Edmund, of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent

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Family/Spouse: Lady Margaret WAKE, Countess of Kent. Margaret was born about 1299 in Blisworth, Northamptonshire, England; died on 29 Sep 1349 in Longtown, Cumberland, England; was buried in Oct 1349 in Winchester, Hampshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FamilySearch ID: KDQ8-TWV
• Title: ; Princess of Wales
• Name: Princess of Aquitaine
• TitleOfNobility: Abt 1335, England; Countess of Kent
• Appointed: 1378; Lady Companion, Order of the Garter (L.G.)

Notes:

Joan, Countess of Kent (29 September 1326/7 ? 7 August 1385), known to history as The Fair Maid of Kent, was the mother of King Richard II of England, her son by her third husband, Edward the Black Prince, son and heir apparent of King Edward III. Although the French chronicler Jean Froissart called her "the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and the most loving", the appellation "Fair Maid of Kent" does not appear to be contemporary. Joan inherited the titles 4th Countess of Kent and 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell after the death of her brother John, 3rd Earl of Kent, in 1352.

Joan was born on 29 September of either 1326[3] or 1327 and was the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent (1301-1330), by his wife, Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell. Edmund was the sixth son of King Edward I of England by his second wife, Margaret of France, daughter of King Philip III of France. Edmund was always a loyal supporter of his eldest half-brother, King Edward II, which placed him in conflict with that monarch's wife, Queen Isabella of France and her lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. Edmund was executed in 1330 after Edward II was deposed; and Edmund's widow and four children (including Joan, who was only two-years-old, at the time) were placed under house arrest in Arundel Castle in Sussex, which had been granted to Edmund in 1326 by his half-brother the king following the execution of the rebel Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel. It was a time of great strain for the widowed Countess of Kent and her four children. They received respite after the new king, Edward III (Joan's half-first cousin), reached adulthood and took charge of affairs. He took on the responsibility for the family and looked after them well.

Early marriages

In 1340, at the age of twelve, Joan secretly married 26-year-old Thomas Holland of Upholland, Lancashire, without first gaining the royal consent necessary for couples of their rank. Shortly after the wedding, Holland left for the continent as part of the English expedition into Flanders and France. The following winter (1340 or 1341), while Holland was overseas, Joan's family arranged for her to marry William Montagu, son and heir of William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury. It is not known if the 13-year-old Joan confided to anyone about her first marriage before marrying Montagu, who was her own age. Later, Joan indicated that she had not announced her existing marriage with Thomas Holland because she was afraid it would lead to Holland's execution for treason. She may also have been influenced to believe that the earlier marriage was invalid. Montagu's father died in 1344 and he became the 2nd Earl of Salisbury.

When Holland returned from the French campaigns in about 1348, his marriage to Joan was revealed. Holland confessed the secret marriage to the King, and appealed to the Pope for the return of his wife. Salisbury held Joan captive so that she could not testify until the Church ordered him to release her. In 1349, the proceedings ruled in Holland's favor. Pope Clement VI annulled Joan's marriage to Salisbury and Joan and Thomas Holland were ordered to be married in the Church.

Over the next eleven years, Thomas Holland and Joan had five children:
1. Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent
2. John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter
3. Lady Joan Holland (1356? 1384), who married John IV, Duke of Brittany (1339? 1399).
4. Lady Maud Holland (1359? 1391), who married firstly Hugh Courtenay and secondly Waleran III of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny (1355? 1415).
5. Edmund Holland (c. 1354), who died young. He was buried in the church of Austin Friars, London.

When the last of Joan's siblings died in 1352, the lands and titles of her parents devolved upon her, and she became the 4th Countess of Kent and 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell. Her husband Holland was created Earl of Kent in right of his wife in 1360.

Marriage to the Black Prince
Her first husband, Thomas Holland, died in 1360. Some may infer that evidence of a long-held desire by Edward, the Black Prince (son of her half-first cousin King Edward III) for Joan may be found in the record of his presenting her with a silver cup, part of the booty from one of his early military campaigns. Although one generation removed from her, he was probably only three years younger, as the exact date of Joan's birth is undocumented. It is suggested that Edward's parents did not favour a marriage between their son and their former ward, but this may be ameliorated by the fact that King Edward assisted his son in acquiring all four of the needed dispensations for Edward to marry Joan. Queen Philippa (wife of Edward III) had made a favourite of Joan in her childhood. Both she and the King may have been concerned about the legitimacy of any resulting children, but such concerns were remediated by a second ruling of Pope Clement's successor upholding the initial ruling on Joan's previous marriage(s). In addition, Edward and Joan were within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity. Further complicating matters was the fact that Edward was godfather to Joan's son by Thomas Holland.

