Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville

This article is about the granddaughter of Geoffrey, 1st Baron Geneville and Maud de Lacy. For their daughter also called Joan, seeMaud de Lacy, Baroness Geneville.

Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville,Countess of March, Baroness Mortimer (2 February 1286 – 19 October 1356), also known asJeanne de Joinville,was the daughter of Sir Piers de Geneville andJoan of Lusignan.She inherited the estates of her grandparents,Geoffrey de Geneville, 1st Baron Geneville,andMaud de Lacy, Baroness Geneville.She was one of the wealthiest heiresses in theWelsh MarchesandCounty Meath,Ireland. She was the wife ofRoger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March,thede factoruler of England from 1327 to 1330. She succeeded assuo jure2nd Baroness Geneville on 21 October 1314 upon the death of her grandfather, Geoffrey de Geneville.

Joan de Geneville
suo jure Baroness Geneville Countess of March Baroness Mortimer
Born	2 February 1286 Ludlow Castle,Shropshire,England
Died	19 October 1356 (aged 70) King's Stanley,Gloucestershire, England
Noble family	Geneville (by birth) Mortimer(by marriage)
Spouse(s)	Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March ​ ​ (m.1301; died 1330)​
Issue	Sir Edmund Mortimer Margaret Mortimer Roger Mortimer Maud Mortimer Geoffrey Mortimer John Mortimer Joan Mortimer Isabella Mortimer Katherine Mortimer, Countess of Warwick Agnes Mortimer, Countess of Pembroke Beatrice Mortimer Blanche Mortimer
Father	Sir Piers de Geneville ofTrim CastleandLudlow
Mother	Jeanne of Lusignan

As a result of her husband's insurrection against KingEdward II of England,she was imprisoned inSkipton Castlefor two years. Following the execution of her husband in 1330 for usurping power in England, Joan was once more taken into custody. In 1336, her lands were restored to her after she received a full pardon for her late husband's crimes from Edward II's son and successor,Edward III of England.

Family and inheritance

Ludlow CastleinShropshire,the birthplace of Joan de Geneville

Joan was born on 2 February 1286 atLudlow CastleinShropshire.She was the eldest child of Sir Piers de Geneville, ofTrim CastleandLudlow,whose father SirGeoffrey de Geneville, 1st Baron Geneville,wasJusticiar of Ireland.Her motherJeanne of Lusignanwas part of one of the most illustrious French families, daughter ofHugh XII of Lusignan,Count of La Marcheand ofAngoulême,and sister ofYolanda of Lusignan,thesuo jureCountess of La Marche. Joan had two younger sisters, Matilda and Beatrice who both became nuns at Aconbury Priory.She also had two half-sisters from her mother's first marriage to Bernard Ezi III,Lord of Albret:Mathe, Dame d'Albret (died 1283), and Isabelle, Dame d'Albret (died 1 December 1294), wife of Bernard VI,Count of Armagnac.

When her father died in Ireland shortly before June 1292, Joan became one of the wealthiest and most eligible heiresses in theWelsh Marches,with estates that included the town and castle of Ludlow, the lordship of Ewyas Lacy, the manors of Wolferlow, Stanton Lacy, andMansell Lacyin Shropshire and Herefordshire as well as a sizeable portion ofCounty Meathin Ireland.She was due to inherit these upon the death of her grandfather, but in 1308, Baron Geneville conveyed most of the Irish estates which had belonged to his late wifeMaud de Lacyto Joan and her husband Roger Mortimer. They both went to Ireland where they took seisin of Meath on 28 October of that same year. The baron died on 21 October 1314 at the House of the Friars Preachers at Trim, and Joan subsequently succeeded him, becoming thesuo jure2nd Baroness Geneville.

Marriage

Joan married Roger Mortimer, eldest son ofEdmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Wigmore,andMargaret de Fienneson 20 September 1301 at the manor of Pembridge.Marriage to Joan was highly beneficial to Mortimer as it brought him much influence and prestige in addition to the rich estates he gained through their matrimonial alliance.Three years later in 1304 he succeeded as Baron Mortimer, making JoanBaroness Mortimer.He was knighted on Whitsunday 22 May 1306 byKing Edward I.The knighting ceremony took place inWestminster Abbeyand was known asthe Feast of the Swanas all those present made their personal vows upon two swans.Two hundred and fifty-nine other young men received knighthoods along with Mortimer including thePrince of Waleswho would shortly afterwards succeed his father as Edward II. Following the ceremony was a magnificent banquet held at the Great Hall of Westminster.

Upon taking seizen of her Irish lands in 1308, Joan and Mortimer travelled back and forth between their estates in Ireland and those in the Welsh Marches. Given that Joan opted to accompany her husband to Ireland rather than remain at home, and that she produced 12 surviving children over a period of just 17 years led Roger Mortimer's biographer Ian Mortimer to suggest they enjoyed a closer and more affectionate relationship than was typical of noble couples in the 14th-century. He described their union as having been "a mutually beneficial secure medieval partnership".

