Weddings in History: Royal Weddings in Fourteenth Century England

Today, in the 21^st century, the world loves English royal weddings.  Rare, precious, full of pomp and tradition and ceremony (and fashion), the ceremony marking the union of Prince William and Kate Middleton drew millions, some say billions, of viewers from around the world.

The most recent English Royal Wedding.

Seven centuries ago, the 14^th century English court also recognized the value of such a ceremony.  Edward III was famous for founding the Order of the Garter, with its references to the legendary court of King Arthur.  This was a ruler who understood the power of myth and spectacle.  So, when I embarked on my books centered on 14^th century English royal weddings, I imagined, they would be similarly grand affairs, celebrated in the public eye and documented in detail for the ages.  After all, what could be more important than the union of royalty?  Usually, such unions united countries, not just humans.  So there should be a public and well observed commitment, witnessed far and wide.

The truth was somewhat different.

Technically, Edward III and his queen, Philippa, were married by proxy, before she even arrived in England from her native Hainault (now Belgium) late in 1327.  The ceremonial procession into London was a well-established ritual in these days, and the soon-to-be queen was welcomed with much “public celebration.”  The city of London even gave her a very expensive set of “plate,” which might have had as much to do with gratitude for their ongoing trading opportunities with her homeland as for their joy at welcoming her as queen. 

The formal wedding was held in York, nearly 200 miles to the north, an unusual place for such a

York, site of Edward III's wedding

ceremony.  But it seemed the archbishop of Canterbury, in the south, had recently died, so they decided to have the archbishop of York perform the service.  Perhaps it also presented the advantage of a royal journey to and from there, which might have helped to establish the position of the newly crowned king and his bride.

There are conflicting reports, however, of how ostentatious the actual ceremony was.  The English crown was cash strapped at that time and Edward’s mother had confiscated Philippa’s dowry and, by some reports, already spent it.  Others suggest that the wedding celebration was nearly as lavish as Edward’s coronation, the year before.  Silk cloth of gold draped the dais and the throne.  Jewels, silver, and gold were imported from France.  In addition to the ceremony and the feasting, the exchange of gifts between the bride and the groom was an important part of the pageant.  Philippa presented her husband with an illuminated manuscript.  More than a book, it reportedly contained copies of two pieces of music performed at their wedding.

Much of the information we have on these occasions comes not from the chroniclers or from eye-witness reports, but from royal records and account books, listing clothing and gifts ordered and received.  Indeed, in many cases, we have more detail on the gifts royal brides and grooms exchanged than we do on the exact festivities.

Edward and Philippa had twelve children, eight of whom lived to marry (some of those more than once).  While we cannot describe in detail the ceremony for every child, we do know enough to know that they were not all the same.

One, the unfortunate Joan, died on the way to her wedding to the son of the king of Castile.  But the wedding that had been planned was of the scale appropriate to the uniting of the children of kings.  Joan’s trousseau alone was rumored to have needed an entire ship to transport. 

We do have a record of the wedding dress that had been prepared for her, made of rakematiz, a thick silk shot with threads of gold.  Two other magnificent gowns, one green, one brown, both heavily embroidered, may have also been intended for wear on the wedding day, when a bride might be expected to change for various parts of the celebration.  (And you thought that was new?)

Edward, the Black Prince

In contrast, the wedding of her younger sister, Mary was not as extravagant, perhaps because of the rank of her husband.  She married John de Montfort, who claimed the title Duke of Brittany, but was actually raised in the household of the king of England, as he was unable to secure his position.  Wikipedia claims “no record of the wedding survives,” but, of course, the royal inventory does list the wedding dress, made of cloth of gold, lined and trimmed with ermine, and, based on the amount of material used, with a very long mantle.  While it sounds extravagant, the rest of the list indicates that her wedding was much more modest than her sister’s.  And, indeed, she and her husband simply continued to live in the English court after the ceremony and she died before her husband returned to Brittany.

You would expect the wedding of the oldest son and heir to one of the most lavish.  In reality, it was a much different affair.  Edward (the son), whom we know as the Black Prince, married Joan of Kent in a clandestine ceremony, not sanctioned by the church.  (See my post here:  http://unusualhistoricals.blogspot.com/2014/06/hea-or-not-edward-black-prince-and-joan.html)  Because their children had to be sanctioned as legitimate heirs to the throne, such an “unofficial” marriage could not stand and the Pope had to be called in for special dispensations to sort out the mess before they could be legally wed.  As a result, we have no information on the first ceremony and the second, official, one was also subdued.  The usual round of tournaments that marked such an affair was dispensed with.

