Joan Welles, ''de jure suo jure'' 9th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby (d. before 23 January 1475), inherited the baronies of Welles and Willoughby at the death of her brother,

Robert Welles, 8th Baron Willoughby de Eresby Robert Welles, 8th Baron Willoughby de Eresby and 8th Baron Welles (died 19 March 1470), was the son of Richard Welles, 7th Baron Welles, and Joan Willoughby, 7th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. He was the prime mover in an uprising against Edward ...

, in 1470.

Family

Joan Welles was the daughter of

Richard Welles, 7th Baron Welles Richard Welles, 7th Baron Welles (c.1428–1470), was an English nobleman and soldier. From a Lancastrian family, he came to be on good terms with the Yorkist King Edward IV, but was later executed after being associated with a plot against Edwa ...

, and his first wife, Joan Willoughby, in her own right Lady Willoughby, daughter and heir of

Robert Willoughby, 6th Baron Willoughby de Eresby Robert Willoughby, 6th Baron Willoughby de Eresby ( 1385 – 25 July 1452) was an English nobleman and military commander in the Hundred Years' War. Family Robert Willoughby was the son of William Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, and ...

, and his first wife, Elizabeth Montagu, daughter of

John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury and 5th and 2nd Baron Montagu, KG (c. 1350 – 7 January 1400) was an English nobleman, one of the few who remained loyal to Richard II after Henry IV became king. Early life He was the son of Sir John de Mo ...

. She had an only brother,

Career

Shortly before 1 June 1470, she married Sir Richard Hastings, a committed supporter of the

House of York The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, ...

. Joan Welles was heir to her brother,

. However her inheritance was complicated by the fact that, as the result of an anti-Yorkist uprising in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, Joan Welles' father,

, and her brother, Sir Robert, had both been beheaded by order of

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

within a week of each other, her father on 12 March 1470, and her brother on 19 March. A month later, on 25 April 1470, the King seized Sir Robert Welles' lands, but on 1 June 1470, granted them to Joan and her now husband, Sir Richard Hastings, giving them licence to enter all the lands 'which on the death of her father and brother, both tenants-in-chief, should descend to her'. According to modern doctrine, Joan also inherited the baronies of Willoughby and Welles after her brother's execution. Joan Welles died about 1474/5. The exact date of her death is not known; however she likely died shortly before her father and brother were

attainted In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary ...

, five years after their executions, by the Parliament of January–March 1475. As a result of the attainders, all their honours were forfeited, including the baronies of Welles and Willoughby, which should have been inherited, respectively, after Joan Welles' death, by her uncle of the half blood,

John Welles, 1st Viscount Welles John (de) Welles, 1st Viscount Welles, Knight of the Garter, KG (c. 1450 – 9 February 1498) was an English House of Lancaster, Lancastrian nobleman who was made a Knight of the Garter. John was born about 1450 to Lionel de Welles, 6th Baron ...

, and her second cousin,

Christopher Willoughby, 10th Baron Willoughby de Eresby Sir Christopher Willoughby, ''de jure'' 10th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, KB (1453 – between 1 November 1498 and 13 July 1499), was heir to his second cousin, Joan Welles, 9th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, in her own right Lady Willoughby, as ...

. According to some historians, the attainders were passed by Parliament in order to enable Edward IV to grant Joan Welles' lands after her death to her husband, 'the trusted

Yorkist The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, t ...

Sir Richard Hastings', and accordingly, on 23 January 1475, the King granted Hastings a life interest in the greater part of the Welles and Willoughby estates. Moreover, Hastings was summoned to Parliament from 14 November 1482 to 9 December 1483 by writs directed ''Ricardo Hastyng de Wellys'', whereby he is held to have become either Lord Hastings of Welles, or Lord Welles. Under Henry VII, the attainders of Joan Welles' father and brother, as well as the attainder of her uncle, John Welles, were all reversed by the Parliament of 1485/6. John Welles was still living, and with the reversal of his attainder became Lord Welles. Joan Welles' former husband, Sir Richard Hastings, was thus no longer recognized as Lord Welles. In compensation, however, it was enacted in the same year that Hastings should be entitled, for life, to all the lands which had belonged to Joan Welles' father. Having received this grant, until his death Hastings continued to be styled, and styled himself, Lord Willoughby, to the exclusion of

, who should have inherited the title.

Marriage and issue

Joan Welles married, shortly before 1 June 1470, Sir Richard Hastings (d.1503), by whom she had a son, Anthony Hastings. Sir Richard Hastings was the son of Leonard Hastings and Alice Camoys, daughter of

Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys (c. 1351 – 28 March 1421), KG, of Trotton in Sussex, was an English peer who commanded the left wing of the English army at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Origins Thomas de Camoys was the son of Sir Joh ...

, by his first wife, Elizabeth Louches, the daughter and heir of William Louches. He was a younger brother of

William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings KG (c. 1431 – June 1483) was an English nobleman. A loyal follower of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses, he became a close friend and one of the most important courtiers of King Edward IV, w ...

. After the death of Joan Welles, he married Joan Romondbye (d. 20 March 1505), widow of Richard Pigot, (died c. 15 April 1483),

Serjeant-at-law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writ ...

, by whom he had no issue. He left a will dated 18 March 1502, proved 5 October 1503.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Welles, Joan 9th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby Willoughby de Eresby, Joan Welles, 9th Baroness *09 Willoughby de Eresby, Joan Welles, 9th Baroness Year of birth unknown