joan's statement in addition to a possibly obvious pregnancy seemed to soften Edward’s attitude towards the situation.[22] Joan's first child by Monthermer was born in October 1297; by the summer of 1297, when the marriage was revealed to Edward I, Joan's condition would certainly have been apparent, and would have convinced Edward that he had no choice but to recognize his daughter's marriage. Edward I eventually relented for the sake of his daughter and released Monthermer from prison in August 1297.[17] Monthermer paid homage 2 August, and being granted the titles of Earl of Gloucester and Earl of Hertford, he rose to favour with the King during Joan's lifetime.[24]
Monthermer and Joan had four children:
Mary de Monthermer, born October 1297. In 1306 her grandfather King Edward I arranged for her to wed Duncan Macduff, 8th Earl of Fife.
Joan de Monthermer, born 1299, became a nun at Amesbury.
Thomas de Monthermer, 2nd Baron Monthermer, born 1301.
Edward de Monthermer, born 1304 and died 1339.
Relationship with family
Joan of Acre was the seventh of Edward I and Eleanor’s fourteen children. Most of her older siblings died before the age of seven, and many of her younger siblings died before adulthood.[25] Those who survived to adulthood were Joan, her younger brother, Edward of Caernarfon (later Edward II), and four of her sisters: Eleanor, Margaret, Mary, and Elizabeth.[26]
Joan, like her siblings, was raised outside her parents' household. She lived with her grandmother in Ponthieu for four years, and was then entrusted to the same caregivers who looked after her siblings.[27] Edward I did not have a close relationship with most of his children while they were growing up, yet “he seemed fonder of his daughters than his sons.”[26]
However, Joan of Acre’s independent nature caused numerous conflicts with her father. Her father disapproved of her leaving court after her marriage to the Earl of Gloucester, and in turn “seized seven robes that had been made for her.”[28] He also strongly disapproved of her second marriage to Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in her household, even to the point of attempting to force her to marry someone else.[28][29] While Edward ultimately developed a cordial relationship with Monthermer, even giving him the title of Earl,[28] there appears to have been a notable difference in the Edward’s treatment of Joan as compared to the treatment of the rest of her siblings. For instance, her father famously paid messengers substantially when they brought news of the birth of grandchildren, but did not do this upon birth of Joan’s daughter.[30]
In terms of her siblings, Joan kept a fairly tight bond. She and Monthermer both maintained a close relationship with her brother, Edward, which was maintained through letters. After Edward became estranged from his father and lost his royal seal, “Joan offered to lend him her seal” .[31]
Death
Joan died on 23 April 1307, at the manor of Clare in Suffolk.[24] The cause of her death remains unclear, though one popular theory is that she died during childbirth, a common cause of death at the time. While Joan's age in 1307 (about 35) and the chronology of her earlier pregnancies with Ralph de Monthermer suggest that this could well be the case, historians have not confirmed the cause of her death.[32]
Less than four months after her death, Joan’s father died. Joan's widower, Ralph de Monthermer, lost the title of Earl of Gloucester soon after the deaths of his wife and father-in-law. The earldom of Gloucester was given to Joan’s son from her first marriage, Gilbert, who was its rightful holder. Monthermer continued to hold a nominal earldom in Scotland, which had been conferred on him by Edward I, until his death.
Joan’s burial place has been the cause of some interest and debate. She is interred in the Augustinian priory at Clare, which had been founded by her first husband's ancestors and where many of them were also buried. Allegedly, in 1357, Joan’s daughter, Elizabeth De Burgh, claimed to have “inspected her mother's body and found the corpse to be intact,”,[32] which in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church is an indication of sanctity. This claim was only recorded in a fifteenth-century chronicle, however, and its details are uncertain, especially the statement that her corpse was in such a state of preservation that "when her paps [breasts] were pressed with hands, they rose up again." Some sources further claim that miracles took place at Joan's tomb,[32] but no cause for her beatification or canonization has ever been introduced.
References
Carpenter, David (2004). The Struggle for Mastery: The Penguin History of Britain 1066–1284. London, UK: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-014824-4.
Costain, Thomas. A History of the Plantagenets, Vol III.
