Joan, Countess of Kent

In the previous post I looked at the early years of Joan of Kent. She married Thomas Holland in secret at the age of twelve and, a few months later was forced into a bigamous marriage with William Montague.

Once their marriage was confirmed as valid by the pope, Joan and Holland finally started their life together. They were not as wealthy as they had expected to be. Holland’s prisoner had returned to France on parole and been executed, so most of the ransom was unpaid.

Almost immediately Joan conceived and their first son, Thomas, was born in 1350. The Prince of Wales was his godfather. Holland was appointed captain of Calais castle when Joan was pregnant with their second son, John.

At the end of 1352 Joan’s brother, John, Earl of Kent, died and she inherited his title and his estates. The Countess of Kent was one of the wealthiest landowners in England. Joan’s properties were scattered across the country, so there was no ideal place for the family to live in order to manage them. It seems that they settled in Donnington Castle in Leicestershire, which was the only castle that Joan owned. They were not there for long.

In 1353 Holland went to Brittany to take command of the English forces there. He was briefly in England in the autumn, returning to Brittany with Joan. It was unusual for a woman to join her husband on military service. Usually the wife managed her husband’s estates while he was away. There was, however, a truce with France and, now that Joan was very rich and an even more attractive prize than she had been before, Holland might have wanted to keep his wife safe from Montague, should he decide to renew his claim for her. Perhaps Joan, having been separated from her husband for most of their married life, insisted that she accompany him.

They returned to England in late 1355, with Holland having missed out on accompanying the Prince of Wales on his raids in southern France and the king on his campaign in Picardy. Their daughter Maud, was born in 1356, but it’s not known what they were doing or where they were that year. Holland was not mentioned as having taken part in the king’s planned invasion of France. It’s unlikely that he would not have been given an important command if he had. It was intended that English armies would land in Brittany, Normandy and Aquitaine, and Holland knew the first two very well. The best explanation that I can come up with, other than that he had somehow angered the king, was that he was ill or incapacitated in some other way.

Although the invasion was a failure, it did result in the capture of the French king, Jean II. The Prince brought him to London in May 1357 and there were banquets and tournaments to celebrate. Many believe that it was at this point that the Prince fell in love with Joan.

In November Holland was made custodian of Cruyk Castle in Normandy and a month later he became assistant to the king’s lieutenant in Normandy. The following year he took Joan with him to Normandy. By this time they had probably had their fourth child, Joan.

In October 1359 Holland was appointed joint lieutenant in Normandy. At the end of October Edward III arrived in Normandy with another army. His intention, apparently, was to be crowned King of France in Rheims. This campaign was a complete failure, but the resulting treaty would have been a great success for the king, had both sides kept to it. Holland was with him on this campaign.

Holland and Joan returned to England in the spring of 1360. At the end of September he was appointed lieutenant in Normandy and, after many years of being married to the Countess of Kent, made Earl of Kent. He was instructed to make the terms of the peace treaty known in Normandy and to supervise the handing over of English strongholds to the French under the terms of the treaty. He got as far as Rouen, where he was taken ill and died in December.

Three months later Joan was secretly married to the Prince of Wales.

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