Episode 233 - Plantagenet Queens - Joan of Navarre - Part 01

Joan of Navarre, also known as Joanna (c. 1368 – 10 June 1437) was Duchess of Brittany by marriage to Duke John IV, and later Queen of England by marriage to King Henry IV. She served as regent of Brittany from 1399 until 1403 during the minority of her son. She also served as regent of England during the absence of her stepson, Henry V, in 1415. Four years later he imprisoned her and confiscated her money and land. Joan was released in 1422, shortly before Henry V's death. Joan was a daughter of King Charles II of Navarre and Joan of France. On 2 October 1386, Joan married her first husband, John IV, Duke of Brittany (known in traditional English sources as John V).[4] She was his third wife and the only one with whom he had children. John IV died on 1 November 1399 and was succeeded by his and Joan's son, John V. Her son being still a minor, she was made his guardian and the regent of Brittany during his minority. Not long after, King Henry IV of England proposed to marry her. The marriage proposal was given out of mutual personal preference rather than a dynastic marriage. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, affection developed between Joan and Henry while he resided at the Breton court during his banishment from England. Joan gave a favorable reply to the proposal, but stated that she could not go through with it until she had set the affairs of Brittany in order and arranged for the security of the duchy and her children. Joan knew that it would not be possible for her to continue as regent of Brittany after having married the king of England, nor would she be able to take her sons with her to England. A papal dispensation was necessary for the marriage, which was obtained in 1402. She negotiated with the duke of Burgundy to make him guardian of her sons and regent of Brittany. Finally, she surrendered the custody of her sons and her power as regent of Brittany to the duke of Burgundy, who swore to respect the Breton rights and law, and departed for England with her daughters. Joan of Navarre's arms as queen consort On 7 February 1403, Joan married Henry IV at Winchester Cathedral. On the 26th, she held her formal entry to London, where she was crowned queen of England. Queen Joan was described as beautiful, gracious and majestic, but also as greedy and stingy, and was accused of accepting bribes. Reportedly, she did not have a good impression of England, as a Breton ship was attacked outside the English coast just after her wedding. She preferred the company of her Breton entourage, which caused offence to such a degree that her Breton courtiers were exiled by order of Parliament, a ban the king did not think he could oppose given his sensitive relation to the Parliament at the time. Joan and Henry had no children, but she is recorded as having had a good relationship with Henry's children from his first marriage, often taking the side of the future Henry V, in his quarrels with his father. Her daughters returned to France three years after their arrival on the order of their brother, her son. In 1413, her second spouse died, succeeded by her stepson Henry V. Joan had a very good relationship with Henry, who even entrusted her with regency during his absence in France in 1415. Upon his return, however, he brought her son Arthur of Brittany with him as a prisoner. Joan unsuccessfully tried to have him released. This apparently damaged her relationship with Henry. In 1419, she was accused of having hired two magicians to use witchcraft to poison the King. Her large fortune was confiscated and she was imprisoned at Pevensey Castle in Sussex and later at Leeds Castle in Kent. She was released upon the order of Henry V in 1422, six weeks before he died. After her release, her fortune was returned to her, and she lived the rest of her life quietly and comfortably with her own court at Nottingham Castle, through Henry V's reign and into that of his son, Henry VI. She died at Havering-atte-Bower in Essex.