Isabella, Countess of Gloucester (1173/1174 – 14 October 1217), was an English noblewoman who was married to King John prior to his accession.

Lineage

Isabella was the daughter of

William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester (23 November 1116 – 23 November 1183) was the son and heir of Sir Robert de Caen, 1st Earl of Gloucester, and Mabel FitzRobert of Gloucester, daughter of Robert Fitzhamon, and nephew of Empress M ...

, and his wife Hawise. Her paternal grandfather,

Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester (c. 1090 – 31 October 1147David Crouch, 'Robert, first earl of Gloucester (b. c. 1090, d. 1147)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200Retrieved ...

, was the illegitimate son of King Henry I. Her father died in 1183, at which time she became Countess of Gloucester ''

suo jure ''Suo jure'' is a Latin phrase, used in English to mean 'in his own right' or 'in her own right'. In most nobility-related contexts, it means 'in her own right', since in those situations the phrase is normally used of women; in practice, especi ...

''.

Royal marriage and annulment

On 28 September 1176, King Henry II betrothed Isabella to his youngest son,

John Lackland John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empi ...

Alison Weir Alison Weir ( Matthews; born 1951) is a British author and public historian. She primarily writes about the history of English royal women and families, in the form of biographies that explore their historical setting. She has also written nu ...

. ''Eleanor of Aquitaine: A life'', (1999) p. 218 Robert B. Patterson, ‘Isabella, suo jure countess of Gloucester (c.1160–1217)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 200
accessed 24 Nov 2006
/ref> John and Isabella were half-second cousins as great-grandchildren of Henry I, and thus within the prohibited degrees of

consanguinity Consanguinity ("blood relation", from Latin '' consanguinitas'') is the characteristic of having a kinship with another person (being descended from a common ancestor). Many jurisdictions have laws prohibiting people who are related by blood fr ...

. But in the marriage agreement, the King agreed to find the best husband possible for Isabella should the Pope refuse to grant a dispensation for the marriage. Henry also declared Isabella the sole heir to Gloucester, disinheriting her two sisters. On 29 August 1189, John and Isabella were married at Marlborough Castle in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, and John assumed the Earldom of Gloucester in her right.Weir, p. 252 Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, declared the marriage null by reason of consanguinity and placed their lands under

interdict In Catholic canon law, an interdict () is an ecclesiastical censure, or ban that prohibits persons, certain active Church individuals or groups from participating in certain rites, or that the rites and services of the church are banished from ...

. The interdict was lifted by

Pope Clement III Pope Clement III ( la, Clemens III; 1130 – 20 March 1191), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 December 1187 to his death in 1191. He ended the conflict between the Papacy and the city of Rome, by all ...

. The Pope granted a dispensation to marry but forbade the couple from having sexual relations. Shortly after John acceded to the throne in 1199, and before the end of August, he obtained an

annulment Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning al ...

of the marriage. The annulment was granted on the grounds of consanguinity, by the bishops of

Lisieux Lisieux () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It is the capital of the Pays d'Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and hedged farmland. Name The name of the town derives from the ...

Bayeux Bayeux () is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England. It is also known as the first major tow ...

, and

Avranches Avranches (; nrf, Avraunches) is a commune in the Manche department, and the region of Normandy, northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called ''Avranchinais''. History By the end of the Roman period ...

, sitting in Normandy.Weir, p. 319 John, however, kept her lands, and Isabella did not contest the annulment.

Earldom of Gloucester

After the annulment, John granted the title of Earl of Gloucester to Isabella's nephew Amaury,

count of Évreux The Count of Évreux was a French noble title and was named for the county of Évreux in Normandy. It was successively used by the Norman dynasty, the Montfort-l'Amaury family, the Capetians as well as the House of La Tour d'Auvergne. The title is ...

. This compensated Amaury for the loss of his French title, which was surrendered in the Treaty of Le Goulet. Upon his death without issue in 1213, Isabella once again became Countess of Gloucester.

Later marriages

Isabel later married

Geoffrey FitzGeoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex Geoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex and 4th Earl of Gloucester (c. 1191 – 23 February 1216) was an English peer. He was an opponent of King John and one of the ''Magna Carta'' sureties. Geoffrey and his brother took the surname Mande ...

