History Forum / General / British History / September 2003

Dear Newsgroup ~

Complete Peerage 7 (1929): 396-401 (sub Lancaster) gives an excellent
account of the life of Henry of Lancaster, Knt., Earl of Lancaster and
Leicester (died 1345), a grandson of King Henry III of England.  Earl
Henry was an important man in his time period.  Describing his
character, the Dictionary of National Biography says of Henry that he
was "courteous and kind-hearted, of sound judgement, religious, and
apparently of high principle" [Reference: D.N.B. 9 (1908): 551–552].
He is chiefly noted as the person who arrested his cousin, King Edward
II, in 1326, which arrest eventually led to King Edward II's untimely
death the following year, though not at Earl Henry's hands.

Complete Peerage provides two marriages for Henry of Lancaster, one to
Maud de Chaworth, the other to Alix de Joinville.  It is the second
marriage which interests us in this post.  Regarding this marriage,
Complete Peerage states the following:

"He married, 2ndly, as her 2nd husband, Alix, who in 1307 was widow of
Jean, Sieur d'Arcies sub Aube et de Chacenay, and daughter of John
Joinville, Seneschal of Champagne, historian of St. Louis, by his 2nd
wife, Alix de Risnel, daughter and heiress of Gautier, Seigneur de
Risnel."  END OF QUOTE.

Complete Peerage cites two sources for this marriage, one of them
being "Anselme, vol. vi, p. 695."  Pere Anselme's work, Histoire de la
Maison Royale de France, is available on line on the helpful gallica
website (http://gallica.bnf.fr).  Pere Anselme states the following
regarding the marriage of Alix de Joinville and Henry of Lancaster on
the volume and page cited by Complete Peerage:

"Alix de Joinville, mariée (1) par traité pallé à Joinville le jour de
l'Invention de Sainte Croix 1300. à Jean seigneur d'Arcies sur Aube et
de Chacenay; (2) avant 1316 à Henry d'Angleterre comte de Lancastre,
seigneur de Montmouth, de Beaufort et de Nogent.  Le dimanche aprés la
S. Martin d'hyver 1316, se qualifiant dame de Beaufort, elle promit
faire hommage de sa terre de Chacenay à l'évêque de Langres, si
c'étoit la coutume de Champagne.  Catulaire de Langres, p. 189."  END
OF QUOTE.

As we can see, Pere Anselme makes no qualification regarding Alix de
Joinville's marriage to Henry of Lancaster, which he places as having
taken place before 1316.

In truth, Alix de Joinville actually married before July 1312 Henry of
Lancaster's younger brother, John of Lancaster, seigneur of Beaufort
(present day Montmorency, Aube, arrond. d'Arcis-sur Aube, canton de
Chavanges) and Nogent-l'Artaud (Aisne, arrond. de Château-Thierry,
canton de Charly).  Little is known of his life.  John of Lancaster
was born before May 1286.  He was living July 1312, died in France
before 1327.  He evidently had no issue.  For information on his seal
and coat of arms, see Coat of Arms 7 (1962): 18–24.

The evidence that John of Lancaster's wife was Alix de Joinville is
found in the book, Jean de Joinville et les seigneurs de Joinville, by
H.-F. Delaborde, published in 1894.  This work can be found on line on
the gallica website cited above.  On page 409, the following document
is presented:

No. 733
Date: July 1312

"Jean de Lancastre, seigneur de Beaufort, et sa femme Alix de
Joinville font à l'abbaye de la Chapelle-aux-Planches une fondation de
quatre messes par semaine.  Arch. de la Haute-Marne, La
Chapelle-aux-Planches, folio 27 r." END OF QUOTE.

The Joinville book presents several other documents relating to Alix
de Joinville which shows that she was living as late as 31 March 1336.
In the documents which date after 1312, Alix is styled simply as
"dame de Beaufort," never as Countess of Lancaster.

Further details of John of Lancaster and his wife, Alix de Joinville,
will be found in my forthcoming book, Plantagenet Ancestry, which I
antipate will be available for shipping sometime in late December.
Please contact me at my e-mail address below if interested in
obtaining a copy of the book.

As for John of Lancaster's holdings, the castles of Beaufort and
Nogent-l'Artaud, they eventually fell by inheritance to John of
Lancaster's great niece, Blanche of Lancaster, whose husband, John of
Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, leased them in 1365 to John Wyn for ten
years at a yearly rental of £100 sterling.

Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah

E-mail: royalancestry@msn.com