Issue

Together Joan and Mortimer had twelve surviving children:

Effigies of Joan's daughter,Katherine Mortimerand her husbandThomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick.St. Mary's Church, Warwick

• Sir Edmund Mortimer(1302/3 – 16 December 1331), marriedElizabeth de Badlesmere,daughter ofBartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere,andMargaret de Clare,by whom he had two sons,Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March,and John, who died young.
• Margaret Mortimer(2 May 1304 – 5 May 1337), marriedThomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley,by whom she had issue.
• Roger Mortimer (c. 1305 – before August 1328), married Joan Butler.
• Maud Mortimer (c. 1307 – after August 1345), married John de Charlton, Lord of Powys, by whom she had issue.
• Geoffrey Mortimer, Lord of Towyth (c. 1308/9 – 1372/5 May 1376), married Jeanne de Lezay, by whom he had issue.
• John Mortimer (c. 1310 – after 1328), killed in atournamentat Shrewsbury.
• Joan Mortimer (c. 1311/2 – 1337/51), married James Audley, 2nd Baron Audley, by whom she had issue.
• Isabella Mortimer (c. 1313 – after 1327)
• Katherine Mortimer(c. 1314 – 4 August 1369), marriedThomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick,by whom she had fifteen children, includingThomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick,andWilliam de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Bergavenny,who married LadyJoan FitzAlan.
• Agnes Mortimer(c. 1317 – 25 July 1368), marriedLaurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke,by whom she had issue.
• Beatrice Mortimer (c. 1319 – 16 October 1383), married firstlyEdward of Norfolk,and secondly, Thomas de Brewes, 1st Baron Brewes. She had issue by her second husband, including the ancestor of the Barons de Saye.
• Blanche Mortimer (c. 1321 – 1347), married Peter de Grandison, 2nd Baron Grandison, by whom she had issue.

Mortimer's affair with Queen Isabella

Joan's husbandRoger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March,is allegedly depicted in the foreground withQueen Isabellain this 14th-century manuscript illustration

Mortimer was appointedLord Lieutenant of Irelandon 23 November 1316 and left for Ireland with a large force in February 1317.While there, he fought against the Scots Army led byEdward Bruce,the younger brother ofRobert the Bruce(who hoped to make Edward king of Ireland), and Bruce's Norman-Irish allies, the de Lacy's. Joan accompanied her husband to Ireland. They returned to England in 1318 after Mortimer had driven the Scots north toCarrickfergus,and dispersed the de Lacys, who were Joan's relatives. For the next few years, Mortimer occupied himself with baronial disputes on the Welsh border; nevertheless, on account of the increasing influence ofHugh Despenser,the Elder, andHugh Despenser the YoungeroverKing Edward II,Roger Mortimer became strongly disaffected with his monarch, especially after the younger Despenser had been granted lands which rightfully belonged to Mortimer.

In October 1321 King Edward and his troops besiegedLeeds Castle,after thegovernor's wife,Margaret de Clare, Baroness Badlesmere,refused Queen Isabella admittance and subsequently ordered her archers to fire upon Isabella and her escort after the latter attempted to gain entry to the castle.Elizabeth,the third Badlesmere daughter, was married to Joan and Mortimer's eldest son,Edmund.King Edward exploited his new popularity in the wake of his military victory at Leeds to recall to England the Despensers, whom theLords Ordainers,led byThomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster,had forced him to banish in August 1321.The Marcher lords, already in a state of insurrection for some time prior to the Despensers' banishment,immediately rose up against the King in full force, with Mortimer leading the confederation alongside OrdainerHumphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford.The King quelled the rebellion, which is also known as theDespenser War;Mortimer and his uncleRoger Mortimer de Chirkboth surrendered to him atShrewsburyon 22 January 1322. Mortimer and his uncle were dispatched as prisoners to theTower of London,where they were kept in damp, unhealthy quarters. This was likely a factor in Roger Mortimer de Chirk's death in 1326. Joan's husband had fared better; by drugging theconstableand the Tower guards, he managed to escape to France on 1 August 1323.It was there that he later became the lover of Queen Isabella, who was estranged from the King as a result of the Despensers' absolute control over him. She had been sent to France on a peace mission by Edward but used the occasion to seek help from her brother,Charles IVto oust the Despensers.The scandal of their love affair forced them to leave the French court forFlanders,where they obtained help for aninvasion of England.

