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Joan of the Tower (July 5, 1321 – September 7, 1362) The youngest daughter of King Edward II of England and Isabella of France, the daughter of King Philippe IV of France and Queen Joan I of Navarre; her brothers Louis, Philip and Charles all became kings of France.

Joan was born in the Tower of London on July 5, 1321. Her siblings were the future King Edward III of England, John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, and Eleanor of Woodstock.

In accordance with the Treaty of Northampton, Joan was married on July 17, 1328 to David, the son and heir of King Robert I the Bruce of Scotland, at Berwick-upon-Tweed. She was seven years old and he was four at the time of their marriage. Their marriage lasted 34 years, but it was childless and apparently loveless.

On June 7, 1329, King Robert I of Scotland died and the five year old David became King David II of Scotland. He was crowned at Scone Abbey in November 1331, becoming the first Scottish monarch to be anointed at their coronation.

During his childhood Scotland was governed by a series of guardians, and King Edward III of England sought to take advantage of David’s minority by supporting an invasion of Scotland by Edward Balliol, beginning the Second War of Scottish Independence, with the Battle of Halidon Hill near Berwick-upon-Tweed in July 1333.

Following the English victory at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333, David, his queen, Joan, and the rump of his government were evacuated to France, where he remained in exile until it was safe for him to return to Scotland in 1341.

They reached Boulogne-sur-Mer in May 1334, where they were received by King Philippe VI of France, her mother’s cousin. Little is known about the life of the Scottish king and queen in France, except that they took up residence at Château Gaillard and Philippe VI treated them with regard.

Meanwhile, David’s representatives had obtained the upper hand in Scotland, and David and Joan were thus able to return in June 1341, when he took the reins of government into his own hands.

In 1346, under the terms of the Auld Alliance, King David II invaded England to try to draw King Edward III away from the French, who had been invaded by the English and badly defeated at the Battle of Crecy. After initial success at Hexham, David’s army was soundly defeated at the Battle of Neville’s Cross on October 17, 1346.

David II suffered two arrow wounds to the face and was captured and taken prisoner by Sir John de Coupland. The king was taken to Wark on Tweed, and then to Bamburgh Castle, where barber-surgeons from York were brought to treat his serious injuries. David II was transferred to London, where he was imprisoned in the Tower of London in January 1347.

David II was transferred to Windsor Castle in Berkshire upon the return of Edward III from France. The depiction of David II being presented to King Edward III in the play The Raigne of King Edward the Third is fictitious.

David II and his household were later moved to Odiham Castle in Hampshire. His imprisonment was not reputed to be a rigorous one as was typical of most royal prisoners. However, the fact that from 1355 he was denied contact with any of his subjects may indicate otherwise. He remained captive in England for eleven years.

Although Edward III allowed Joan to visit her husband in the Tower of London a few times, she did not become pregnant.

On October 3, 1357, after several protracted negotiations with the Scots’ regency council, a treaty was signed at Berwick-upon-Tweed under which Scotland’s nobility agreed to pay 100,000 marks, at the rate of 10,000 marks per year, as a ransom for their king. This was ratified by the Scottish Parliament at Scone on November 6, 1357.

David II returned at once to Scotland, bringing with him a mistress, Katherine (or Catherine) Mortimer, of whom little is known. This was an unpopular move, and Katherine was murdered in 1360 by men hired by the Earl of Angus and other nobles, according to some sources; the Earl was then starved to death. She was replaced as mistress by Margaret Drummond.

After David II was release in 1357, Joan decided to remain in England. Joan was close to her mother, whom she nursed during her last days.

Joan died from the Black Death in 1362, aged 41, at Hertford Castle, Hertfordshire. By that time, she had been estranged from King David II for many years. She was buried in Christ Church Greyfriars, London, which was heavily bombed in the Blitz. No trace of her tomb now survives.