The second wife of the third son, John of Gaunt, Duck of Lancaster, was Constance, who claimed the throne of Castile.  Because of her stature, and because John claimed to be king of Castile by marrying her, I

Constance of Castile

expected a lavish, public display.  Instead, the wedding took place “off-stage” in France, before he brought her across the Channel.  We have only a date and a place.  However, when they returned to England, an elaborate welcome procession into London was prepared and “Queen” and her delegation were escorted to John’s magnificent palace on the Thames.

So it seems that in Fourteenth Century England, a public procession served as a suitable substitute for an ostentatious ceremony.  After all, more people could witness the display, including many who would never be invited to the wedding itself. 

Think of it as a medieval substitute for CNN or the BBC coverage.

After many years in public relations, advertising and marketing, Blythe Gifford started writing

seriously after a corporate layoff. Ten years and one layoff later, she became an overnight success when she sold her first book to the Harlequin Historical line.  Since then, she has published eleven romances set in England and on the Scottish Borders.  WHISPERS AT COURT, a Royal Wedding story, was a June 2015 release from the Harlequin Historical line.  For more information, visit www.blythegifford.com

Author photo Jennifer Girard

Photo credits:  York Minster: "YorkMinsterWest" by Andy Barrett (User:Big Smooth) - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:YorkMinsterWest.jpg#/media/File:YorkMinsterWest.jpg

"Constança de Castela, Duquesa de Lencastre - The Portuguese Genealogy (Genealogia dos Reis de Portugal)" by Creator:Antonio de Hollanda - Image taken from The Portuguese Genealogy / Genealogia dos Reis de Portugal.Originally published/produced in Portugal (Lisbon), 1530-1534.This file has been provided by the British Library from its digital collections. Catalogue entry: Add MS 12531 - Online viewer (Info)Deutsch | English | Español | Français | Македонски | +/−. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Constan%C3%A7a_de_Castela,_Duquesa_de_Lencastre_-_The_Portuguese_Genealogy_(Genealogia_dos_Reis_de_Portugal).png#/media/File:Constan%C3%A7a_de_Castela,_Duquesa_de_Lencastre_-_The_Portuguese_Genealogy_(Genealogia_dos_Reis_de_Portugal).png

Royal Carriage By Robbie Dale (Flickr: Royal Carriage) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

HEA or Not: Edward, the Black Prince and Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent

"The Most Amorous Woman in England"

 

By Blythe Gifford



Carving reputedly of Joan of Kent.



Back in February, I wrote a post about the first Prince of Wales, Edward of Woodstock, and his romance with Joan, the Countess of Kent.  (See here.)   (Note that both "the Black Prince" and "the Fair Maid of Kent" are apparently posthumous monikers.)  Appropriately for Valentine’s Day, my February post told the romantic legend of Edward and Joan’s love story. Now, I’m going to tell you what history claims. 

Not to rehash that previous information, but Edward, son of King Edward III, by all accounts fell in love with the Countess, perhaps even when they were children.  The story picks up when they were grown and she was a widow who had already been married to two husbands. 

That is, two husbands at the same time. 

Even by the sympathetic chronicler Froissart she was called the "most beautiful lady in England, and by far the most amorous." 

The historically accepted wisdom of the clandestine marriages of Joan of Kent is that at the age of twelve, she and Sir Thomas Holland exchanged vows, telling no one.  Holland was a full-fledged knight and fighting man, twelve years older than she.  Roughly a year later, when Holland was off at war, her parents arranged for her to marry Sir William Montacute (or Montague), a boy about her own age, who later succeeded his father as the Earl of Salisbury.

Making the story even more complicated, Joan was “adopted” by the royal family and spent much of her childhood with them, presumably including the portion during which she married Holland.  Did she tell the king and queen, or her parents, about her secret marriage before she married Salisbury?  If not, why not?  If so, why did they ignore her?

Joan's first husbands.  Sir Thomas Holland (L) and the Earl of Salisbury (R).

And if she was, indeed married already, how could she stand before a priest and take vows, knowing she was no doubt committing a mortal sin and would go to Hell?

We have no answers to these questions.

Later in the year she was married, when Holland returned from the war, we are told that he claimed her as his wife by their previous vow.  We are also told that her current husband (only about thirteen, as Joan was) objected to Holland’s claim.  What happened next?  Over the next few years, Holland travelled between England and the war on the continent.  In that war, he fought beside William Montacute’s father, at that time the earl.  When he returned to England, he served as Joan’s husband’s steward.

