House Stuteville
The descendants of Robert de
Stuteville who defined our family’s lives in the eleventh and then from the
late twelfth century
There is a separate Chronology which also provides source material.
By the time
of the Domesday Book, William had redistributed the ancient Anglo
Saxon estates to his supporters. There was a new aristocracy of Norman,
Breton and Flemish landowners.
The manor
and estate of Chirchebi (Kirkbymoorside) had passed to High Fitz
Baldric, a German archer
who had served William the Conqueror and became the Sheriff of the County of
York in 1069. Hugh son of Baldric held lands in
Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Berkshire. In Yorkshire
he was given estates which included those of Kofsi,
Arnketil, Thorr, and Orm and he held about fifty manors with many berewicks and sokeland, assessed
at about 410 carucates.
Hugh Fitz
Baldric died in Cottingham in 1086 and the estate passed to de Stuteville
family.
Robert I de Stuteville Robert
le “Grandbois” d’Estouteville (c 1040 to c 1106)
Lord of
the Stuteville Estates 1086 to 1106
Robert
I de Stuteville was born in about 1040. He was governor of the Castle of Ambriegravères in 1056.
Robert I
Granbois was one of the knights accompanying William the Conqueror in the
Norman conquest in 1066.
The greater
part of the estates of Hugh son of Baldric, Domesday
Lord of Cottingham, were divided after Hugh’s death and the bulk of his lands
in Yorkshire including Kirkbymoorside passed to Robert I de Stuteville passed,
presumably by royal grant. So the lands which included
the Kirkbymoorside estate were held shortly after the Conquest by the House
Stuteville, but not for long.
Robert II de Stuteville (Robert
II “Fronteboeuf’ d’Estouteville)(1084
to c 1138)
Lord of
the House Stuteville 1106 to 1138
Robert’s
son, Robert
II of Stuteville was born in about 1084 in Yorkshire. He married Jeanne de Tallebot
and their children were Burga, Nicholas,
Alice, Osmund, John, Patrick and Robert.
In the royal dynastic
dispute between the new King Henry I (1100 to 1135) from 1100 and Robert Curtose, Robert II and his father chose to support the Curtose claim
Robert was
captured at St.Pierre-sur-Dive
shortly before the Battle of Tinchebrai, where Henry
I defeated his elder brother and rival Robert Curthose. Robert was kept in
prison for the rest of the reign of Henry I.
After his
victory Henry I visited York and Pickering and redistributed land from Robert
Curtose’s supporters, including Robert de Stuteville
to his new men, including Nigel d’Aubigny, ancestor
of the House Mowbray and Robert de Brus.
During the
reign of King Stephen (1135 to 1154), Robert was one of the northern barons who
commanded the English at the battle of the Standard in August 1138
Robert II de
Stuteville died after 1138 after about age 54 in Cottingham, Yorkshire.
Robert
III de Stuteville (c
1110 to 1186)
Lord of
the House Stuteville 1138 to 1186, reclaiming the estates from 1154
Robert
III de Stuteville, grandson of the first Robert, laid claim to the barony.
In 1154, Roger de Mowbray gave him Kirkbymoorside for ten knights’ fees in
satisfaction of his claim. This arrangement however was not ratified in the
King’s courts.
Robert III
de Stuteville was witness to a charter of Henry II (1154 to 1189) on 8 January
1158 at Newcastle-on-Tyne.
He was a
justice itinerant in the counties of Cumberland and Northumberland in 1170 and
1171, and High Sheriff of Yorkshire from Easter 1170 to Easter 1175.
In 1173,
Henry II, following the controversial death of Thomas Becket in 1170, faced the
Great Revolt, an uprising by his eldest sons and rebellious barons, supported
by France, Scotland and Flanders.
The
Stuteville rival, Roger de Mowbray
supported the Revolt and fought with his sons, Nigel and Robert, but they were
defeated at Kirkby Malzeard, a castle held by the
Mowbray family.
