Carney & Wehofer Family
Genealogy Pages
Joan DE BEAUFORT, Countess of Westmorland
1375 - 1440 (65 years)-
Name Joan DE BEAUFORT [1] Suffix Countess of Westmorland Birth 29 Jan 1375 Beaufort, Maine-et-Loire, France 
[1] Gender Female _FSFTID MMWD-3QP _FSLINK https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MMWD-3QP _UID D91987558BAF48A3B144FCFAB061C65E1349 Death 13 Nov 1440 Howden, Yorkshire, England [1] Burial 22 Nov 1440 Lincoln Cathedral, Lincolnshire, England [1] Person ID I26936 Carney Wehofer July 2025 Last Modified 13 Jan 2026
Father John "Of Gaunt" OF GAUNT, Prince Of England, b. 6 Mar 1340, Gent, East Flanders, Belgium d. 3 Feb 1399, Leicester Castle, Leicestershire, England (Age 58 years) Mother Catherine De ROET, Duchess of Lancaster, b. 1350, Of Picardy, Somme, France d. 10 May 1403, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England (Age 53 years) Marriage 13 Jan 1396 Lincolnshire, England - NOTE MARRIED
Family ID F12007 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family 1 Ralph NEVILLE, Earl of Westmoreland, b. Abt 1364, Of Castle Raby, Durham, England d. 21 Oct 1425, Raby Castle, Raby-With-Keverstone, Durham, England (Age ~ 61 years) Marriage 29 Nov 1396 Chateau DE Beaufort, Meuse-Et-Loire, France - NOTE MARRIED
Children 1. Eleanor NEVILLE, Countess of Northumberland, b. 1398, Raby Castle, Durham, England d. 11 Aug 1472, Raby, Durham, England (Age 74 years)2. Richard NEVILLE, 5th Earl of Salisbury, b. Abt 1400, Raby-Keverstone, Staindrop, Durham, England d. 30 Dec 1460, Wakefield, St. John, West Riding, Yorkshire, England (Age ~ 60 years)3. John NEVILLE, b. Abt 1398, Raby, Durham, England d. Abt 1399, Durham, England (Age ~ 1 years)4. Katherine NEVILLE, b. Abt 1400, Raby, Durham, England d. 1483 (Age ~ 83 years)5. Henry NEVILLE, b. Abt 1402, Raby Castle, Durham, England d. 1425, Raby Castle, Durham, England (Age ~ 23 years)6. Sir Thomas NEVILLE, b. Abt 1403, Raby Castle, Durham, England d. Raby, Durham, England 7. Robert NEVILLE, Bishop of Salisbury, b. 1404, Duram, England d. 8 Jul 1457, Durham, England (Age 53 years)8. Sir William NEVILLE, 1st Earl of Kent, b. 1405, Raby, Durham, England d. 9 Jan 1463, Alnwick, Northumberland, England (Age 58 years)9. John NEVILLE, b. Abt 1406, Raby, Durham, England d. Abt 1406 (Age ~ 0 years)10. Lady Anne NEVILLE, b. 1407, England d. 20 Sep 1480, Pleshy, Essex, England (Age 73 years)11. George NEVILLE, Lord Latimer, b. 1409, Raby-With-Keverstone, Durham, England d. 30 Dec 1469, Well, Yorkshire, England (Age 60 years)12. Joan NEVILLE, b. Abt 1412, Raby Castle, Durham, England d. 8 Jul 1453, St Albans, Hertfordshire, England (Age ~ 41 years)13. Sir Edward NEVILLE, b. 16 Sep 1412, Raby Castle, Durham, England d. 18 Oct 1476, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales (Age 64 years)14. Cecily NEVILLE, Duchess of York, b. 3 May 1415, Raby Castle, Durham, England d. 31 May 1495, Berkhamsted Castle, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England (Age 80 years)Family ID F12005 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 13 Jan 2026
Family 2 Sir Robert FERRERS, b. Abt 1373, Wem, Shropshire, England d. 29 Nov 1396, Willisham, Suffolk, England (Age ~ 23 years) Family ID F536732835 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 13 Jan 2026
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Notes - Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland (c. 1379 – 13 November 1440) was the fourth of the four illegitimate children (and only daughter) of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his mistress, later wife, Katherine Swynford; and, in her widowhood, a powerful landowner in the North of England.
Early life and marriages
She was probably born at the Swynford manor of Kettlethorpe in Lincolnshire. Her surname probably reflects her father's lordship of Beaufort in Champagne, France, where she might also have been born. In 1391, at the age of twelve, Joan married at Beaufort-en-Vallée, Anjou, Robert Ferrers, 5th Baron Boteler of Wem, and they had two daughters before he died in about 1395.
Legitimation
Along with her three brothers, Joan had been privately declared legitimate by their cousin Richard II of England in 1390. Her parents were married in Lincoln Cathedral in February 1396. Joan was already an adult when she was legitimized by the marriage of her mother and father with papal approval. The Beauforts were later barred from inheriting the throne by a clause inserted into the legitimation act by their half-brother, Henry IV of England, although it is not clear that Henry IV possessed sufficient authority to alter an existing parliamentary statute by himself, without the further approval of Parliament. Soon after the legitimation, on 3 February 1397, when she was eighteen, Joan married Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, who had also been married once before.
Inheritance
When Ralph de Neville died in 1425, his lands and titles should, by law of rights, have passed on to his grandson through his first marriage, another Ralph Neville. Instead, while the title of Earl of Westmorland and several manors were passed to Ralph, the bulk of his rich estate went to his wife, Joan Beaufort. Although this may have been done to ensure that his widow was well provided for, by doing this Ralph essentially split his family into two and the result was years of bitter conflict between Joan and her stepchildren who fiercely contested her acquisition of their father's lands. Joan however, with her royal blood and connections, was far too powerful to be called to account, and the senior branch of the Nevilles received little redress for their grievances. Inevitably, when Joan died, the lands would be inherited by her own children.
Death
Death: Joan died on 13 November 1440 at Howden in Yorkshire. [1]
Burial
Rather than be buried with her husband Ralph (who was not buried with his first wife, though his monument has effigies of himself and his two wives) she was entombed next to her mother in the magnificent sanctuary of Lincoln Cathedral, Lincolnshire - known in full as The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln or sometimes St. Mary's Cathedral. Joan's is the smaller of the two tombs; both were decorated with brass plates – full-length representations of them on the tops, and small shields bearing coats of arms around the sides — but those were damaged or destroyed in 1644 by Roundheads during the English Civil War. A 1640 drawing of them survives, showing what the tombs looked like when they were intact, and side-by-side instead of end-to-end, as they are now.[2]
- Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland (c. 1379 – 13 November 1440) was the fourth of the four illegitimate children (and only daughter) of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his mistress, later wife, Katherine Swynford; and, in her widowhood, a powerful landowner in the North of England.
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Sources - [S1160] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 6 Oct 2024), entry for Richard NEVILLE, person ID MB2S-LPW. (Reliability: 3).
- [S1160] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 6 Oct 2024), entry for Richard NEVILLE, person ID MB2S-LPW. (Reliability: 3).