Joan Fitzalan

February 3, 2015 — #ancestors #archetypes # insight #history, Arundel Castle, Joan Fitzalan

Joan Fitzalan

My 18th paternal great-grandmother is also the ancestor of my famous poet, Anne Dudley Bradstreet.  Her father was beheaded at the Tower of London by Richard II.  I wonder if I have a record number of ancestors beheaded at the Tower. When Henry IV came to the throne Joan and her sisters were restored to wealth and power.  Her sister Elizabeth is my mother’s ancestor, so this  cozy castle was once home to both my bloodlines:

Arundel Castle

Joan Fitzalan (1360 – 1435)
is my 18th great grandmother
Joan Elizabeth Beauchamp (1396 – 1430)
daughter of Joan Fitzalan
Elizabeth Butler (1420 – 1473)
daughter of Joan Elizabeth Beauchamp
Isabel Talbot (1444 – 1531)
daughter of Elizabeth Butler
Sir Richard Ashton (1460 – 1549)
son of Isabel Talbot
Sir Christopher Ashton (1493 – 1519)
son of Sir Richard Ashton
Lady Elizabeth Ashton (1524 – 1588)
daughter of Sir Christopher Ashton
Capt Roger Dudley (1535 – 1585)
son of Lady Elizabeth Ashton
Gov Thomas Dudley (1576 – 1653)
son of Capt Roger Dudley
Anne Dudley (1612 – 1672)
daughter of Gov Thomas Dudley
John Bradstreet (1652 – 1718)
son of Anne Dudley
Mercy Bradstreet (1689 – 1725)
daughter of John Bradstreet
Caleb Hazen (1720 – 1777)
son of Mercy Bradstreet
Mercy Hazen (1747 – 1819)
daughter of Caleb Hazen
Martha Mead (1784 – 1860)
daughter of Mercy Hazen
Abner Morse (1808 – 1838)
son of Martha Mead
Daniel Rowland Morse (1838 – 1910)
son of Abner Morse
Jason A Morse (1862 – 1932)
son of Daniel Rowland Morse
Ernest Abner Morse (1890 – 1965)
son of Jason A Morse
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Ernest Abner Morse
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse

Joan FitzAlan, Baroness Bergavenny (1375 – 14 November 1435) was an English noblewoman, and the wife of William de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Bergavenny of the Welsh Marches.

Family and Lineage

Lady Joan FitzAlan was born in 1375, at Arundel Castle, Sussex, England, one of the seven children of Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel, Earl of Surrey, and his first wife Elizabeth de Bohun. Her only surviving brother was Thomas Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel, of whom Joan was his co-heiress. She had an older sister Lady Elizabeth FitzAlan who married as her second husband Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk. Her paternal grandparents were Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster, and her maternal grandparents were William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton and Elizabeth de Badlesmere. On 3 April 1385, her mother died. Joan was about ten years old. Her father married secondly, Philippa Mortimer on 15 August 1390, by whom he had a son, John Fitzalan, who was born in 1394. John died sometime after 1397.

On 21 September 1397, Joan’s father, the Earl of Arundel, who was also one of the Lords Appellant, was beheaded on Tower Hill, London, on charges of high treason against King Richard II of England. The Earl had always enjoyed much popularity with the citizens of London. His titles and estates were forfeited to the Crown.

In October 1400, the new king Henry IV who had ascended the throne following Richard’s deposition in 1399, restored the titles and estates to Thomas Fitzalan, Joan’s brother. He became the 12th Earl of Arundel and Earl of Surrey. Although he married Beatrice, an illegitimate daughter of King John I of Portugal and Inez Perez Esteves, he died childless on 13 October 1415. The Earldom and castle of Arundel passed to a cousin John Fitzalan, 13th Earl of Arundel, the rest of his inheritance was divided among Joan and her two surviving sisters, Elizabeth and Margaret.

Marriage and Issue

On 23 July 1392, Joan was married to William de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Bergavenny (c.1344- 8 May 1411) the son of Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick and Katherine Mortimer. He was more than thirty years Joan’s senior.

The marriage produced a son and a daughter:

· Richard de Beauchamp, 1st Earl of Worcester, 2nd Baron Bergavenny (born before 1397- 1422), married Isabel le Despenser, daughter of Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester and Constance of York, by whom he had one daughter Elizabeth de Beauchamp, Lady of Abergavenny.

· Joan de Beauchamp (1396- 3 August 1430), married on 28 August 1413 James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond, son of James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond and Anne Welles, by whom she had five children, including Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond. Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn were notable descendants.

Joan FitzAlan died on 14 November 1435, at the age of sixty. She was buried in Black Friars, Hereford.

References

1. http://www.TudorplaceFitzalan

2. Charles Cawley,Medieval Lands, Earls of Arundel 1289–1580 (Fitzalan).

3. Thomas B. Costain,The Last Plantagenets, pages 196–201

4. thePeerage.com

5. Charles Cawley,Medieval Lands, Earls of Arundel 1289- 1580 (Fitzalan)