Isabella (Angoulême) de Lusignan (abt. 1188 - abt. 1246)

Born about 1188 in Angoulême, Angoumois, France

Ancestors

Wife of John (Plantagenet) of England — married 24 Aug 1200 in Bordeaux, France

Wife of Hugues (Lusignan) de la Marche — married 1220 in France

Descendants

Died about May 1246 at about age 58 in Fontevrault-l'Abbaye, Anjou, France

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Biography

Birth and Parents

Isabella (as she is usually known) was the daughter of Aymer/Audemar, Count of Angolême, France and Alix/Alice, daughter of Pierre (son of Louis VI of France).^[1][2] She was said to be about 12 at the time her 1200 marriage to King John, pointing to a birth year of about 1188.^[3] She may have been born in her father's county of Angoulême.

Marriage to King John

In 1200 Isabella was betrothed to Hugues de Lusignan. This would have given Hugh control over the strategically important territory of Angoulême, which would have threatened the interests of King John of England.^[3] John prevented this, marrying Isabelle on 24 August 1200. There is disagreement over the marriage place: Charles Cawley gives it as Bordeaux Cathedral;^[1][4] Isabella's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography says it was at Angoulême.^[3] Isabella was crowned queen in Westminster Abbey on 8 October 1200.^[3]

Isabella and King John had five children:

• Henry,^[3] who succeeded his father as King Henry III and who was born at Winchester Castle, Hampshire on 1 October 1207^[1][5]
• Richard,^[3] who became the first Earl of Cornwall and who was born at Winchester Castle, Hampshire on 5 January 1209^[5][6][7]
• Joan,^[3] who married Alexander II of Scotland, and who was born on 22 July 1210,^[5][8] at Gloucester according to Douglas Richardson^[9]
• Isabella,^[3] who became the third wife of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, and who was born in 1214,^[5][10] at Gloucester according to Douglas Richardson^[1]
• Eleanor,^[3] who married William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke and Simon de Montfort,^[5] and who was probably born in 1215,^[11] at Gloucester according to Douglas Richardson^[12]

King John's marriage to Isabella alienated the Lusignans, who had earlier given John valuable support.^[3] In 1201 John further antagonised them by granting the County of La Marche, previously granted to Hugues, to Isabella's father. Hugues appealed to Philippe Auguste. John was summoned to appear before Philippe Auguste but did not do so. This led to Philippe Auguste invading Normandy and John's subsequent loss of most of his French possessions.^[13]

Isabella's father died in 1202, making her de jure Countess of Angoulême.^[4]

Reign of King John

In 1204, following the death of King John's mother Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella was promised Eleanor's dower estates.^[3]

In 1214 Isabella accompanied King John to Poitou, where her husband secured control over the County of Angoulême.^[3]

During the baronial rebellion which followed the signing of the Magna Carta, Isabella stayed mostly in south-west England.^[3]

Departure from England

King john died in October 1216.^[13] Isabella continued to use the title Queen of England. Most of her dower lands from her marriage to John were released to her, but castles she claimed at Exeter and Rockingham were withheld as also were 3500 marks which she said John had willed to her. She appears to have been given no significant role in the government of England.^[3]

In July 1217 Isabella abandoned England, leaving her children behind. Over the next few years she secured control over Angoulême, despite resistance from officials acting for Henry III.^[3]

Marriage to Hugues de Lusignan

In 1220 Isabella married Hugues de Lusignan, son of the Hugues to whom she had been betrothed in 1200. The exact date of their marriage is uncertain, but it was no later than May 1220.^[3][4] The marriage was not a smooth one: Hugues was unfaithful, and several times threatened to divorce her.^[3]

Isabella and Hugues had the following children:

• Hugues^[1][14]
• Guy^[1][14]
• Geoffroi^[1][14]
• William de Valence^[1][3][14]
• Aymer,^[1][3] who became Bishop of Winchester^[14][15]
• Agnės, who married Guillaume de Chauvigny^[1][14]
• Alice, who married John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey^[1][14]
• Isabella,^[3] who married Maurice de Craon^[1][14]
• Marguerite, who married Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse, Amaury IX, Viscount of Thouars, and Geoffroi de Châteaubriant^[1][14]

Relations with England

Isabella's relations with the English government were uneasy. In 1221 her English estates were briefly confiscated. They were finally declared forfeit in 1224, when her second husband entered into alliance with Louis VIII of France. Two years later, in 1226, she met her son Henry III, when he engaged in an unsuccessful military expedition to Poitou and Brittany. In 1241 she and Hugues de Lusignan are said to have sought to negotiate with Henry III over Poitou, but when Henry launched an expedition to Poitou the next year Hugues supported the French king.^[3]

Final Years, Death and Burial

Isabella spent her final years at Abbey], where she died on 4 June 1246^[1][3] (Charles Cawley gives the death date as 31 May.)^[4] Initially she was buried in the main cemetery of the Abbey: in 1254 Henry III visited Fontevrault and oversaw the removal of her remains to the choir of the Abbey's church, near where several Plantagenets were buried.^[1][3][16]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14} Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), Vol. I, 43-58, ENGLAND 5
2. ↑ P Scheffer Biochorst (ed.). 'Albrici monachi Triumfontion Chronicon', in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Vol. XXIII, Karl W Hiersemann (Leipzig), 1925, p. 874, viewable on Documenta Catholica Omnia website, accessed 29 January 2024
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 3.22} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Nicholas Vincent for 'Isabella [Isabella of Angoulême], suo jure countess of Angoulême', print and online 2004, revised online 2023
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Charles Cawley. Isabelle d'Angoulême', entry in “Medieval Lands” database (accessed 29 January 2024
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4} Charles Cawley. King John, entry in “Medieval Lands” database (accessed 17 January 2024
6. ↑ Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. II, pp. 298-306, CORNWALL 6
7. ↑ G E Cokayne. Complete Peerage, revised edition, Vol. III, st Catherine Press, 1913, pp. 430-432, Internet Archive
8. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Keith Stringer for 'Joan (1210–1238)', point and online 2004
9. ↑ Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. IV, pp. 590-593, SCOTLAND 5
10. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by D S H Abulafia for 'Isabella [Elizabeth, Isabella of England] (1214–1241)', print and online 2004
11. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Elizabeth Hallam for 'Eleanor, countess of Pembroke and Leicester', print and online 2004
12. ↑ Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. III, pp. 563-566, LEICESTER 10
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by John Gillingham for King John, print and online 2004, revised online 2021
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7 14.8} Charles Cawley. Hugues XII de Lusignan, entry in “Medieval Lands” database, accessed 29 January 2024
15. ↑ E B Fryde, D E Greenway, S Porter and I Roy (eds.). Handbook of British Chronology, 3rd edition, Royal Historical Society/University College (London), 1986, p. 276
16. ↑ Mark Duffy. Royal Tombs of Medieval England, The History Press, 2003, pp. 70-71

• Fougère, Sophie. Isabelle d'Angoulême, reine d'Angleterre, Edit-France, 1999
• Fraser, Antonia (ede.). The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2001
• Vincent, Nicholas. 'Isabella of Angouleme: John's Jezebel' in King John: New Interpretations (ed. S D Church), The Boydell Press, 1999, pp. 165-219
• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900:
  • Vol. 29, pp. 63-64, entry for 'ISABELLA of Angoulême', Wikisource
  • Vol. 29, pp. 402-417, entry for King John, Wikisource
• Wikipedia: Isabella of Angoulême