Joan of the Tower

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Joan of the Tower
Queen Joan depicted in the 1591 Seton Armorial
Queen consort of Scotland
Tenure7 June 1329 – 7 September 1362
Coronation24 November 1331
Born5 July 1321
Tower of London, London, England
Died7 September 1362 (aged 41)
Hertford Castle, Hertfordshire, England
Burial
Spouse
(m. 1328)
HousePlantagenet
FatherEdward II of England
MotherIsabella of France

Joan of the Tower (5 July 1321 – 7 September 1362), daughter of Edward II of England and Isabella of France, was Queen of Scotland from 1329 to her death as the first wife of David II of Scotland.

Life[edit]

The youngest daughter of King Edward II of England and Isabella of France, Joan was born in the Tower of London on 5 July 1321.[1] She and her sister, Eleanor of Woodstock, were placed under the guardianship of Ralph de Monthermer and Lady Isabella de Valence. They received a secure upbringing at the castles of Pleshy and Marlborough.[2]

In accordance with the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, Joan was married on 17 July 1328 to David, the son and heir of Robert the Bruce, at Berwick-upon-Tweed.[3][4] She was seven years old and he was four at the time of their marriage.[5] Their marriage lasted 34 years, but it was childless and apparently loveless.[6]

Joan and David II with Philip VI in a miniature from Froissart's Chronicles

On 7 June 1329, Robert I of Scotland died and David became king.[7] He was crowned at Scone Abbey in November 1331.[8][9]

In the spring of 1333, Joan's brother, Edward III of England, invaded Scotland.[10] After the victory of him and his protégé Edward Balliol at the Battle of Halidon Hill near Berwick-upon-Tweed in July 1333, David and Joan were sent for safety to France.[11] They reached Boulogne-sur-Mer in May 1334, where they were received by Philip VI, her mother's cousin. Little is known about the life of the Scottish king and queen in France, except that they took up residence at Château Gaillard and Philip treated them with regard.[12]

Meanwhile, David's representatives had obtained the upper hand in Scotland, and David and Joan were thus able to return in June 1341, when he took the reins of government into his own hands. David II was taken prisoner at the Battle of Neville's Cross in County Durham on 17 October 1346, and remained imprisoned in England for eleven years. Although Edward III allowed Joan to visit her husband in the Tower of London a few times, she did not become pregnant.[13] After his release in 1357, she decided to remain in England.[13] Joan was close to her mother, whom she nursed during her last days.[14]

Joan died in 1362, aged 41, at Hertford Castle, Hertfordshire.[15] By that time, she had been estranged from David II for many years.[16]

Ancestry[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Panton 2011, p. 281.
  2. ^ Green 1857, p. 67.
  3. ^ Green 1857, pp. 101–105.
  4. ^ Marshall 2003, p. 36.
  5. ^ Castor 2011, p. 313.
  6. ^ Ashley 1999, p. 551.
  7. ^ Green 1857, p. 110.
  8. ^ Brown 2004, p. 321.
  9. ^ Green 1857, p. 111.
  10. ^ Green 1857, p. 115.
  11. ^ Green 1857, p. 117.
  12. ^ Marshall 2003, p. 37.
  13. ^ a b Marshall 2003, p. 38
  14. ^ Mortimer 2008, p. 338.
  15. ^ Green 1857, pp. 158–159.
  16. ^ Warner, Kathryn (2020). Philippa of Hainault: Mother of the English Nation. Amberley Publishing. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  17. ^ Maclagan & Louda 1999, p. 17.
  18. ^ Weir 1995, p. 92.

Sources[edit]

Scottish royalty
Vacant
Title last held by
Elizabeth de Burgh
Queen consort of Scotland
1329–1362
Vacant
Title next held by
Margaret Drummond