The King's
Knaresborough Castle and Appleby Castle were in Robert de Stuteville’s custody
in April 1174, when they were captured by David of Scotland, Earl of
Huntingdon. Stuteville, with his brothers and sons, was active in support of
the King during the war of 1174, and he took a prominent part in the capture of
William the Lion at Alnwick on 13 July 1174 where Robert and Bernard de Balliol
captured the Scottish King at Alnwick and imprisoned him at Richmond Castle.
From 1174 to
1181 Robert was constantly in attendance on the king, both in England and
abroad.
By 1175 the
revolt had ended and Robert de Stuteville supervised
the building of new castles at Edinburgh and Scarborough. The rising Stuteville
family had recovered much of their former estates, including Kirkbymoorside.
Roger de
Mowbray was compelled to hand back Kirkbymoorside to the de Stutevilles along
with many other fees.
Stuteville
married Helewise de Murdac. They had two sons William
and Nicholas and two daughters, Burga and Helewise.
Robert de
Stuteville was probably brother of the Roger de Stuteville who was sheriff of
Northumberland from 1170 to 1185, and defended Wark on
Tweed Castle against William the Lion in 1174. Roger received charge of
Edinburgh Castle in 1177, and he built the first Burton Agnes Manor House. However Roger may have been his kinsman, not his brother.
Robert
founded the nunneries of Keldholme and Rosedale, Yorkshire, and was a
benefactor of Rievaulx Abbey.
He seems to
have died in the early part of 1186.
William
de Stuteville (c
1140 to 1202)
Lord of
the Stuteville Estates 1186 to 1202
William
de Stuteville was the eldest son of Robert de Stuteville and Helewise de Murdac.
In Easter
1173 William was appointed as governor of Knaresborough and Aldborough Castles
and other estates in northern England.
He was
governor of Topcliffe Castle during the revolt of 1173-74 and was part of the
force that captured King William I of Scotland at the Battle of Alnwick.
William was
appointed governor of Roxburgh Castle in Scotland in 1177. He was a justice
itinerant in Yorkshire in 1189 and was sheriff of Northumberland in 1190.
William was
sent by William de Longchamp to arrest Hugh de Puiset
in April 1190 and was appointed sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1191. In March 1193,
he joined with Hugh Bardulf in preventing Archbishop Geoffrey of York from
besieging Tickhill Castle, near Doncaster
on the side of Prince John.
Reconciled
with Richard I, he was appointed in 1194 as one of the commissioners to settle
the dispute between Archbishop Geoffrey and the canons of York. He held the
wardship of William de Greystoke, when he served with during a campaign in
Normandy in 1194.
He arranged
the marriage of his sister Helewise to William de Greystoke. On the accession
of John, William received charge of the counties of Northumberland and
Cumberland. He received grants of fairs at Buttercrambe
and Cottingham and by his influence at court was able to obtain a settlement of
his dispute with William de Mowbray.
In 1200, a
dispute broke out again between William de Stuteville and the House Mowbray. Finally William de Mowbray confirmed the previous agreement.
Henceforward Kirkbymoorside was held by the Stutevilles until the end of the
14th century.
By 1200 the
Stutevilles had built a moated
manor house known as Vivers Hill Castle. It lies
to the east of the church and all that remains today is some evidence of a deep
moat, which is marked on the Ordnance Survey map.
King John
stayed overnight at William de Stuteville’s Cottingham Castle in 1201 at about
which time William de Stuteville bought the office of sheriff of Yorkshire.
William died
in 1203. His son Robert had died in his minority without issue so his brother
Nicholas was their heir.
Nicholas
I de Stuteville, Lord of Lidell (1142 to c 1218)
Lord of
the Stuteville Estates 1202 to 1218
William de
Stuteville was succeeded by his brother Nicholas
de Stuteville, the second son of Robert III de Stuteville and Helewise de Murdac. Nicholas was heir to his brother William.
Nicholas’s
wife was Gunnora d'Aubigny daughter of Raoul de
Aubigny and Sybil de Valgones. Their sons were Robert
de Stuteville (who died in 1213 having married Sibyl de Valognes,
but they had no children) and Nicholas de Stuteville.
Nicholas I
de Stuteville was one of the barons who met at Stamford in 1216. He fought
against the King at Lincoln on 20 May 1217 and was taken prisoner there by
William Marshall. The manors of Kirkbymoorside and Lidell were required to pay
1,000 marks as his ransom.
