On this day, 10 December 1404
Joan of Navarre, Henry IV's queen consort, received a tower at Westminster in lieu of profits from her vast dower lands.
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On this day, 10 November 1404, Joan of Navarre, Henry IV’s queen consort, was granted a tower at Westminster Abbey in lieu of some of her dower funds. Joan was the second wife of Henry IV, King of England, AKA Henry Bolingbroke. Her first husband was Duke John IV of Brittany.
Westminster Hall is the oldest surviving part of the medieval Palace of Westminster
Joan became regent for her young son as Duke John V of Brittany upon her husband’s death on November 1, 1399. Henry of Bolingbroke had deposed his cousin and became King of England less than a month earlier, on October 13, 1399.
Within three months of her first husband’s death, Joan sent ambassadors to England to arrange her marriage to the king. The couple applied for dispensation from the Pope for a marriage due to them being too closely related, which was duly received on 20 March 1402. Her ambassadors performed a proxy marriage at Eltham Palace on 2 April 1402. With war with France on the horizon, many in England were understandably unenthusiastic about the match with the Duchess of Brittany. However, Henry IV was using his own marriage as well the marriages of his daughters to seek connections to the ruling houses of Europe in order to achieve recognition of his new dynasty in England. Some historians believe, due to the speed of the marriage, that Henry IV and Joan of Navarre may have had a love match along with a political match.
Durand of Champagne (Durandus de Campania) presenting the book Speculum dominarum (Le Miroir des Dames) to Joan I of Navarre. British Library, Royal 19 B XVI f. 2
Joan and her two youngest daughters finally arrived in England on 19 January, 1403. The wedding took place on 7 February and her coronation on 26 February. Upon their marriage, Henry IV bestowed upon Joan an enormous dower of ten thousand marks per annum, which was the largest dower of any queen of England up until that point. She was one of the wealthiest people in the realm; however, she had difficulty obtaining some of the lands and manors that were supposed to make up her dower. Some of the properties had been confiscated from rebels and were later returned to the families. After a year, her dower was five thousand pounds in arrears.
Many grants were made to Joan in order for her to be able to collect what she was due. Some of these grants had previously belonged to the late Queen Anne as well as the late Duchess Katherine Swynford, the king’s mother. As part of these grants, on 10 December 1404, she was granted for life a specific tower at the entrance to the Great Gate of the Great Hall of the Palace of Westminster. The grant specifically stated that she was to use this tower for council and business meetings, for storage of documents such as charters, and for the auditing of her vast accounts.
Coat of arms of Joanna of Navarre
The tower and much of the rest of her extensive properties remained in Joan’s hands until September of 1419. Joan’s personal confessor, Friar John Randolf, accused Joan of scheming for the death and destruction of her stepson, Henry V, by way of witchcraft. She was not ever put on trial, but her case stayed in a limbo state. This was probably so that she could not be found guilty (therefore executed) nor innocent (and her lands and property restored to her); therefore, her stepson Henry V was able to confiscate her vast incomes for the Crown without consequence. Henry V had an apparent change of heart and on July 13, 1422, Joan was restored to her properties. She died in July 1437 and was buried next to her second husband, Henry IV, at Canterbury.
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Sources for this article:
https://thefreelancehistorywriter.com/2021/11/26/joan-of-navarre-queen-of-england/
https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/joanna-navarre-c-1370-1437
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/pevensey-castle/history/joan-of-navarre/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joan-of-Navarre
https://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/2017/02/18/joan-of-navarre-duchess-of-brittany-lancastrian-queen/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joan_I_of_Navarre.jpg
https://royalcentral.co.uk/interests/residences/the-history-of-westminster-hall-180921/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arms_of_Joan_of_Navarre.svg