by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Joan of Acre; Credit – Wikipedia

Joan of Acre (also called Joanna) was born in April 1272, in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem, now in Israel, while her parents were on the 9th Crusade or Lord Edward’s Crusade in the Holy Land. She was the fifth but the second surviving daughter and the seventh but the second surviving of the 14 – 16 children of Edward I, King of England and Eleanor of Castile, the first of his two wives. Eleanor’s paternal grandparents were Henry III, King of England and Eleanor of Provence. Her maternal grandparents were Ferdinand III, King of Castile and Toledo and King of León, and Galicia and his second wife Jeanne, Countess of Ponthieu and Aumale in her own right.

Joan’s parents had 14 – 16 children. Only five daughters and one son survived to adulthood. Joan’s eleven siblings listed below were those who were named and survived infancy for at least a couple of months. During the reign of the House of Plantagenet, their children were often identified by their place of birth. For instance, Joan was born in Acre (now in Israel) while her parents were on a crusade, and was called Joan of Acre.

• Katherine of England (born and died 1264), died in infancy
• Joan of England (born and died 1265), died in infancy
• John of England (1266 – 1271), died in childhood
• Henry of England (1268 – 1274), died in childhood
• Eleanor of England (1269 – 1298), married Henri III, Count of Bar, had one son and one daughter
• Alfonso, Earl of Chester (1273 – 1284), died in childhood, heir apparent to the English throne, but never became king
• Margaret of England (1275 – after 1333), married John II, Duke of Brabant, had one son
• Berengaria of England (1276 – 1278), died in childhood
• Mary of Woodstock (1279 – 1332), a Benedictine nun in Amesbury, Wiltshire
• Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (1282 – 1316), married (1) John I, Count of Holland, no children (2) Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, 3rd Earl of Essex, had ten children
• King Edward II of England (1284 – 1327), married Isabella of France, had four children

14th century manuscript showing Joan’s parents, King Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile; Credit – Wikipedia

When Joan was born, her paternal grandfather, King Henry III, was still alive. In September 1272, Edward, Eleanor, and their five-month-old daughter Joan left Acre. Arriving in Sicily, Edward received the news that his father had died on November 16, 1272, and that he was King of England. Joan was left in the County of Ponthieu (now in France) to be raised by Eleanor’s mother, Jeanne, Countess of Ponthieu and Aumale in her own right. In 1279, Joan was sent to England after the death of her grandmother Jeanne, who had treated Joan so indulgently that her parents found that she was completely spoiled.

When Joan arrived in England, her father King Edward I was already planning her marriage to Hartmann of Habsburg, a son of Rudolf I, King of Germany. Through the marriage, Edward and Rudolf wanted to resume the traditional alliance of their two kingdoms against the Kingdom of France. However, the marriage of Joan and Hartmann never took place. Hartmann drowned when his ship crashed into a rock while sailing on the Rhine River in 1281.

Gilbert de Clare, stained glass window at Tewkesbury Abbey; Credit – Wikipedia

King Edward I arranged another marriage for Joan with Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester, probably the most powerful English baron. Gilbert was twenty-nine years older than Joan and had been previously married to Alice de Lusignan, the half-niece of King Henry III, but the marriage was annulled in 1285, although the couple had lived apart for years. Gilbert had supported King Edward I in the Second Barons’ War and had been the Regent of England between the death of King Henry III and King Edward I’s return from the Holy Land. Because Gilbert was a powerful baron, King Edward I sought to bind Gilbert and his assets to the Crown. According to the marriage contract, their joint possessions and Gilbert’s extensive lands could be inherited only by a direct descendant. If the marriage was childless, the lands would pass to any children Joan may have from another marriage. On April 30, 1290, 18-year-old Joan of Acre married 47-year-old Gilbert de Clare.

