Elena Woodacre - Joan of Navarre: Infanta, Duchess, Queen, Witch?

This book is the first full-length biography of Joan of Navarre, a fascinating royal woman who became duchess of Brittany and queen consort of England through her two marriages in 1386 and 1403 respectively.

Joan was enmeshed in the turbulent politics of the later Middle Ages as her extensive family and marital connections meant she was related to most of the royal houses of Western Europeas well as the key protagonists of the Hundred Years War. The large foreign entourage that Joan brought with her to England, and her family ties across the Channel, made her unpopular with her subjects and her loyalties suspect, provoking several purges of her household and culminating in a charge of treason on which she was detained for several years. Yet Joan returned to court in her later years and fought vociferously to the end to retain queenly rights, revenues, and position. Ultimately, this book highlights Joans political agency and tenacity, bringing her out of the historical shadows and into the foreground of high politics in fifteenth-century England and Europe.

Joan of Navarre is a useful resource for all students and scholars interested in queenship studies, womens history, and European politics during the later Middle Ages.

Elena Woodacre is a Reader in Renaissance History at the University of Winchester. She is an expert in queenship and royal studies, having published extensively in this area, and she was the lead editor of The Routledge History of Monarchy (2019). Elena is also Editor-in-Chief of the Royal Studies Journal, founder of the Royal Studies Network, and edits two book series, including Lives of Royal Women with Routledge.

Series Editors:

Elena Woodacre,

Louise Wilkinson,

This series features academic, yet accessible biographies of royal women - consorts, dowagers, royal mothers and female sovereigns - inclusive of all periods, cultures and geographic regions. These biographies include a deep engagement with the premise of queenship studies and the exercise of the queens office (or equivalent), in addition to covering the lives of particular women. The series is divided into three sub-strands: Queens of England (blue), Queens and Empresses of Europe (purple), and Royal Women of the World (red).

Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress (1528-1603)

Dynastic Networker

Rubn Gonzlez Cuerva

Anne of Bohemia

Kristen L. Geaman

Early English Queens, 650850

Speculum Reginae

Stefany Wragg

Joan of Navarre

Infanta, Duchess, Queen, Witch?

Elena Woodacre

Elena Woodacre

Cover image: Coronation of Joan of Navarre, The Pageant of Richard Beauchamp, British Library Cotton MS Julius E IV, folio 2v.

First published 2023

by Routledge

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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2023 Elena Woodacre

The right of Elena Woodacre to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record has been requested for this book

ISBN: 978-0-367-20348-1 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-20347-4 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-26102-2 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9780429261022

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To Joan of Navarre, for being a gift that kept on giving and for being endlessly patient with me while I slowly put together the pieces of her rich and fascinating life to write this book. This book is dedicated to her and all the other women who have been relegated to the footnotes of history and whose life stories need to be told.

My thanks to all of the colleagues who have offered their support and expert advice throughout the research and writing process, including those who offered feedback and ideas on conference papers and drafts of the book or helped with thorny queries on documental sources. Special thanks go to my colleague at Winchester, Dr James Ross, for his deep knowledge of palaeography and the collections at the National Archives, as well as being a sounding board for many theories and ideas about Joans life; to Professor Chris Woolgar for his thoughts on Joans household books and generously sharing archival finds; and to Drs Caroline Dunn, Rita (Marguerite) Keane, Nria Silleras Fernndez, Erika Graham-Goering, Michele Seah, Zita Rohr, and Angela Clark for their thoughts on draft chapters of the book and to my co-editor Professor Louise Wilkinson for her comments on the final manuscript.

All manuscript references are from The National Archives (TNA), London, unless otherwise noted. All translations in the text are also my own unless otherwise noted. Where there is considerable variation in the name used for a particular figure, I have decided to use the one which is most frequently used for them, rather than complete consistency with using the Spanish, French, or English version of their name. Some variation in usage has been deliberate to avoid confusion when several figures had the same first name, such as Blanca of Navarre, queen of France, who is referred to as Blanche to avoid confusion with her niece and grandniece with the same name.

Titles are given in full in the bibliography.

ADLAArchives dpartmentales de Loire-AtlantiqueActes JIVRecueil des actes de Jean IV, duc de BretagneAGNArchivo General de NavarraBLBritish LibraryBnFBibliothque National FranaisCCRCalendar of Close Rolls (accessed via British History Online unless otherwise noted)CIMCalendar of Inquisitions MiscellaneousCFRCalendar of Fine RollsCPRCalendar of Patent Rolls (accessed via British History Online unless otherwise noted)CatlogoCatlogo de la Seccion de Comptos, DocumentosFoederaRymers Foedera (accessed via British History Online unless otherwise noted)GSRGascon Rolls (accessed via the Gascon Rolls Project website unless otherwise noted)HoPHistory of Parliament OnlineKings WorksBrown, Colvin, and Taylor, eds., History of the Kings Works, 2 vols.LobineauHistoire de BretagneL&M JVLettres et mandements de Jean V, duc de BretagneMonstreletLa Chronique dEnguerran de Monstrelet en deux livres avec pices justificatives 14001444MoriceMemoires pour servir de preuves a l'histoire ecclesiastique et civile de BretagneODNBOxford Dictionary of National BiographyPapal RegistersCalendar of Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and IrelandPOPCProceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of EnglandPROMENext page