Joanna, Queen of Dowagers

A later imagining of Joanna of Navarre who became Queen of England in 1403 but whose role as dowager put her very life in danger

No one did as good a turn as a dowager in the 15th century than Joanna of Navarre.  The queen of Henry IV had already been duchess of one of the most powerful areas of France before she decided that middle age would be quite nice spent as a consort.  She was the only queen England had in 1414 as her husband had died the year before and his son and successor, Henry V, wouldn't marry for another six years as he established his rule.  But while the dowager queen was left to mourn and get used to her new role in 1414, her future in England would be much more dramatic.

The queen of dowagers

No one did as good a turn as a dowager in the 15th century than Joanna of Navarre.  The queen of Henry IV had already been duchess of one of the most powerful areas of France before she decided that middle age would be quite nice spent as a consort.  She was the only queen England had in 1414 as her husband had died the year before and his son and successor, Henry V, wouldn't marry for another six years as he established his rule.  But while the dowager queen was left to mourn and get used to her new role in 1414, her future in England would be much more dramatic.

A later imagining of Joanna of Navarre who became Queen of England in 1403 but whose role as dowager put her very life in danger

Because in 1419, Joanna was accused of witchcraft and imprisoned.  Deprived of her freedom and her lands and rights as queen dowager of England, she spent three years hidden away from public view - at times, in fear of her life.  For the punishment for anyone convicted of witchcraft was death and for a while it wasn't certain whether the wilful woman who had married Henry IV in 1403 when both had been widowed for several years would escape trial and conviction.  She did, but emerged to a very different England.  By the time she was released in 1422, England had a new queen as Henry V had chosen Katherine of Valois as his consort and the couple had a young son, Henry.  

A portrayal of Henry IV and his consort, Joanna

But in 1414, Joanna was enjoying the calm before the storm.  She was the first adult dowager queen England had known since the 1330s but her time as the elder stateswoman of the court began far more peacefully than that of Isabella of France who had taken the dowager's role in 1327 after helping usurp her husband, Edward II, from the throne.  Joanna was said to get on well with her stepson, new king Henry V, and she also had years of experience as a dowager as her first husband had been John, Duke of Brittay who had died after thirteen years of marriage leaving her a widow at the age of 29 with a teenage son in charge of this powerful area of modern day France.  She was his protector and the dowager duchess for four years before swapping her title for an even better one, that of queen.  So when Henry IV died in 1413, Joanna knew all about retiring to the sidelines.  The later drama of her life has been attributed by some historian to anti French bias at court and in the country at large.  In 1414, that was just a distant cloud on the horizon.

Paying to keep queens' memory alive

The Heritage Lottery Fund is giving £47 million to six historical tourism sites in England and Wales to help improve facilities and draw in more visitors.

 

Winchester Cathedral has been the setting for just one monarchical marriage.  It will now get over 10 million pounds of Lottery funding to bring in more tourists.

(photo Magnus Manske)

Included on the list is the cathedral at that former royal seat of just about everything, Winchester.  It might be a nice stop on a historical tour of England now but in the Middle Ages it was a regular haunt of kings, queen, princes and wannabes.  It was the birthplace of Henry III and the spot where three royals who should have ruled but didn't entered the world.  The heirs of Henry I and Henry VII were born there but both William Adelin and Arthur, Prince of Wales died before they could become king.  And it was also, reputedly, the birthplace of the first woman who could and should have ruled England in her own right.  Henry I's daughter, Matilda, was delivered there around 1102.

 

Matilda, born a daughter of the King of England and made an Empress by her first marriage.  She tried to rule England in her own right after the death of her father, Henry I, but was defeated by her cousin, Stephen, and had to settle for her son inheriting the crown as Henry II.

