Joan of Kent
(1328-1385)
BIRTH
September 29, 1328
PLACE
Woodstock, England
DEATH
August 7, 1385
PLACE
Wallingford, England
FAMILY
HOMES
NICKNAMES
the Fair Maid of Kent
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
CHRISTIAN
CATHOLIC
MEMBERSHIPS
AWARDS
Joan of Kent (1328–1385) was a noblewoman whose third husband was Edward, the Black Prince, and whose son became Richard II. Her earlier secret marriage to Thomas Holland led to a disputed second marriage to William Montagu, later annulled. She married Edward in 1361 and accompanied him to Aquitaine. As mother of the young Richard, she remained an influential figure after Edward’s death. Her career combined inherited rank, complex marriage litigation and royal motherhood.
EARLY LIFE
Joan was born on September 29, 1328, at Woodstock Palace, the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent, a son of Edward I, and Margaret Wake. In 1330, when she was a small child, her father was executed for treason during the regency of Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella. Joan was then raised in the household of Queen Philippa, the wife of Edward III. As a young girl she secretly married Thomas Holland, a knight, but while he was abroad on campaign she was married to William Montagu, heir to the Earl of Salisbury. The pope later ruled in favor of her first marriage, and Joan returned to Thomas Holland.
Joan and Thomas Holland had several children. After Holland's death in 1360, Joan married her cousin Edward, Prince of Wales, known as the Black Prince, on October 10, 1361.
The couple lived in Aquitaine, where Edward ruled as prince, and their son Richard was born at Bordeaux in 1367. After the Black Prince's death in 1376, Richard became heir to the throne, and he succeeded Edward III in 1377. Joan remained an influential figure during her son's early reign and reportedly passed safely through the rebels during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.
Joan died at Wallingford Castle on August 7, 1385, and was buried at Stamford in Lincolnshire.
CAREER
DEATH
Joan of Kent was a noblewoman whose third husband was Edward, the Black Prince, and whose son became Richard II. As mother of the young Richard, she remained an influential figure after Edward’s death. Joan and Thomas Holland had several children. After Holland's death in 1360, Joan married her cousin Edward, Prince of Wales, known as the Black Prince, on October 10, 1361. The couple lived in Aquitaine, where Edward ruled as prince, and their son Richard was born at Bordeaux in 1367. After the Black Prince's death in 1376, Richard became heir to the throne, and he succeeded Edward III in 1377. Joan remained an influential figure during her son's early reign and reportedly passed safely through the rebels during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Joan died at Wallingford Castle on August 7, 1385, and was buried at Stamford in Lincolnshire. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
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