Joan of England, Queen of Sicily

English Royalty
House of Plantagenet

Henry II
Children
   William, Count of Poitiers
   Henry the Young King
   Richard I
   Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany
   King John
   Matilda of England
   Leonora of England
   Joan of England
Richard I
John
Children
   Henry III
   Richard, Earl of Cornwall
   Joan of England
   Isabella of England
   Eleanor of England
Henry III
Children
   Edward I
   Margaret of England
   Beatrice of England
   Edmund, Earl of Lancaster
Edward I
Children
   Joan of England, Countess of Gloucester
   Alphonso, Earl of Chester
   Edward II
   Thomas, Earl of Norfolk
   Edmund, Earl of Kent
Edward II
Children
   Edward III
   John, Earl of Cornwall
   Eleanor of England
   Joan of England
Edward III
Children
   Edward, Prince of Wales
   Lionel, Duke of Clarence
   John, Duke of Lancaster
   Edmund, Duke of York
   Thomas, Duke of Gloucester
   Joan of England
   Isabella of England
Grandchildren
    Richard II
    Philippa, Countess of Ulster
    Philippa of Lancaster
    Elizabeth of Lancaster
    Henry IV
    Catherine of Lancaster
    Edward, Duke of York
    Richard, Earl of Cambridge
    Constance of York
    Anne of Gloucester
Richard II


Joan of England (October, 1165 – 4 September 1199) was the seventh child of King Henry II of England and his Queen consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Joan was a younger maternal half-sister of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France. She was a younger sister of William, Count of Poitiers, Henry the Young King, Matilda of England, Richard I of England, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany and Leonora of Aquitaine. She was also an older sister of John of England.

Joan was born at Angers, in Anjou, and spent her youth at her mother's courts at Winchester and Poitiers. In 1176, King William II of Sicily sent ambassadors to the English court to ask for Joan's hand in marriage. The betrothal was confirmed on May 20, and on August 27 Joan set sail for Sicily, escorted by the bishop of Norwich and her uncle, Hamelin de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey.

After a hazardous voyage, Joan arrived safely, and on February 13, 1177, she married William II of Sicily and was crowned Queen of Sicily at Palermo Cathedral. They had one son, Bohemond, who died in infancy. Following William's death in 1189, she was kept a prisoner by the new king, Tancred of Sicily. Finally, her brother Richard I of England arrived in Italy in 1190, on the way to the Holy Land. He demanded her return, along with every penny of her dowry. When Tancred balked at these demands, Richard seized a monastery and the castle of La Bagnara. He decided to spend the winter in Italy and attacked and subdued the city of Messina. Finally, Tancred agreed to the terms and sent Joan's dowry. In March 1191 Eleanor of Aquitaine arrived in Messina with Richard's bride, Berengaria of Navarre.

Eleanor returned to England, leaving Berengaria in Joan's care. Richard decided to postpone his wedding, put his sister and bride on a ship, and set sail. Two days later the fleet was hit by a fierce storm, destroying several ships and blew Joan and Berengaria's ship off course. Richard landed safely in Crete, but they were stranded near Cyprus. The self-appointed despot of Cyprus, Isaac Comnenus was just about to capture them when Richard's fleet suddenly appeared. The princesses were saved, but the despot made off with Richard's treasure. Richard pursued and captured Isaac, threw him into a dungeon, and sent Joan and Berengaria on to Acre.

Joan was Richard's favorite sister, but he was not above using her as a bargaining chip in his political schemes. He even suggested marrying her to Saladin's brother, Al-Adil, and making them joint rulers of Jerusalem. This plan fell apart when Joan refused to marry a Muslim and Al-Adil refused to marry a Christian. King Philip II of France also expressed some interest in marrying her, but this scheme, too, failed (possibly on grounds of affinity, since Philip's father Louis VII had formerly been married to her mother). Instead Joan was married in 1196 to Raymond VI of Toulouse, with Quercy and the Agenais as her dowry. She was the mother of his successor Raymond VII of Toulouse (1197-1249).

This new husband treated her none too gently, however, and Joan came to fear him and his knights. In 1199, while pregnant with a second child, Joan was left to face a rebellion alone. Joan fled to her mother Queen Eleanor's court at Rouen, where she was offered refuge and care in her illness. Joan asked to be admitted to Fontevrault Abbey, an unusual request for a married, pregnant woman, but this request was granted. She died in childbirth and was veiled a nun on her deathbed. Her son lived just long enough to be baptised (he was named Richard). Joan was thirty-three years old. She was buried at Fontevrault Abbey, and fifty years later her son Raymond VII would be interred next to her.

References

  • Robert of Torigny
  • Roger of Hoveden
  • Ralph of Diceto
  • Payne, Robert. The Dream and the Tomb, 1984
  • Owen, D.D.R. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen and Legend
  • Wheeler, Bonnie. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady, 2002

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