At the King's request, the Pope granted the dispensations (4) allowing the two to be legally married. Matters moved fast and Joan was officially married to the Prince barely nine months after Holland's death, the official ceremony occurring on 10 October 1361 at Windsor Castle, with the King and Queen in attendance. The Archbishop of Canterbury presided.

In 1362 the Black Prince was invested as Prince of Aquitaine, a region of France that had belonged to the English Crown since the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II of England. He and Joan moved to Bordeaux, the capital of the principality, where they spent the next nine years. Two sons were born during this period to the royal couple. The elder son Edward of Angoul?me (27 January 1365 ? 1370) died at the age of six. At about the time of the birth of their younger son, the future King Richard II, the Black Prince was lured into a battle on behalf of King Peter of Castile and achieved one of his greatest victories; however, King Peter was later killed and there was no money to pay the troops. In the meantime, the Princess was forced to raise another army as her husband's enemies were threatening Aquitaine in his absence.

Transition to Dowager Princess of Wales
By 1371 the Black Prince was no longer able to perform his duties as Prince of Aquitaine because of his poor health; and shortly after burying their elder son the couple returned to England, where the Black Death was wreaking havoc. In 1372 the Black Prince forced himself to attempt one final, abortive campaign in the hope of saving his father's French possessions; but the exertion left his health completely shattered. He returned to England and on 7 June 1376, a week before his forty-sixth birthday, he died in his bed at the Palace of Westminster.

Joan's son Prince Richard was next in line to succeed his grandfather. One year later, King Edward III died on 21 June 1377, and Richard acceded to the throne as Richard II; he was crowned the following month, at the age of 10. Early in his reign, the young King faced the challenge of the Peasants' Revolt. The Lollards, religious reformers led by John Wyclif, had enjoyed Joan's support, but the violent climax of the popular movement for reform reduced the feisty Joan to a state of terror, while leaving the King with an improved reputation.

As the King's mother, Joan did exercise much influence behind the scenes, and was recognised as doing such during the early years of her son's reign. She also enjoyed a certain prestige and dignity among the people as an elderly, royal dowager. For example, in 1381 on her return to London (via her Wickhambreaux estate in Kent) from a pilgrimage to Thomas Becket's shrine at Canterbury Cathedral, she found her way barred by Wat Tyler and his mob of rebels on Blackheath; however, she was not only let through unharmed, but was saluted with kisses and provided with an escort for the rest of her journey.

In January 1382, Richard II married Anne of Bohemia, daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia.

Death and burial

John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, was Joan's son by her first marriage; his wife Elizabeth of Lancaster was a daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, brother of the Black Prince. In 1385 while campaigning with his half-brother King Richard II in the Kingdom of Scotland, John Holland became involved in a quarrel with Sir Ralph Stafford, son of the 2nd Earl of Stafford, a favourite of the queen, Anne of Bohemia. Stafford was killed and John Holland sought sanctuary at the shrine of St John of Beverley. On the King's return, Holland was condemned to death. Joan pleaded with her royal son for four days to spare his half-brother and on the fifth day (the exact date in August is not known), she died, at Wallingford Castle. King Richard then relented and pardoned Holland, who was sent on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Joan was buried beside her first husband, as requested in her will, at the Greyfriars in Stamford, Lincolnshire. The Black Prince had built a chantry chapel for her in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral in Kent (where he himself was buried), with ceiling bosses sculpted with likenesses of her face. Another boss in the north nave aisle is also said to show her face.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Kent

Joan married Thomas HOLLAND, 1st Earl of Kent in 1340 in Kent, England. Thomas (son of Robert HOLAND, III and Mathilde LA ZOUCHE) was born about 1314 in Upholland, Lancashire, England; died on 26 Dec 1360 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Upper Normandy, France; was buried after 28 Dec 1360 in Greyfriars Church, Preston, Lancashire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FamilySearch ID: G45C-174

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• FamilySearch ID: LBXV-7R4
• Title: ; Baron of Holland
• Occupation: ; 7th Earl of Kent (Dec 1360), 6th Lord Wake and Woodstock (Aug 1385), Marshall of England, Constable of Corfe Castle, Governor of Carisbroke Castle; K.G.
• Occupation: ; Earl of Kent
• Sir Thomas de Holland: 25 Apr 1397, Bourne, South Kesteven District, Lincolnshire, England

Notes:

Thomas Holland (also known as de Holland), 2nd Earl of Kent, 3rd Baron Holand KG (1350/1354-25 April 1397) was an English nobleman and a councillor of his half-brother, King Richard II of England.

