Marching through history – Char Newcomb introduces us to Joanna of Sicily

Several years ago, I read Men of the Cross by Char Newcomb and just loved it. Not only did she bring the times of the crusades to vivid life – I love her depiction of Richard Lionheart – but she created characters that remained with me long after I finished the book. Obviously, tons of research went into the book, and one of teh IRL people who feature is Joanna, born princess of England, wed to William of Sicily while still a child. Today, Char gives us a bit more insight into the life of this medieval lady!

A girl has little say in her own future when her father is the King of England, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, Count of Anjou and Maine. Joanna (aka Joan) was born in October 1165 in Anjou, daughter and second youngest child of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Raised mostly at her mother’s courts at Winchester and Poitiers alongside little brother John, the subject of Joanna’s marriage to William, son of William I of Sicily, arose by the time she was three. By some accounts, there was a betrothal at that time, but Thomas Becket’s murder cast a pall on Joanna’s father, indeed on England itself. But William II was crowned king of Sicily in 1171 and in 1176 he sent emissaries to England to ask to marry Joanna.

King Henry assented and, at the age of 10, Joanna left England.

“King Henry sent Joanna off unhurriedly, with the dignity befitting her… There [i.e., Normandy] Henry the Younger came to meet his sister, conducting her with the greatest honour to the County of Poitiers of his brother Richard. Thenceforth, Richard escorted Joanna through the lands he held [Aquitaine]. Then the girl travelled to Saint-Gilles with Richard of Canterbury, Geoffrey of Ely, Giles of Evreux, Hugh of Beauchamp, and Hamelin of Warenne, her father’s half-brother.”  [in Margaret, Queen of Sicily by Jacqueline Alio]

King William sent 25 galleys to Saint-Gilles to escort Joanna. Numerous retainers, ladies, knights, clergymen, as well as William’s representatives accompanied her. She arrived in Naples six weeks later, ill – likely seasick – and continued her journey to Sicily overland, except for the crossing of the Strait of Messina.

The Annals of Roger de Hoveden note Joanna was dressed regally and rode one of William’s horses into Palermo. The city welcomed her in the evening, apparently lit with so many lamps that “the stars…could in no way bear comparison with the brilliancy of such a light.”

A few days later, Joanna – age 11 – and William – age 23 – wed on the 14th day of February. The dower he provided was outlined in a charter:

“The Charter of William, King of Sicily, which he executed in favour of Joanna, daughter of Henry…as to her dower… So noble and illustrious an alliance should be honored with a becoming dower…we do give, and as a dower, do grant to the…queen, our most dearly beloved wife, the county of Mount Saint Angelo, the city of  Siponto, the city Of Vesta…” and many other castles, monasteries, and numerous manors.

Life in Sicily must have been eye-opening to the young girl. As Joanna had been in Winchester with her mother Eleanor prior to leaving England, she may have learned about her future home. Eleanor, who happened to be under house arrest at the time for participating in a rebellion against Henry II, had been to Sicily in 1149 after leaving the Holy Land during the Second Crusade. The landscape and architecture were very different from that of Joanna’s parents’ realms. Twelfth-century Palermo was described as looking more like Jerusalem than London. The country was populated by Christians, Muslims and Jews. Sicilian culture was heavily influenced by Greek and Eastern traditions, and her new husband had a personal harem.

Various chroniclers have written that her marriage was a happy one and we can hope the marriage wasn’t consummated until Joanna was older. It’s believed Joanna and William had a son in 1181 or 1182. Bohemund died in infancy and Joanna bore no more children while queen consort.

William died in 1189. Widowed at 24, Joanna was held under house arrest for almost a year by William’s successor Tancred who had seized the throne. On his way to the Holy Land, Joanna’s brother, King Richard I, the Lionheart, secured her freedom by capturing the city of Messina. Richard demanded her release and the return of her dower, which Tancred had confiscated.

In March 1191, Joanna’s mother Eleanor arrived in Sicily, escorting brother Richard’s future bride Berengaria of Navarre. It was the first time Joanna had seen her mother in more than a decade.

