Background
Lady Joan FitzAlan was born in 1375, at Arundel Castle, Sussex, England, one of the seven children of Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel, Earl of Surrey, and his first wife Elizabeth de Bohun.
Lady Joan FitzAlan was born in 1375, at Arundel Castle, Sussex, England, one of the seven children of Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel, Earl of Surrey, and his first wife Elizabeth de Bohun.
Her only surviving brother was Thomas Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel, of whom Joan was his co-heiress. On 3 April 1385, her mother died. Joan was about ten years old.
Her father married secondly, Philippa Mortimer on 15 August 1390, by whom he had a son, John Fitzalan, who was born in 1394.
John died sometime after 1397. On 21 September 1397, Joan"s father, the Earl of Arundel, who was also one of the Lords Appellant, was beheaded on Tower Hill, London, on charges of high treason against King Richard II of England.
The Earl had always enjoyed much popularity with the citizens of London. His titles and estates were forfeited to the Crown.
In October 1400, the new king Henry IV who had ascended the throne following Richard"s deposition in 1399, restored the titles and estates to Thomas Fitzalan, Joan"s brother.
He became the 12th Earl of Arundel and Earl of Surrey. Joan, Baroness Bergavenny, died on 14 November 1435, at the age of 60. She was buried in Black Friars, Hereford.