Joan and Gilbert had four children:

• Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester, 7th Earl of Hertford (1291 – 1314), married Maud de Burgh, no children, died at the Battle of Bannockburn in Scotland
• Eleanor de Clare (1292 – 1337), married (1) Hugh Despenser the Younger, a favorite of her uncle King Edward II, had nine children, Hugh was executed in 1326. (2) William la Zouche, 1st Baron Zouche of Mortimer, had one son
• Margaret de Clare (1293 – 1342) married (1) Piers Gaveston, a favorite of her uncle King Edward II, had one daughter, Piers was executed in 1312 (2) Hugh de Audley, 1st Earl of Gloucester, 1st Baron Audley, had one daughter
• Elizabeth de Clare (1295 – 1360) married (1) John de Burgh, had one son (2) Theobald of Verdun, 2nd Baron Verdun, had one daughter (3) Roger d’Amory, Lord d’Amory, Baron d’Amory, had one daughter

Joan’s stepmother, Margaret of France, Queen of England, a statue at Lincoln Cathedral; Credit – Wikipedia

When Joan’s mother, Eleanor of Castile, died in 1290, only six of her children, five daughters and one son, were still living. The son, the future King Edward II, was the youngest child and only six years old. King Edward I had to be worried about the succession, and a second marriage with sons would ensure the succession. On September 10, 1299, 60-year-old King Edward I married 17-year-old Margaret of France, daughter of  King Philippe III of France and his second wife Marie of Brabant.

Joan had three half-siblings from her father’s second marriage to Margaret of France:

• Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk (1300 – 1338), married (1) Alice de Hales, had three children (2) Mary de Brewes, no children
• Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent (1301 – 1330), married Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell, had four children including  Joan, 4th Countess of Kent who married King Edward III‘s eldest son Edward, Prince of Wales (The Black Prince) and was the mother of King Richard II of England
• Eleanor of England (1306 – 1311), died young

Memorial to Gilbert de Clare in Tewkesbury Abbey; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Joan and Gilbert lived mostly away from the royal court, which displeased Joan’s father, King Edward I. The couple’s marriage lasted only five years. Gilbert died on December 7, 1295, aged 52, at Monmouth Castle in Wales and was buried at Tewkesbury Abbey in Gloucestershire, England. After the death of Gilbert, the de Clare lands came to Joan, who took the vassal oath to her father for the lands.

Joan was only twenty-three when Gilbert died, and she fell in love with Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in the service of the de Clare family. After Joan persuaded her father to knight Ralph, they secretly married in 1297. King Edward I had arranged a third marriage for Joan to Amadeus V, Count of Savoy, and had even set a wedding date. After Joan confessed to her father that she was secretly married, King Edward I had Ralph arrested and imprisoned at Bristol Castle. Because of the intervention of Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham, King Edward I relented and released Ralph from prison. On August 2, 1297, Ralph took the vassal oath to King Edward I as Earl of Gloucester and Earl Hertford by right of wife (jure uxoris). He managed to win the favor of his father-in-law and keep it until the end of King Edward I’s reign.

Joan and Ralph had four children:

• Mary de Monthermer (1297 – circa 1371), married Duncan Macduff, 8th Earl of Fife, had one daughter
• Joan de Monthermer (1299 – ?), became a nun at Amesbury Priory
• Thomas de Monthermer, 2nd Baron Monthermer (1301 – 1340), married Margaret de Brewes, had one daughter, Thomas died at the Battle of Sluys
• Edward de Monthermer (1304 – 1339)

Ralph took an active part in King Edward I’s Scottish Wars. He fought at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298 when the English defeated William Wallace, and also took part in the campaigns of 1301, 1303, 1304, and 1306. For his service, King Edward I awarded Ralph with the Scottish title of Earl of Atholl, confiscated from John Strathbogie, 9th Earl of Atholl.

Joan of Acre’s burial site; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Joan died on April 23, 1307, at Clare Castle in Clare, Suffolk, England, at the age of 35. She was buried at Clare Priory in Clare, Suffolk, England, established in 1248 by Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester, the father of Joan’s first husband. The cause of Joan’s death is unknown, but she may have died during childbirth, a common cause of death at the time.

