Joan of Acre
1272 – 1307
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Family
About
Joan of Acre was born in the Holy Land in 1272, in the crusader city that named her, while her parents Edward I and Eleanor of Castile were on crusade. At eighteen she was married to Gilbert the Red, Earl of Gloucester, the greatest earl in England; widowed at twenty-three, she scandalised her father and delighted every chronicler by secretly marrying Ralph de Monthermer, a plain squire of her late husband's household - and making the king accept it. She died in 1307. Two of her royal sisters' descents also reach this family: the tree holds Edward I by more roads than one.
Research notes
✓ JOAN OF ACRE (b. Acre 1272, d. 23 Apr 1307), dau. of KING EDWARD I by ELEANOR OF CASTILE (both ALREADY IN TREE - wired as their child, a CONVERGENCE: sister of our existing Elizabeth Plantagenet of the Ormond/Bohun line, so TWO daughters of Edward I are now direct ancestresses by independent descents); m.1 (spring 1290) Gilbert de Clare the Red Earl; m.2 (secretly, 1297) Ralph de Monthermer. Sources: CP V (Gloucester); royal-standard. Direct ancestress. Added 8 Aug 2026 (the Raleigh royal door - consolation wave after the St Leger door closed; full write-up in RANKED LEADS addendum).