Joan Beaufort | |
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Queen consort of Scotland | |
Tenure | 2 February 1424 – 21 February 1437 |
Coronation | 21 May 1424 |
Born | c. 1404 [1] |
Died | 15 July 1445 (aged 40–41) Dunbar Castle, East Lothian, Scotland |
Burial | |
Spouse | James I of Scotland (m. 1424, died 1437) |
Issue Detail |
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House | Beaufort |
Father | John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset |
Mother | Margaret Holland |
Joan Beaufort (c. 1404 – 15 July 1445) was Queen of Scotland from 1424 to 1437 as the spouse of King James I of Scotland. During part of the minority of her son James II (from 1437 to 1439), she served as the regent of Scotland.
Joan Beaufort was a daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, a legitimised son of John of Gaunt by his mistress (and later third wife) Katherine Swynford. [2] Joan's mother was Margaret Holland, [3] the granddaughter of Joan of Kent (wife of Edward the Black Prince) from her earlier marriage to Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent. Joan was also a half-niece of King Henry IV of England, first cousin once removed of Richard II, and great-granddaughter of Edward III. Her uncle, Henry Beaufort, was a cardinal and Chancellor of England. [4]
King James I of Scotland met Joan during his time as a prisoner in England, and knew her from at least 1420. [3] She is said to have been the inspiration for King James's famous long poem, The Kingis Quair , written during his captivity, after he saw her from his window in the garden. [5] The marriage was at least partially political, as their marriage was part of the agreement for his release from captivity. From an English perspective an alliance with the Beauforts was meant to establish Scotland's alliance with the English, rather than the French. [3] Negotiations resulted in Joan's dowry of 10,000 marks being subtracted from James's substantial ransom. [6]
On 12 February 1424, Joan Beaufort and King James were wed at St Mary Overie Church in Southwark. [3] [7] They were feasted at Winchester Palace that year by her uncle, Cardinal Henry Beaufort. She accompanied her husband on his return from captivity in England to Scotland, and was crowned alongside her husband at Scone Abbey. As queen, she often pleaded with the king for those who might be executed. [8]
The royal couple had eight children, including the future James II, and Margaret of Scotland, future spouse of Louis XI of France. [3]
James I was assassinated in Perth on 21 February 1437. Joan had also been a target of assassination along with her husband, but managed to survive her injuries. [3] She successfully directed her husband's supporters to attack his assassin Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl, but was forced to give up power three months later. [3] The prospect of being ruled by an English woman was unpopular in Scotland. [3] The Earl of Douglas was thus appointed to power, though Joan remained in charge of her son. [3]
Near the end of July 1439, she married James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorne [3] after obtaining a papal dispensation for both consanguinity and affinity. James was an ally of the latest Earl of Douglas, and plotted with him to overthrow Alexander Livingston, governor of Stirling Castle, during the minority of James II.[ citation needed ] Livingston arrested Joan in August 1439 and forced her to relinquish custody of the young king. [3] In 1445, the conflict between the Douglas/Livingston faction and the queen's supporters resumed, and she was under siege at Dunbar Castle by the Earl of Douglas when she died on 15 July 1445. She was buried in the Carthusian Priory at Perth. [3] [7]
With James I of Scotland: [9]
With James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorne:
Ancestors of Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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James I was King of Scots from 1406 until his assassination in 1437. The youngest of three sons, he was born in Dunfermline Abbey to King Robert III and Annabella Drummond. His older brother David, Duke of Rothesay, died under suspicious circumstances during detention by their uncle, Robert, Duke of Albany. James' other brother, Robert, died young. Fears surrounding James's safety grew through the winter of 1405/6 and plans were made to send him to France. In February 1406, James was forced to take refuge in the castle of the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth after his escort was attacked by supporters of Archibald, 4th Earl of Douglas. He remained at the castle until mid-March, when he boarded a vessel bound for France. On 22 March, English pirates captured the ship and delivered the prince to Henry IV of England. The ailing Robert III died on 4 April and the 11-year-old James, now the uncrowned King of Scots, would not regain his freedom for another eighteen years.
Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster, also spelled Katharine or Catherine, was the third wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the fourth son of King Edward III.
Joan Beaufort was the youngest of the four legitimised children and only daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, by his mistress, later wife, Katherine Swynford. She married Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and in her widowhood became a powerful landowner in the north of England.
John Beaufort, 1st Marquess of Somerset and 1st Marquess of Dorset, later only 1st Earl of Somerset, was an English nobleman and politician. He was the first of the four illegitimate children of John of Gaunt (1340–1399) by his mistress Katherine Swynford, whom he later married in 1396.
Margaret Holland was a medieval English noblewoman. She was a daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, who was the son of Joan "the Fair Maid of Kent". Margaret's mother was Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster.
James II was King of Scots from 1437 until his death in 1460. The eldest surviving son of James I of Scotland, he succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of six, following the assassination of his father. The first Scottish monarch not to be crowned at Scone, James II's coronation took place at Holyrood Abbey in March 1437. After a reign characterised by struggles to maintain control of his kingdom, he was killed by an exploding cannon at Roxburgh Castle in 1460.
John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, 3rd Earl of Somerset, KG was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War. He was the maternal grandfather of Henry VII.
John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl, also known as Sir John Stewart of Balveny, was a Scottish nobleman and ambassador.
Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany was a leading Scottish nobleman, the son of Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany, and the grandson of King Robert II of Scotland, who founded the Stewart dynasty. In 1389, he became Justiciar North of the Forth. In 1402, he was captured at the Battle of Homildon Hill and would spend 12 years in captivity in England.
Catherine Douglas, later Catherine "Kate" Barlass, was a historical figure who tried to prevent the assassination of King James I on the 20th of February, 1437. She was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Scotland, Joan Beaufort.
Janet Stewart, Lady Fleming, called la Belle Écossaise, was a Scottish courtier. She was an illegitimate daughter of King James IV of Scotland who served as governess to her half-niece Mary, Queen of Scots. Janet was briefly a mistress of King Henry II of France, by whom she had a legitimated son: Henri d'Angoulême. Her daughter, Mary Fleming, was one of the young queen's "Four Marys".
James Douglas, 7th Earl of Douglas, 1st Earl of Avondale, latterly known as James the Gross, and prior to his ennoblement as James of Balvenie, was a late mediaeval Scottish magnate. He was the second son of Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas, and Joan Moray of Bothwell and Drumsargard, d. after 1408.
Margaret of Scotland may refer to:
Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Devon was a great-granddaughter of King Edward III (1327–1377).
Thomas Beaufort, styled 1st Count of Perche was a member of the Beaufort family and an English commander during the Hundred Years' War.
Alice Holland, Countess of Kent, LG, formerly Lady Alice FitzAlan, was an English noblewoman, a daughter of the 10th Earl of Arundel, and the wife of the 2nd Earl of Kent, the half-brother of King Richard II. As the maternal grandmother of Anne de Mortimer, she was an ancestor of King Edward IV and King Richard III, as well as King Henry VII and the Tudor dynasty through her daughter Margaret Holland. She was also the maternal grandmother of Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots.
James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorne was a Scottish nobleman.
Alexander Lindsay, 2nd Earl of Crawford was a Scottish magnate. He was the son of David Lindsay, 1st Earl of Crawford and Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of King Robert II and Euphemia de Ross. He was knighted at the coronation of King James I on 21 May 1424, and subsequently was one of the hostages for King James given over to the English from 1424 until November 1427.
Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, 4th Earl of Somerset, 1st Earl of Dorset, 1st Marquess of Dorset styled 1st Count of Mortain, KG, was an English nobleman and an important figure during the Hundred Years' War. His rivalry with Richard, Duke of York, was a leading cause of the Wars of the Roses.
James Livingston, 1st Lord Livingston was a Scottish nobleman.