Joan’s widower, Ralph de Monthermer, married for a second time to Isabella le Despenser, daughter of Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester and Isabella de Beauchamp. This was another secret marriage, made without the permission of King Edward II, Joan’s brother, but a year later, Edward II forgave his former brother-in-law. Ralph and his second wife had no children. Ralph de Monthermer survived his first wife, Joan by eighteen years, dying on April 5, 1325, at the age of fifty-five.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Alphonso, Earl of Chester – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonso,_Earl_of_Chester>.
• Flantzer, Susan, 2013. Eleanor of Castile, Queen of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/november-28-1290-death-of-eleanor-of-castile-first-wife-of-king-edward-i-of-england/>.
• Flantzer, Susan, 2016. King Edward I of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-edward-i-of-england/>.
• Jones, Dan, 2012. The Plantagenets. New York: Viking.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. 2022. Монтермар, Ральф де, 1-й барон Монтермар — Википедия. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%80,_%D0%A0%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%84_%D0%B4%D0%B5,_1-%D0%B9_%D0%B1%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD_%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%80>.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. 2022. Джоанна Акрская — Википедия. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%BE%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%90%D0%BA%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F>.
• Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.
• Wilson-Lee, Kelcey, 2019. Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Princesses of King Edward Longshanks. New York: Pegasus.

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Eleanor of England, Countess of Bar; Credit- Wikipedia

Eleanor of England, Countess of Bar was born on June 18, 1269, at Windsor Castle in Windsor, Berkshire, England. She was the third but the eldest surviving daughter and the fifth but the eldest surviving of the 14 – 16 children of Edward I, King of England and Eleanor of Castile, the first of his two wives. Eleanor’s paternal grandparents were Henry III, King of England and Eleanor of Provence. Her maternal grandparents were Ferdinand III, King of Castile and Toledo and King of León, and Galicia and his second wife Jeanne, Countess of Ponthieu and Aumale in her own right.

Early 14th century manuscript showing Eleanor’s parents, King Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile; Credit – Wikipedia

Eleanor’s parents had 14 to 16 children. Only five daughters and one son survived to adulthood. The eleven siblings of Eleanor below were named, and the ones who died in infancy survived for at least a couple of months. During the reign of the House of Plantagenet, their children were often identified by their place of birth. For instance, Edward I’s daughter Joan of Acre was born in Acre (now in Israel) while her parents were on a crusade.

• Katherine of England (born and died 1264), died in infancy
• Joan of England (born and died 1265), died in infancy
• John of England (1266 – 1271), died in childhood
• Henry of England (1268 – 1274), died in childhood
• Joan of Acre (1272 – 1307), married (1) Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, had four children (2) Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer, had four children
• Alfonso, Earl of Chester (1273 – 1284), died in childhood, heir apparent to the English throne who never became king
• Margaret of England (1275 – after 1333), married John II, Duke of Brabant, had one son
• Berengaria of England (1276 – 1278), died in childhood
• Mary of Woodstock (1279 – 1332), a Benedictine nun in Amesbury, Wiltshire
• Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (1282 – 1316), married (1) John I, Count of Holland, no children (2) Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, 3rd Earl of Essex, had ten children
• King Edward II of England (1284 – 1327), married Isabella of France, had four children

When Eleanor’s mother died in 1290, only six of her children, five daughters and one son, were still living. The son, the future King Edward II, was the youngest child and only six years old. King Edward I had to be worried about the succession, and a second marriage with sons would ensure the succession. On September 10, 1299, 60-year-old King Edward I married 17-year-old Margaret of France, daughter of King Philippe III of France and his second wife Marie of Brabant.

Eleanor had three half-siblings from her father’s second marriage to Margaret of France:

• Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk (1300 – 1338), married (1) Alice de Hales, had three children (2) Mary de Brewes, no children
• Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent (1301 – 1330), married Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell, had four children including  Joan, 4th Countess of Kent who married King Edward III‘s eldest son Edward, Prince of Wales (The Black Prince) and was the mother of King Richard II of England
• Eleanor of England (1306 – 1311), died young

In 1270, due to the departure of her parents for the Ninth Crusade, Eleanor, her brother Henry, and her first cousin John of Brittany (the son of Eleanor’s paternal aunt Beatrice) were cared for at Windsor Castle by their grandmother Eleanor of Provence. During the absence of her parents, Eleanor’s grandfather King Henry III of England died on November 16, 1272, and her father succeeded to the English throne as King Edward I. Eleanor remained very close to her brother Henry until his premature death in October 1274. Because Eleanor’s parents had left England when she was only a year old, she was much closer to her grandmother Eleanor of Provence. Eleanor did not see her parents again until their return from the crusade in August 1274.

