Joan Holland

Joan Holland (ca. 1380–12 April 1434) was the third daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, and Alice FitzAlan. She married four times. Her first husband was a duke, and the following three were barons. All of her marriages were most likely childless. Family Joan Holland was born around 1380 in Upholland, Lancashire, England, as one of the ten children of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent and Alice FitzAlan, sister of Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel. She was niece of Richard II of England, son of her paternal grandmother, Joan of Kent by her second marriage to Edward, the Black Prince. Joan had five sisters: Alianore became Countess of March ; Margaret became Countess of Somerset and later Duchess of Clarence; Eleanor became Countess of Salisbury; Elizabeth married Sir John Neville; and Bridget became a nun at Barking Abbey. Her eldest brother, Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey, was beheaded in 1400 by a mob of angry citizens at Cirencester for his role in the Epiphany Rising, which was aimed against the life of King Henry IV of England, who had usurped the throne of King Richard. Thomas's heir to the earldom of Kent was her second eldest brother Edmund Holland. Life Joan married Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, son of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, ca. 4 November 1393. As a result of this marriage, she was styled Duchess of York. They had no children. In 1399, Joan and her sister Margaret were invested as ”Lady Companions of the Garter”. They were granddaughters of Joan, the "Fair Maid of Kent" who inspired Edward III's founding of the Order of the Garter, according to popular legend.