Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville

Joan de Geneville was a wealthy marcher heiress and suo jure Baroness Geneville whose marriage connected the Geneville estates to the rising Mortimer family. Born at Ludlow in 1286, she inherited extensive lands in the Welsh Marches and Ireland from her grandfather Geoffrey de Geneville. In 1301 she married Roger Mortimer, later 1st Earl of March, and the couple had a large family. Her property and kinship connections materially strengthened the territorial base from which Mortimer built his political power.

Joan’s life was repeatedly disrupted by her husband’s conflict with Edward II. After Mortimer’s rebellion failed in 1322, she was confined while he escaped to France; he later returned with Queen Isabella and became the dominant figure in government after Edward II’s deposition. When Edward III overthrew and executed Mortimer in 1330, Joan again lost control of lands and status, but she gradually recovered her inheritance and received a royal pardon. She died in 1356, having survived the political catastrophe that destroyed her husband.

Anne O’Brien’s A Court of Betrayal makes Joan de Geneville the viewpoint through which Roger Mortimer’s spectacular rise and fall is experienced. The novel follows her marriage, inheritance and children, her imprisonment after Mortimer’s rebellion against Edward II, and the dangerous consequences of his return to power alongside Queen Isabella. Joan’s task is repeatedly one of survival: preserving her family and estates while the ambitions of her husband place everyone attached to the Mortimer name at risk.