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THE WAKES. 299
de Chaworth, Lord of Kidevelly, the elder branch of the family whose
arms, impaled with Scrope, are in the south transept of our choir.
Baron Thomas became also Governor of Jersey and Constable of the
Town, but he died without issue, 1349. His sister and sole heir, Margaret,
married Edmond of Woodstock, younger son of Edward I. King of
England, by his second wife Margaret, daughter of Philip
III. of France.
He was created Earl of Kent " per cincturam gladii," by Edward II., his
half-brother, 1321; but in 1329, the fourth year of the reign of King
Edward III., he was arrested on a charge of high treason and beheaded
at Winchester, " after he had stood on the scaffold from noon until five
"in the evening expecting the deadly stroke which no one could give
"him, till a base wretch of the Marshalsea was sent who performed it."*
His widow Margaret survived until September 2gth, 1349. His two sons,
Edward and John, died, the latter 1349, without issue, and his only
daughter, Joan, being for her admirable beauty called " the fair maid of
"Kent," succeeded as Lady of Wake, and Countess of Kent in her own
right.
"Joan, the fair maid of Kent, was" (says Mr. James, quoting from
Dugdale in his Life of Edward the Black Prince, vol. ii., p. 298) "when a
" mere child affianced to Thomas Holland. During his absence from
" England, the Countess of Salisbury, under whose charge she had been
" left, either ignorant of the previous engagement or stimulated by the
"prospect of great wealth and an alliance with the royal family, caused
" a contract to be drawn up between her and her eldest son. When the
" young lady, however, came to a marriageable age, she was claimed by
" the Lord Holland, and the dispute was brought before Clement VI., who
" after long investigation decided in favour of Lord Holland, and the
" second contract was annulled." But inasmuch as she did not marry
Sir Thomas Holland until she was twenty-five,
it is possible that Miss
Agnes Strickland's accountf is true, and that, in spite of any contract which
her parents had made for her, a long and early attachment existed between
her and the Black Prince. But Queen Philippa had a great objection to
her son's union with his cousin because of her " flightiness ; " and even
Froissart condescends to chronicle some scandalous stories concerning her ;
but she was beautiful, and rich, and a countess in her own right, and we
can therefore make allowance for no little jealousy amongst the ladies and
gentlemen of the Court, which would vent itself in the usual way.
However, at twenty-five, I suppose she began to despair of the royal
consent, and therefore gave her hand to Sir Thomas Holland. But in
1360 he died, having that year assumed the title of Earl of Kent and
been so summoned to Parliament, leaving her with three sons and a
* See Royal Heraldry, t Life of Philippa of Hainault.