Joan Thynne

Joan, Lady Thynne, born Joan Hayward (1558 – 3 March 1612) was an English gentlewoman. She took an active role in managing property including Caus Castle. The secret marriage of her son is said to have inspired Shakespeare's retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story. Joan fought the marriage for seven years; she did not forgive her son and took him to court again after he inherited Longleat House.

Life She was baptised in 1558. Her parents were Lady Joan (born Tyllesworth) and Sir Rowland Hayward, the first Lord Mayor of London. Her mother died in 1580 and her father married again, giving her in time three surviving brothers and two surviving sisters.

She had an arranged marriage with John Thynne (died 1604) and they had two sons

In 1594, her son Thomas made a secret and – in her opinion, ill-advised – marriage to Maria Tuchet, who was the daughter of George Tuchet, then Lord Audley. Joan was involved in unsuccessful attempts to have that marriage annulled. The dispute over the marriage was resolved in 1601 by Daniel Donne, the Dean of the Court of Arches, who ruled against her claim. When her husband John died in 1604, Longleat passed into the hands of her enemy Maria Thynne. Joan did not forgive her son and in 1605 she, on behalf of her daughters, took him to the Chancery court.

She was a patron of the arts; John Maynard dedicated his satirical music titled The XII Wonders of the World to her in 1611.

Thynne died suddenly in London in 1612. She had made plans for this which she had detailed in her will. Her daughters, not her son, were the executors but they were thwarted as the funds available were insufficient to fund her bequests.