Isabella, Countess of Bedford
Isabella of England | |
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Countess of Bedford | |
Born | 16 June 1332 Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy |
Issue | Marie, Countess of Soissons Philippa de Vere, Duchess of Ireland |
House | Plantagenet |
Father | Edward III of England |
Mother | Philippa of Hainault |
Isabella of England (16 June 1332 – c. 5 October 1382) was the eldest daughter of King
Early years
Isabella was Edward and Philippa's second child, and eldest daughter.[1] Named after her paternal grandmother, Isabella of France, Isabella is believed to have been her father's favourite daughter, but less close to her mother.[2]
Born at
Betrothals
When she was just 3 years old, her father attempted to arrange a marriage between Isabella and
Isabella – unusually for the times – remained unmarried until the age of 33. She had previously been the subject of various betrothal proposals; however, these had all failed to come to fruition. On 15 November 1351, when she was 19 years old, five ships were instructed to take her to
Eventually, she was permitted to marry
Marriage and issue
Isabella's husband had been brought to
In November 1365, Isabella and her husband were permitted to enter France; their first daughter, Marie, was born at the family lands at Coucy in April 1366.[2] They later returned for a visit to England; on this occasion, Enguerrand was made Earl of Bedford on 11 May 1366, which made Isabella Countess of Bedford as well as Lady of Coucy. After the birth of Isabella's second daughter, Philippa, in 1367, Enguerrand and Isabella were also made Count and Countess of Soissons by Edward. Because her husband also served the King of France as a military leader, he was frequently away from home; consequently, Isabella, though living principally with Enguerrand at Coucy, made frequent visits to her family in England. She was made a Lady of the Garter in 1376.
Isabella bore two children by her marriage to Enguerrand de Coucy:
- Marie de Coucy (April 1366 – 1405), suo jure Countess of Soissons. She married Henry of Bar, a nephew of Charles V of France, by whom she had children. After her father's death, she disputed the inheritance of his lands with her stepmother, Isabelle of Lorraine, before dying suddenly. After her death, her patrimony was absorbed into the French royal estates.
- Robert de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, in 1371, and lived thereafter in England. She died childless.
Death
This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2016) |
Isabella was at her father's side when he died on 21 June 1377 having been urgently summoned home from France by couriers the previous April.[5]
After the accession of Richard II, Isabella's nephew, in August 1377, Enguerrand resigned all of his English ties and possessions. Isabella then died in England, separated from her husband and eldest daughter, Marie.
Her death was between 17 June and 5 October 1382.[6][7] She was buried in Greyfriars Church, Newgate, London. Seven years after her death, her husband took as his second wife, Isabelle, the daughter of John I, Duke of Lorraine and Sophie of Württemberg.
In fiction
Molly Costain Haycraft's fictionalized account of Isabella's life and courtship with her husband, The Lady Royal, recounts several incidents in the lives of the princess and other members of Edward III's family, but contains a number of historical errors. Chief among these is the explanation of the book's title; according to the story, Isabella (or Isabel, as she is identified in the story) was titled Princess Royal and later promoted to "Lady Royal" by her parents. This is impossible, given that the title of Princess Royal was not created until the reign of Charles I of England.
One reviewer commented that "Edward III's proclamation of the intended marriage... conveys more of the cadence of Plantagenet Britain than do pages of Mrs Haycraft's dreary efforts."[8] Others praise the author's attention to historical detail.[9]
Ancestry
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References
- ^ Lutkin 2010, p. 131, 145–146.
- ^ ISBN 9780753826119.
- ^ Cokayne, G.E. The Complete Peerage, Vol. II, p. 69
- ^ a b c Richardson, Douglas & Kimball G. Everingham. (2004) Plantagenet Ancestry: a study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company Inc. p. 26; retrieved 25 November 2010.
- ^ a b Tuchman, Barbara W. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century, Knopf, pp. 215–16, 318.
- ^ Calendar of the Patent Rolls of Richard II, 1381–1385, pg. 166
- ^ The Westminster Chronicle, pg. 28–29
- ^ Best Sellers: From the U.S. Government Printing Office. The Office. 1964. pp. 311–2.
- ^ Stechert-Hafner Book News. 1954. p. 98.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Armitage-Smith, Sydney (1905). John of Guant: King of Castile and Leon, Duke of Aquitaine and Lancaster, Earl of Derby, Lincoln, and Leicester, Seneschal of England. Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 21. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i von Redlich, Marcellus Donald R. Pedigrees of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Vol. I. p. 64.
- ^ a b c d Weir, Alison (1999). Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. London: The Bodley Head. pp. 75, 92.
- ^ a b c d Anselme de Sainte-Marie, Père (1726). Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France [Genealogical and chronological history of the royal house of France] (in French). Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). Paris: La compagnie des libraires. pp. 87–88.}
- ^ a b Anselme 1726, pp. 381–382
Sources
- Lutkin, Jessica (2010). "Isabella de Coucy, daughter of Edward III: The Exception Who Proves the Rule". In Given-Wilson, Chris; Saul, Nigel (eds.). Fourteenth Century England VI. The Boydell Press.
- Hector, L. C.; Harvey, Barbara F., eds. (1982). The Westminster Chronicle 1381 – 1394. Clarendon Press.
External links
- Isabella de Coucy, Countess of Bedford, thepeerage.com
- Profile, oxforddnb.com