Fair Maid of Kent
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Joan (1328-85), Countess of Salisbury, wife of the Black Prince and only daughter of Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Kent. She had been twice married ere she gave Her hand to the prince.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Fair Maid of Kent” mean?
Joan (1328-85), Countess of Salisbury, wife of the Black Prince and only daughter of Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Kent. She had been twice married ere she gave Her hand to the prince.
Is “Fair Maid of Kent” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.