The Skaggs-Files

Joan of Acre, b. 1272, d. 23 Apr 1307, daughter of Edward I, King of England, by Eleanor of Castile; widow of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford; m. (2) 1297 Sir Ralph de Monthermer, styled Earl of Gloucester and Hertford during the life of his wife, created Lord Monthermer 1308, d. 5 Apr 1325. [Magna Charta Sureties]

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Joan (of Acre), Countess of Gloucester and Hertford, b. at Acre in Palestine probably in 1272, was 2nd daughter of Edward I, by Eleanor of Castile. She was first betrothed to Herman, son of the King of Germany, who died in 1282, before the marriage could take place. She m. 1stly, at the beginning of May 1290, in Westminster Abbey, by dispensation granted 16 Nov 1289, Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, abovenamed, who d. 7 Dec 1295. She m. 2ndly, clandestinely, to her father's great displeasure, presumably early in 1297, Ralph de Mothermer, a member of the late Earl's household. On 29 Jan 1296/7 the escheator was ordered to take into this hand all the lands, goods, and chattels of Joan, Countess of Gloucester, from which it might be inferred that the King, suspecting her intentions with regard to Monthermer, sought to coerce her to abandon the marriage by degradation and loss of estates. On 16 Mar, the King gave his assent to her marriage with Amadeus of Savoy, and therefore must have been ignorant of her marriage, if it had already taken place, and on 12 May it was ordered that Joan should have reasonable allowance for herself and children. It would seem that by 3 July the King had discovered Joan's marriage with Monthermer, for he took her lands into his own had, but by 31 July, when he certainly knew of her marriage, he appears to have been partly mollified, for her lands were restored (except Tonbridge); in ordering her to provide 100 men to serve in France, however, the special proviso was made that they might be commanded by anyone except Ralph de Monthermer, her husband. She was pardoned two days later, 2 Aug 1297. She d. 23, and was buried 26 Apr 1307, int he Austin Friar's church at Clare in Suffolk, aged 35. [Complete Peerage V:708-10]

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Gilbert de Clare was not young when he married the fiery-spirited, sloe-eyed Joanna and took her to live at his country retreat in Clerkenwell not far from the Tower, where the king and queen were again in residence. She left for her new home with great fanfare, laden with royal gifts. After being a widow a year, she secretly married a completely unknown squire in her husbands retinue, Ralph de Monthermer. Through this marriage he became possessed in his own right of the earldoms of Gloucester & Hertford. The fact that a royal princess had dared to marry this obscure fellow became a cause celebré which for a time separated her from the affection of her father. It proved to be a marriage, however, leading ultimately to a firm friendship between the new son-in-law and Edward.

Title: Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999
Page: 3101

Title: Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000
Page: V:708-10

Title: Magna Charta Sureties 1215, Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Sheppard Jr, 5th Edition, 1999
Page: 17B-15, 28-4 ,34-4, 40-4, 13-6

Title: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Edition, by Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Shippard Jr., 1999
Page: 11-30 Text: 1290,32-29

http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=tamer&id=I4636