When I was doing my research for SECRETS AT COURT, set around the marriage of Edward and Joan, I discovered this with astonishment.  If true, the situation is this:  Holland has said “she’s my wife, not yours,” but for several years, he works intimately with his “wife’s” current husband and family.  He does not pursue legal remedies to take her back for five years.  (The explanation was that he lacked money to take the petition to the church courts.  Strange, if true, that her husband would pay him to be a steward if the money was going to be spent making the case to take his wife away!)

Again, one must wonder what her husband, parents, and Joan herself were thinking during these years.  Why would they accept Holland as a member of the household?  History does not tell us.

Finally, on the battlefield in France, Holland took an esteemed French hostage and received a hefty ransom for him.  Received it, in fact, from King Edward, who must have known how he would use it, for this was presumably the money he needed to launch a legal offensive. 

After several years, and a petition to the Pope, Holland’s claim was accepted and Joan’s marriage to Salisbury was put aside.  She and Holland lived as husband and wife for eleven years and had five children.  He died in France, with her beside him, and she returned to England a widow.

Within a few months, she had secretly married Prince Edward.  A few months.

Prince Edward, kneeling before his father,
accepting responsibility for Aquitaine.



 

Granted, they had known each other since childhood, but such haste does seem, at the very least, questionable.  And although she had been respectably married for eleven years, her background was certainly not one considered suitable for a future queen of England, which may be the reason they did not wait for permission.

But the two lovebirds had an obstacle even greater than her past.  According to the church, they were too closely related to receive permission to marry.  (Both were grandchildren of Edward I.)  In order to wed, they would have to petition the Pope for dispensation from the church laws of consanguinity, a lengthy process.

But they did not wait and as a result, in 1361, the heir to the throne was married to a woman forbidden to him by the church.  This state of affairs could not be allowed to continue and with the help of his father the king, a petition was sent to the Pope for dispensation and permission they should have obtained before they exchanged vows. (You would think Joan might have hesitated to do the whole secret wedding again, since that’s exactly how she got into trouble the first time.  On the other hand, she also knew that such a marriage had a good chance of being upheld, meaning everyone would just have to accept her slightly checkered past.) 

There was a new Pope by this time and, ultimately, he upheld the wedding.  One wonders whether the one who wrestled with Joan’s first marriages would have been so accommodating.

Yes, truth is stranger than fiction, if this story can be believed, and yet, it is still repeated by historians with a straight face.  It raised enough questions for me, however, to spark SECRETS AT COURT, where I created my own explanation for the facts we know.

And what about the happily ever after?  Did Edward and Joan have it?

Richard II, Edward & Joan's son.



They did remained happily married, apparently, for the remainder of Edward’s short life.  Prince Edward continued his record of successful leadership in war but died before his father, at the age of 46, leaving his son to wear the crown.  Thus, Joan, the first Princess of Wales, never became queen of England.   

Shortly after their marriage, they went to Aquitaine to rule over what was left of Edward III’s French possessions.  Their first son, born more than three years after their wedding, died at age five or six.  Their second son, two years younger, became Richard II and sat on the English throne. 

After Edward’s death, Joan did not remarry, though she lived another nine years.  She was very influential in the court of her son, but her last days were sad.  One of her Holland sons was condemned to death by the king for killing another noble.  She spent the last days of her life pleading for his release, which only came the day she died.  

At her death, she was buried, as she had asked, not beside her royal husband, but “near the monument of our late lord and husband, the Earl of Kent.”

Thomas Holland.

 

  After many years in public relations, advertising and marketing, Blythe Gifford started writing seriously after a corporate layoff. Ten years and one layoff later, she became an overnight success when she sold her first book to the Harlequin Historical line.  Since then, she has published ten romances set in England and on the Scottish Borders.  SECRETS AT COURT, a Royal Wedding story, was a March release from the Harlequin Historical line.  For more information, visit www.blythegifford.com

Author photo Jennifer Girard

 

Author Interview & Book Giveaway: Blythe Gifford on SECRETS AT COURT

Today, we welcome Blythe Gifford, a long time contributor to the Unusual Historicals blog.  Her tenth novel, SECRETS AT COURT from the Harlequin Historical line, has just been published.  (Excerpt here.)  She’s offering a free print copy to one randomly chosen commenter, so leave a comment at the end of the interview for a chance to win.

First, here’s a bit about the book.

THE THRONE OF ENGLAND IS AT STAKE!

Anne of Stamford has long been the keeper of her mistress's secrets, but when Lady Joan marries the king's son, court life becomes ever more perilous. Sir Nicholas Lovayne has arrived to uncover the truth about Lady Joan's past, and Anne must do something—anything—to throw him off….

