Joan of Acre (1272–1307)

Duchess of Hertford and Gloucester. Name variations: Joanna of Acre; Joan Plantagenet. Born in Acre or Akko, Israel, in 1272; died on April 23, 1307, in Clare, Suffolk, England; buried at Clare Priory, Suffolk, England; daughter of Edward I Longshanks, king of England (r. 1272–1307), and Eleanor of Castile (1241–1290); married Gilbert de Clare (1243–1295), 7th earl of Hertford, 3rd of Gloucester, on May 2, 1290, in Westminster Abbey; married Ralph Monthermer (d. 1325), earl of Gloucester and Hertford, in 1297; children: (first marriage) Gilbert de Clare (1291–1314), 8th earl of Hertford and 4th earl of Gloucester;Eleanor de Clare (1292–1337);Margaret de Clare (c. 1293–1342);Elizabeth de Clare (1295–1360); (second marriage) Thomas Monthermer (1301–1340), 2nd baron Monthermer (killed in sea battle against the French in 1340);Mary de Monthermer (1298–after 1371);Joan de Monthermer , a nun at Amesbury; Edward de Monthermer (b. 1304), 3rd baron Monthermer.

Born in Acre, Israel, in 1272, Joan of Acre was the daughter of Edward I Longshanks, king of England, and Eleanor of Castile . After five years in Spain, Joan was betrothed to Hartmann, son of Rudolf of Habsburg in 1279. Instead, 18-year-old Joan married Gilbert de Clare, 7th earl of Hertford, 3rd of Gloucester, on May 2, 1290, in Westminster Abbey. In return, Gilbert had to give up all rights to his castles and manors in England and Wales as a dowry to her father, King Edward. Following the death of Gilbert and without consulting her father, Joan secretly married Ralph de Monthermer, a squire of her deceased husband's, in 1297. Through the intervention of Anthony Beke, bishop of Durham, King Edward I became reconciled with her new husband and eventually "much attached" to him, granting him the titles of her first husband. But in 1306, Ralph warned Robert Bruce of the danger posed by Edward. Later, at the battle of Bannockburn in June 1314, in which Robert Bruce defeated the forces of Joan's brother Edward II, Ralph fought and was captured by the Scots. Robert Bruce repaid his debt to Ralph by releasing him without ransom.