See also

Family of John and Isabel of CLARE

Husband: John (c. 1178- )
Wife: Isabel of CLARE (1173-1217)
Marriage 29 Aug 1189 Marlborough Castle, Marborough, England

Husband: John

Name: John
Sex: Male
Father: -
Mother: -
Birth 1178 (est)

Wife: Isabel of CLARE

Name: Isabel of CLARE
Sex: Female
Father: William + FITZROBERT (1116-1183)
Mother: Hawise + of LEICESTER (1129-1197)
Birth 1173
Occupation Countess of Gloucester
Death 14 Oct 1217 (age 43-44) Keynsham Abbey
Burial Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, England

Note on Wife: Isabel of CLARE

Isabel of Gloucester (Isabel de Clare; c.1173 – 14 October 1217) was the first wife of King John of England. This historical figure is known by an exceptionally large number of alternative names: Hadwisa, Hawisia, Hawise, Joan, Eleanor, Avise and Avisa.

Isabel 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 Henry I, King of England. Her father died in 1183 at which time she became, in her own right, Countess of Gloucester.

 

[edit] Royal marriage and annulmentShe was betrothed to John, Count of Mortain, on 28 September 1176.[1][2] According to the marriage agreement King Henry II agreed to find the best husband possible for Isabel should the pope refuse to grant a dispensation; also Isabel 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 he 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 second cousins as being 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 as King 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 Isabel did not contest the annulment.[4]

 

[edit] Earldom of GloucesterAfter the divorce King John granted the title of Earl of Gloucester to Isabel'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 Isabel once again became Countess of Gloucester.[2]

 

[edit] Later marriagesIsabel 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 Hugh de Burgh (later Earl of Kent), later the justiciar of England, in September 1217.[2]

 

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