Page:The Queens of England.djvu/203

JOANNA OF NAVARRE. 171 afterward at Pevensey. She was deprived of all her rich pos- sesions in lands, money, furniture, and even of her wearing- apparel ; and her servants were dismissed hy her jailer, Sir John Pelham, and strangers placed about her person. One writer has ventured to assert that Joanna was convicted on this charge, but it is certain she never was permitted the opportunity of re- futing these dark allegations. Without any regard to justice she was condemned unheard, and committed to solitary confine- ment. The violent death of the priest Randolf forever silenced his evidence ; and as he was the only witness against her, this affair has continued a mystery. It has, however, been supposed that King Henry the Fifth wished to borrow large sums from the ample dower of his stepmother, and meeting with some re- sistance on her part, caused her arrest on this frivolous charge, which afforded him a pretense to replenish his coffers. The return of King Henry the Fifth with his bride, the beau- tiful Katherine of Valois, brought no alleviation to the suffer- ings of Queen Joanna ; for, although her near relative, that princess evinced no sympathy for her ; and even part of the royal dower of the prisoner was assigned over to maintain the state of the new queen. At length the mighty conqueror of France, finding his end approaching, was seized with remorse for the injuries he had inflicted on his father's widow ; and addressed the lords and bishops of his council, on the 13th of July, 1422, commanding the restitution of Queen Joanna's lands. This letter freed the queen, if not in words, at least in effect, from the serious charge under which she had been suffering. Previously to this, how- ever, she had been removed to Leeds Castle, and her captivity somewhat ameliorated. King Henry died on the 31st of August, 1422 ; and in the reign of his successor, Henry the Sixth, a petition was presented by Joanna for the complete resti- tution of her dower, commanded by his father, whose grants to other individuals had raised some difficulties in this matter. Queen Joanna lived many years after her restoration to lib- erty and her royal station. She sometimes resided at Langley, but her favorite retreat was Havering Bower, at which place she died on the 9th of July, 1437, being sixty-seven years of age. Joanna of Navarre had nine children by her first husband. Of these, two died in infancy. The eldest was Duke of Brit- tany; the second, the valiant Arthur, Earl of Richmond, distin- guished himself in France ; and her two daughters who came