Career
Her parents lived at Nukerke near Oudenaarde. She entered the service of Charles I de Lalaing, Governor of Oudenaarde and Seigneur of Montigny. The young Emperor Charles V met the beautiful Johanna, when he visited the castle of the Seigneur of Montigny in autumn 1521.
Their short love affair produced a daughter who was named Margaret and put in the care of the Brussels family de Douvrin.
Margaret was to become Governor of the Netherlands. The Emperor granted Johanna van der Gheynst a modest pension.
The couple had several children.