In 1273, when Eleanor was only four years old, her father King Edward I betrothed her to the future Alfonso III, King of Aragon, who was eight years old, hoping to form an anti-France alliance. In 1281, Alfonso’s father King Pedro III of Aragon asked King Edward I to send him Eleanor so that she could be raised in Aragon, but Edward wanted to wait another year before sending his daughter to Aragon. However, in 1282, a war broke out between Aragon and Naples over Sicily, and King Philippe III of France and Pope Martin IV were on the side of Naples. King Edward I decided it would be a bad foreign policy move to send his daughter to Aragon at that time. In 1285, Alfonso became King of Aragon, and five years later, when King Edward I felt that it was a reasonable time, Eleanor and Alfonso III, King of Aragon were married by proxy at Westminster Abbey on August 15, 1290. However, the marriage was never consummated. On June 18, 1291, before Eleanor left for her in-person wedding in Aragon, Alfonso died from an infection.

Henri II, Count of Bar; Credit – Wikipedia

Deprived of the alliance with the Kingdom of Aragon, Edward I immediately began a search for a new groom for his eldest daughter. He chose Henri III, Count of Bar. Henri was ten years older than Eleanor and the son of Thiébaut II, Count of Bar and Jeanne de Toucy. The Duchy of Bar was a sovereign state located in what is now northeast France. An alliance with Henri against King Philippe IV of France could provide a significant military advantage. Eleanor married Henri III, Count of Bar on September 20, 1293, in Bristol, England.

Eleanor and Henri III, Count of Bar had one son and one daughter:

• Edward I, Count of Bar (circa 1295 – 1336), married Marie of Burgundy, had three children; Edward and other rulers from the Holy Roman Empire, intending to make a crusade, landed on the island of Cyprus. They either died in a shipwreck or something went wrong, and the people of Famagusta, Cyprus killed them.
• Joan of Bar, Countess of Surrey (circa 1296 – 1361), married John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, no children

Eleanor and Henri’s marriage lasted a little less than five years. On August 29, 1298, 29-year-old Eleanor died in Ghent, County of Flanders, now in Belgium, of unknown causes. Possibly, she died in childbirth (along with the baby), which at the end of the 13th century was a frequent cause of the premature death of women. Her father King Edward I had Eleanor’s remains returned to England, where she was buried on October 12, 1289, in Westminster Abbey in London, England in the south ambulatory between the Chapel of Edward the Confessor and the Chapel of St. Benedict.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Eleanor of England, Countess of Bar – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_England,_Countess_of_Bar> [Accessed 1 September 2022].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2013. Eleanor of Castile, Queen of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/november-28-1290-death-of-eleanor-of-castile-first-wife-of-king-edward-i-of-england/> [Accessed 1 September 2022].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2016. King Edward I of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-edward-i-of-england/> [Accessed 1 September 2022].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Aliénor d’Angleterre (1269-1298) — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali%C3%A9nor_d%27Angleterre_(1269-1298)> [Accessed 1 September 2022].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Henri III de Bar — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_III_de_Bar> [Accessed 1 September 2022].
• Jones, Dan, 2012. The Plantagenets. New York: Viking.
• Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.
• Wilson-Lee, Kelcey, 2019. Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Princesses of King Edward Longshanks. New York: Pegasus.

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

An image of Katherine in a 14th-century illuminated manuscript; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on November 25, 1253, at the Palace of Westminster in Westminster, London, England, Katherine was the youngest of the five children and the third of the three daughters of Henry III, King of England and Eleanor of Provence. She was given the name Katherine because she was born on the feast day of Saint Katherine of Alexandria. Her paternal grandparents were King John of England and his second wife, Isabella, Countess of Angoulême in her own right. Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and Beatrice of Savoy were Katherine’s maternal grandparents.

King Henry III (on top) with his five children; Credit – Wikipedia

Katherine had four elder siblings:

• King Edward I of England (1239 – 1307), married (1) Eleanor of Castile, had fourteen children  (2) Margaret of France, had three children
• Margaret of England (1240 – 1275), married Alexander III, King of Scots, had three children
• Beatrice of England (1242 – 1275), married John II, Duke of Brittany, had six children
• Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster (1245–1296), married (1) Aveline de Forz, no children (2) Blanche of Artois, had three children

On January 5, 1254, a large banquet was held to celebrate Katherine’s birth. Katherine was baptized by her mother’s maternal uncle, Boniface of Savoy, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was also her godfather. Within months of her birth, Katherine’s mother, Eleanor of Provence, left England to join her husband, King Henry III, in the Duchy of Gascony, then a possession of the King of England, now in France. Katherine was left at Windsor Castle in the care of her governess, Lady Emma le Despencer, the wife of Geoffrey le Despencer, Lord of Martley, from one of the great noble families of England, and two wet nurses, Agnes and Avisa. There was always a circle of trusted men and women caring for young Katherine when her parents could not be in her company.

