Birth of Joan of The Tower ~ Joan Plantagenet

 

 On this day ~ 5th July 1321 
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 Birth of Joan of The Tower ~ Joan Plantagenet 

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 Joan was the youngest child of King Edward II and Isabella of France.
Born at the tower of London on 5th July 1321, she would become known to history as Joan of the Tower.
King Edward was furious to find his out that his wife had given birth to Joan in a crumbling room with a leaky roof.
Her labour bed was wet from the rain that had dripped through.
King Edward sacked the Constable of the Tower, as a result.
Edward remained with his wife and child for the next six days, to make sure all was well.

 In an effort to secure peace between the Scots and the English, Joan was married on 17th July 1328, to David Bruce, the only surviving son of Robert the Bruce.
David was four years old at the time, while Joan was seven.
David succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of five, and Joan was queen at the age of 8!

 Despite the couple's marriage lasting thirty-four years, it was childless.
Their marriage was not a loving one, and David was often unfaithful.

 Having such a young King on the throne, presented an opportunity for Edward Balliol to invade Scotland, with an English army.
Edward Balliol defeated the Scots, at the Battle of Halidon Hill.
King David and Queen Joan were sent to France for their safety, where they remained for seven years.

 David, was eventually reinstated as Scotland's sovereign in 1336, but was captured at the Battle of Neville's Cross, on 17th October 1346.
King David remained a prisoner in England for eleven years.
Queen Joan's brother, Edward III, allowed Joan to see her husband, on a few occasions in the Tower of London, the place where she had been born.

 After David's release in 1357, Queen Joan decided to remain in her native England, David went back to Scotland alone.
Joan was close to her mother, Isabella of France.
In England, Joan was able to nurse her mother during her final days, at Castle Rising in Norfolk.

 Joan died in 1362, aged 41, at Hertford Castle, Hertfordshire.
She was buried in Christ Church, Greyfriars, London.
The church was heavily bombed in the Blitz, sadly, no trace of her tomb survives.
By the time she died, Joan had been estranged from David, for many years.
David, later remarried in 1364, to his long term mistress, Margaret Drummond.

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The Tudor Intruders (and more)
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 Joan and David II with Philip VI in a miniature from Froissart's Chronicles
15th Century.