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| Painting of Joan |
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| Painting of Ralph first Earl of Westmorland |
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| Raby |
Visiting Raby Castle as part of my ongoing research for a forthcoming talk on Joan Beaufort.
What a place. Peaceful, beautiful and steeped in history — yet once home to one of the most influential women of the fifteenth century.
Raby is forever linked with Joan’s marriage to Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland. Together they had fourteen children, and through them Joan became ancestress to an extraordinary cast of later history. Their daughter Eleanor Neville was mother of Henry Percy, Hotspur. Cecily Neville became mother of Edward IV and Richard III. Another grandson was Richard Neville, remembered as the Kingmaker.
Yet Joan’s life was no fairytale. Her first marriage to Robert Ferrers brought two daughters before early widowhood. Her second marriage brought status and power, but also years of bitter inheritance dispute with her Neville stepchildren.
After Ralph’s death, Joan appears to have turned increasingly to religion and later took a vow of chastity — perhaps understandable after a lifetime of childbearing, politics and family conflict.
It strikes me that Joan’s story is so often told through others: in books about Katherine Swynford as daughter, or Cecily Neville as mother. Yet Joan herself deserves centre stage. I am increasingly tempted to try to tell her story myself.
For now, Raby was a reminder that Joan Beaufort was never merely adjacent to history. She helped shape it.