He died in
1218.
Nicholas
II de Stuteville (c
1191 to 1233)
Lord of
the Stuteville Estates 1218 to 1233
Nicholas
II de Stuteville married Dervorguilla the
daughter of Lochlann of Galloway. Their daughters were Joan and Margaret (who
married William de Mustac).
In 1232 he
gave common of pasture of Farndale to the Abbot of St Mary’s, York.
Nicholas de
Stuteville the Younger died, leaving two daughters and co-heirs, Joan wife of
Hugh Wake and Margaret, wife of William de Mastac.
Joan de
Stuteville, the Lady of Liddell (1216 to 6 April 1276)
Lady of
the Stuteville Estates 1233 to 1276
Joan
de Stuteville, heiress of Cottingham, was born 1216. She was the daughter
of Nicholas II de Stuteville and Devorguilla of
Galloway.
Joan married
Hugh Wake, feudal lord of Bourne. He died in or about 1241, and Joan obtained
the custody of his heirs until their full age. Their sons were Nicholas
Wake, Hugh
Wake; and Baldwin Wake.
Joan then
married her second husband, Hugh le Bigod, but as a widow continued to be known
as Joan de Stuteville. She also became known as the Lady of Liddell.
Hugh le
Bigod’s seal, British Library
In 1255 Pickering Castle was handed to the
custody of Hugh Bigod, the justiciar. Hugh le Bigod was the second husband of Joan de Stuteville (1216 to 1276),
the Lady of Liddell, proprietor of Kirkbymoorside and the Farndale lands. During
the baronial war between Henry III and Simon de Montfort, Bigod supported the
King and strengthened the defences of Pickering and Scarborough.
When her
sister Margaret died, Joan inherited her lands too. Joan already held the manor
of Kirkby Moorside.
In the mid thirteenth century, Lady Joan de Stuteville
successfully prosecuted the Abbot of St Mary’s York, for exceeding his rights
taking wood from Farndale and as she did so she cleared 100 acres of land. By her death in 1276 she was taking rent of
£27 for 545 acres of cultivated land in Farndale. Assarting was clearly
proceeding apace in the middle decades of the 13th century.
Joan de
Stuteville died on or about 6 April 1276. Her Inquisition
Post Mortem recorded her landholdings at her
death.
Baldwin
Wake III, Lord of Bourne (c 1236 to 5 February 1282)
Lord of
the Stuteville-Wake Estates 1276 to 1282
Baldwin
Wake took homage of the King as her heir in 1276.
Baldwin Wake
continued the clearing of new land, including in Farndale, for cultivation,
begun by his mother. By his death in 1282, only six years after his mother’s
death, the
cultivated acreage in Farndale had increased to 768 acres, giving the
Stutevilles a rent of £38. In Bransdale about 188 acres had been cultivated
giving a rent of £5. There were 90 bondsmen in Farndale 25 bondsmen in East
Bransdale.
Baldwin Wake
married Hawise de Quincy, who was the daughter of Elen ferch
Llywelyn (descended from Llewelyn of Gwent, Prince of Gwynedd) and Sir Robert
de Quincy and they had two sons, John and Thomas and a daughter, Margaret.
Baldwin Wake
died in 1282 and was succeeded by his son and heir John, who was summoned to
Parliament as Lord Wake by Edward I. Another Inquisition
Post Mortem on Baldwin’s death recorded his
holdings.
Sir John
Wake, 1st Baron Wake of Liddell (1268 to 10 March 1300)
Lord of
the Stuteville-Wake Estates 1282 to 1300
John
Wake was born around 1268, the son of Baldwin Wake and Hawise de Quincy.
He married
Joan de Fiennes by 24 September 1291. She was the daughter of William de Fenes
and Blanche de Brienne. They had three children, John Wake (died before 1349),
Thomas Wake (1297 to 1349) and Margaret Wake (1300 to 1349)
John Wake
took part in military campaigns in Gascony from 1288 to 1297 and against the
Scots from 1297 to 1300. He was appointed Joint Captain of March of Scotland in
Cumberland and Westmoreland in 1297. He fought at the Battle of Falkirk in
1298.
