Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots

Joan Beaufort was an English noblewoman of the legitimised Beaufort line who became queen consort of Scotland through her marriage to James I. Born around 1404, she was a granddaughter of John of Gaunt through John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset. James had spent many years detained in England and married Joan in 1424 shortly before returning to Scotland to begin his personal rule. Their marriage produced a large family, including the future James II.

When James I was assassinated at Perth in February 1437, Joan was wounded but survived and moved quickly to protect the six-year-old James II and secure his coronation. Her position as queen mother drew her into the factional struggles of the minority government, particularly competition among the Crichton, Livingstone and Douglas interests. She later married Sir James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn, a politically contentious match. Joan died in 1445 at Dunbar after years of manoeuvring around her son’s unstable minority.

J. R. Tomlin’s A King Ensnared, A King Imperiled and A King Uncaged follow James I and therefore place Joan within the king’s captivity, return and dangerous Scottish reign. Nigel Tranter’s Lion Let Loose also uses the same royal and noble conflicts, allowing Joan’s role as queen and later protector of James II to emerge from the wider struggle over the Stewart monarchy.