Joan Stewart, Countess of Morton

Joan Stewart, Princess of Scotland (circa 1428 – after 16 October 1486) was a daughter of James I of Scotland and Joan Beaufort. She married James Douglas, 1st Earl of Morton.

Joan was born deaf and reportedly used sign language, even in public, which was scandalous behaviour for the time. She was first betrothed to James Douglas, 3rd Earl of Angus but the marriage never took place and he died a year after she left for France to be with her sister Margaret, Dauphine of France after their mother's death in 1445. As she was 17, she would likely have been educated in Scotland as there was no education for the deaf in this period and her sign language was probably a result of monastic sign language which she could as likely been exposed to in Scotland as France. She was known as "the dumb lady" (muta domina), or "the dumb lady of Dalkeith," as wife of the 4th Lord Dalkeith.[1] In 1445 she went to France with her sister Eleanor who three years later married the Archduke of Austria, a first cousin of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor of the House of Habsburg. She possibly lived at the French Court or that of her sister Isabella who was married to the Duke of Brittany. Joan (Johanna) remained in France for 9 more years before she was called home to Scotland in 1457. Back in Scotland she married James Douglas, 4th Baron Dalkeith who became Earl of Morton upon their marriage. Of the six daughters of James I of Scotland, only Joan and Annabella married Scottish Nobles.

Joan had the following children:

She was buried at Dalkeith Church, Midlothian. Joan's effigy on the Morton Monument is said to be the world's oldest image of a known deaf person.

Ancestry

References

Notes

  1. ^ Maxwell, 238.
  2. ^ McAndrew, Scotland's Historic Heraldry, p 173
  3. ^ http://thepeerage.com/p10210.htm#i102098