IMAGE – Richard_I_and_Joan_greeting_Philip_Augustus II of France

Richard wintered in Sicily, sailing for the Holy Land in April. Joanna and his soon-to-be-wife, Berengaria, accompanied him sailing on separate galleys to the Holy Land. A storm broke Richard’s fleet apart, the ladies lost for several days. De Hoveden writes that “two busses . . . had gone down, having on board many knights and men-at-arms of the king’s household.” Emperor Isaac Comnenus of Cyprus threw survivors in prison and took their property and money. He tried to capture Joanna and Berengaria but the royal ladies’ boat remained at anchor off the island. His forces were attacked after Richard’s fleet arrived. Comnenus was defeated, his kingdom captured in a few short weeks.

In June, Joanna arrived in the Holy Land. Her brother supposedly offered her as a bride to Saladin’s brother, but nothing came of that. She spent most of her days in the company of Berengaria in Acre after its capitulation to the crusaders.

The following year Richard negotiated a truce with Saladin. Joanna sailed west with Richard’s queen in September 1192. Richard left in October, was captured in Austria, and spent more than 13 months in captivity. The royal ladies’ journey was slightly less harrowing, but because of Richard’s enemies, Joanna and Berengaria stayed in Rome under the Pope’s protection for more than half a year before finally leaving for Poitou. Their escort was Raymond, the Count of Toulouse. Feuds between Toulouse and the Plantagenets had been ongoing for more than four decades, but in 1196, King Richard negotiated a settlement with Toulouse: Joanna’s hand in marriage was part of that settlement. They married in October 1196.

Joanna had three children by Raymond. Raymond, born in 1197, would succeed his father as Count of Toulouse; a daughter, Joan, born in 1198. Pregnant again in 1199, and alone while Raymond was away fighting, Joanna had to flee after traitors in the army she raised to lay siege against his rebellious vassals set fire to their own camp.

Her mother sent her to be cared for by the nuns at Fontevrault where she’d spent some of her childhood, and brother John, now king of England, provided coin to cover her expenses. Estranged from her husband, she asked to take the veil – her baby was in a breech position when she went into labor. It was a highly unusual request for a married and pregnant woman but with Eleanor’s urging, a committee agreed to her request.

Joanna died on 4 September, aged 33, birthing her third child Richard, who also died after being delivered. She was interred in Fontevraud Abbey near her father Henry II and her brother Richard I.

*****
Anna: Such a short life! And with no HEA… *sniff*

EXCERPT FROM MEN OF THE CROSS

(Sir Henry de Grey, a knight in King Richard’s mesnie, had befriended Joanna. He suffered an injury in a skirmish near Jaffa and was invited by Joanna to complete his recovery as her guest at the palace in Acre.)

 Acre, October 1191

Henry settled into a routine at the palace. Mass with the queens and a dozen others just as the sun rose each day. Breakfast with the knights. Midday meals with the queens. Within days, he wielded his sword in daily practice with Allan or Little John.

Henry would have enjoyed another week to rest, but when King Richard arrived Henry accompanied him on his rounds. There were councils with the commanders of the guard, meetings with local officials, and inspection tours of the city. The king’s negotiations with Guy and Conrad’s supporters and reports from the army at Jaffa consumed each day.

Henry’s disdain for politics grew at the rate his respect for Richard increased. When the day’s business was done they’d review it over a meal with Queen Berengaria and Queen Joanna. At times that meant they dined by candlelight. In less than a week, they celebrated a successful agreement between the rival factions.

Joanna shooed the servants from the great hall when her brother and Berengaria finally retired for the evening. “At last. Peace and quiet,” she said and smiled at Henry. “I know you would not say it, so I shall. I grow weary listening to my brother hour after hour. Do your ears hurt like mine?”

Henry tried to remain serious but Joanna’s honesty made him grin. “Politics can be tiresome, my lady.”

Joanna laughed. “A man after my own heart.”

She had a lovely smile, reminding Henry of her mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. But Joanna’s hair was reddish-gold like her brother’s hair, her green eyes were fiery, mischievous and calculating, like his.

She stood and Henry rose expecting to be dismissed. He was surprised when Joanna studied him, her gaze so intense that Henry blushed.

Joanna extended her hand. “Come, walk with me.” She led him to the verandah. They settled beneath palms swaying in the breeze. A bright moon illuminated the smooth flagstone flooring and the shadows of the trees danced across it.

