William de la Pole's illegitimate daughter, Joan, wife of Thomas Stonor, Esquire
Douglas Richardson
This past week there was a discussion on the newsgroup regarding the
immediate family of Joan de la Pole (died 1494), wife of Thomas
Stonor, Esquire, of Stonor (in Pyrton), Oxfordshire. As such, I
believe it is an appropriate time to discuss the evidence which
indicates that Joan is an illegitimate daughter of William de la Pole,
Duke of Suffolk.
In 1450, during the life time of all parties concerned, it was
directly stated in a charge made in Parliament against William de la
Pole, Duke of Suffolk, that he had fathered an illegitimate daughter
who was then the wife of “Stonard of Oxonfordshire.” The exact charge
reads as follows:
“Copy of a Paper Roll, temp. Henry 6, containing Charges against the
Duke of Suffolk,” which says that, “… The nighte before he was yolden
[prisoner at Jargeau, 12 June 1429] he laye in bede with a Nonne whom
he toke oute of holy profession and defouled, whos name was Malyne de
Cay, by whom he gate a daughter, nowe married to Stonard of
Oxonfordshire.” [see Third Report of the Royal Comm.on Hist. MSS.
(Hist. MSS. Comm. 2) (1872): Appendix, 279–280].
The statement made in 1450 is supported by a later Stonor family
pedigree in the 1574 visitation of Oxfordshire, which indicates that
Thomas Stoner, Esq., of this generation, married Joan, the “natural
daughter” of “Delapole, Duke of Suffolk” [see Harvey et al., Vis. of
Oxford 1566, 1574, 1634 & 1574 (H.S.P. 5) (1871): 143–144].
Joan Stonor’s existence is well attested in the contemporary records,
including letters of denization granted to her in 1453, it being
stated at that time that she was “born in Normandy” [see Calendar of
Patent Rolls, 1452–1461 (1910): 70]. Further evidence of Joan
Stonor’s parentage is afforded by Joan Stonor’s son, Sir William
Stonor, being styled “cousin” by Sir Edmund Rede, which Sir Edmund was
a descendant of the de la Pole family [see Kingsford, Stonor Letters
and Papers 1290–1483, volume 2 (Camden Soc. 3rd Ser. 30) (1919): 80–
81]. Likewise, in at least two records, Joan Stonor's husband, Thomas
Stonor, is directly associated with the de la Pole family. In 1471 he
witnessed a conveyance of the manor of Swerford, Oxfordshire in favor
of Alice de la Pole, Duchess of Suffolk, widow of William de la Pole,
Duke of Suffolk [see Calendar of Close Rolls, 1468-1476 (1953)]. In
1472 John Arundell, Knt. conveyed all his title and rights to a moiety
share of the manors of Stratford, Suffolk, Ewelme, Oxfordshire,
Hatfield Peverel, Essex, and East Worldham, Hampshire to Alice de la
Pole, Duchess of Suffolk, Thomas Stonor, and Humphrey Forster, Esq.
[see Calendar of Close Rolls, 1468-1476 (1953)].
Elsewhere, the 16th Century antiquarian Leland claimed that Duke
William de la Pole secretly married Jacob (or Jacque) of Bavaria,
Countess of Hainault, by whom he had a unnamed daughter, afterwards
the wife of a certain man named Barentine, which daughter was later
proved to be a bastard by Duke William’s wife, Alice Chaucer. Here
are Leland's words found in two places in his work:
“William Pole Duke of Southfolk maried the Countes of Henaude
secretely; and gotte a doughtter by her that was maried to Syr William
Barentine’s graundfather now being but Chaucher doughter and heir was
after solemnly maried to William Duke of Southfolk by whom he had very
fair landes, and she provid Barentines wife doughter to the Countes of
Henault to be but a bastarde. Barentine for making a riot on Duke
William’s wife lost a 100 li. by the yere.” [Reference:Smith,
Itinerary of John Leland 2 (1964): 19].
“Barentine’s graundfather now lyvynge maried the Countes of Henaults
dowghtar, begotten on hir by Gullim Duke of Suffolke that first maried
hir, and aftar facto divortio to Chaucer’s heire”). [Reference: Smith,
Itinerary of John Leland 5 (1964): 233].
As we can see, no evidence was advanced by Leland to support his
claims. The marital history of Jacob (or Jacque) of Bavaria is well
known, and no marriage for her to William de la Pole, secret or
otherwise, is accepted by modern European historians.
Regardless, in 1924 Eric St. John Brooks suggested that William de la
Pole's alleged child by Jacob (or Jacque) of Bavaria was possibly
Beatrix, the second wife of Drew Barantyne, of Chalgrove, Oxfordshire
[see Notes & Queries, 146 (1924): 299]. Like Leland, he gave no
evidence that Duke William de la Pole was ever married to Jacob (or
Jacque) of Bavaria, or that they had a child together. Brooks seems
not to have realized that Sir William Barentine's grandfather who
married Duke William's illegitimate daughter was not his paternal
grandfather at all, but rather his maternal grandfather, Thomas
Stonor, Esquire. Stranger still, the usually careful historian,
Wedgwood, subsequently accepted Beatrix, wife of Drew Barantyne, as
the Duke’s daughter without making any qualification [see Wedgwood,
Hist. of Parliament 1 (1936): 40 (biog. of Drewe Barentyne)].
Things became even more muddled in 1952. In that year Robert Julian
Stonor collapsed the various accounts of the illegitimate daughters of
William de la Pole into one person [see Stonor: A Catholic Sanctuary
in the Chilterns from the Fifth Century till To-day (1952): 124–131].
He correctly realized that the bastard daughter of Sir William de la
Pole mentioned by Leland was Joan Stonor, not Beatrix Barantyne. He
also correctly assigned Joan, the wife of Thomas Stonor, Esquire, as
the illegitimate daughter of Duke William de la Pole. However, he
ignored the contemporary 1450 Parliamentary record which identified
Joan Stonor as the daughter of Malyne de Cay, a French nun. Rather,
following Leland, he identified Joan Stonor's mother as Jacob (or
Jacque) of Bavaria, Countess of Hainault. Speaking of Jacob (or
Jacque) of Bavaria, Robert Julian Stonor says:
"On January 9th 1428 the Pope declared her previous marriage to
Gloucester null and void owing to the vallidity of marriage to
Brabant .... [She] thus found herself again a childless widow, now
aged 27, and it must have been at this time that she contracted a
private marriage with William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk ... She
bore him a daughter, Jeanne, her only child ..:" [Reference:Robert
Julian Stonor, Stonor: A Catholic Sanctuary in the Chilterns from the
Fifth Century till To-day (1952): 125–126].
Stonor gives no sources to support his statement that Jacob (or
Jacque) of Bavaria "contracted a private marriage with William de la
Pole, Earl of Suffolk." Regardless, he uses the phrase "must have
been" to describe the stated marriage of William and Jacob (or
Jacque).
In summary, there is good contemporary evidence which supports the
identification of Joan, wife of Thomas Stonor, Esquire, as the
daughter of William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. The 1450
Parliamentary record alleges that Joan's mother was Malyne de Cay, a
French nun. Although this statement is probably correct, it needs
further substantiation. There is no evidence whatsoever to support
the statement by Leland and Stonor that Joan Stonor's mother was Jacob
(of Jacque) of Bavaria, Countess of Hainault. Lastly, Brooks and
Wedgwood's claim that Duke William de la Pole had an illegitimate
daughter, Beatrix, who married Drew Barantyne, is based on a
misunderstanding of Leland's comments. Duke William had no such
daughter.
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah