Editing Isabella of Angoulême

{{Short description|Queen of England from 1200 to 1216}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Isabella
| image        = IsabelledAngouleme.jpg
| caption = Effigy in [[Fontevraud Abbey]], France
| succession   = [[Queen consort of England]]
| reign-type   = Tenure
| reign        = 24 August 1200 – 19 October 1216
| coronation   = 8 October 1200
| succession1  = [[Countess of Angoulême]]
| reign1       = 16 June 1202 – 4 June 1246
| predecessor1 = [[Aymer of Angoulême|Aymer]]
| successor1   = [[Hugh X]]
| regent1      = {{plainlist|
* [[John, King of England|John]] (1202–1216)
* Hugh X (1220–1246)
}}
| reg-type1    = Co-rulers
| succession2  = [[Countess consort of La Marche]]
| reign-type2  = Tenure
| reign2       = 10 May 1220 – 4 June 1246
| spouses      = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[John, King of England]]|1200|1216|reason=died}}
* {{marriage|[[Hugh X of Lusignan]]|1220}}
}}
| issue        = {{plainlist|
*[[Henry III, King of England]]
*[[Richard, King of the Romans]]
*[[Joan of England, Queen of Scotland|Joan, Queen of Scotland]]
*[[Isabella of England|Isabella, Holy Roman Empress]]
*[[Eleanor, Countess of Pembroke]]
*[[Hugh XI of Lusignan]]
*[[Aymer de Valence (bishop)|Aymer, Bishop of Winchester]]
*[[Alice de Lusignan, Countess of Surrey|Alice, Countess of Surrey]]
*[[William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke|William, Earl of Pembroke]]
*[[Isabella of Lusignan]]}}
| issue-link   = #Issue
| issue-pipe   = more...
| house        = [[House of Taillefer|Taillefer]]
| father       = [[Aymer, Count of Angoulême]]
| mother       = [[Alice of Courtenay]]
| birth_date   = {{circa| 1186}} / {{circa| 1188}}
| death_date   = 4 June 1246 (aged about 58 or 60)
| death_place  = [[Fontevraud Abbey]], France
| burial_place = Fontevraud Abbey
}}
[[File:SealOfIsabellaOfAngouleme.jpg|thumb|200px|Seal of Isabella of Angoulême (Municipal Archives, Angoulême)]]

'''Isabella''' ({{langx|fr|Isabelle d'Angoulême}}, {{IPA|fr|izabɛl dɑ̃ɡulɛm|IPA}}; c. 1186{{sfn|Barrière|2006|p=384}}/ 1188{{sfn|Evergates|2007|p=226}} – 4 June 1246) was [[List of English royal consorts|Queen of England]] from 1200 to 1216 as the second wife of [[John, King of England|King John]], [[Countess of Angoulême]] in her own right from 1202 until her death in 1246, and [[Countess of La Marche]] from 1220 to 1246 as the wife of [[Hugh X of Lusignan|Count Hugh]].

Isabella was the only child of [[Aymer, Count of Angoulême]], and [[Alice of Courtenay]]. In 1200, she married King John, with whom she had five children, including the future [[Henry III of England]]. After John died in 1216, Isabella remarried in 1220 to Hugh X of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, by whom she had another nine children.

Some of Isabella's contemporaries, as well as later writers, claim that she formed a conspiracy against King [[Louis IX of France]] in 1241, after being publicly snubbed by his mother, [[Blanche of Castile]], for whom she harbored a deep-seated hatred.{{sfn|Costain|1959|pp=144–145}} In 1244, after the plot had failed, Isabella was accused of attempting to poison the king. To avoid arrest, she sought refuge in [[Fontevraud Abbey]], where she died two years later, but none of this can be confirmed.

==Queen consort of England==
Isabella was the only daughter and heir of [[Aymer, Count of Angoulême|Aymer Taillefer]], [[Counts and Dukes of Angoulême|Count of Angoulême]], by [[Alice of Courtenay]],{{sfn|Vincent|1999|p=171}} who was a sister of [[Peter II of Courtenay]], Latin Emperor of Constantinople. Alice and Peter II were grandchildren of King [[Louis VI of France]] through their father [[Peter I of Courtenay]].

Isabella became Countess of [[Angoulême]] in her own right on 16 June 1202, by which time she was already queen of England. Her marriage, at age 12 or 14, to [[John, King of England|King John]] took place on 24 August 1200, in Angoulême, a year after he [[Annulment|annulled]] his first marriage to [[Isabel, Countess of Gloucester]]. She was crowned queen in an elaborate ceremony on 8 October at [[Westminster Abbey]] in London.{{sfn|Church|2015|p=69}} Isabella was originally betrothed to [[Hugh IX of Lusignan|Hugh IX le Brun, Count of Lusignan]],{{sfn|Vincent|1999|pp=171, 177}} grandson and heir of the [[Count of La Marche]]. As a result of John's temerity in taking her as his second wife, King [[Philip II of France]] confiscated all of their French lands and armed conflict ensued.

At the time of her marriage to John, the blonde-haired blue-eyed Isabella was already renowned by some for her beauty{{sfn|Costain|1962|pp=251–252}} and has sometimes been called the [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] of the [[Middle Ages]] by historians.{{sfn|Costain|1962|p=306}} Isabella was much younger than her husband and possessed a volatile temper similar to his own. King John was infatuated with his young, beautiful wife; however, his acquisition of her had at least as much to do with spiting his enemies as romantic love. She was already engaged to Hugh IX le Brun when she was taken by John. It was said that he neglected his state affairs to spend time with Isabella, often remaining in bed with her until noon. However, these were rumors spread by John's enemies to discredit him as a weak and grossly irresponsible ruler, given that at the time John was engaging in a desperate war against King Philip II of France to hold on to the remaining Plantagenet duchies. The common people began to term her a "[[Siren (mythology)|siren]]" or "[[Messalina]]" for her allure.{{sfn|Costain|1962|pp=253–254}} Her mother-in-law, [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]], readily accepted her as John's wife.{{sfn|Costain|1962|p=246}}

On 1 October 1207, at [[Winchester Castle]], Isabella gave birth to a son and heir, the future King [[Henry III of England]], who was named after his grandfather King [[Henry II of England|Henry II]]. He was quickly followed by another son, [[Richard of Cornwall|Richard]], and three daughters: [[Joan of England, Queen of Scotland|Joan]], [[Isabella of England|Isabella]] and [[Eleanor of England, Countess of Leicester|Eleanor]]. All five children survived into adulthood and made illustrious marriages; all but Joan produced offspring of their own.

==Second marriage==
When King John died in October 1216, Isabella's first act was to arrange the speedy coronation of her nine-year-old son at the city of [[Gloucester]] on 28 October. As the royal crown had recently been lost in [[the Wash]], along with the rest of King John's treasure, she supplied her own golden circlet to be used in lieu of a crown.{{sfn|Costain|1959|p=11}} The following July, less than a year after his crowning as King Henry III of England, she left him in the care of his [[regent]], [[William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke]], and returned to France to assume control of her inheritance of [[Angoulême]].

In the spring of 1220, Isabella married [[Hugh X of Lusignan]], "le Brun", Seigneur de Luisignan, Count of La Marche, the son of her former fiancé, Hugh IX, to whom she had been betrothed before her marriage to King John. It had been previously arranged that her eldest daughter Joan should marry Hugh, and the little girl was being brought up at the Lusignan court in preparation for her marriage. Hugh, however, upon seeing Isabella, whose beauty had not diminished,{{sfn|Costain|1962|p=341}} preferred the girl's mother. Joan was provided with another husband, King [[Alexander II of Scotland]], whom she wed in 1221.

Isabella married Hugh without the consent of the king's council in England, as was required of a [[queen dowager]]. That council had the power not only to assign to her any subsequent husband, but to decide whether she should be allowed (or forced) to remarry at all. That Isabella flouted its authority moved the council to confiscate her [[dower]] lands and to stop the payment of her pension.{{sfn|Costain|1959|pp=38–39}} Isabella and her husband retaliated by threatening to keep Joan, who had been promised in marriage to the King of Scotland, in France. The council first responded by sending furious letters to the Pope, signed in the name of young King Henry, urging him to [[excommunicate]] Isabella and her husband, but then decided to come to terms with Isabella, to avoid conflict with the Scottish king, who was eager to receive his bride. Isabella was granted the [[stannaries]] in [[Devon]], and the revenue of Aylesbury for a period of four years, in compensation for her confiscated dower lands in [[Normandy]], as well as the £3,000 arrears for her pension.{{sfn|Costain|1959|pp=38–39}}

Isabella had nine more children by Hugh X. Their eldest son [[Hugh XI of Lusignan]] succeeded his father as [[Count of La Marche]] and [[Count of Angoulême]] in 1249.