, on 20 January 1214. He died in 1216. A year after Essex's demise, she married

Hubert de Burgh Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent (; ; ; c.1170 – before 5 May 1243) was an English nobleman who served as Chief Justiciar of England and Ireland during the reigns of King John and of his son and successor King Henry III and, as a consequenc ...

(later

Earl of Kent The peerage title Earl of Kent has been created eight times in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. In fiction, the Earl of Kent is also known as a prominent supporting character in William Shakespeare's tragedy K ...

), later the

justiciar Justiciar is the English form of the medieval Latin term ''justiciarius'' or ''justitiarius'' ("man of justice", i.e. judge). During the Middle Ages in England, the Chief Justiciar (later known simply as the Justiciar) was roughly equivalent ...

of England, in September 1217.

Death and burial

Isabella died just a month after her third marriage, probably at Keynsham Abbey in Somerset, which was founded by her father, and was interred in

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

Fictional portrayals

*A very fanciful depiction of her as a

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

appears in ''The Devil and King John'', a

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other t ...

Philip Lindsay Philip Lindsay (30 April 1906 – 4 January 1958) was an Australian writer, who mostly wrote historical novels. Life and writing He was the son of Norman Lindsay, an Australian artist and a younger brother of writer Jack Lindsay. He was ...

, where she is called Hadwisa. In his introduction, Lindsay acknowledged that he had no evidence that she was a witch, but for the purposes of his plot, he needed to provide a link between John and witchcraft.Lindsay, Philip Introduction to ''The Devil and King John'' *She appears as the character Hadwisa in ''

Robin of Sherwood ''Robin of Sherwood'' is a British television series, based on the legend of Robin Hood. Created by Richard Carpenter, it was produced by HTV in association with Goldcrest, and ran from 28 April 1984 to 28 June 1986 on the ITV network. In t ...

'', played by

Patricia Hodge Patricia Ann Hodge, OBE (born 29 September 1946) is an English actor. She is known on-screen for playing Phyllida Erskine-Brown in '' Rumpole of the Bailey'' (1978–1992), Jemima Shore in ''Jemima Shore Investigates'' (1983), Penny in '' Mira ...

. *She appears as character Avice in ''

The Adventures of Robin Hood ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' is a 1938 American Technicolor swashbuckler film from Warner Bros. Pictures. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke, directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, and stars Errol Flynn, Olivia d ...

'' episode "Isabella" played by

Helen Cherry Helen Mary Cherry (24 November 1915 – 27 September 2001) was an English stage, film and television actress. She was born in Worsley, Lancashire, and brought up in Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire. Marriage Whilst working at the Arts The ...

. *

Jessica Raine Jessica Raine (born Jessica Helen Lloyd; 20 May 1982) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Jenny Lee in the television series ''Call the Midwife'' (2012–2014) and Verity Lambert in the television film '' An Adventure in ...

plays her in the 2010 film ''

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...

''. *Featured briefly as Avisa in Virginia Henley's ''The Falcon and the Flower''. *Appears as Isobel in Roberta Gellis' historical romance novel ''Roselynde''. *Appears in Maureen Peters' historical novel ''Lackland's Bride''. *Appears as Avisa in

Sharon Kay Penman Sharon Kay Penman (August 13, 1945 – January 22, 2021) was an American historical novelist, published in the UK as Sharon Penman. She was best known for the Welsh Princes trilogy and the Plantagenet series. In addition, she wrote four medieval ...

's historical novel ''

Here Be Dragons "Here be dragons" ( la, hic sunt dracones) means dangerous or unexplored territories, in imitation of a medieval practice of putting illustrations of dragons, sea monsters and other mythological creatures on uncharted areas of maps where potent ...

''. *Appears as Avisa in Erica Laine's historical novel ''Isabella of Angouleme: the Tangled Queen Part One''

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gloucester, Isabella, Countess of 1170s births 1217 deaths 12th-century English nobility 13th-century English nobility 12th-century English women 13th-century English women John, King of England Isabella, Countess of Gloucester Isabella, Countess of Gloucester Repudiated queens English royal consorts Lords of Glamorgan Hereditary women peers Year of birth uncertain