In 1295 John
Wake was made baron by writ.
John Wake
died around 4 October 1300. He was succeeded by his son Thomas Wake.
Thomas
Wake, 2nd Baron Wake of Liddell (1297 to 31 May 1349)
Lord of
the Stuteville-Wake Estates 1300 to 1349
The custody
of this boy was granted to Henry de Percy, who transferred it to the Society of
the Ballardi of Lucca. This was not ratified by the
King, but later ‘not recollecting the confirmation of the grant’, he “caused
the manor, then in the hands of the merchants, to be taken into his hands, and
he delivered it with fees etc, who since he has held the said manor has
received £340 out of the issues thereof, for which Henry de Percy has made
supplication to the King to caused satisfaction to be made to the merchants for
his exoneration.”
Thomas Wake
remained in possession of lands which included Kirkbymoorside until he died in
1349.
Among Thomas
Wake's guardians were Piers Gaveston and Henry, Earl
of Lancaster, whose daughter Blanche (died 1380) he married before 1317.
Blanche the niece of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and her husband was therefore
of the House Lancaster, but he did not follow Thomas of Lancaster in the
proceedings which led to his death in 1322.
Thomas
Wake’s distaste for the favourites of Edward II, led him to join Queen Isabella
in 1326 and he was a member of the small council which advised the young king,
Edward III. Soon, however, he broke away from the queen and her ally, Roger
Mortimer, and in conjunction with his father-in-law, now earl of Lancaster, he
joined the malcontent barons.
He was
possibly implicated in the plot which cost his brother-in-law, Edmund of
Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, his life in 1330, and he fled to France, returning
to England after the overthrow of Isabella and Mortimer.
Edward III
made him governor of the Channel Islands and he assisted Edward Balliol to
invade Scotland, being afterwards sent on an errand to France.
In 1341 he
incurred the displeasure of the king and was imprisoned, but he had been
restored and had been employed in Brittany and elsewhere when he died
childless.
His estates
passed briefly to his sister Margaret (who died later 1349), widow of Edmund of
Woodstock, Earl of Kent, then to her son John (who died in 1352), and later to
her daughter Joan who became 4th Countess of Kent.
Margaret
Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell, Countess of Kent (20 March 1297 to 29 September 1349)
Lady of
the Stuteville-Wake Estates 31 May to 29 September 1349
Margaret
Wake succeeded her brother Thomas when he died in May 1349.
Margaret had
married John Comyn (1294 to 1314) in about 1312. John died at the Battle of
Bannockburn in 1314 and their only child, Ayme Comyn, died in infancy.
In 1325 she
married Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent (1301 to 1330), the youngest
surviving son of Edward I of England and Margaret of France.
Edmund
Woodstock was the sixth son of King Edward I of England by his second wife,
Margaret of France, daughter of King Philip III of France.
Edmund and
Margaret had a son Edmund who briefly became the Second Earl of Kent. In 1326
they had a daughter, Joan, who for her beauty came to be known as the Fair Maid
of Kent.
Edward I
had intended to make substantial grants of land to Edmund, along with 8,000
marks a year, but when the King died in 1307, Edward II refused to respect his
father's intentions, mainly due to his favouritism towards Piers Gaveston. According to the chronicle Vita Edwardi Secundi, this act was
a grave insult to the king's younger brothers.
However
Edmund, who was only six when Edward I had died, remained loyal to his brother.
As Edmund came of age, he became an important member of the circle around his brother.
In 1318, the Treaty of Leake was drafted as an effort to reconcile the opposing
parties, and Edmund, as his first public act, was among the witnesses to sign
this treaty. In 1320 Edmund joined his brother the king in Amiens, where Edward
was paying homage to the French king. In October 1320, Edmund attended his
first parliament
In 1321 he
was created Earl of Kent. He played an important part in Edward's
administration as diplomat and military commander and in 1321–22 helped
suppress a rebellion. Edward made his youngest brother Lord Warden of the
Cinque Ports in place of Badlesmere.