Longing to escape the intrigues at court, Nicholas hasn't counted on the way Anne distracts him—her refusal to accept pity for her clubfoot touches something deep inside him. Will he be able to follow his duty when every fiber of his being tells him to protect Anne?

After forays into stories set in Scotland and into self-publishing, you are back in 14^th century England publishing with Harlequin.  What lead to that?

I never left Harlequin.  The self-publication of THE WITCH FINDER was concurrent with work on this Royal Weddings series.

The court and era of Edward III of England was my romance “home” and the setting for my first four books.  Even HIS BORDER BRIDE, my first to be set in Scotland, included King Edward’s (fictional!) bastard nephew as the hero.  So it was a surprise to realize I have now published five Scottish set stories.  This evens the count!  But seriously, the “Royal Weddings” idea grew out of an English royal wedding, so it belonged there.



This staircase plays a key role in the book.

What was the genesis of the story?

When Prince William and Kate Middleton married, the Harlequin Historical line released a series of short stories that looked back at British royal weddings of the past.  I was invited to participate, but had too many deadlines on my plate at the time.  I loved the idea, though, and I envisioned a full-length book using the premise.  I did consider a wide range of possibilities, including weddings of Queen Victoria’s many children, but the medieval court of Edward III is familiar territory and feels like family.  Unlike most royals, his two oldest children married for love, so that seemed to be a natural fit.

Can you tell us about this story?  

SECRETS AT COURT is set around the wedding of the oldest son of Edward III, also an Edward.  History knows him as the Black Prince.  (As an aside, he was the first Prince of Wales.)  His chosen bride, Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent, had a bit of a scandalous past and they, in essence, “eloped” and married without the church’s consent.  My hero, Nicholas, is charged with untangling the mess they made and getting the Pope’s dispensation for their marriage.  My heroine, Anne, who has been with Joan all her life, is the keeper of her lady’s secrets.  Secrets that, if Nicholas discovers them, could destroy the throne of England.  (For the full historical background, see my post from February, The Prince Who Married for Love's Sake.)

You have always included real history in your books.  What made this one different?

I’ve had real historical figures and events before, but this is the first time the plot revolved around a specific event.  The complexities of Lady Joan’s marriages, and the timelines, were critical to both the plot and my characters’ backstories.  In some ways, it had more in common with an historical fiction plot than an historical romance plot, though it is definitely a romance!


Found a few drawings of the castle during this period.

Was it hard to research the complexities of medieval church laws concerning marriage and the other parts of the story?

Strangely enough, despite the fact that there is no full-scale biography of Joan of Kent, there have been a couple of scholars who delved into her life and marriages.  I even found copies of some of the papal pronouncements, so I felt comfortable with the accuracy there.  Beyond that, my heroine, Anne, was born lame, so I tried hard to be true to the reality she faced, both physically and in dealing with the attitudes of the time.  Even with that, my most difficult research challenge was something quite different.

So what was the hardest part to research?



My research of Windsor's Floor Plan in 1361-62!

Windsor Castle!  You see, King Edward was involved in a massive rebuilding of the castle between about 1350 and 1377.  This story takes place in 1361-1362 and, for the most part, is set at Windsor.  As an author who needs to feel grounded in her characters’ physical world, I spent hours trying to figure out what parts of the project had been completed at that time and which were still to come.  It took several books and much online searching, but the final, most helpful piece was The Royal Guide to Windsor Castle by Sir William Henry St. John Hope, published in 1920 and available via a research library near me.  It has beautiful, color coded floor plans, and I ended up taking dozens of iPhone pictures as notes, which I'm using here.

What’s next? 

I’m finishing up the next Royal Weddings story, WHISPERS AT COURT.  No publication date yet, but I’ll be sure to let the Unusual Historicals family know.

So, readers:  what makes you feel as if you are truly embedded in the historical world of the book?  Is it the physical descriptions?  Attitudes and behaviors that are far from our modern perspectives?  Or something else?  Leave a comment below for a chance to win a copy of SECRETS AT COURT. 

 

After many years in public relations, advertising and marketing, Blythe Gifford started writing seriously after a corporate layoff. Ten years and one layoff later, she became an overnight success when she sold her first book to the Harlequin Historical line.  Since then, she has published ten romances set in England and on the Scottish Borders.  The Chicago Tribune has called her work "the perfect balance between history and romance."  For more information, visit www.blythegifford.com or www.facebook.com/BlytheGifford or follow her on Twitter @BlytheGifford.