The description by 13th-century chronicler Matthew Paris that Katherine was “‘mute and useless though with a most beautiful face” has often been interpreted to mean that she had an intellectual disability or degenerative disease. However, it may indicate that Katherine merely had a stammer or some other speech impediment. There is much disagreement on what disease or disability Katherine may have had, or if she had one at all. Contemporary evidence suggests that the reaction of Katherine’s parents to her illnesses followed a similar reaction to the illnesses of her siblings and that Katherine was treated no differently than her siblings, suggesting that there were no serious or long-term health concerns.

Photo above: The South Ambulatory of Westminster Abbey, to the right of the main altar, where Katherine is buried

Katherine did have some illness during the spring of 1257, which resulted in her death on May 3, 1257, when she was three and a half years old. Her parents, King Henry III and Queen Eleanor, deeply mourned her death and were emotionally distraught. Katherine was buried in the south ambulatory between the Chapel of Edward the Confessor and the Chapel of St. Benedict, to the right of the main altar at Westminster Abbey in London, England. In 1042, King Edward the Confessor began rebuilding St. Peter’s Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church, the first Westminster Abbey. Construction of the second and present church began in 1245 by Katherine’s father, King Henry III, who selected the site for his burial.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Armstrong, Abigail Sophie, 2018. The Daughters of Henry III. Ph.D. dissertation. Canterbury Christ Church University.
• En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Katherine of England – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_of_England> [Accessed 30 August 2022].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Catherine d’Angleterre — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_d%27Angleterre> [Accessed 30 August 2022].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2015. King Henry III of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-henry-iii-of-england/> [Accessed 30 August 2022].
• Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Beatrice of England, Countess of Richmond; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on June 25, 1242, in Bordeaux, Duchy of Aquitaine, now in France, Beatrice of England was the third of the five children and the second of the three daughters of Henry III, King of England and Eleanor of Provence. At the time of Beatrice’s birth, the Duke of Aquitaine was one of the titles and the Duchy of Aquitaine was one of the possessions of the King of England. Beatrice’s paternal grandparents were King John of England and his second wife Isabella, Countess of Angoulême in her own right. Her maternal grandparents were Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and her namesake Beatrice of Savoy.

King Henry III (on top) with his five children; Credit – Wikipedia

Beatrice had four siblings:

• King Edward I of England (1239 – 1307), married (1) Eleanor of Castile, had fourteen children including his heir King Edward II (2) Margaret of France, had three children
• Margaret of England (1240 – 1275), married Alexander III, King of Scots, had three children
• Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster (1245–1296), married (1) Aveline de Forz, no issue (2) Blanche of Artois, had three children
• Katherine of England  (1253 – 1257), died in childhood

King Henry III and Queen Eleanor had a happy marriage, and Beatrice grew up in a loving family and was close to her siblings. There were concerns about the health of Beatrice’s elder brother and heir to the throne the future King Edward I.  As a child, Edward was very seriously ill in 1246, 1247, and 1251 but recovered. The death of Beatrice’s youngest sibling Katherine caused her parents overwhelming grief. Many of Queen Eleanor’s maternal Savoy relatives had come to the English court causing the English to be unhappy with King Henry III due to the influence that Eleanor and her Savoy relatives exercised on the monarchy, and the barons demanded more power. This situation created many problems for Henry III and his family.

Seal of John II, Duke of Brittany, Beatrice’s husband; Credit – Wikipedia

On June 22, 1260, at the Basilica of Saint-Denis in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, Kingdom of France, Beatrice married John of Dreux. John was the eldest son of John I, Duke of Brittany and Infanta Blanche of Navarre, daughter of King Theobald I of Navarre. The marriage helped to forge an alliance with France. In 1268, King Henry III granted the title Earl of Richmond to John I, Duke of Brittany as an enticement when tensions rose with France. However, John I soon transferred the title of Earl of Richmond to his son and heir John of Dreux, who also became John II, Duke of Brittany upon his father’s death in 1286. John of Dreux became Duke of Brittany after the death of Beatrice so she never became the Duchess of Brittany.

