Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville, Countess of March, Baroness Mortimer (2 February 1286 – 19 October 1356), also known as Jeanne de Joinville, was an English noblewoman, the daughter of Sir Piers de Geneville and Joan of Lusignan. She inherited the estates of her grandparents, Geoffrey de Geneville, 1st Baron Geneville, and Maud de Lacy, Baroness Geneville. She was one of the wealthiest heiresses in the Welsh Marches and County Meath, Ireland. She was the wife of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, the de facto ruler of England from 1327 to 1330. She succeeded as suo jure 2nd Baroness Geneville on 21 October 1314 upon the death of her grandfather, Geoffrey de Geneville.Cokayne, George Edward. (2000). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new edition, 13 Volumes in 14 (1910-1959); reprint in 6 Volumes, UK: Alan Sutton Publishing. Volume II, p. 130.
As a result of her husband's insurrection against King Edward II of England, she was imprisoned in Skipton Castle for two years. Following the execution of her husband in 1330 for usurping power in England, Joan was once more taken into custody. In 1336, her lands were restored to her after she received a full pardon for her late husband's crimes from Edward II's son and successor, Edward III of England.
Family and inheritance
Joan was born on 2 February 1286 at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire.Calendarium Genealigicum. p. 449 She was the eldest child of Sir Piers de Geneville, of Trim Castle and Ludlow, whose father Sir Geoffrey de Geneville, 1st Baron Geneville, was Justiciar of Ireland and whose mother was the heiress Maud de Lacy, Baroness Geneville.
Her mother Jeanne of Lusignan was part of one of the most illustrious French families, daughter of Hugh XII of Lusignan, Count of La Marche and of Angoulême and his wife and Jeanne de Fougères, and sister of Yolanda of Lusignan, the suo jure Countess of La Marche. Her great-grandfather, Hugh XI of Lusignan, was the half-brother of King Henry III of England.
Joan had two younger sisters, Matilda and Beatrice, who both became nuns at Aconbury Priory in Herefordshire,Dugdale, William. Monasticon V, Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire V, In Chronicis Abbatiae Tynterne in Wallia. p. 270 so that the inheritance from their grandfather Geoffrey de Geneville was not split up. Joan also had two half-sisters from her mother's first marriage to Bernard Ezi III, Lord of Albret: Mathe, Dame d'Albret (died 1283), and Isabelle, Dame d'Albret (died 1 December 1294), wife of Bernard VI, Count of Armagnac.
When her father died in Ireland shortly before June 1292, Joan became one of the wealthiest and most eligible heiresses in the Welsh Marches, with estates that included the town and castle of Ludlow, the lordship of Ewyas Lacy, the manors of Wolferlow, Stanton Lacy, and Mansell Lacy in Shropshire and Herefordshire as well as a sizeable portion of County Meath in Ireland.Costain, Thomas B. (1958). The Three Edwards. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc. p.196Holmes, G. (1957) Estates of the Higher Nobility in Fourteenth Century England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 11-12. She was due to inherit these upon the death of her grandfather, but in 1308, Baron Geneville conveyed most of the Irish estates which had belonged to his late wife Maud de Lacy to Joan and her husband Roger Mortimer. They both went to Ireland, where they took seisin of Meath on 28 October of that same year. The baron died on 21 October 1314 at the House of the Friars Preachers at Trim, and Joan subsequently succeeded him, becoming the suo jure 2nd Baroness Geneville.Hammond, Peter W. (1998), editor. The Complete Peerage or the History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: Sutton Publishing. p. 87
Marriage Joan married Roger Mortimer, eldest son of Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Wigmore, and Margaret de Fiennes on 20 September 1301 at the manor of Pembridge. Marriage to Joan was highly beneficial to Mortimer, as it brought him much influence and prestige in addition to the rich estates he gained through their matrimonial alliance,Costain, p. 205Mortimer, p. 13 including Ludlow Castle. Ludlow became "the capital of the Mortimer empire."
Three years later in 1304 he succeeded as Baron Mortimer, making Joan Baroness Mortimer. He was knighted on Whitsunday 22 May 1306 by King Edward I. The knighting ceremony took place in Westminster Abbey and was known as the Feast of the Swans as all those present made their personal vows upon two swans.Haines, Roy Martin. (2003) King Edward II: Edward of Caernarfon, his life, his reign, and its aftermath. Canada: McGill-Queens University Press. pp. 16-17. Two hundred and fifty-nine other young men received knighthoods along with Mortimer including the Prince of Wales who would shortly afterwards succeed his father as Edward II. Following the ceremony was a magnificent banquet held at the Great Hall of Westminster.Haines, pp. 16-17
Upon taking seizen of her Irish lands in 1308, Joan and Mortimer travelled back and forth between their estates in Ireland and those in the Welsh Marches. Given that Joan opted to accompany her husband to Ireland rather than remain at home, and that she produced 12 surviving children over a period of just 17 years led Roger Mortimer's biographer Ian Mortimer to suggest they enjoyed a closer and more affectionate relationship than was typical of noble couples in the 14th century. He described their union as having been " a mutually beneficial secure medieval partnership".Mortimer, p. 20
Issue Together Joan and Mortimer had twelve surviving children:Cokayne, George Edward. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant, Volume I, pp. 24, 339; Volume III, p.161.