Isabella's children from her royal marriage did not join her in Angoulême, remaining in England with their eldest brother Henry III.

==Rebellion and death==
Described by some contemporaries as "vain, capricious and troublesome,"{{sfn|Costain|1959|p=149}} Isabella could not reconcile herself with her less prominent position in France. Though a former queen of England, Isabella was now mostly regarded as a mere countess and had to give precedence to other women.{{sfn|Costain|1959|p=144}} In 1241, when Isabella and Hugh were summoned to the French court to swear fealty to King [[Louis IX of France]]'s brother, [[Alphonse, Count of Poitiers|Alphonse]], who had been invested as Count of Poitou, their mother, Queen Dowager [[Blanche of Castile|Blanche]] openly snubbed her. This so infuriated Isabella, who had a deep-seated hatred of Blanche for having fervently supported the French invasion of England during the [[First Barons' War]] in May 1216, that she began to conspire actively against King Louis. Isabella and her husband, along with other disgruntled nobles, including her son-in-law Count [[Raymond VII of Toulouse]], sought to create an English-backed [[Confederation|confederacy]] which united the provinces of the south and west against the French king.{{sfn|Costain|1959|pp=145–146}} She encouraged her son Henry in his invasion of Normandy in 1230, but then did not provide him the support she had promised.

In 1244, after the confederacy had failed and Hugh had made peace with King Louis, two royal cooks were arrested for attempting to poison the king; upon questioning they confessed to having been in Isabella's pay.{{sfn|Costain|1959|p=149}} Before Isabella could be taken into custody, she fled to Fontevraud Abbey, where she died on 4 June 1246.{{sfn|Vincent|2004|p=online edition}}

By Isabella's own prior arrangement, she was first buried in the abbey's churchyard as an act of repentance for her many misdeeds. On a visit to [[Fontevraud]], her son King [[Henry III of England]] was shocked to find her buried outside the abbey and ordered her immediately moved inside. She was finally placed beside [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] and [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]]. Afterwards, most of her many Lusignan children, having few prospects in France, set sail for England and the court of Henry, their half-brother.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Marc |title=A Great and Terrible King. Edward I And The Forging of Britain |date=2009 |publisher=Pegasus Books |location=New York |isbn=978-1-68177-133-5 |page=24}}</ref>

==Issue==
* With [[King John of England]], five children, all of whom survived into adulthood:
# [[King Henry III of England]] (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272). Married [[Eleanor of Provence]], by whom he had issue, including his heir, King [[Edward I of England]].
# [[Richard, Earl of Cornwall]] and [[King of the Romans]] (5 January 1209 – 2 April 1272). Married firstly, [[Isabel Marshal]], secondly, [[Sanchia of Provence]], and thirdly, [[Beatrice of Falkenburg]]. Had issue.
# [[Joan of England, Queen of Scotland|Joan]] (22 July 1210 – 1238), the wife of King [[Alexander II of Scotland]]. Her marriage was childless.
# [[Isabella of England|Isabella]] (1214–1241), the wife of [[Emperor Frederick II]], by whom she had issue.
# [[Eleanor of England, Countess of Leicester|Eleanor]] (1215–1275), who married, firstly, [[William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke]], and secondly, [[Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester]], by whom she had issue.

