Isabel de Bolebec

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Isabel de Bolebec, countess of Oxford (c. 1165-1245), eldest daughter and co-heiress of Hugh de Bolebec, lord of Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire, England (d. c. 1166) and a patroness of the Order of Friars Preacher (Dominicans) in England. She married first Henry of Nonant, lord of Totnes, Devonshire (d.s.p. 1206); in 1207 she petitioned the crown for the right to marry whom she wished. That same year she married her dead niece's brother-in-law, Robert de Vere, heir to the earldom of Oxford. (Her niece bore the same first and surname, Isabel de Bolebec, and also married a de Vere, Robert's brother Aubrey IV, 2nd earl of Oxford. That has lead to great confusion and difficulty separating the two women. Isabel the younger had died by 1207, and her aunts Isabel and Constance were her co-heirs.) Her only known child, Hugh de Vere, was born within the next year, and Isabel became countess of Oxford when Robert inherited the earldom in 1214.

Earl Robert joined the barons whose dissatisfaction with King John prompted their rebellion, and the earl was one of 25 barons elected by the terms of Magna Carta to ensure the king's continued good behavior. That position led to his excommunication when Pope Innocent III released John from the terms of Magna Carta, and the king took Castle Hedingham, Essex, the earl's seat, in 1216. Robert made peace with the regents of John's son, Henry III, in 1217 and eventually served as a judge until his death in 1222. Countess Isabel purchased the wardship of her minor son and his inheritance for 6000 marcs. They traveled together on pilgrimage 'beyond the seas' in 1237.

Countess Isabel was one of the chief benefactors of the Dominican Order in England. She assisted the friars sent to England in 1221 to find quarters in the city of Oxford, building their oratory there c. 1227. When the friars needed a larger priory, she and the bishop of Carlisle bought land south of Oxford and contributed most of the funds and materials needed. She was buried in the new church there. The countess was also a litigatious woman, engaged in a number of lawsuits, including one long dispute with Woburn Abbey.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "Isabel de Bolebec." Complete Peerage, "Robert De Vere, 3rd earl of Oxford", vol. X, 211-213 Survey of the Antiquities of the city of Oxford...by Anthony Wood (Oxford Historical Society, 1890)