Durand, Ursin; Clémencet, Charles; Dantine, Maur-François (1818). L'art de verifier les dates des faits historiques, des chartes, des chroniques et autres anciens monuments depuis la naissance de notre-seigneur (in French) 12. Paris, France: n.p. OCLC 221519473.
Green, Mary Anna Everett. Lives of the Princesses of England. London: Henry Colburn, 1850.
Hamilton, J. S. (2010). The Plantagenets: History of a Dynasty. London, UK: Continuum. ISBN 978-1-4411-5712-6.
Howell, Margaret (2004). "Eleanor [Eleanor of Provence] (c.1223–1291), queen of England, consort of Henry III". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8620. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Lee, Sidney, ed. (1892). "Joan of Acre". Dictionary of National Biography 29. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 390.
O'Callaghan, Joseph F. (1975). A History of Medieval Spain. Ithaca, US: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-0880-9.
Parsons, John Carmi. Eleanor of Castile. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995.
Parsons, John Carmi (2004). "Eleanor [Eleanor of Castile] (1241–1290), queen of England, consort of Edward I". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8619. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Prestwich, Michael (1988). Edward I. Berkeley, US and Los Angeles, US: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-06266-5.
Underhill, Frances Ann (1999). For Her Good Estate: The Life of Elizabeth de Burgh. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-21355-7.
Weir, Alison (2008). Britain's Royal Families, The Complete Genealogy. London: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-09-953973-5.
************
From FindAGrave
Birth: 1272
Acre, Hatzafon (Northern District), Israel
Death: 1307
Clare, St Edmundsbury Borough, Suffolk, England
English Royalty. The daughter of King Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, she was born at Acre, Isreal while her father was on crusade. She married Gilbert of Clare, 3rd earl of Gloucester on April 30, 1290 at Westminster Abbey. They had 4 children before Gilbert's death in 1295. She then married Ralph Monthermer, 1st baron Monthermer, a knight in her household, in 1297 without her father's consent. Enraged at his daughter's lowly second marriage, Edward I had Monthermer thrown in prison. Joan begged for his release, and the king relented, giving Monthermer the title earl of Gloucester. Joan died at her manor in Clare at the age of 35. Though the exact cause of her death is unknown, some historians have recently theorized she may have died giving birth to a fifth child by Monthermer. The remains of an altar recess on the ruins of the south wall of the abbey are thought to be Joan's tomb. A friar reported that in 1359, Joan's daughter Elizabeth DeBurgh inspected her mother's tomb and found the remains to be incorrupt. Since then, there have been reports of miraculous healing of toothache, fever, and back pain there. (bio by: Kristen Conrad)
Family links:
Parents:
Edward I (1239 - 1307)
Eleanor of Castile (1241 - 1290)
Spouses:
Gilbert de Clare (1243 - 1295)*
Ralph de Monthermer (1270 - 1325)*
Children:
Gilbert de Clare (1291 - 1314)*
Eleanor de Clare (1292 - 1337)*
Margaret de Clare (1293 - 1342)*
Elizabeth de Clare (1295 - 1360)*
Thomas de Monthermer (1301 - 1340)*
Edward de Monthermer (1303 - 1340)*
Stillborn de Monthermer (1307 - 1307)*
Siblings:
Katherine Plantagenet (____ - 1264)*
Joan Plantagenet (1265 - 1265)*
John Plantagenet (1266 - 1271)*
Henry Plantagenet (1267 - 1274)*
Eleanor Plantagenet (1269 - 1298)*
Joan of Acre (1272 - 1307)
Alfonso Plantagenet (1273 - 1284)*
Margaret of England (1275 - 1318)*
Berengaria Plantagenet (1276 - 1278)*
Mary Plantagenet (1278 - 1332)*
Isabella Plantagenet (1279 - 1279)*
Elizabeth Plantagenet (1282 - 1316)*
King Edward II (1284 - 1327)*
Beatrice Plantagenet Princess of England (1286 - 1286)*
Thomas Plantagenet of Brotherton (1300 - 1338)**
Edmund Plantagenet of Woodstock (1301 - 1330)**
Eleanor Plantagenet (1306 - 1311)**
*Calculated relationship
**Half-sibling
Burial:
Clare Priory
Clare
St Edmundsbury Borough
Suffolk, England
Plot: St. Peter ad Vincula, The Tower of London, London, England
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Originally Created by: Kristen Conrad
Record added: Nov 28, 2005
Find A Grave Memorial# 12535626
Joan of Acre1
F, #101910, b. circa April 1272, d. 23 April 1307