Sir Edmund Mortimer (1302/3 – 16 December 1331), married Elizabeth de Badlesmere, daughter of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere, and Margaret de Clare, by whom he had two sons, Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, and John, who died young. Margaret Mortimer (2 May 1304 – 5 May 1337), married Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley, by whom she had issue. Roger Mortimer (c. 1305 – before August 1328), married Joan Butler. Maud Mortimer (c. 1307 – after August 1345), married John Charlton, 2nd Baron Charlton, Lord of Powys, by whom she had issue. Geoffrey Mortimer, Lord of Towyth (c. 1308/9 – 1372/5 May 1376), married Jeanne de Lezay, by whom he had issue. John Mortimer (c. 1310 – after 1328), killed in a tournament at Shrewsbury. Joan Mortimer (c. 1311/2 – 1337/51), married James Audley, 2nd Baron Audley, by whom she had issue. Isabella Mortimer (c. 1313 – after 1327) Katherine Mortimer (c. 1314 – 4 August 1369), married Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, by whom she had fifteen children, including Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick, and William de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Bergavenny, who married Lady Joan FitzAlan. Agnes Mortimer (c. 1317 – 25 July 1368), married Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke, by whom she had issue. Beatrice Mortimer (c. 1319 – 16 October 1383), married firstly Edward of Norfolk, and secondly, Thomas de Brewes, 1st Baron Brewes. She had issue by her second husband, including the ancestor of the Barons de Saye. Blanche Mortimer (c. 1321 – 1347), married Peter de Grandison, 2nd Baron Grandison, by whom she had issue.
Mortimer's affair with Queen Isabella
Mortimer was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on 23 November 1316 and left for Ireland with a large force in February 1317. While there, he fought against the Scots Army led by Edward Bruce, the younger brother of Robert the Bruce (who hoped to make Edward king of Ireland), and Bruce's Norman-Irish allies, the de Lacy's. Joan accompanied her husband to Ireland. They returned to England in 1318 after Mortimer had driven the Scots north to Carrickfergus, and dispersed the de Lacys, who were Joan's relatives. For the next few years, Mortimer occupied himself with baronial disputes on the Welsh border; nevertheless, on account of the increasing influence of Hugh Despenser, the Elder, and Hugh Despenser the Younger over King Edward II, Mortimer became strongly disaffected with his monarch, especially after the younger Despenser had been granted lands which rightfully belonged to Mortimer.Costain, p. 197
In October 1321 King Edward and his troops besieged Leeds Castle, after the governor's wife, Margaret de Clare, Baroness Badlesmere, refused Queen Isabella admittance and subsequently ordered her archers to fire upon Isabella and her escort after the latter attempted to gain entry to the castle. Elizabeth, the third Badlesmere daughter, was married to Joan and Mortimer's eldest son, Edmund Mortimer. King Edward exploited his new popularity in the wake of his military victory at Leeds Castle to recall to England the Despensers, whom the Lords Ordainers, led by Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, had forced him to banish in August 1321.Costain, p. 195
The Marcher lords, already in a state of insurrection for some time prior to the Despensers' banishment,Commencing in February 1321, Mortimer and the other Marcher Lords had conducted devastating attacks against Despenser lands in Wales; Mortimer and his men had also made an attempt to march on London. These events, among others, had made it imperative for the Ordainers to compel the King to banish the favourites. immediately rose up against the King in full force, with Mortimer leading the confederation alongside Ordainer Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford.Costain, pp. 196-197 The King quelled the rebellion, which is also known as the Despenser War. Mortimer and his uncle Roger Mortimer de Chirk both surrendered to him at Shrewsbury on 22 January 1322. Mortimer and his uncle were dispatched as prisoners to the Tower of London, where they were kept in damp, unhealthy quarters. This was likely a factor in Roger Mortimer de Chirk's death in 1326. Joan's husband had fared better and by drugging the constable and the Tower guards, he managed to escape to France on 1 August 1323.Costain, pp. 207-208 It was there that he later became the lover of Queen Isabella, who was estranged from the King as a result of the Despensers' absolute control over him. She had been sent to France on a peace mission by Edward but used the occasion to seek support from her brother, Charles IV to oust the Despensers.Costain, pp. 209-212 The scandal of their love affair forced them to leave the French court for Flanders, where they obtained help for an invasion of England.Costain, pp. 213-216
Joan's imprisonment