Isabel (Despenser) Beauchamp (1400 - 1439)

Born 27 Jul 1400 in Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales

Ancestors

Wife of Richard Beauchamp KB — married 27 Jul 1411 (to 18 Mar 1422) in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire

Wife of Richard Beauchamp KG — married 26 Nov 1423 in Hanley Castle, Worcestershire

Descendants

Died 27 Dec 1439 at age 39 in Friars Minoresses, London, Middlesex

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Biography

Isabel le Despenser was born in 1400 at Cardiff, Glamorgan on 27 July^[1] (Septem dormientes) and baptized in St. Mary’s church there.^[2]

Her father, Thomas le Despenser, K.G., Earl of Gloucester, 5th Lord le Despenser, third but first surviving son and heir of Edward le Despenser and Elizabeth (Burghersh),^[3] had been beheaded at Bristol on 16 January 1399/1400.^[4]

Her mother was Constance of York, granddaughter of King Edward III of England, daughter of his son Edmund of Langley, K.G., Duke of York and Isabel, daughter and co-heiress of Pedro the Cruel, of Castile and León.^[4]

As the sole heir of her brother Richard, Baron Burghersh, Isabel le Despenser succeeded him in 1414 as suo jure Lady Burghersh.^[5]

Isabel married twice, to cousins of the same name.

Her first husband was Richard de Beauchamp, K.G., 2nd Lord Abergavenny, Earl of Worcester (created February 1420/1). They married in or before 1415^[6] and had one daughter

1. Elizabeth (b. 16 Sept 1415),^[7] married Edward Neville^[8]

Richard, the Earl of Worcester, died in France at the Siege of Meaux^[6] on 18 March 1421/2.

Her second husband was Richard de Beauchamp, K.B., K.G., Earl of Warwick, widower of Elizabeth Berkeley (by whom he had three daughters, including Elizabeth, who married George Neville, brother of Edward, who married Isabel's daughter Elizabeth by her first husband).^[9]

Richard, Earl of Warwick, married Isabel, widow of his cousin Richard, Earl of Worcester, on 26 November 1423 at Hanley Castle, Worcestershire.^[5][10] They had two children:^[10]

1. Henry Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick m. Cecille Neville^[11] (parents of Anne Beauchamp, 15th Countess Warwick)
2. Anne Beauchamp, 16th Countess Warwick, m. Richard Neville, K.G., Earl of Warwick, Earl of Salisbury (parents of Anne Neville, Queen of England)

The baroness, styled countess of Warwick in her will, died at Friars Minoresses in London, and was buried in Tewkesbury Abbey which received 100 marks from her will^[12] and was where her father had been buried in 1399/1400.^[4]

In her will, dated 1 December 1439 and proved 4 February 1439/40,^[5] "Dame Isabell, Countesse of Warrewyk... requested to be buried in Tewkesbury Abby. She desired her statue to be made naked, with Mary Magdalen, St. John, and St. Anthony near and poor men and women about her tomb. She bequests her head jewels to Tewkesbury and gifts to the shrines of Tewkesbury, Caversham, Walsingham, Wo'ster etc. Other jewels to be sold for the purposes of the will. Gifts of brooches and money to legatees. Tewkesbury to be endowed with 100M."^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, volume I, pages 146-150 BEAUCHAMP 8.
2. ↑ J. L. Kirby, 'Inquisitions Post Mortem, Henry V, Entries 151-203', in Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem: Volume 20, Henry V (London, 1995), pp. 50-64. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/inquis-post-mortem/vol20/pp50-64 [accessed 21 November 2020].
3. ↑ Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, volume II, page 453 DESPENSER 13.i., 14.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} 76-78 DESPENSER 9.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} 8. Richard Beauchamp, 2011, p. 146.[1].
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} CP:IV:282
7. ↑ #MCA1 Magna Carta Ancestry, 2011
8. ↑ Burke, 1839.[2]
9. ↑ Warwick's children with first wife, Berkely:
   1. Margaret Beauchamp m John Talbot
   2. Eleanor Beauchamp m Thomas Roos, Edmund Beaufort, K.G., & Walter Rokesley
   3. Elizabeth Beauchamp (source: Burke, 1831, p. 34.[3]), married (1) George Neville (source: Burke, 1831, p. 387.[4]), Knight, 1st Lord Latimer; (2) Thomas Wake ~ #MCA1, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2011, p. 149.[5]
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} #MCA1, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2011, p. 149.[6]
11. ↑ perhaps this Cecily - Neville-589? (Magna Carta Ancestry, 2011, p. 149), showed wife's name as Cecily)
12. ↑ Furnivall, 1882.[7]
13. ↑ Furnivall, Frederick J. The Fifty Earliest English Wills. London. Page 116[8]

• Furnivall, Frederick J. The Fifty Earliest English Wills. London. Page 116[9]
• Furnivall, F.J. (1882). "Countess of Warwick, 1439." The Fifty Earliest English Wills in the Court of Probate, London: A.D. 1387-1439, with a Priest's of 1454. Early English Text Society, 78, pp. 116-119. Google Books.(see: Space:Early English Text Society)
• Lewis, M. (2013, August 28). "Isabel le Despenser," (citing Richardson; CP:II). ORTNCA. Web.(see: Richardson, D. (2013). Royal Ancestry, I, pp. 319)
• Richardson, D. (2011).Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd ed., pp. 76-78. Kimball G. Everingham, Ed. Salt Lake City, UT. Google Books.(see: "9. Thomas le Despenser, K.G., 5th Lord le Despenser," I, p. 166.[10], BERGAVENNY 8.)
• Richardson, D. (2013). Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author. See also WikiTree's source page for Royal Ancestry.
• Wikipedia: Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Worcester

Acknowledgements

Thanks to contributors. Special thanks to Michelle Brooks for straightening out the families of these two Richards.