Last Edited=21 Jan 2011
Consanguinity Index=1.39%
Joan of Acre was born circa April 1272 at Acre, Israel.2 She was the daughter of Edward I 'Longshanks', King of England and Eleanor de Castilla, Comtesse de Ponthieu. She married, firstly, Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester, son of Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Gloucester and Matilda de Lacy, on 30 April 1290 at Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, England.2 She married, secondly, Ralph de Monthermer, Earl of Gloucester before 2 August 1297, without her father's consent, although this was pardoned on 2 August 1297. She died on 23 April 1307 at Clare, Suffolk, England.3 She was buried at Priory Church of the Austin Friars, Clare, Suffolk, England.3
She was also known as Joan Plantagenet.4 From 30 April 1290, her married name became de Clare. From 1297, her married name became Monthermer.
Children of Joan of Acre and Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester
Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester5 b. 10 May 1291, d. 24 Jun 1314
Lady Eleanor de Clare+1 b. Oct 1292, d. 30 Jun 1337
Margaret de Clare+1 b. 1293, d. Apr 1342
Elizabeth de Clare+6 b. 16 Sep 1295, d. 4 Nov 1360
Children of Joan of Acre and Ralph de Monthermer, Earl of Gloucester
Mary de Monthermer+1 b. 1298, d. a 1371
Joan de Monthermer1 b. 1299
Thomas de Monthermer, 2nd Baron Monthermer+1 b. 1301, d. 1340
Edward de Monthermer, 3rd Baron Monthermer1 b. 1304, d. b 3 Feb 1340
Citations
[S106] Royal Genealogies Website (ROYAL92.GED), online http://www.daml.org/2001/01/gedcom/royal92.ged. Hereinafter cited as Royal Genealogies Website.
[S11] Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 82. Hereinafter cited as Britain's Royal Families.
[S11] Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families, page 83.
[S125] Richard Glanville-Brown, online
[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 244. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
[S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume III, page 245.
******************
From Wikipedia
Joan of Acre (April 1272 – 23 April 1307) was an English princess, a daughter of King Edward I of England and Queen Eleanor of Castile.[2] The name "Acre" derives from her birthplace in the Holy Land while her parents were on a crusade.
She was married twice; her first husband was Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, one of the most powerful nobles in her father's kingdom; her second husband was Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in her household whom she married in secret.
Joan is most notable for the claim that miracles have allegedly taken place at her grave, and for the multiple references to her in literature.
Contents
1 Birth and childhood
2 First marriage
3 Secret second marriage
4 Relationship with family
5 Death
6 Joan in fiction
7 Ancestry
8 Footnotes
9 References
Birth and childhood
Joan (or Joanna, as she is sometimes called) of Acre was born in the spring of 1272 in the Kingdom of Acre, Outremer, now in modern Israel, while her parents, Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, were on crusade.[3] At the time of Joan's birth, her grandfather, Henry III, was still alive and thus her father was not yet king of England. Her parents departed from Acre shortly after her birth, traveling to Sicily and Spain[4] before leaving Joan with Eleanor's mother, Joan, Countess of Ponthieu, in France.[5] Joan lived for several years in France where she spent her time being educated by a bishop and “being thoroughly spoiled by an indulgent grandmother.”[6] Joan was free to play among the “vine clad hills and sunny vales”[7] surrounding her grandmother’s home, although she required “judicious surveillance.”[8]
As Joan was growing up with her grandmother, her father was back in England, already arranging marriages for his daughter. He hoped to gain both political power and more wealth with his daughter's marriage, so he conducted the arrangement in a very “business like style”.[9] He finally found a man suitable to marry Joan (aged 5 at the time), Hartman, son of King Rudoph I, of Germany. Edward then brought her home from France for the first time to meet him.[10] As she had spent her entire life away from Edward and Eleanor, when she returned she “stood in no awe of her parents”[6] and had a fairly distanced relationship with them.
