Joan of Navarre, Queen of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Tomb of Joan of Navarre and her husband King Henry IV in Canterbury Cathedral; Photo Credit: Susan Flantzer

Joan of Navarre was born around 1370 in Pamplona in the Kingdom of Navarre, now in present-day Spain. Originally named Jeanne after her mother and her paternal grandmother Jeanne II, Queen of Navarre, her name was anglicized as Joan or Joanna after she became Queen of England. Joan’s father was Charles II, King of Navarre who lived up to the nickname Charles the Bad. Joan’s mother was Jeanne of Valois, daughter of Jean II, King of France, called Jean the Good. Joan’s mother died when Joan was about three years old.

Joan had six siblings:

When Joan was around 16 years old, she became the third wife of Jean IV, Duke of Brittany who was around thirty years older. Jean previously had married two English brides, Mary of Waltham, the daughter of King Edward III of England, and Joan Holland, the daughter of Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent. Both marriages were childless.

Joan and Jean had nine children:

Jean IV, Duke of Brittany died in 1399 and Joan became regent for her eldest son Jean V, Duke of Brittany for two years until he came of age at the age of 12. Henry Bolingbroke, the future King Henry IV of England, visited the court of Brittany in 1399. He had been banished from England by his cousin King Richard II of England who Henry overthrew later that same year. Henry made a good impression on Joan and she was determined to marry him if the opportunity should arise. In 1402, after Joan’s son came of age, she sent an emissary to England to arrange a marriage with Henry. Henry’s first wife Mary de Bohun died in childbirth in 1394 giving birth to her seventh child. Henry was agreeable to the marriage and a proxy marriage was held on April 3, 1402, with Joan’s emissary standing in for the bride.

Joan left France for England in January of 1403 with her two youngest daughters and had an uncomfortable, stormy crossing. Her ship, due to land at Southampton, was blown off course by the terrible weather and finally landed in Falmouth in Cornwall. She traveled to Winchester where Henry met her and they were married at Winchester Cathedral on February 7, 1403. They traveled to London where Joan’s coronation was held at Westminster Abbey on February 26, 1403.

At the time of their marriage, Henry was about 37 and Joan was about 35, but they had no children together. Joan got along well with her stepchildren especially Henry of Monmouth, Prince of Wales, the future King Henry V of England. In his last years, King Henry IV suffered from a disfiguring disease (possibly leprosy, syphilis, or psoriasis) and had severe attacks (possibly from epilepsy or cardiovascular disease).  While in prayer at the shrine of Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey, Henry suffered a fatal attack, possibly a stroke.  He was carried to the Jerusalem Chamber, a room in the house of the Abbey’s abbot, where he died at age 45.  Henry was not buried at Westminster Abbey but instead requested that he be buried at Canterbury Cathedral, presumably because of an affinity towards St. Thomas Becket whose shrine was there.

King Henry V held his stepmother in the highest regard as shown by his appointing “his dearest mother” as regent in 1415 when he went to France and gained his great victory at the Battle of Agincourt.  After the battle, Joan walked in the procession from St. Paul’s Cathedral to Westminster Abbey for a service of thanksgiving, but she must have had ambivalent feelings. One of her sons-in-law died on the French side in the battle and her son Arthur, who was taken prisoner, spent five years as a prisoner at the Tower of London and Fotheringay Castle.

In 1418, while King Henry V was once again fighting in France and his brother John, Duke of Bedford was acting as regent, Joan was suddenly arrested and accused of using witchcraft to poison the king. She was sent to Pevensey Castle in Sussex, England where she was kept for four years until she was released in 1422. She lived quietly through the reign of King Henry V and into the reign of his son King Henry VI. Joan died on June 10, 1437, at her favorite residence, Havering Palace in the village of Havering-atte-Bower in what is now the London Borough of Havering, at the age of about 67. She was buried with King Henry IV at Canterbury Cathedral.

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.

England: House of Lancaster Resources at Unofficial Royalty