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- Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville, Countess of March (2 February 1286 – 19 October 1356), was one of the wealthiest heiresses in the Welsh Marches and County Meath, Ireland. She was the wife of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, lover of Isabella of France, Queen consort of King Edward II of England. She succeeded to the title of suo jure 2nd Baroness Geneville on 21 October 1314 upon the death of her grandfather, Sir Geoffrey de Geneville, 1st Baron Geneville.
She is also known as Jeanne de Joinville.
Family and lineage
Joan was born on 2 February 1286 at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire. She was the eldest child of Sir Piers de Geneville, of Trim Castle and Ludlow, and Jeanne of Lusignan. She had two younger sisters, Matilda and Beatrice who both became nuns at Aconbury Priory. She also had two half-sisters from her mother's first marriage to Bernard IV, Sire d'Albret. They were Mathe, Dame d'Albret (died 1283), and Isabelle, Dame d'Albret (died 1 December 1294), wife of Bernard VI, Count of Armagnac.
Her paternal grandparents were Sir Geoffrey de Geneville, Seigneur de Vaucouleurs, 1st Baron Geneville, Justiciar of Ireland (c.1226- 21 October 1314) and Maud de Lacy (1230- 11 April 1304), daughter of Gilbert de Lacy (c.1202- 25 December 1230) and Isabel Bigod (c.1212- 1250). Her maternal grandparents were Hugh XII of Lusignan, Seigneur de Lusignan, Couhe, et de Peyrat, Count of La Marche and of Angoulême, and Jeanne de Fougères, Dame de Fougères. Her maternal aunt was Yolanda of Lusignan, the suo jure Countess of La Marche.
When her father died in Ireland shortly before June 1292, Joan became one of the wealthiest and most eligible heiresses in the Welsh Marches, with estates that included the town and castle of Ludlow, and much land in Shropshire,as well as a generous portion of County Meath in Ireland. She was due to inherit these upon the death of her grandfather, but in 1308, Baron Geneville conveyed most of his Irish estates to Joan and her husband Roger Mortimer. They took seize of Meath at the end of the year. The baron died on 21 October 1314 at the House of the Friars Preachers at Trim, and Joan subsequently succeeded him, becoming the suo jure 2nd Baroness Geneville.
Marriage and issue
In 1301, Joan married Roger Mortimer, (25 April 1287- 29 November 1330), the son of Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Wigmore and Margaret de Fiennes. He was on the Council of Ordainers, which was commissioned with the purpose to restrict the power of King Edward II and reform his household.
Together Roger and Joan had twelve children:
1. Margaret Mortimer (1307-5 May 1337), married Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley, by whom she had issue.
2. Katherine Mortimer (1314-died 4 August 1369), married Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick by whom she had fifteen children, including Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick, and William de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Bergavenny, who married Lady Joan FitzAlan. Anne Boleyn was one of their numerous descendants.
3. Beatrice Mortimer (died 16 October 1383), married firstly Edward of Norfolk, and secondly, Thomas de Braose, 1st Baron Braose. She had issue by her second husband.
4. Sir Edmund Mortimer (1310- 16 December 1331), married Elizabeth de Badlesmere, by whom he had two sons, Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, and John, who died young.
5. Roger Mortimer, married Joan Le Botiller
6. Geoffrey Mortimer (died after 1330)
7. John Mortimer. He was killed in a tournament after 1328.
8. Agnes Mortimer, married Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke by whom she had issue.
9. Joan Mortimer ( born 1312-died between 1337–1351), married James Audley,2nd Baron Audley by whom she had issue.
10. Maud Mortimer, married John de Charlton, Lord of Powys by whom she had issue.
11. Isabella Mortimer (1313-after 1327).
12. Blanche Mortimer (c.1321-1347), married Peter de Grandison, 2nd Baron Grandison by whom she had issue.
Mortimer and Queen Isabella
In 1308, Mortimer was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, where he fought against the Scots Army under Edward Bruce, the younger brother of Robert the Bruce, (who hoped to make Edward king of Ireland), and Bruce's Norman-Irish allies, the de Lacy's. After driving the Scots north to Carrickfergus,and dispersing the de Lacys, he returned to England. Until 1318, he occupied himself with baronial disputes on the Welsh border. However, because of the growing influence of Hugh Despenser, the Elder, and Hugh Despenser the Younger, over the King, Roger Mortimer began to rebel against his monarch, and supported Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford and other Marcher lords. The King quelled the rebellion and as a result, Mortimer was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1322. He managed to escape to France, where he later became the lover of Queen Isabella, who was now estranged from her husband, and seeking help from her brother, King Charles IV. The scandal of their love affair forced them to leave the French court for Flanders, where they obtained help for an invasion of England.
In September 1326, Mortimer and Isabella landed in England, where they joined forces with Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster. On 16 November, King Edward was taken prisoner and eventually murdered at Berkeley Castle, presumably by Mortimer's hired assassins. From 1327 to 1330, Mortimer and Isabella jointly held the Office of Regent for her son, King Edward III who was duly crowned following his father's death. Mortimer was made constable of Wallingford Castle; in September 1328, Mortimer was created Earl of March. He and the Queen were the de facto rulers of England. Hostility against the power Mortimer wielded over the kingdom and the young King Edward III, increased; his former friend Henry of Lancaster encouraged the King to assert his authority to oust Mortimer. When Mortimer ordered the execution of Edmund, Earl of Kent, half-brother of the late King Edward, anger and outrage engulfed the country. The King deposed his mother and her lover; Roger Mortimer was seized, arrested, and on 29 November 1330, was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, London.
Death
Following her husband's execution, as the wife of a traitor, Joan was imprisoned in Hampshire and her children taken into custody. Her lands were only restored to her in 1336 after King Edward III granted her a full pardon for her husband's crimes. Joan de Geneville, Baroness Geneville, the widowed Countess of March, died on 19 October 1356 at the age of seventy. She was buried at Wigmore Abbey beside her husband. The Abbey was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and only the ruins remain to this day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_de_Geneville,_2nd_Baroness_Geneville
http://racineshistoire.free.fr/LGN/PDF/Joinville.pdf
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1286 - 1356 (70 years)
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