Unfortunately for King Edward, his daughter’s suitor died before he was able to meet or marry Joan. The news reported that Hartman had fallen through a patch of shallow ice while “amusing himself in skating” while a letter sent to the King himself stated that Hartman had set out on a boat to visit his father amidst a terrible fog and the boat had smashed into a rock, drowning him.[11]
First marriage
Edward arranged a second marriage almost immediately after the death of Hartman.[12] Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, who was almost thirty years older than Joan and newly divorced, was his first choice.[13] The earl resigned his lands to Edward upon agreeing to get them back when he married Joan, as well as agreed on a dower of two thousand silver marks.[14] By the time all of these negotiations were finished, Joan was twelve years old.[14] Gilbert de Clare became very enamored with Joan, and even though she had to marry him regardless of how she felt, he still tried to woo her.[15] He bought her expensive gifts and clothing to try to win favor with her.[16] The couple were married on 30 April 1290 at Westminster Abbey, and had four children together.[17] They were:
Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford
Eleanor de Clare
Margaret de Clare
Elizabeth de Clare
Joan's first husband, Gilbert de Clare died on 7 December 1295.[18]
Secret second marriage
Joan had been a widow for only a little over a year when she caught the eye of Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in Joan’s father’s household.[19] Joan fell in love and convinced her father to have Monthermer knighted. It was unheard of in European royalty for a noble lady to even converse with a man who had not won or acquired importance in the household. However, in January 1297 Joan secretly married [20] Ralph. Joan's father was already planning another marriage for Joan to Amadeus V, Count of Savoy,[20] to occur 16 March 1297. Joan was in a dangerous predicament, as she was already married, unbeknownst to her father.
Joan sent her four young children to their grandfather, in hopes that their sweetness would win Edward's favor, but her plan did not work.[21] The king soon discovered his daughter's intentions, but not yet aware that she had already committed to them,[18] he seized Joan’s lands and continued to arrange her marriage to Amadeus of Savoy.[17] Soon after the seizure of her lands, Joan told her father that she had married Ralph. The king was enraged and retaliated by immediately imprisoning Monthermer at Bristol Castle.[17] The people of the land had differing opinions on the princess’ matter. It has been argued that the ones who were most upset were those who wanted Joan’s hand in marriage.[22]
With regard to the matter, Joan famously said, “It is not considered ignominious, nor disgraceful for a great earl to take a poor and mean woman to wife; neither, on the other hand, is it worthy of blame, or too difficult a thing for a countess to promote to honor a gallant youth.”[23] Joan's statement in addition to a possibly obvious pregnancy seemed to soften Edward’s attitude towards the situation.[22] Joan's first child by Monthermer was born in October 1297; by the summer of 1297, when the marriage was revealed to Edward I, Joan's condition would certainly have been apparent, and would have convinced Edward that he had no choice but to recognize his daughter's marriage. Edward I eventually relented for the sake of his daughter and released Monthermer from prison in August 1297.[17] Monthermer paid homage 2 August, and being granted the titles of Earl of Gloucester and Earl of Hertford, he rose to favour with the King during Joan's lifetime.[24]
Monthermer and Joan had four children:
Mary de Monthermer, born October 1297. In 1306 her grandfather King Edward I arranged for her to wed Duncan Macduff, 8th Earl of Fife.
Joan de Monthermer, born 1299, became a nun at Amesbury.
Thomas de Monthermer, 2nd Baron Monthermer, born 1301.
Edward de Monthermer, born 1304 and died 1339.