Beatrice and John had six children:

• Arthur II, Duke of Brittany (1261 – 1312), married (1) Marie, Viscountess of Limoges, had three children (2) Yolande of Dreux, Countess of Montfort, had six children
• John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond (1266 – 1334), unmarried
• Marie of Brittany (1268 – 1339), married Guy IV of Châtillon, Count of Saint-Pol, had eight children
• Peter, Viscount of Leon (1269 – 1312), marriage status unknown, because of his debt, Peter was forced to sell the Viscountcy of Leon to his brother Arthur
• Blanche of Brittany (1271 – 1327), married Philip of Artois, had seven children
• Eleanor of Brittany, Abbess of Fontevrault (1275 – 1342), a nun

Beatrice died on March 24, 1275, aged 32, in London, England while visiting her brother King Edward I of England. She possibly died due to childbirth complications as her youngest child Eleanor was born in London in 1275. Beatrice was buried at Grey Friars Church in Greenwich, London which was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Her heart was interred at Fontevrault Abbey near Chinon, in the Duchy of Anjou, now in France.

Beatrice’s husband John II, Duke of Brittany never remarried. He survived Beatrice by thirty years. In November 1305, John traveled to Lyon, now in France, then under the rule of the Archbishop of Lyon, to attend the coronation of Pope Clement V, a native of the Duchy of Aquitaine. During Pope Clement V’s coronation celebrations, John II, Duke of Brittany was leading the Pope’s horse through the crowd. So many spectators had piled on top of the city walls that one of the walls crumbled and collapsed on top of John. He died four days later, on November 18, 1305, aged 66. John II, Duke of Brittany was buried in the Carmelite convent he had founded in Ploërmel, Duchy of Brittany, now in France. After the convent was destroyed during the French Wars of Religion (1562 – 1598), the tomb of John II, Duke of Brittany was moved in 1591 to the Priory of Saint-Nicolas, the new convent of the Carmelites. During the French Revolution (1789 – 1799), the tomb was destroyed and the recumbent effigy was removed. The effigy was later found and in 1820, the recumbent effigy of John III, Duke of Brittany was placed in the Church of Saint-Armel (link in French) in Ploërmel, France.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Beatrice of England – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_of_England> [Accessed 18 August 2022].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2022. John II, Duke of Brittany – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_II,_Duke_of_Brittany> [Accessed 18 August 2022].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2016. Isabella of Angoulême, Queen of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/isabella-of-angouleme-queen-of-england/> [Accessed 18 August 2022].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2015. King Henry III of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-henry-iii-of-england/> [Accessed 18 August 2022].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Béatrice d’Angleterre — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9atrice_d%27Angleterre> [Accessed 18 August 2022].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Jean II de Bretagne — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_II_de_Bretagne> [Accessed 18 August 2022].
• Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

William from an early 13th-century genealogical tree; Credit – Wikipedia

William IX, Count of Poitiers was the firstborn child of the future Henry II, King of England and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine and Countess of Poitiers in her own right. He would have been King of England had he survived his father. William was born on August 17, 1153, in the County of Poitiers, now part of France, and was styled Count of Poitiers. At the time of William’s birth, his father was known as Henry FitzEmpress and was the Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, and Count of Nantes, all in present-day France. William’s paternal grandparents were Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine, and Matilda of England, known as Empress Matilda, the widow of Heinrich V, Holy Roman Emperor. Matilda was the only surviving legitimate child of Henry I, King of England. William’s maternal grandparents were his namesake William X, Duke of Aquitaine and Aenor de Châtellerault.

