Clemence LE BOTELER

  General Notes:

https://plantagenesta.livejournal.com/30673.html
Joan, by a mistress named Clemence (politely called "regina Clemencie" by the Tewkesbury Annals). She married Llywelyn Fawr in 1206 and they had several children. Legitimated by a decree of Pope Honorius II in 1226 (Rex anglie solutus te genuerit de soluta, "King John, when unmarried, fathered you by a maiden woman") She died April 1236.

https://plantagenesta.livejournal.com/53309.html
"The mother and daughters of Joan of Wales" seems to give a reasonable explanation to who Clemence might have been:

Who was Joan's mother? Penman invents a character named Clemence d'Arcy, a well-born Norman girl impregnated by John and then cast off, who dies in alcoholic misery. The only source that explicitly names Joan's mother is her obit in the Tewkesbury Annals: Obiit domina Johanna domina Walliae, uxor Lewelini filia regis Johannis et regina Clemencie, iii. kal. Aprilis."

Who was this Queen Clemence? The title "queen" seems to have been a respectful term from the monk. The only Queen Clemence in Europe at that time was Clemence of Toulouse, wife of Sancho VII of Navarre, and it seems doubtful that John had a liaison with such a prominant woman without some mention being made of it.

A much more likely candidate is Clemence, wife of Nicholas de Verdun. From the Patent Rolls of the Reign of Henry III comes this entry from 1228, from King Henry III (son of King John and thusly Joan's half-brother):

Rex dilecto et fideli suo Nicholao de Verdun et Clementie uxori sue, salutem. Sciatis quod nos vobis benigne concedimus quod fidelis noster et dilectus frater L. princeps Norwallie et Johanna uxor sua et dilecta soror nostra Susannam filiam suam, neptem nostram, vobis committere duxerit [sic] nutriendam, eam salvo et secure et sine omni dampno et occasione suscipiatis et penes vos retineatis. In cujus rei testimonium etc. vobis mittimus. Teste me, apud Westmonasterium, xxiiij die Novembris, anno etc.

Henry III is placing his niece Susanna, the daughter of Llywelyn and Joan, in the care of Nicholas de Verdun and his wife Clemence. This entry is worth a second look. We know Joan's mother was named Clemence. Here we see Joan's daughter being placed in the care of a woman named Clemence, who is a subject to the English king. If Clemence was Joan's mother, she would've had an obvious interest in her granddaughter Susanna.

Clemence was the daughter of Philip le Boteler (Curia Regis Roll, 1243 [17:281-2 (no. 1462)]) and she inherited lands in Steeple Lavington, Wiltshire that she later bestowed upon another granddaughter. She and Nicholas de Verdun had one known daughter and heiress, Rohese. Rohese de Verdun, in turn, married William Perceval de Somery (died by June 1222) by whom she had a son, Nicholas (died a minor before 4 July 1229; his heir was his uncle Roger de Somery). Rohese then married Theobald Butler in 1225, by whom she had further issue. Nicholas de Verdun died in 1231; Clemence was still alive as of October of that year, as was their daughter Rohese.

Clemence married John "Lackland" PLANTAGENET , King of Enfland, son of Henri II PLANTAGENET , King of England and Eleanor OF AQUITAINE , Duchess of Aquitaine. (John "Lackland" PLANTAGENET , King of Enfland was born on 24 Dec 1166 in Beaumont palace, Oxford, England and died on 19 Oct 1216 in Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire, England.)

Clemence next married Nicholas DE VERDUN, son of Bertram III DE VERDUN , Lord of Farnham, Seneschal of Ireland, Sheriff of Leicestershire and Unknown, in 1205. (Nicholas DE VERDUN was born in 1175 in Alton, Hampshire, England.)