 

But only one queen consort can claim a bona fide link to Winchester Cathedral itself.  In 1403 the 33 year old Joanna of Navarre married Henry IV in the church, becoming his second wife and first consort.  The couple had met when Henry stayed at the Breton court in 1398 while preparing to snatch the crown of England from his cousin, Richard II.  He was a widower, having lost his first wife in 1394.  Joanna was still married to John V, Duke of Brittany - they had wed in 1386 and she had enjoyed considerable power as his consort.

 

Joanna of Navarre was married to her king at Winchester Cathedral

 

The year 1399 was a big one for Henry and Joanna and led to them becoming king and queen of England.

 

 

Henry IV and Joanna of Navarre found love later in life - but romance was just one reason why they wed at Winchester Cathedral in 1403

 

He led a successful campaign to become English king, deposing Richard II who was taken into captivity and died in mysterious circumstances the following year.  Henry was an autumn king in many ways - he took the throne in September when the sun's strength was beginning to fade and the harvest was all but gathered in.  And although just 32 when he succeeded to the crown, he was in the last third of his life and already had a large family and years of experience in politics and warfare by the time he took the top job. 

 

 

Henry IV looks this grumpy in most of the images of him made in his lifetime.  This later engraving keeps the stern look but adds a red rose of Lancaster - Henry was the first Lancastrian King and the first monarch of the two houses that would fight the War of the Roses

 

A few months after Henry became king, Joanna became a widow.  Her husband died in December 1399 leaving a ten year old son as the new duke.  Joanna ruled as regent for four years but left her teenage boy, John VI of Brittany, to rule by himself when she made the journey to Winchester Cathedral to become a queen. Brittany was relatively stable at the time, thanks to the work of her first husband and the younger John was able to establish himself fairly quickly as a solid ruler.  So mum went off for a bit of romance of her own - and a chance to be a queen.

 

 

Joanna of Navarre went from Duchess to Regent to Queen in the space of four years

 

 

The marriage between the belligerent widower and the ambitious widow was a great success.  Joanna enjoyed semi-friendships with Henry's children from his first marriage.  The gruff king got a bit of sparkle added to his kingship - Henry IV was a great administrator but spent much of his reign tackling rebellions and sorting out would be kings who had seen him depose a monarch and fancied a bit of similar action themselves.  He had none of the charm or PR savvy of his son and heir, the future Henry V, and was dull and miserable in comparison.  Joanna brought the gloss and glamour of a queen consort to his rule and in the bargain, got a fair dose of political power herself.

 

 

Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster claims the throne in 1399.  But he'd set a trend and the conquering king found himself the subject of several uprisings and power grabs himself

 

But while she enjoyed influence as a queen consort, she ended up in prison as a queen dowager.  Henry IV had relied on his son's military prowess to help keep hold of his throne during some of the biggest rebellions of his rule.  But while Henry IV liked doing the accounts and making sure the paperwork was in check, the future Henry V liked a bit of oiling the wheels, winning friends and influencing people.  The older Henry also suffered periods of bad health and this, combined with a PR campaign of epic proportions by the heir, led to the young prince holding much political power by 1410.  The old king was back in charge within a year - but dead within three, leaving Henry V with no contest to his way of doing things.

 

 

Henry V, King of England from 1413 to 1422.  Was he the hero of Shakespearean legend or a bit of a sneak who would stop at nothing to get his own way?

 

 

And one of those ways was making sure he had enough cash and paying for a dowager queen was a costly experience.  It's one of the main reasons suggested when historians question why the young, heroic Henry charged his stepmother with witchcraft in 1419 and had her imprisoned at Pevensey Castle.  She stayed there for four years but it wasn't Henry who released her.  By the time she was allowed her freedom, he was dead and his nine month old son ruled England and France.  As her adopted country headed for civil war, Joanna lived quietly at Nottingam Castle and moved around other lands belonging to her as queen dowager.  She died in 1438 in Essex and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral.

 

Whether either of those locations end up asking for lottery money to promote their links with a queen of England remains to be seen.  But the 10.5 million pounds heading to Joanna's marriage place of Winchester Cathedral should help maintain that part of her story for years to come.