Joanna tugged at her cloak to ward off the evening chill. “I must say, you hardly seem the man who dined with us a few short weeks ago.”

“That hobbling old man with the bad leg? Thanks be to God, the pain is gone.”

Joanna looked at him again. “Is it?”

Henry shifted uncomfortably.

“Forgive me,” she said. “I lived with my mother eleven years and, in that short time, I picked up her bluntness.”

Henry chuckled. “I admire Queen Eleanor for that very reason. And I would say you have many of her fine qualities.”

“I shall take that as a compliment. But I did not mean to turn the talk to my family. We have hardly spoken of your burden. I have watched you, Sir Henry, seen you distracted during practice with Little John and Allan or when my brother carries on a bit too long. You have suffered a great loss. Did you know her well? Your betrothed?”

Henry looked away. He could not tell Joanna that it was guilt about Stephan that plagued him more than Alys’ death. His fingers tightened around the edge of the bench seat. “I am…was six years older than Alys, but we had been in each other’s company since my tenth summer. We were friends.”

“How lucky for you. A friend and lover. That is a great gift from God.”

Henry met Joanna’s eyes. “A gift from God?”

“So often our fathers decide our marriage fate with nary a thought for love.” She sighed. “Oh, to find love and marry a friend. How wonderful. He knows what makes you smile, knows your favorites places, shares your stories. He is part of your life in ways no other ever can be.”

Thoughts of Stephan raced through Henry’s mind.

Joanna gazed at the moon. “I never had a chance to dream of that. To sit under the stars and stare at the heavens, feeling him close. Warm and secure.” Joanna’s voice ached with yearning. She paused, turned to Henry. “But wait. I have presumed too much, haven’t I? You did not love her.”

Henry rubbed his eyes, shook his head. “How did you know?”

Joanna tapped his hand. “You are like me. Tied into a marriage for political reasons.”

Henry chuckled. “Politics in Lincolnshire are not near the plots and intrigue of the courts of kings and queens, my lady. May I ask…”

“Of course.”

Henry knew of Joanna’s arranged marriage. She’d left her parent’s court at the age of eleven to marry William of Sicily. “Did you come to love your husband?”

Joanna clasped her hands in her lap, ran a thumb across the band on her ring finger. “I did. He was kind and thoughtful. I was happy.”

“I would lie awake at night trying to imagine if I could be happy with Alys.”

“Ah. So your burden is that you cannot feel more at her death?”

“Yes.” Henry forced himself to keep his eyes on Joanna’s face though his heart pounded. She spoke true, but there was so much more to his guilt. Could she see through him as plainly as Stephan did?

“Oh, Henry,” she said shrewdly, “you are troubled because your heart belongs to someone else.”

It does not! It cannot…

Men of the Cross

They embarked on the Crusades as strangers. They battled through as more than brothers-in-arms.
The idealistic knight Henry de Grey was prepared to bloody his sword, to slay the enemy, when he joins the Lionheart’s crusader army. But Henry struggles to justify the violent acts he has committed in God’s name when innocents are slaughtered. Battle-hardened Sir Stephan l’Aigle’s prowess on the battlefield is well known, and he takes Henry under his wing. Through heroism and heartache, the two knights’ friendship will be tested. Their greatest trial will not be fought with sword or lance, but with their hearts. This epic saga reveals the fighting spirit and impact of war on the knights who serve the Lionheart, the bonds of comradeship – and love – that develop between them, and their personal joys, sorrows and struggles. Men of the Cross is a must-read for all who enjoy action-packed historical fiction with a slow-burn romance.

Buy it HERE

Charlene Newcomb, aka Char, writes historical fiction and science fiction. Her award-winning Battle Scars trilogy is set in the 12th century during the reign of Richard the Lionheart. Her writing roots are in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (aka Legends) where she published 10 short stories in the Star Wars Adventure Journal. Scifi/space opera fans should check out Echoes of the Storm, her original novel published in 2020. Char returned to medieval times with Rogue in 2023 and hopes to publish its sequel in late 2025.

Social Media Links:

Website https://charlenenewcomb.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CharleneNewcombAuthor/

BlueSky https://charnewcomb.bsky.social

Check out the previous Marching Through History Post HERE