In the
Scottish Wars, the English were routed by the Scots, led by Robert the Bruce,
at the
Battle of Old Byland on 14 October 1322, close to Rievaulx Abbey and the Farndale
lands. Edward II himself had to flee the battlefield to avoid capture, and
Edmund was with him as the royal army retreated to York.
Meanwhile,
the English king's possessions in France were coming under threat from the
French king. In April 1324, Edmund and Alexander de Bicknor,
Archbishop of Dublin, were sent to France on a diplomatic mission. Some
historians have criticised Edmund for his failure to reach a diplomatic
settlement, but these were difficult circumstances. When diplomacy failed,
Edmund was appointed Edward's lieutenant in Aquitaine on 20 July 1324. In the
short war that followed, the English lands were quickly overrun by the French,
and Edmund was besieged at La Réole. Here he held out
until 22 September, at which point he was forced to surrender and agree to a
six-month truce.
Discontent
against the King grew reinforced by Edward's preference for his favourites,
Hugh Despenser the Younger and his father. Gaveston
was killed during a noble rebellion against Edward in 1312, while Despenser was
hated by the English nobility.
Edward was
also unpopular with the ordinary folk with repeated demands for unpaid military
service in Scotland. Yet none of his campaigns there were successful, which
caused trouble with the nobility. In 1322 he executed his cousin Thomas, Earl
of Lancaster, and confiscated the Lancaster estates.
Historian
Chris Given-Wilson wrote that, by 1325, the nobility believed that "no
landholder could feel safe" under the regime.
It was in
1325 that Edmund married Margaret Wake.
This
distrust of Edward was shared by his wife, Isabella of France, who believed
Despenser responsible for poisoning the King's mind against her. In September
1324 Queen Isabella was publicly humiliated when the government declared her an
enemy alien, and the King repossessed her estates.
In France,
Isabella conspired with the exiled Roger Mortimer to have Edward II deposed. To
build up diplomatic and military support for the venture, Isabella had her son,
Edward III, engaged to the twelve-year-old Philippa of Hainault. In 1326,
Edmund, who had previously been steadfast in his support for his half-brother,
joined a rebellion led by Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer. He
distrusted Mortimer, but he despised the Despensers.
An invasion
of England was launched and Edward II's forces deserted him completely.
Isabella and Mortimer summoned a parliament, and the King was forced to
relinquish the throne to his son, who was proclaimed king in London on 25
January 1327. The new king was crowned as Edward III (1327 to 1377) at
Westminster Abbey on 1 February at the age of 14.
For his
participation in the coup, Edmund received a reward of land belonging to the Despensers, and the Earl of Arundel, who was also executed
as a supporter of Edward II.
The new
administration soon encountered its own unpopularity with the central position
of Mortimer at court, who was now the de facto ruler of England.
Mortimer used his position to acquire noble estates and titles, and his
unpopularity grew with a humiliating defeat by the Scots at the Battle of
Stanhope Park in County Durham, and the ensuing Treaty of
Edinburgh–Northampton, agreed with the Scots in 1328.
The young
king Edward III came into conflict with his guardian and Mortimer knew that his
position in relation to the King was precarious and subjected Edward to
disrespect. The King married Philippa of Hainault at York Minster on 24 January
1328, and the birth of their first child, Edward of Woodstock, on 15 June 1330
increased tension with Mortimer.
Edmund grew
disillusioned and in the autumn of 1328, Edmund and
his brother Thomas joined Henry of Lancaster in a conspiracy against Isabella
and Mortimer. However it soon became apparent that the
plot would fail, and the two brothers abandoned the venture.
After
participating in the planned rebellion, Edmund became less popular at court. He
was still allowed to accompany the king's wife Philippa to her coronation in
February 1330, but his appearances at court became less frequent. At about this
time he became involved in another plot against the court, when he was
convinced by rumours that his brother was still alive. It later emerged that
Roger Mortimer himself was responsible for leading Edmund into this belief, in
a form of entrapment. The plot was revealed, and in the parliament of March
1330 Edmund was indicted and condemned to death as a traitor.
The
condemned Edmund pleaded with Edward III for his life, offering to walk from
Winchester to London with a rope around his neck as a sign of atonement, but
leniency was blocked by Mortimer and the queen.
