Isabella, Countess of Hainaut

## Isabella of England

Countess Consort of Hainaut

**Isabella of England** (C. 1174 - 1198) was the wife of William II, Count of Hainaut, thus making her Countess of Hainaut. Born in Brittany as the eldest daughter and third child of John I of England and his second wife Isabella I, Countess of Auvergne, she was betrothed at 7 years old to the future William II of Hainaut, when Isabella was 16, she was sent from London to the Netherlands and married her fiancee to secure the Anglo-Belgian Alliance, the marriage was generally unhappy, and described by William's father as "Loveless." While sailing to visit her father in London, a terrible storm hit the English Channel, and there ship sunk, Isabella and her husband drowned along with 67 other passengers, and there bodies were never found, thus never buried. After her death, sense she had no children, her brother-in-law succeeded the County of Hainaut.

## Early Life

Isabella of England was born in 1174 as the eldest daughter of John I of England and his second wife Isabella of Auvergne in Nantes Castle. As a 5 year old, her mother called her to Richmond Palace to be raised in England, but John quickly moved Isabella back to France as he already had a full house-hold, and further moved her to the French court in the care of Louis VIII of France whom adored Isabella. When she was 7 in 1181, her father made an alliance with the Count of Hainaut, and John offered Isabella to his son William of Hainaut which the Count agreed, and they were betrothed in Hainaut. Isabella would wait until she was 16 as children marrying at 8 was quite rare.

## Marriage

When Isabella was 16, her father sent her to Hainaut with a dowry of 10,000 pounds, a ship was sent to Hainaut and they were married in Chimay Castle, the couple moved into Castle of l'Estriverie after there marriage which was a wedding present from Isabella's father-in-law, and Isabella and her maids-staff moved in, in the first weeks of the marriage, they often avoided each-other and only spoke to there close friends, they only talked to each-other when required. While her husband and father-in-law where on Crusade, her father-in-law was killed in action, and her husband was the new Count, they were sworn in as Count and Countess of Hainaut, Isabella's father and William's mother expressed concerns that the couple had not consummated there marriage in 2 years, Isabella was blamed for not having children and was mocked by her controlling mother-in-law for not doing so.

## Countess of Hainaut

After she had become Countess of Hainaut, her husband insisted on moving to the newly built Écaussinnes-Lalaing Castle, which was at the time the most beautiful Castle and Palace in Hainaut. More months into her union, she got into fights with her husband everyday about his many mistresses, and suffered from melancholy from he unhappy marriage, her controlling mother-in-law did not make it better, her mother-in-law controlled what Isabella wore and said. When Isabella turned 21, she took a 8 month break from Hainaut and moved to Anjou where her brother the Count of Anjou welcomed her, she was later forced back by her mother-in-law.

## Ship-Wreck and Death

In 1198, Isabella and her husband were invited to visit England for a world council meeting between the rulers of Europe, Isabella and her husband were invited the position as a representative of John of England. William agreed and Isabella reluctantly aborded the ship to England. But once they hit the English Channel, a terrible storm hit the channel, the captains attempted to Rush to Cornwall to save the Count and Countess and of course, Isabella's mother-in-law, but the storm got worse and eventually the ship-sunk and everyone drowned, with only one coal setter was able to escape on another sailor's boat to England, he wrote of the whole event as "Horrorfying." Isabella's body was never discovered, therefor never buried. Her brother-in-law succeed the county.