ANST - FW: Musing on August 7th -- Wither goest thou, Fair Maid?

Tue Aug 8 12:24:41 PDT 2000

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From: Ellsworth Weaver [mailto:astroweaver at yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 13:05
To: 2thpix at surfari.net
Subject: Musing on August 7th -- Wither goest thou, Fair Maid?

Dear Folk,

Upon this day August 7, a lady renowned for her beauty – daughter of
an
Earl, wife to a Prince, mother of a King  -  passed away. Let us look
at Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent.

Joan was born in 1328, the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of
Kent, the youngest son of Edward I (Longshanks). That made Eddie II,
remember the one who kept having French "advisors," her uncle, and
Eddie III her cousin.

Daddy Edmund was wrongfully beheaded due to a plot by Roger Mortimer
and Queen Isabelle (Eddie II’s estranged wife) in 1330. Joan and her
mother were imprisoned at Salisbury Castle for nine months. Joan
spent
her childhood under the care of William Montague first earl of
Salisbury and Catherine Montague, along with two of her three future
husbands, Edward, Prince of Wales (the Black Prince), and William
Montague (not Catherine’s husband.)

She was beautiful, charming and witty. People who met her all said
so.
"The Fair Maid of Kent" may have been a tag hung on her well after
her
death but I think she would have liked it. She was royal, headstrong,
beautiful, could have darned near anything she wanted.

When she was 12 she got secretly married to Sir Thomas Holland. Tom,
you rogue! Of course, the folks who were help raise her, the
Montagues,
found out they were very wroth with her. Darling Tom had gone off to
fight in the wars in France so Catherine Montague told Joan that 1)
the
marriage of someone of 12 was not legal, and 2) Tom probably would
forget about her over in the land of those Fifis. Meanwhile Catherine
Montague caused Joan to marry her childhood buddy, William Montague
in
1340. Upon returning, Thomas petitioned Pope Clement VI to annul the
marriage, which he did in 1349 by a direct papal bull. Who says the
Church is not on the side of young love? Joan had five children with
Holland.

Three months after Holland died in 1360, Joan was 32, she married her
other childhood sweety the Black Prince, another Edward. He was her
second cousin. King Edward III was appalled at the marriage, but did
nothing to break it up: the Black Prince was deeply in love with
Joan,
and she was his greatest confidante. Joan and the Black Prince had
two
sons, Edward and Richard, but Edward died as an infant of 5, and only
Richard survived to inherit his father's legacy and became Richard II
(in 1377).

Joan was a protector of John Wyclif who was an early reformer of the
Church, especially in England. Wyclif opposed abuses of power and
wealth in the Church, questioned the doctrine of transubstantiation
(that the communion wafer and wine turned into the actual flesh and
blood of Jesus), and caused the first translation of the Bible into
English. He obviously was a rascal and it was fortunate for him that
Joan liked rascals.

Edward the Black Prince (1330-76) was the eldest son of Edward III of
England. He was created duke of Cornwall in 1337. He was the first
duke
ever to be created in England, and prince of Wales in 1343. Joining
his
father in the battles against those pesky French, he fought at Crécy
and Calais and in 1356 won the battle of Poitiers and captured John
II
of France. It was apparently the French who first called him the
Black
Prince, perhaps because he wore black armor. Talk about a
proto-neo-Goth dude! Daddy Edward III made his French holdings a
principality, and the Black Prince maintained a brilliant court at
Bordeaux after 1363. He aided Peter I of Castile and León, but the
taxes he was forced to levy in Aquitaine resulted in war with France.
Bad health forced him to resign his principalities in 1372. He
opposed
his brother John of Gaunt, who had become the virtual ruler of
England
with the aging of Edward III. The Black Prince died before his
father.

Joan died on August 7, 1385. It is said that she died of a broken
heart
because of strife between children of different marriages. Isn’t that
always the way with families and moms?

What have we learned? Beautiful, witty, rich and royal don’t make the
woman but they surely don’t hurt? Sometimes the Church can side with
love? If you don’t make it to being king, maybe your kids can? If you
are going to speak out against The Man, you ought to have powerful
friends? How about: children always break their mother’s heart? I
know
my mom would agree with me.

As always, if you want to send these out to other princes and popes,
make sure to include my name and sig.

I recall some maids at fairs that were more than fair and fairly
made.
A big hello to all you Renfaire folk and especially you swashers.

Memory is the second thing to go,
J.  Ellsworth Weaver

SCA – Sir Balthazar of Endor
AS – Polyphemus Theognis
TRV – Sebastian Yeats

=====
SmileWeavers Astrology Charts & Interpretations
Modern & Medieval (but always discreet)
If you are interested, contact me at
astroweaver at yahoo.com or 805.473.8867

Read back issues of Musings at
http://www.thereadersvine.com/~Jennifer_deTocqueville/sebastiansmusing
s.html

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