It was
almost impossible to find anyone willing to perform the execution of a man of
royal blood, until a convicted murderer eventually beheaded Edmund in exchange
for a pardon. Edmund was executed on 19 March 1330 by the orders of Roger
Mortimer, 1st Earl of March just three weeks before the birth of their son
John.
Edmund's
body was initially buried in a Franciscan church in Winchester, but it was
removed to Westminster Abbey in 1331.
The
execution of a royal prince was a great provocation to the seventeen-year-old
Edward III, who had not been involved in the decision, and it probably
contributed to the king's decision to rise up against
his protector.
The widow
Margaret and four children (including Joan, who was only two years old at the
time) were placed under house arrest in Arundel Castle, Sussex, which had been
granted to Edmund in 1326 by his half-brother the King following the execution
of the rebel Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel.
Her brother
Thomas Wake, 2nd Baron Wake of Liddell was also accused of treason but later
pardoned.
It was a
time of great strain for the widowed Countess of Kent and her four children.
Although up
until now Edward III had kept a low profile, it is likely that he increasingly
suspected that Mortimer's behaviour could endanger Edward's own life. This was
exacerbated by his execution of Edward's uncle Edmund. Contemporary chroniclers
suspected, too, that Mortimer had designs on the throne, and it is likely that
it was these rumours that encouraged Edward to act against him and his mother,
who supposedly maintained a close relationship with Mortimer.
Aided by his
close companion William Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu, and a small number of other
trusted men, Edward took Mortimer by surprise and captured him at Nottingham
Castle on 19 October 1330. Mortimer was executed and Edward's personal reign
began. Among the charges against Mortimer was that of procuring Edmund's death,
and the charges against the late Earl of Kent were annulled. The historian Mark
Ormrod argued that at this point Edward had had "little instruction in
the art of kingship".
The widowed
Margaret and her family then received respite after the new king, Edward III,
Joan's half-first cousin, reached adulthood and took charge of affairs. He took
on the responsibility for the family and looked after them well.
The
attainder of his father was reversed and Edmund’s son, also called Edmund
inherited the earldom, but Edmund died in October 1331, aged only 5, so John
succeeded to the title also as an infant.
Margaret is
a supporting character in the Karen Harper historical fiction novel The
First Princess of Wales, which gives a fictional depiction of her daughter
Joan of Kent's life at the English court. She is also a character in the 2014
novel A Triple Knot by Emma Campion which primarily focuses on her
daughter Joan of Kent's struggle to validate her secret marriage to Thomas
Holland after her family forced her into a marriage with William Montacute, and her close, often uncomfortable relationship
with her cousin and future husband Edward, Prince of Wales.
By 1349,
merchant ships transported rats carrying the black death to Britain. The black
death soon swept through the villages in the south and then the north of
Britain. Soon it swept through most
villages in Britain. Margaret died of the plague within a few months of
inheriting the Stuteville-Wake estates. The plague might explain the deaths of
Thomas, Margaret and then John in close proximity.
John
Wake, 3rd Earl of Kent (7 April 1330 to 26 December 1352)
Lord of
the Stuteville-Wake Estates 1350 to 1352
John Wake
was born on 7 April 1330 at Arundel Castle, Sussex. He was the youngest son and
posthumous child of Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent, and Margaret Wake. He
was therefore a grandson of Edward I and cousin of Edward III.
John took
part in the campaign that culminated in the battle of Crécy
in 1346, probably in the retinue of Duke Henry of Lancaster, but there is no
record that he took part in the Battle of Crécy
itself.
In 1347 the
King granted him his entire inheritance, making him independent of his mother
at the age of seventeen. He owned estates, including 43 manors and 30
advowsons, in seventeen counties, as well as various rents and knight's fees in
a further six counties. His annual income was over £6,000 at a time when £1,000
was considered sufficient to maintain the lifestyle of an earl.
His heir
throughout his life was his elder sister, Joan. John took possession of the
Stuteville-Wake estates in February 1350 and received livery of all his lands
from the King on 10 April 1351, having come of age three days earlier.
On 3 April
1348, John married Isabella, also known as Elizabeth (1330 to 1411), daughter
of William V, Duke of Jülich.