Joan's imprisonment

Skipton Castle,Yorkshire,where Joan was imprisoned from 1324 to 1326

While the couple were still in France, King Edward had retaliated against Mortimer by taking Joan and all of their children into custody, and "treating them with severity".In April 1324 Joan was removed from Hampshire where she had been confined in a lodging under house arrest and sent toSkipton CastleinYorkshire;there she was imprisoned in a cell and endured considerable suffering and hardship.Most of her household had been dismissed and she was permitted a small number of attendants to serve her. She was granted just one mark per day for her necessities, and out of this sum she had to feed her servants.She was additionally allowed ten marksper annumatEasterandMichaelmasfor new clothes.Her daughters suffered worse privations having been locked up inside various religious houses with even less money at their disposal.Joan was transferred from Skipton toPontefract Castlein July 1326.

Countess of March

Mortimer and Isabella landed in England two months later in September 1326, and they joined forces withHenry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster.On 16 November, King Edward was taken prisoner and eventually murdered at Berkeley Castle, presumably by Mortimer's hired assassins.From 1327 to 1330, Mortimer and Isabella jointly held the Office ofRegentfor her son, KingEdward IIIwho was duly crowned following his father's death. Mortimer was made constable ofWallingford Castle;in September 1328, Mortimer was createdEarl of March.This made Joan henceforth, theCountess of March;although it is not known what she thought about her husband's illegal assumption of power and flagrant affair with the Queen. What has been established is that Joan was never an active participant in her husband's insurrection against King Edward.

Mortimer and Queen Isabella were thede factorulers of England. Hostility against the power Mortimer wielded over the kingdom and the young King Edward III, increased; his former friend Henry of Lancaster encouraged the King to assert his authority to oust Mortimer. When Mortimer ordered the execution ofEdmund, Earl of Kent,half-brother of the late King Edward, anger and outrage engulfed the country. The King deposed his mother and her lover; Roger Mortimer was seized, arrested, and on 29 November 1330,hangedatTyburn, London.

Following her husband's execution, Joan – as the wife of a traitor – was imprisoned again, this time in Hampshire where years before she had been placed under house arrest; her children were also taken into custody. In 1331, she was given an allowance for household expenses; however, her lands were only restored to her in 1336 after King Edward III granted her a full pardon for her late husband's crimes. In 1347 she received back the Liberty of Trim.

Death

Joan de Geneville, Baroness Geneville, the widowed Countess of March, died on 19 October 1356 at the age of seventy. She was buried inWigmore Abbeybeside her husband, whose body had been returned to her by Edward III as she had requested. Her tomb no longer exists as the abbey was destroyed during theDissolution of the Monasteriesand only the ruins remain to this day.

Lady Geneville's numerous direct descendants include the currentBritish Royal Family,SirWinston Churchill,and American PresidentsGeorge Washington,Thomas Jefferson,William Howard Taft,Calvin CoolidgeandFranklin D. Roosevelt.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville

Geoffrey IV of Joinville Simon of Joinville Helvide de Dampierre Geoffrey de Geneville, 1st Baron Geneville Stephen III of Auxonne Beatrix d' Auxonne Beatrix de Thiers, Comtesse de Chalon Sir Piers de Geneville Walter de Lacy,Lord of Trim Gilbert de Lacy Margaret de Braose Maud de Lacy Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk Isabel Bigod Maud Marshal Joan de Geneville Hugh X of Lusignan,Count of La Marche Hugh XI of Lusignan,Count of La Marche Isabella of Angoulême Hugh XII of Lusignan,Count of La Marche Peter I, Duke of Brittany Yolande de Dreux, Countess of Penthièvre and of Porhoet Alix of Thouars Jeanne of Lusignan Geoffrey, Seigneur de Fougères Raoul III, Sire de Fougères Mathilde de Porhoet Jeanne de Fougères Amaury I, Sire de Craon Isabelle de Craon Jeanne des Roches

In fiction

Joan is a supporting character inLes Rois maudits(The Accursed Kings), a series of Frenchhistorical novelsbyMaurice Druon.She was portrayed byValérie Langin the 2005French miniseries adaptationof the series.

Joan is portrayed as the main protagonist in (Joan: forgotten Women of history book one) by Anne R. Bailey.

Bibliography

• Costain, Thomas B. (1958).The Three Edwards.Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc.
• Cokayne, G. E. (2000).The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant,new edition, 13 Volumes in 14 (1910-1959); reprint in 6 Volumes, Gloucester, UK: Alan Sutton Publishing
• Haines, Roy Martin. (2003).King Edward II: Edward of Caernarfon, his life, his reign, and its aftermath.Canada: McGill-Queens University Press
• Mortimer, Ian (2003).The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England, 1327-1330.UK: Jonathan Cape Ltd.
• Seabourne, Gwen (2011).Imprisoning Medieval Women: The Non-Judicial Confinement and Abduction of Women in England, c.1170-1509.Great Britain: Ashgate Publishers Ltd.