Joan Plantagenet of Acre ¹

  General Notes:

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 Rudolph 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, Joan secretly married Ralph in January 1297.[20] Joan's father was already planning another marriage for Joan to Amadeus V, Count of Savoy,[20] to occur on 16 March 1297. Being already married, unbeknownst to her father, Joan was in a dangerous predicament.

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 Joan's predicament. It has been argued that the noblemen who were most upset were those who wanted her 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] Coming at the time of a pregnancy which may have been obvious, Joan's statement seemed to soften Edward's attitude towards the situation.[22] Her first child by Monthermer was born in October 1297; by the summer of 1297, when the marriage was revealed to the king, Joan's condition would certainly have been apparent, helping to convince Edward that he had no choice but to recognize his daughter's second marriage. Edward I eventually relented, for the sake of his daughter, and released Monthermer from imprisonment in August 1297.[17] Monthermer paid homage on 2 August, was granted the titles of Earl of Gloucester and Earl of Hertford, and rose in the King's favour during Joan's lifetime.[24] ¹

Joan married Ralph de Monthermer 1st Baron Monthermer, Earl of Gloucester, Hertford, and Atholl in 1297. (Ralph de Monthermer 1st Baron Monthermer, Earl of Gloucester, Hertford, and Atholl was born in 1270 and died on 5 Apr 1325.)

Joan next married Gilbert de Clare 7th Earl of Gloucester on 30 Apr 1290. (Gilbert de Clare 7th Earl of Gloucester was born on 2 Sep 1243 in Christchurch, Hampshire, England and died on 7 Dec 1295.)