In 1352,
John's sister Joan gave birth to a son, John Holland, named after his uncle,
who probably served as his godfather.
John's own
marriage to Isabella remained childless.
John was at
his favourite manor in Woking, when, on 23 December 1352, he granted the manor
of Ryhall to Bartholomew de Burghersh.
Shortly after, he fell ill. He did not recover and died on 26 December 1352. He
was buried next to his father in the church of Greyfriars at Winchester. His
titles passed to his only surviving sister Joan who became the 4th Countess of
Kent, and the 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell.
John's widow
was still being titled Countess of Kent, however, as late as 1396. She entered
Waverley Abbey after John's death, and before her own death she requested that
she be buried next to him at Greyfriars.
His
promising career was cut short by an untimely death at the age of twenty-two.
Joan,
Countess of Kent, 4th Countess of Kent, 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell the Fair
Maid of Kent (29
September 1326 or 1327 to 7 August 1385)
Lady of
the Stuteville-Wake Estates 1352 to 1385
Joan,
known as the Fair Maid of Kent, was the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st
Earl of Kent, and Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell.
In 1340,
aged only thirteen, Joan secretly married 26-year-old Thomas Holland of Up
Holland, Lancashire. She had not first gained royal consent, necessary for
couples of their rank. Shortly after the wedding, Holland left for the
continent as part of the English expedition into Flanders and France. The
following winter (1340 or 1341), while Holland was overseas, Joan's family
arranged for her to marry William Montagu, son and heir of William Montagu, 1st
Earl of Salisbury. It is not known if Joan confided to anyone about her first
marriage before marrying Montagu, who was her own age. Later, Joan indicated
that she had not announced her existing marriage with Thomas Holland because
she was afraid it would lead to Holland's execution for treason. She may also
have been influenced to believe that the earlier marriage was invalid.
Montagu's father died in 1344, and he became the 2nd Earl of Salisbury.
When Holland
returned from the French campaigns in about 1348, his marriage to Joan was
revealed. Holland confessed the secret marriage to the king and appealed to the
Pope for the return of his wife. Salisbury held Joan captive so that she could
not testify until the Church ordered him to release her. In 1349, the
proceedings ruled in Holland's favour. Pope Clement VI annulled Joan's marriage
to Salisbury and Joan and Thomas Holland were ordered to be married in the
Church.
Joan and
Thomas had five children: Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent; John Holland, 1st
Duke of Exeter; Lady Joan Holland; Lady Maud (also known as Matilda) Holland;
and Edmund Holland.
Joan
inherited the titles 4th Countess of Kent and 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell
after the death of her brother John, 3rd Earl of Kent, in 1352.
In 1353 an
Inquest taken at York during Edward III’s reign confirmed the Stuteville
holdings in Kirkbymoorside: Kirkeby Moresheved. The
manor with its members in Farndale, Gillyngmore,
Brauncedale and Fademore
(extents given, with field names), held of John de Moubray by service of 1 1/2
knights’ fees. The extent of Kirkeby includes a weekly market on Wednesday and
a fair on the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin; and the manor is charged
time out of mind by the ancestors of the earl with 26s. 8d. yearly to the
prioress of Keldholm and 13s. 4d. yearly to the vicar
of the church of Kirkeby for tithe of the mill. Decrease in value of land
&c. through the pestilence.
The Fair
Maid of Kent’s first husband was Thomas Holland, created Earl of Kent in 1360,
by whom she had a son and heir Thomas Holland.
On the death
of Thomas Holland, the Close Rolls, of 20 February 1361, recorded: Westminster.
To William de Nessefeld escheator in Yorkshire. Order
to deliver to Joan who was wife of Thomas de Holand earl of Kent the manors of Cotyngham, Witherton, Buttercrambe, Kirkeby Moresheved
(with lands in Farndale, Gillyngmore, Brauncedale and Fademore),
Cropton (with tenements in Middleton and Haretoft),
Aton and Hemelyngton, with the members, lands etc
thereto pertaining, taklen into the king’s hand by
the death of the earl, together with the issues from the date of his death; as
it is found by inquisition, taken by the escheator, that Thomas at his death
held no lands in that county in chief in his demesne as of fee, but held the
premises of right of his said wife, and that the manors of Cotyngham,
Witherton, Buttercrambe and
Cropton, one messuage and 14 bovates of land in the manor of Aton are held in
chief, and the residue of that manor and the manor of Hemelyngton
of others than the king; and the king has at another time taken the homage of
the earl for the lands of Joan’s heritage by reason of issue between them
begotten.
