JOAN (1328–1385), the 'Fair Maid of Kent,' wife of Edward, prince of Wales, `the Black Prine´ [q. v.], and mother of Richard II, born in 1328, was probably the younger daughter and third child of Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent [q. v.], sixth son of Edward I, who was beheaded 19 March 1330, and Margaret Wake. When hardly two years old she, and not her elder sister Margaret, is said to have acted as godmother to a brother John, a posthumous child, b. 7 April 1330 (Notes and Queries, 7th ser. v. 149, 238). In October 1330 the young Queen Philippa, according to Froissart (ii. 243), took charge of her. She grew up to be `en son temps la plus belle de tout la roiaulme d'Engleterre et la plus amoureuse´ (ib.) Froissart calls her `cette jeune damoiselle de Kent,´ but she does not seem to be called the `Fair Maid of Kent´ in any contemporary authority. Her beauty and fascinating manner early took captive both the youthful William de Montacute, second earl of Salisbury [q.v.], and his steward of the household, Sir Thomas Holland [q.v.] Holland forestalled his rival by a contract and cohabitation. But he was called away to the wars in France before a
marriage had been solemnised. Salisbury took advantage of his absence to enter into a contract of marriage with Joan. Holland on returning to England petitioned Pope Clement VI to restore his rights over her. The case was referred by the holy see to the investigation of Cardinal Adhemar, and after both sides had been heard, Clement, on 13 Nov. 1349, gave judgment for Holland (Islip Register, in Lambeth Library, f. 180; cf. Dugdale, Baronage, i. 648; and Fœdera, iii, 626, Recorded.) The chroniclers, ignorant of the precontract, represent Joan as divorced from Salisbury for infidelity with Holland (Walsingham, i. 196; Knighton, col. 2620; Murimuth, cont. p. 114, ed. Hall; Capgrave, Chron. p. 221; so too M. Wallon, Richard II, i. 400). Selden rashly identified her with the Countess of Salisbury, who is said to have been the proximate cause of the foundation of the order of the Garter (Beltz, Memorials of the Order of the Garter, p. xliii). Joan's elder brother, Edmund, earl of Kent, had died in 1333, and on the death of her other brother, John, in 1352, she became Countess of Kent and Lady Wake of Liddell in her own right (Doyle, Official Baronage). Margaret, her elder sister, must therefore have died without issue before 1352. The king granted to his kinswoman an annual sum of a hundred marks during her life (Dugdale, ii.74). In 1358 she accompanied her husband to Normandy, where he was governor of the fort of Creyk (ib.; cf. Beltz, p. 57). Holland in 1360 assumed the style of Earl of Kent in right of his wife (ib.), and on 28 Dec. of that year he died [for Joan's family by him see Holland, Sir Thomas].
A few months later Joan contracted a marriage with Edward, prince of Wales. According to Froissart (vi. 366), the marriage was a love match and concluded without the knowledge of the king. A silver `biker´ to `his cousin Jeannette´ is entered upon the prince's accounts for 1348 (Beltz, p. 383). Hardyng in his fifteenth-century `Chronicle´ (p. 332, ed. Ellis) tells a story that
The prince her vowid unto a knight of his
She said she would none but hymself I wis.
She is described by the Prince's panegyrist as
Une dame de grant pris
Qe belle fuist, plesante et sage
(Chandos, p. 124). After a papal dispensation had been obtained (see under Edward, Prince of Wales, 1330-1376) their espousals were celebrated by Simon Islip, archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth on 6 Oct. 1361, and the marriage followed on 10 Oct. in presence of the whole royal family (ib.). They stayed over Christmas at Berkhampstead in Hertfordshire, and entertained the royal family there for five days (Froissart, vi. 367). From the spring of 1362 till January 1371 Joan was with her husband in Aquitaine (ib. xi. 16-19). While in Aquitaine Joan bore the Prince two sons, Edward (1365-1370) and Richard, afterwards Richard II. The Black Prince died on 8 June 1376, and on 20 Nov. Richard was created Prince of Wales, one third of the revenues being reserved to Joan as dower. Until his grandfather's death he seems to have been under the immediate charge of his mother, to whom his allowance of a thousand marks per annum was paid (Beltz, p. 233; cf. also Fœdera, iii. 1067, Record ed.) While they were staying at the royal manor of Kennington on 20 Feb. 1377, John of Gaunt and Henry Percy, who were flying from the infuriated London populace, sought their protection (Chron. Angl. p. 124). The Princess sent three of her knights, Sir Aubrey de Vere, Sir Simon Burley, and Sir Lewis Clifford, to entreat the citizens by their love for her to make peace with the duke. They answered respectfully that for her honour they would do what she required, but exacted conditions (ib. p. 128). On the
