Beaufort, Joan (Queen of Scotland)

Joan was the eldest of two daughters and the fourth child in the family of John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset , and Margaret Holland ^[2] . Both by father and mother, the girl was related to the English kings. On her father, she was the niece of King Henry IV , who was the son of her grandfather, Duke of Lancaster, John Gaunt, from his first wife ^[3] ; King Henry V , the son of Henry IV, was her cousin, respectively, and King Henry VI , the son of Henry V, was her cousin. Maternally, she was the great-granddaughter of King Richard II ^[1] , who was the son of her great-grandmother Joanna, the Beautiful Virgin of Kent , from her third marriage.

Since 1406, at first being a Scottish prince, and then king, Jacob I (1394-1437) was held captive by the English king. Here, no later than 1420, Jacob met Joan ^[2] . It is believed that it was to her that the Scottish king dedicated his romantic poem ( The Kingis Quair , circa 1424), which tells of a captive in love ^[1] . According to legend, the king wrote it when he saw a girl in the garden from the window of his room ^[4] .

The marriage, which was concluded on February 12, 1424 at St. Mary's Church in Southwark ^[5] , had a political connotation, given Joan's relationship with the English kings: it was part of the agreement on the release of the Scottish king from captivity and, from the point of view of England, contributed to the conclusion of an alliance with Scotland, which thus lost the opportunity to conclude an alliance with France ^[2] . Joan's dowry was ten thousand Scottish standards ; part of the ransom was paid to the dowry, for which Jacob received freedom ^{[6] [1]} .

A year after the wedding, the couple lived in , which belonged to Uncle Joan Cardinal Henry Beaufort . Joan then accompanied her husband during his return to Scotland, where both of them were crowned at . The queen exerted a mitigating influence on the authoritarian policy of Jacob I: at her request, the king repeatedly released the arrested barons; in addition, Joan often stood up for those who were supposed to be executed ^[7] . For thirteen years of marriage, Joan gave birth to eight children, but among them there were only two boys - the twins Jacob (the future king of Scotland Jacob II) and Alexander, who died in infancy ^[2] .

On February 21, 1437, King Jacob was killed in a palace in Perth ; the queen was also the target of the attempt, but escaped with trauma. Joan successfully led the supporters of Jacob I, who were eager to punish the murderer of King Earl of Atoll , but she had to abandon further power because of English origin. The Scottish Parliament entrusted custody of the six-year-old king to the Dowager Queen, but Archibald Douglas became regent of the country ^[2] .

The death of James I was the impetus for the beginning of a long period of anarchy in Scotland. Neither the widow of the king nor the regent could keep the barons in obedience. The warring groups of the Livingstones and the Krikhtones repeatedly seized the young king from each other, using control of the child in support of their claims to power in the country. Joan tried to turn the tide and near the end of July 1439 she married James Stuart , “The Black Knight Lorne” (c. 1399 - c. 1451), whose father was an ambassador to England, and his mother was a descendant of Scottish king Robert I and the heiress of the house Ergadia on the male side, James was a direct descendant of Alexander Stuart, the 4th Lord Steward of Scotland . Together with the Black Douglas, whose supporter was the Queen's new husband, he planned to isolate the stepson from the influence of the Livingstones and, thereby, deprive them of power. However, the forces were not equal: the queen was arrested in August 1439 and was forced to abandon custody of the royal son. By 1443, power in the country was finally concentrated in the hands of the Livingstones. In 1445, Joan, with the support of the Krikhtones and the Bishop of St Andrews, attempted to overthrow the Livingstone-Douglas rule. The queen failed and was forced to take refuge in , where she died on July 15. Joan Beaufort was buried in the Perth Carthusian Priory ^{[2] [5]} .

From marriage to King Jacob I ^[2]

• Margarita (December 25, 1424 - August 16, 1445) - was married to Dauphin Louis , who became king of France after the death of Margarita from pneumonia. The marriage was childless.
• Isabella (Autumn 1426 - October 13, 1494 or March 5, 1499) - was married to Francis I , Duke of Breton ; two daughters were born in the marriage - Margarita and Maria , the eldest of whom inherited the duchy of her father.
• until - March 14, 1465 - Countess Buchan ; was married to Wolfert VI van Borselen , senor Vera . In the marriage, two sons were born, Karl and Jan, both of them died before they reached maturity.
• (c. 1428 - after October 16, 1486) - was married to , Earl of Morton . Four children were born in the marriage, two sons and two daughters. Before Joanna married James, two other marriages were planned: with James Douglas, Earl of Angus , who died shortly before the wedding, and Dauphin Louis, widower of Joanna's older sister, Margarita, but the marriage never happened. It is believed that Joanna was deaf and dumb ^[8] .
• (October 16, 1430-1430) - Duke of Rothsey .
• Jacob (October 16, 1430 - August 3, 1460) - King of Scotland. He was married to Maria Geldern , daughter of Arnold Egmont , Duke of Geldern , and Catherine of Cleves . In marriage, seven children were born; another child, son John, was illegitimate.
• Eleanor (November 1433 - November 20, 1480) - was married to Sigismund of Habsburg , Archduke of Front Austria . Eleanor died in childbirth, the baby was born dead.
• (c. 1436-1509) was twice married: to Louis of Savoy , Count of Geneva , whose marriage was dissolved, and to George Gordon , Count of Huntley , from whom Annabella gave birth to a son and daughter; marriage with George was also dissolved.

From a marriage with James Stuart ^[5]

• John (c. 1440 - September 15, 1512) - 1st Earl of the Atoll . The ball is married twice: to , daughter of Archibald Douglas , 5th Earl of Douglas , and Efimia Graham, and to Eleanor Sinclair , daughters of William Sinclair , 3rd Earl of Orkney , and Marjorie Sutherland. From the first marriage, John had two daughters and a son, from the second - two sons and nine daughters.
• James (1442-1499) - 1st Earl of Buchan . He was married to Margaret Ogilvy , daughter and heiress of Sir Alexander Ogilvy . In a marriage with Margaret, a son and a daughter were born; in addition, from his mistress Margaret Murray, James also had a son and daughter.
• d. 1501] - Bishop of Morea.

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• Browning, Charles Henry. The Magna Charta Barons and Their American Descendants with the Pedigrees of the Founders of the Order of Runnemede Deduced from the Sureties for the Enforcement of the Statutes of the Magna Charta of King John . - 1898. - 463 p.
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• Weir, Alison. Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy . - Vintage books, 2009 .-- 400 p. - ISBN 009953973X , 9780099539735.
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