Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Joan (1210-1238)
JOAN or JOANNA (1210–1238), queen of Scotland, eldest daughter and third child of John, king of England, and his wife, Isabella of Angoulême [q. v.], was born on 22 July 1210 (Ann. Tewkesb. and Wigorn. ad ann.), and was nursed at Gloucester. In 1214 Philip of France sought her as wife for one of his sons; but John, remembering, as he said, how little good had come to him from his niece's marriage with Philip's eldest son, rejected the proposal, and used his child's hand as a peace-offering to the Lusignans, with whom his own marriage had set him at feud fourteen years before. He made an agreement with them, of which the first condition was Joanna's betrothal with the younger Hugh of Lusignan, who had once been affianced to her mother. Joanna, while in Anjou with her parents, was made over to the custody of her intended husband and his father, with the city of Saintes and the isle of Oléron as pledges for her dowry, which was to consist of land in Poitou, Anjou, and Touraine, to the value of two thousand pounds Poitevin. Hugh, however, delayed the marriage ceremony; in 1217 John died, and early in 1220 Hugh married his widow. On 22 May Henry III wrote to Hugh desiring him to send Joanna at once to La Rochelle, for the purpose of returning to England. She was, however, still in Hugh's custody when Henry, by a treaty made at York on 15 June, promised her hand to Alexander II, king of Scots [q. v.] The marriage was to be solemnised at Michaelmas, and it was stipulated that if Joanna had not by that time reached England, her sister Isabella should take her place. Hugh was anxious to keep her as a pledge for his wife's dowry, which Henry was withholding, and it was only when threatened with excommunication by the pope that he was induced to give her up. She reached England before 21 May 1221 (Rot. Claus. i. 458 b); Alexander had waited for her, and they were married at York by the archbishop, Walter de Grey (W. Coventry, ii. 249), on Saturday, 19 June (Chron. Mailros and Lanercost, a. 1221), or Friday, 25 June (Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. iii. 66). Alexander settled upon his bride a yearly revenue of 1,000l. from lands in Scotland; Henry gave a dowry of five thousand marks (Ann. Dunstapl. a. 1220), and a promise of the earldom of Northumberland to Alexander. So at least the latter afterwards declared; but over this and other matters the two brothers-in-law had constant disputes, which were patched up at intervals by visits of the Scottish king, usually accompanied by his wife, to the English court. In 1229 they both spent Christmas with Henry at York (Green, Princesses, i. 392); they visited him again early in 1236. The two kings finally settled their difference about the Northumberland earldom in a meeting at York on 22 Sept. 1237, at which both were accompanied by their wives. Joanna returned south with her sister-in-law, went with her on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, and remained with her throughout the winter. Matthew Paris says she would not go home when her husband sent for her. Early in 1238 she prepared for the journey, but her health failed, and on 4 March she died in the arms of her brother. She was buried, by her own desire, at the nunnery of Tarent in Dorset. Some years later Henry adorned her tomb with an effigy carved in marble by one Master Chase of Dereham (ib. i. 400). Joanna is described as a woman of pleasing appearance (Chron. Lanercost, a. 1221). Two letters, nominally written by her to Henry III, are extant; but one of them dates from the time when she was a child in the custody of Hugh of Lusignan, and was evidently dictated by him or written by Isabella in her name. She left no children.
[Matthew Paris's Chronica Majora, vol. ii., and Historia Anglorum, vol. ii.; Royal Letters, vol. i.; Annals of Tewkesbury, Dunstable, and Worcester (Annales Monastici, ed. Luard, vols. i. iii. iv.), all in Rolls Ser.; Rymer's Fœdera, vol. i.; Close, Patent, and Charter Rolls (Record Comm.); Chron. Mailros and Chron. Lanercost (Bannatyne Club); Mrs. Everett Green's Princesses of England, vol. i.]