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Historical person
1191–1237
Joan, Lady of Wales, was the illegitimate daughter of King John of England and wife of Llywelyn the Great. Her marriage helped connect English and Welsh politics during a period of negotiation, war and shifting alliances.
Joan, Lady of Wales also held the offices or ranks of princess consort. Joan, Lady of Wales belonged to the House of Plantagenet and operated within France. Joan, Lady of Wales was born in France and died in Wales.
Sharon Kay Penman’s Here Be Dragons makes Joanna—Joan, Lady of Wales—the emotional and diplomatic centre of its account of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth’s rise. As King John’s illegitimate daughter and Llywelyn’s wife, she moves between two rulers whose wars repeatedly force her to choose between father, husband and the survival of her children. Penman uses the marriage to turn Anglo-Welsh diplomacy into a family conflict in which Joanna’s mediation can matter as much as battlefield success.
Series
The trilogy follows native Welsh rulers and their families across the thirteenth century, from Llywelyn the Great and Joanna through Simon de Montfort’s baronial reform movement to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd’s final struggle against Edward I. It treats Welsh politics, marriage, kinship and resistance alongside English royal expansion.
All books in this series
