Isabella, Countess of Gloucester

Isabella, Countess of Gloucester (c. 1173 – 14 October 1217), was an English noblewoman who was married to King John prior to his accession. She is known by an exceptionally large number of alternative names: Isabel, Hadwisa, Hawisia, Hawise, Joan, Eleanor, Avise and Avisa.

Lineage

Isabella was the daughter of William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester, and his wife Hawise. Her paternal grandfather, Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, was the illegitimate son of King Henry I. Her father died in 1183 at which time she became Countess of Gloucester.

Royal marriage and annulment

On 28 September 1176, she was betrothed to John Lackland, the youngest son of King Henry II.^[1][2] According to the marriage agreement, the King agreed to find the best husband possible for Isabella should the pope refuse to grant a dispensation; also Isabella was declared the sole heir to Gloucester, disinheriting her two sisters.^[2]

On 29 August 1189 they were married at Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire and John assumed the title in her right.^[2][3] Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, declared the marriage null and placed their lands under interdict for marrying within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity (they were half-second cousins as great-grandchildren of King Henry I). The interdict was lifted by Pope Clement III. The Pope granted a dispensation to marry but forbade the couple from having sexual relations.^[3]

Shortly after John's accession to the throne in 1199, and before the end of August, he had the marriage annulled on the grounds of consanguinity. The annulment was granted by the bishops of Lisieux, Bayeux and Avranches sitting in Normandy.^[4] John, however, kept her lands, and Isabella did not contest the annulment.^[4]

Earldom of Gloucester

After the annulment King John granted the title of Earl of Gloucester to Isabella's nephew Amaury, count of Evreux. He did this to compensate 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.^[2]

Later marriages

Isabel later married Geoffrey FitzGeoffrey de Mandeville, the Earl of Essex, on 20 January 1214. He died in 1216. A year after Essex's demise she married Hubert de Burgh (later Earl of Kent), later the justiciar of England, in September 1217.^[2]

Death and burial

Isabella died just a month later that year, probably at Keynsham Abbey in Somerset, which was founded by her father, and was interred in Canterbury Cathedral.^[2]

Fictional portrayals

• A very fanciful depiction of her as a witch appears in The Devil and King John, a historical novel by Philip Lindsay, 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.

• She appears as the character Hadwisa in Robin of Sherwood, played by Patricia Hodge.
• She appears as character Avice in The Adventures of Robin Hood episode "Isabella" played by Helen Cherry.
• Jessica Raine plays her in the film Robin Hood.

• Featured briefly as Avisa in Virginia Henley's The Falcon and the Flower.

References

1. ↑ Alison Weir. Eleanor of Aquitaine: A life, (1999) p. 218 ISBN 0-345-43487-0
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Robert B. Patterson, ‘Isabella, suo jure countess of Gloucester (c.1160–1217)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2005 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/46705, accessed 24 Nov 2006]
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Weir, p. 252
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Weir, p. 319