Relationship with family
Joan of Acre was the seventh of Edward I and Eleanor’s fourteen children. Most of her older siblings died before the age of seven, and many of her younger siblings died before adulthood.[25] Those who survived to adulthood were Joan, her younger brother, Edward of Caernarfon (later Edward II), and four of her sisters: Eleanor, Margaret, Mary, and Elizabeth.[26]
Joan, like her siblings, was raised outside her parents' household. She lived with her grandmother in Ponthieu for four years, and was then entrusted to the same caregivers who looked after her siblings.[27] Edward I did not have a close relationship with most of his children while they were growing up, yet “he seemed fonder of his daughters than his sons.”[26]
However, Joan of Acre’s independent nature caused numerous conflicts with her father. Her father disapproved of her leaving court after her marriage to the Earl of Gloucester, and in turn “seized seven robes that had been made for her.”[28] He also strongly disapproved of her second marriage to Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in her household, even to the point of attempting to force her to marry someone else.[28][29] While Edward ultimately developed a cordial relationship with Monthermer, even giving him the title of Earl,[28] there appears to have been a notable difference in the Edward’s treatment of Joan as compared to the treatment of the rest of her siblings. For instance, her father famously paid messengers substantially when they brought news of the birth of grandchildren, but did not do this upon birth of Joan’s daughter.[30]
In terms of her siblings, Joan kept a fairly tight bond. She and Monthermer both maintained a close relationship with her brother, Edward, which was maintained through letters. After Edward became estranged from his father and lost his royal seal, “Joan offered to lend him her seal” .[31]
Death
Joan died on 23 April 1307, at the manor of Clare in Suffolk.[24] The cause of her death remains unclear, though one popular theory is that she died during childbirth, a common cause of death at the time. While Joan's age in 1307 (about 35) and the chronology of her earlier pregnancies with Ralph de Monthermer suggest that this could well be the case, historians have not confirmed the cause of her death.[32]
Less than four months after her death, Joan’s father died. Joan's widower, Ralph de Monthermer, lost the title of Earl of Gloucester soon after the deaths of his wife and father-in-law. The earldom of Gloucester was given to Joan’s son from her first marriage, Gilbert, who was its rightful holder. Monthermer continued to hold a nominal earldom in Scotland, which had been conferred on him by Edward I, until his death.
Joan’s burial place has been the cause of some interest and debate. She is interred in the Augustinian priory at Clare, which had been founded by her first husband's ancestors and where many of them were also buried. Allegedly, in 1357, Joan’s daughter, Elizabeth De Burgh, claimed to have “inspected her mother's body and found the corpse to be intact,”,[32] which in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church is an indication of sanctity. This claim was only recorded in a fifteenth-century chronicle, however, and its details are uncertain, especially the statement that her corpse was in such a state of preservation that "when her paps [breasts] were pressed with hands, they rose up again." Some sources further claim that miracles took place at Joan's tomb,[32] but no cause for her beatification or canonization has ever been introduced.
References
Carpenter, David (2004). The Struggle for Mastery: The Penguin History of Britain 1066–1284. London, UK: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-014824-4.
Costain, Thomas. A History of the Plantagenets, Vol III.
Durand, Ursin; Clémencet, Charles; Dantine, Maur-François (1818). L'art de verifier les dates des faits historiques, des chartes, des chroniques et autres anciens monuments depuis la naissance de notre-seigneur (in French) 12. Paris, France: n.p. OCLC 221519473.
Green, Mary Anna Everett. Lives of the Princesses of England. London: Henry Colburn, 1850.
Hamilton, J. S. (2010). The Plantagenets: History of a Dynasty. London, UK: Continuum. ISBN 978-1-4411-5712-6.
Howell, Margaret (2004). "Eleanor [Eleanor of Provence] (c.1223–1291), queen of England, consort of Henry III". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8620. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Lee, Sidney, ed. (1892). "Joan of Acre". Dictionary of National Biography 29. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 390.
O'Callaghan, Joseph F. (1975). A History of Medieval Spain. Ithaca, US: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-0880-9.
Parsons, John Carmi. Eleanor of Castile. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995.
Parsons, John Carmi (2004). "Eleanor [Eleanor of Castile] (1241–1290), queen of England, consort of Edward I". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8619. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Prestwich, Michael (1988). Edward I. Berkeley, US and Los Angeles, US: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-06266-5.
Underhill, Frances Ann (1999). For Her Good Estate: The Life of Elizabeth de Burgh. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-21355-7.
Weir, Alison (2008). Britain's Royal Families, The Complete Genealogy. London: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-09-953973-5.
