Joan de Munchensi
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Joan de Munchensi (or Joanna, or Dionisie) was the daughter of Joan "Marshal" and granddaughter of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. She died in 1307.
William was the great Lord Marshal who served five successive kings of England and died in 1219. William's five sons each in turn became Earl of Pembroke, but all died childless. His inheritance was thus divided among his daughters. Joan "Marshal", the youngest, married Warin de Munchensi, Lord of Swanscombe. They were survived by one daughter, Joan de Munchensi.
In 1247 three sons of Hugh X of Lusignan, in difficulties after the French annexation of their territories, accepted Henry III's invitation to come to England. The three were William of Valence, Guy of Lusignan and Aymer. The king found important positions for all of them and William was soon married to Joan. Her portion of the Marshal estates included the castle and lordship of Pembroke and the lordship of Wexford in Ireland. The custody of Joan's property was entrusted to her husband. She also, apparently, transmitted to him the title of Earl of Pembroke; he thus became the first of the de Valence holders of the earldom.
Joan de Munchensi is well known not only for her family connections but also for her patronage of the Anglo-Norman poet Walter of Bibbesworth, whose Treatise, a verse glossary of Anglo-Norman vocabulary, was written at her request for her children's education.
William of Valence died in 1296. Accounts of the offspring of William and Joan vary, but some say that there were five children:
- John, who died in 1277
- William, who died in 1282
- Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, born c. 1275
- Isabel, who married John, 1st Lord Hastings. Their grandson Lawrence later became earl of Pembroke
- Joan, who married John Comyn (the "Red Comyn")
