Joan of Acre

Joan of Acre
Countess of Hertford Countess of Gloucester
Joan depicted in her family tree
Born	April 1272 Acre, Kingdom of Acre
Died	23 April 1307(1307-04-23) (aged 35) Clare Castle, Clare
Burial	23 April 1307 Clare Priory, Suffolk
Spouse	Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, 6th Earl of Hertford m. 1290; dec. 1295 Sir Ralph de Monthermer m. 1297; wid. 1307
Issue	Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford Eleanor de Clare Margaret de Clare Elizabeth de Clare Mary de Monthermer Joan de Monthermer Thomas de Monthermer, 2nd Baron Monthermer Edward de Monthermer
House	Plantagenet
Father	Edward I Longshanks
Mother	Eleanor of Castile

Joan of Acre (April 1272 – 23 April 1307) was an English princess, a daughter of King Edward I of England and Queen Eleanor of Castile. The name "Acre" derives from her birthplace in the Holy Land while her parents were on a crusade.

She was married twice; her first husband was Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, one of the most powerful nobles in her father's kingdom; her second husband was Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in her household whom she married in secret.

Joan is most notable for the claim that miracles have allegedly taken place at her grave, and for the multiple references to her in literature.

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. 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 before leaving Joan with Eleanor's mother, Joan, Countess of Ponthieu, in France. 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.” Joan was free to play among the “vine clad hills and sunny vales” surrounding her grandmother’s home, although she required “judicious surveillance.”

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”. 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. As she had spent her entire life away from Edward and Eleanor, when she returned she “stood in no awe of her parents” and had a fairly distanced relationship with them.