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From FindAGrave
Birth: 1272
Acre, Hatzafon (Northern District), Israel
Death: 1307
Clare, St Edmundsbury Borough, Suffolk, England
English Royalty. The daughter of King Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, she was born at Acre, Isreal while her father was on crusade. She married Gilbert of Clare, 3rd earl of Gloucester on April 30, 1290 at Westminster Abbey. They had 4 children before Gilbert's death in 1295. She then married Ralph Monthermer, 1st baron Monthermer, a knight in her household, in 1297 without her father's consent. Enraged at his daughter's lowly second marriage, Edward I had Monthermer thrown in prison. Joan begged for his release, and the king relented, giving Monthermer the title earl of Gloucester. Joan died at her manor in Clare at the age of 35. Though the exact cause of her death is unknown, some historians have recently theorized she may have died giving birth to a fifth child by Monthermer. The remains of an altar recess on the ruins of the south wall of the abbey are thought to be Joan's tomb. A friar reported that in 1359, Joan's daughter Elizabeth DeBurgh inspected her mother's tomb and found the remains to be incorrupt. Since then, there have been reports of miraculous healing of toothache, fever, and back pain there. (bio by: Kristen Conrad)
Family links:
Parents:
Edward I (1239 - 1307)
Eleanor of Castile (1241 - 1290)
Spouses:
Gilbert de Clare (1243 - 1295)*
Ralph de Monthermer (1270 - 1325)*
Children:
Gilbert de Clare (1291 - 1314)*
Eleanor de Clare (1292 - 1337)*
Margaret de Clare (1293 - 1342)*
Elizabeth de Clare (1295 - 1360)*
Thomas de Monthermer (1301 - 1340)*
Edward de Monthermer (1303 - 1340)*
Stillborn de Monthermer (1307 - 1307)*
Siblings:
Katherine Plantagenet (____ - 1264)*
Joan Plantagenet (1265 - 1265)*
John Plantagenet (1266 - 1271)*
Henry Plantagenet (1267 - 1274)*
Eleanor Plantagenet (1269 - 1298)*
Joan of Acre (1272 - 1307)
Alfonso Plantagenet (1273 - 1284)*
Margaret of England (1275 - 1318)*
Berengaria Plantagenet (1276 - 1278)*
Mary Plantagenet (1278 - 1332)*
Isabella Plantagenet (1279 - 1279)*
Elizabeth Plantagenet (1282 - 1316)*
King Edward II (1284 - 1327)*
Beatrice Plantagenet Princess of England (1286 - 1286)*
Thomas Plantagenet of Brotherton (1300 - 1338)**
Edmund Plantagenet of Woodstock (1301 - 1330)**
Eleanor Plantagenet (1306 - 1311)**
*Calculated relationship
**Half-sibling
Burial:
Clare Priory
Clare
St Edmundsbury Borough
Suffolk, England
Plot: St. Peter ad Vincula, The Tower of London, London, England
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Originally Created by: Kristen Conrad
Record added: Nov 28, 2005
Find A Grave Memorial# 12535626
Events
| Birth | 1272 | Acre, Hatzafon (Northern District), Israel | |||
| Marriage | 30 Apr 1290 | Westminster Abbey, London, England - Gilbert "The Red" de Clare | |||
| Death | 1307 | Clare, St Edmundsbury Borough, Suffolk, England | |||
| Alt name | Joan Plantagenet | ||||
| Burial | Clare Priory, Clare, St Edmundsbury Borough, Suffolk, England |
Families
| Spouse | Gilbert "The Red" de Clare (1243 - 1295) |
| Child | Gilbert de Clare (1291 - 1314) |
| Child | Eleanor de Clare (1292 - 1337) |
| Child | Margaret de Clare (1293 - 1342) |
| Child | Elizabeth de Clare (1295 - 1360) |
| Father | King Edward I "Longshanks and "Hammer of the Scots"" (1239 - 1307) |
| Mother | Eleanor of Castile (1241 - 1290) |
| Sibling | Lady Elizabeth Plantagenet (1282 - 1316) |
| Sibling | King Edward II (1284 - 1327) |