Isabella, Countess of Gloucester

Isabella, Countess of Gloucester (c. 1160–1166 – October 1217),Nicholas Vincent has speculated she could have been born as early as 1160. Nicholas Vincent, ‘A Queen in Rebel London, 1215–17’, in A Verray Parfit Praktisour, Essays Presented to Carole Rawcliffe, ed. by Elizabeth Danbury & Linda Clark (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2017), p.33. was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman who was the first wife of King John of England.
==Lineage and family==
Isabella was the youngest surviving daughter of William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester, and his wife Hawise de Beaumont, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester. From him she inherited the cross-channel holdings of the earldom of Gloucester. Her paternal grandfather, Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, was the illegitimate son of King Henry I. Isabella's brother, Robert, died in 1166, and with her elder sisters Mabel and Amice fitz William, she became co-heir to the honor of Gloucester. Mabel married Amaury III, Count of Évreux, and Amice became the wife of Richard de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford
==Betrothal and marriage==
After a series of disputes between Isabella's father William, Earl of Gloucester and Henry II, in September 1176, William attempted to regain favour with the King and secure the future of the earldom. In a politically difficult position, William agreed to a betrothal between Isabella, and John, Henry and Eleanor of Aquitaine's youngest son. As part of the settlement, William agreed that John would be recognised as his heir, and even if William and his wife, Hawise were to have another male child, John would become a co-heir and receive half the Gloucester estates on William's death.Roger of Howden, Gesta, i, p.124–5 
Earl William died in 1183, at which point Henry II nominated Isabella as the sole heir to the earldom, and made her his ward. Wardship meant that Henry completely controlled her lands, revenues and resources, and while he could have married her to John, he chose to keep Isabella's holdings for himself.Roger of Howden, Gesta, i, p.124–5; Ralph of Diss, i, p.415.
Following Richard I's accession in July 1189, Isabella was removed from royal wardship and was married to John on 29 August at Marlborough.Roger of Howden, Gesta, ii, p.72–3; 78. Isabella and John were related within the third degree of consanguinity, meaning they both shared the same great-grandfather (Henry I). This order of relationship was prohibited by the Church, and in order to marry they should have gained a special dispensation from the pope. However, this did not happen, and when he learnt of their marriage, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Baldwin of Forde, placed John under interdict and forbade him from seeing Isabella.Gervase of Canterbury, i, p.458. Ultimately, the interdict was removed by the papal legate John of Agnani, but permission for the marriage was never officially given.Ralph of Diss, ii, p.72–73
Shortly after John acceded to the throne in 1199, and before the end of August, he obtained an annulment of the marriage, so she was briefly queen of England. The annulment was granted on the grounds of consanguinity, by the bishops of Lisieux, Bayeux, and Avranches, 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. 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.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 accessed 24 Nov 2006
==Later marriages==
Isabel later married Geoffrey FitzGeoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd 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.
==Death and burial==
Isabella died in October 1217, just a month after her third marriage, probably at Keynsham Abbey in Somerset, which had been founded by her father in memory of her brother, Robert. Although remembered in the obituary lists for Canterbury Cathedral, her burial place is unknown. It seems likely, however, that she was interred at Keynsham.
==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.Lindsay, Philip Introduction to The Devil and King John
*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 2010 film Robin Hood.
*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's historical novel Here Be Dragons.
*Appears as Avisa in Erica Laine's historical novel Isabella of Angouleme: the Tangled Queen Part One
==References==
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Category:1170s births
Category:1217 deaths
Category:12th-century English nobility
Category:12th-century English women
Category:13th-century English women
Category:13th-century English nobility
Isabella
Category:Hereditary women peers
Isabella, Countess of Gloucester
Category:John, King of England
Category:Lords of Glamorgan
Category:Year of birth uncertain
Category:Annulment
Category:English royal consorts