Joan, 4th Countess of Kent
| Joan of Kent | |
|---|---|
| Princess of Wales Princess of Aquitaine Countess of Salisbury 4th Countess of Kent 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell |
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| Born |
29 September 1328 , Oxfordshire, England |
| Died | 7 August 1385 (aged 56) Wallingford Castle, Wallingford, Berkshire, England (present-day Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, UK) |
| Burial | Stamford, Lincolnshire, England |
| Spouse |
Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent William Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury Edward, the Black Prince |
| Issue | Edmund Holland Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter Joan Holland, Duchess of Brittany Maud Holland, Countess of Ligny Edward of Angoulême Richard II of England |
| House |
House of Plantagenet (by birth and marriage) |
| Father | |
| Mother | Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell |
Joan, LG, 4th Countess of Kent, 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell (29 September 1328 – 7 August 1385), known to history as The Fair Maid of Kent, was the mother of King Richard II of England, whom she bore to her third husband Edward, the Black Prince, son and heir of King Edward III. 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 assumed the title of 4th Countess of Kent and 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell after the death of her brother, John, in 1352.
Joan was the daughter of , and Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell. Her father Edmund was the son of King Edward I and his second wife, Margaret of France, daughter of Philip III of France. Edmund's support of his elder half-brother, King Edward II of England, placed him in conflict with the queen, Isabella of France, and her lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. Edmund was executed after Edward II's deposition, and Joan's mother, along with her children, was placed under house arrest in Arundel Castle when Joan was only two years old.
The Earl of Kent's widow, Margaret, was left with four children for whom to care. Joan's first cousin, the new King Edward III, took on the responsibility for the family, and looked after them well. His wife, Queen Philippa, was Joan's second cousin.
In 1340, at the age of twelve, Joan secretly married Thomas Holland of Upholland, Lancashire, without first gaining the royal consent necessary for couples of their rank. The following winter (1340 or 1341), while Holland was overseas, her family forced her to marry William Montacute, son and heir of the first Earl of Salisbury. Joan later averred that she did not reveal her existing marriage with Thomas Holland because of her fear that disclosing it would lead, upon Holland's return, to his execution for treason. She may also have become convinced that the earlier marriage was invalid.
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Wikipedia