Royal: Joan of Acre, 1272-1307

Royal and noble women of the Medieval era had to be prepared for anything, including following their husbands on military campaigns and crusades, often taking their children with them.  The Eighth Crusade began in 1270 and the future Edward I was to lead the English contingent in support of Louis IX of France.  His bride, Eleanor of Castile went along.  The seaport of Acre was always a staging area for invading armies as well as pilgrims and while Edward and the others were away fighting, Eleanor welcomed a little girl, Joan of Acre in 1272.

The Crusade was a disaster but Edward was spared when he had to depart early due to the death of his father, Henry III of England.  Edward was now King Edward I and Joan, as young as she was, was soon on the marriage market.  Meanwhile, she lived in France with her grandmother, Eleanor's mother, after whom Joan was named.  Grandma Joan spoiled her little granddaughter, not a wise strategy for any child but definitely a detriment to a young girl with lion's blood.  Edward finally brought Joan home when she was 5, but by that time she already had a mind of her own.  Edward arranged for her to marry Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, a man 30 years her senior.  Despite the age difference, de Clare fell in love with her but Joan was less than impressed.  De Clare persisted and in April, 1290, the coupe were married.  They would have 4 children.

Joan, a 23-year-old widow with four small children, decided to take her life into her hands and do something Plantagenet princesses seemed to get away with if they played their male relatives right.  She caught the eye of Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in her father's household.  Or maybe he caught her eye.  She then convinced her father to have Monthermer knighted.  Did Edward wonder why his daughter was so interested?  In January, 1297, Joan secretly married Monthermer just as her father was planning a more suitable marriage to the Count of Savoy.  Edward found out and flipped his Plantagenet lid, sending Monthermer to prison in Bristol castle and confiscating Joan's lands.  Joan, not to be outdone, confronted her father with an obvious pregnancy and a good point, "It is not considered ignominious or disgraceful for a great earl to take a poor and mean (lowborn) woman to wife, neither, on the other hand, is it worthy of blame or to difficult a thing for a countess to promote to honor a gallant youth." 

Edward was had and he knew it.  He released Monthermer, recognized Joan's marriage and gave her back her properties to support his grandchildren.  He gave Monthermer the titles of Earl of Gloucester and Earl of Herford.  Monthermer and Joan went on to have 4 children of their own.  Like many woman of that era, Joan died young, in 1307.  Edward had put at least one wife and several children into their graves and lived long enough to see his tempestuous daughter laid to rest before dying himself four months later.  Monthermer was later stripped of the title of Earl of Gloucester in favor of Joan's eldest son by de Clare, but otherwise continued in royal service.  Years later, Joan's daughter, Elizabeth, had her mother's body exumed and found that it was still nearly intact, or incorrupt, as the saying went at the time.  This was considered evidence that Joan had led a holy life, but no evidence exists that anyone ever moved to have her canonized.