William’s parents Henry and Eleanor; Credit – Wikipedia

William had two elder half-sisters from his mother’s annulled first marriage to Louis VII, King of France:

• Marie of France (1145 – 1198), married Henri I, Count of Champagne, had four children
• Alix of France (1151 – 1197/1198), married Theobald V, Count of Blois, had seven children

13th-century depiction of Henry and his legitimate children: (l to r) William, Young Henry, Richard, Matilda, Geoffrey, Eleanor, Joan, and John; Credit – Wikipedia

William had seven younger siblings although he was alive for the birth of only two:

• Henry the Young King (1155 – 1183), married Marguerite of France, no children
• Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony and Bavaria (1156 – 1189), married Heinrich the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, had five children, including Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor
• King Richard I of England (1157 – 1199), married Berengaria of Navarre, no children
• Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (1158 – 1186), married Constance, Duchess of Brittany, had three children
• Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile (1162 – 1214), married King Alfonso VIII of Castile, had twelve children including King Enrique I of Castile; Berengaria, Queen Regnant of Castile and Queen of León; Urraca, Queen of Portugal; Blanche, Queen of France, and Eleanor, Queen of Aragon
• Joan of England, Queen of Sicily (1165 – 1199), married (1) King William II of Sicily, no surviving children (2) Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse, had two children, Joan died in childbirth with her third child who also died
• King John of England (1166 – 1216), married 1) Isabella, 3rd Countess of Gloucester, marriage annulled, no children (2) Isabella, Countess of Angoulême; had five children, including King Henry III of England; Joan of England, Queen of Scots, and Isabella of England, Holy Roman Empress

At the time of William’s birth, his father Henry was involved in a long civil war for the throne of England known as The Anarchy (1135 – 1153) between Empress Matilda (Henry FitzEmpress’ mother and the only surviving legitimate child of Henry I, King of England) and her first cousin Stephen of Blois, King of England since 1135. Stephen unsuccessfully attempted to have his son Eustace, recognized by the Church as the next King of England. By the early 1150s, most of the barons and the Church wanted long-term peace.

Finally, the armies of Henry FitzEmpress and King Stephen of England met at Wallingford in Oxfordshire, England. Pressured by the barons, Stephen called a ceasefire and agreed to a truce, over the objections of his son Eustace. Eustace flew into a rage and plundered church lands of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England. On August 17, 1153, Eustace, aged about twenty-three, died suddenly. Various chroniclers of the time attribute Eustace’s death to the wrath of God for plundering church lands, a fever, a fit of madness, or poisoning. Ironically, the death of Eustace, King Stephen’s heir, and the birth of William, Henry FitzEmpress’ firstborn child occurred on the same day.

Shortly after Eustace’s death, King Stephen and Henry FitzEmpress reached a formal agreement known as the Treaty of Wallingford. The treaty allowed Stephen to keep the throne until his death but forced him to recognize Empress Matilda’s son Henry FitzEmpress, as his heir. Henry and Eleanor were finally reunited in Rouen, Duchy of Normandy at Easter in 1154, where Henry met his eight-month-old son William for the first time.

King Stephen survived for a little more than a year after the death of Eustace, dying on October 25, 1154, and a line of fourteen Plantagenet kings who ruled England until 1485 started, with Henry FitzEmpress, now King Henry II of England. In December 1154, Henry and Eleanor, now King and Queen of England, sailed to England from Normandy with their son William, where their coronation was held at Westminster Abbey on December 19, 1154.

On February 28, 1155, Eleanor gave birth to a second son named Henry after his father. In April 1155, Henry II and Eleanor brought their two young sons to Wallingford in Oxfordshire, England to present them to the English barons and clergy, and to command them to swear allegiance to William as his father’s heir and then to Henry as successor in the event of William’s early death.

For centuries, the Dukes of Aquitaine held the Count of Poitiers as a minor title, and so it had passed to Eleanor from her father. However, Eleanor separated the County of Poitiers from the Duchy of Aquitaine and gave the title of Count of Poitiers to her son William, making him the reigning Count of Poitiers as William IX.

In 1156 (date uncertain), William died at Wallingford Castle in Oxfordshire, England, aged two or three. The circumstances of his death are uncertain but some sources say he died from convulsions. William was buried at the feet of his great-grandfather Henry I, King of England at Reading Abbey in Reading, England, which was mostly destroyed during King Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries.

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Works Cited

• Barber, Richard, 1964. Henry Plantagenet. New York: Barnes and Noble.
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• Flantzer, Susan, 2016. Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, Queen of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/eleanor-of-aquitaine-queen-of-england/> [Accessed 14 August 2022].
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• Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Guillaume IX de Poitiers — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_IX_de_Poitiers> [Accessed 14 August 2022].
• Weir, Alison, 1999. Eleanor of Aquitaine: By Wrath of God, Queen of England. London: Jonathan Cape.