On 10
October 1361 Joan married her cousin Edward the Black Prince, with whom in 1365
she settled this manor on Thomas and Alice his wife and their heirs, with
reversion to the prince and herself.
As the
prince and the countess were related in the third degree, and
also by the spiritual tie of sponsorship, the prince being godfather to
Joan's elder son Thomas, a dispensation was obtained for their marriage from
Pope Innocent VI, though they appear to have been contracted before it was
applied for. The marriage was performed at Windsor, in the presence of King
Edward III, by Simon Islip Archbishop of Canterbury. According to Jean
Froissart the contract of marriage (the engagement) was entered into without
the knowledge of the king. The prince and his wife resided at Berkhamsted
Castle in Hertfordshire and held the manor of Princes Risborough from 1343;
though local history describes the estate as "his palace", many
sources suggest it was used more as a hunting lodge.
Edward the
Black Prince was the son and heir apparent of King Edward III.
They had two
sons, Edward of Angouleme (1365 to 1370) and Richard who became Richard II of
England.
Although the
French chronicler Jean Froissart called her "the most beautiful woman in
all the realm of England, and the most loving", the appellation "Fair
Maid of Kent" does not appear to be contemporary.
Joan was
made a Lady of the Garter in 1378.
The
impression of her seal bore the device of a lady riding on horseback sideways,
a style which she is said to have been the first to adopt.
By 1371, the
Black Prince was no longer able to perform his duties as Prince of Aquitaine
due to poor health. He and Joan returned to England shortly after burying their
elder son.
In 1372, the
Black Prince forced himself to attempt one final, abortive campaign in the hope
of saving his father's French possessions, but the exertion completely
shattered his health. He returned to England for the last time on 7 June 1376,
a week before his forty-sixth birthday, and died in his bed at the Palace of
Westminster the next day.
Joan's son
Prince Richard was now next in line to succeed his grandfather Edward III, who
died on 21 June 1377. Richard was crowned as Richard II the following month at
the age of 10. Early in his reign, the young King faced the challenge of the
Peasants' Revolt. The Lollards, religious reformers led by John Wyclif, had
enjoyed Joan's support, but the violent climax of the popular movement for
reform reduced the feisty Joan to a state of terror, while leaving the king
with an improved reputation.
As the
king's mother, Joan exercised significant influence behind the scenes and was
recognised for her contributions during the early years of her son's reign. She
also enjoyed respect among the people as a venerable royal dowager. On her
return to London from a pilgrimage to Thomas Becket's shrine at Canterbury
Cathedral in 1381, she found her way barred by Wat Tyler and his mob of rebels
on Blackheath. However not only was she let through unharmed, but she was
saluted with kisses and provided with an escort for the rest of her journey.
In January
1382, Richard II married Anne of Bohemia, daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman
Emperor and King of Bohemia
Joan died on
7 August 1385 aged 57, at Wallingford Castle. She was buried beside her first
husband, as requested in her will, at the Greyfriars in Stamford, Lincolnshire.
The Black Prince had built a chantry chapel for her in the crypt of Canterbury
Cathedral in Kent (where he himself was buried), with ceiling bosses sculpted
with likenesses of her face. Another boss in the north nave aisle is also said
to show her face.
The
Stuteville-Wake-Kent Line after Joan
The Wake
line ended in three co-heiresses, one of whom married the Earl of Westmoreland,
who succeeded to the barony of Kirkbymoorside, and it remained in the
possession of this family until 1570.
In 1397
Thomas Earl of Kent died and Alice was left in possession for life. Of Alice’s
sons, Thomas the Elder was beheaded as a traitor in 1399 and his brother
Edmund died before his mother in 1408, when the earldom of Kent fell into
abeyance.
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