Family and early Life
Thomas Holland (or de Holand) was born in Upholand, Lancashire, in 1350 or 1354 (sources differ on his birth year). He was the eldest surviving son of Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent, and Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent". His mother was a daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, and Margaret Wake. Edmund was in turn a son of Edward I of England and his second Queen consort Marguerite of France, and thus a younger half-brother of Edward II of England.

His father died in 1360, and later that year, on 28 December, Thomas became Baron Holand. His mother was still Countess of Kent in her own right, and in 1361 she married Edward, the Black Prince, the son of King Edward III.

Military career
At sixteen, in 1366, Holland was appointed captain of the English forces in Aquitaine. Over the next decade he fought in various campaigns, including the Battle of N?jera, under the command of his stepfather Edward, the Black Prince. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1375.

Richard II became king in 1377, and soon Holland acquired great influence over his younger half-brother, which he used for his own enrichment. In 1381, he succeeded as Earl of Kent.

Later years and death
Prior to his death, Holland was appointed Governor of Carisbrooke Castle. Holland died at Arundel Castle, Sussex, England on 25 April 1397.

Marriage and children
On 10 April 1364 Holland married Lady Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel by his wife Eleanor of Lancaster. Lady Alice was later named as a Lady of the Garter. By his wife he had three sons and six daughters. All the sons died without legitimate children, whereupon the daughters and their issue became co-heiresses to the House of Holland. The children were as follows:

Sons
1.) Thomas Holland, 3rd Earl of Kent, 1st Duke of Surrey (1374-7 January 1400), eldest son and heir, created Duke of Surrey. Died without children.

2.) Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent (6 January 1384-15 September 1408), heir to his elder brother. Died without legitimate children, but had an illegitimate child by his mistress Constance of York.

3.) John Holland, died without children

Daughters
By his daughters' marriages, he became the ancestor of many of the prominent figures in the Wars of the Roses, including Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (father of Kings Edward IV and Richard III), Henry Tudor (later King Henry VII), and Warwick the Kingmaker, father of queen consort Anne Neville. He was also an ancestor of queen consort Catherine Parr, the sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII. His daughters were as follows:

1.) Eleanor I Holland (1373-October 1405), (who bore the same first name as her younger sister, alias Alianore) married twice:
Firstly to Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (1374-1398), heir presumptive to his mother's first cousin King Richard II (1377-1399). Her only child and sole heiress to the Mortimer claim was Anne Mortimer. Following the deposition of Richard II in 1399 by his own first cousin, the Lancastrian Henry Bolingbroke, (who ruled as King Henry IV (1399-1413), Anne Mortimer's claim to the throne of England was pursued by her son Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (1411-1460) which drawn-out struggle formed the basis of the Wars of the Roses.
Secondly she married Edward Charleton, 5th Baron Cherleton

2.) Joan Holland (c. 1380-2 April 1434), married Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York

3.) Margaret Holland (1385-31 December 1439), married first John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, and second Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence

4.) Elizabeth Holland, who married Sir John Neville (c.1387 -before 20 May 1420), eldest son and heir of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, and by him had three sons, Ralph Neville, 2nd Earl of Westmorland, John Neville, Baron Neville, and Sir Thomas Neville, and a daughter, Margaret Neville.

5.) Eleanor II Holland (1386-after 1413), (who bore the same first name as her eldest sister, alias Alianore) married Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury

6.) Bridget Holland, who became a nun

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Holland,_2nd_Earl_of_Kent

Thomas married Countess Alice FITZALAN on 10 Apr 1364 in Arundel Castle, Sussex, England. Alice (daughter of Edmund FITZALAN and Sibyl De MONTAGU) was born about 1352 in Arundel Castle, Sussex, England; was christened in in Of Donyatt, Somersetshire, England; died on 17 Mar 1416 in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, England; was buried in Mar 1416 in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• Title (Nobility): ; Countess of Somerset
• Title (Nobility): ; Duchess of Clarence
• Name: Margaret HOLLAND

Margaret married John DE BEAUFORT, 1st Earl of Somerset in 1397 in England. John (son of John OF GAUNT, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Katherine DE RO?T, Duchess of Lancaster) was born in 1373 in Chateau de Beaufort, Goudet, Haute-Loire, France; was christened in 1373 in Ch?teau de Beaufort, Maine-et-Loire, France, France; died on 16 Mar 1410 in St. Catherine's Hospital by the Tower, London, England; was buried in 1410 in Canterbury, City of Canterbury, Kent, England, United Kingdom. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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