* With [[Hugh X of Lusignan]], [[Count of La Marche]]: nine children, all of whom survived into adulthood:
# [[Hugh XI of Lusignan]] (1221–1250), [[Count of La Marche]] and [[Counts and Dukes of Angoulême|Count of Angoulême]]. Married [[Yolande de Dreux, Countess of Penthièvre and of Porhoet]], by whom he had issue.
# [[Aymer de Valence (bishop)|Aymer of Lusignan]] (1222–1260), [[Bishop of Winchester]]
# Agnès de Lusignan (1223–1269). Married William II de Chauvigny (d. 1270), and had issue.
# [[Alice de Lusignan, Countess of Surrey|Alice of Lusignan]] (1224 – 9 February 1256). Married [[John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey]], by whom she had issue.
# Guy of Lusignan (c. 1225 – 1264), killed at the [[Battle of Lewes]]. (Tufton Beamish maintains that he escaped to France after the Battle of Lewes and died there in 1269.)
# Geoffrey of Lusignan (c. 1226 – 1274). Married in 1259 Jeanne, Viscountess of [[Châtellerault]], by whom he had issue.
# [[Isabella of Lusignan]] (c. 1226/1227 – 14 January 1299). Married, firstly, before 1244 [[Maurice IV de Craon|Maurice IV, Seigneur de Craon]] (1224–1250),{{sfn|Tout|2009|p=395}} by whom she had issue; she married, secondly, [[Geoffrey de Rancon]].{{sfn|Jobson|2012|p=xxv}}
# [[William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke|William of Lusignan]] (c. 1228 – 1296). First earl of Pembroke. Married Joan de Munchensi, by whom he had issue.
# Marguerite de Lusignan (c. 1229 – 1288). Married, firstly, in 1243 [[Raymond VII of Toulouse]]; secondly, c. 1246 Aimery IX de Thouars, [[Viscount of Thouars]] and had issue.
<!-- hidden, unreferenced
==Ancestry==
{{unreferenced|section|date=October 2017}}
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
| boxstyle_1 = background-color: #fcc;
| boxstyle_2 = background-color: #fb9;
| boxstyle_3 = background-color: #ffc;
| boxstyle_4 = background-color: #bfc;
| 1 = 1. '''Isabella of Angoulême'''
| 2 = 2. [[Aymer, Count of Angoulême]]
| 3 = 3. [[Alice of Courtenay]]
| 4 = 4. [[William VI of Angoulême|William VI, Count of Angoulême]]
| 5 = 5. Marguerite de Turenne
| 6 = 6. [[Peter I of Courtenay|Peter I, Lord of Courtenay]]
| 7 = 7. Elizabeth de Courtenay
| 8 = 8. [[Wulgrin II, Count of Angoulême]]
| 9 = 9. Pontia de la Marche
| 10 = 10. Raymond I, Vicomte de Turenne
| 11 = 11. Mathilde of Perche
| 12 = 12. [[Louis VI of France]]
| 13 = 13. [[Adelaide of Maurienne]]
| 14 = 14. [[Renaud de Courtenay|Renaud, Lord of Courtenay]]
| 15 = 15. Hawise de Donjon
}}
-->

==In popular culture==
She was played by actress [[Zena Walker]] in the TV series ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)|The Adventures of Robin Hood]]'' episode "Isabella" (1956), before her marriage to John, but not as a 12-year-old.{{sfn|Sussex|1969|p=96}} She was portrayed by actress [[Victoria Abril]] in the 1976 film ''[[Robin and Marian]]''.{{sfn|Dumont|2017|p=212}} She was played by actress [[Lynsey Baxter]] in the 1979 TV mini-series "[[The Devil's Crown]]". She was played by actress Cory Pulman in the episode "The Pretender" (1986) of the TV series ''[[Robin of Sherwood]]''. She was portrayed by actress [[Léa Seydoux]] in the 2010 film ''[[Robin Hood (2010 film)|Robin Hood]]''.{{sfn|Lopez|2013|p=?}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |first=Bernadette |last=Barrière |title=Limousin médiéval: le temps des créations |publisher=Presses Universitaires de Limoges |year=2006 }}
*{{cite book|last=Church|first=Stephen|title=King John: And the Road to Magna Carta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAWCBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT69|access-date=6 October 2015|year=2015 |publisher=Basic Books|isbn=9780465040704 }}
*{{cite book |last=Costain |first=Thomas B. |title=The Conquering Family |url=https://archive.org/details/conqueringfamily0000cost |url-access=registration |publisher=Doubleday and Company, Inc. |year=1962 |isbn=9780385040884 }}
*{{cite book |last=Costain |first=Thomas B. |title=The Magnificent Century |publisher=Doubleday and Company, Inc. |year=1959 }}
*{{cite book |last=Dumont |first=Hervé |title=Moyen Age et Renaissance au cinéma: L'Angleterre |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OcZDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA212 |publisher=Books on Demand |language=fr |year=2017 |page=212 |isbn=9782322101405 }}
*{{cite book |first=Theodore |last=Evergates |title=The Aristocracy in the County of Champagne, 1100–1300 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2007 }}
*{{cite book |first=Adrian |last=Jobson |title=The First English Revolution: Simon de Montfort, Henry III and the Barons' War |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2012 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Lopez |first=John |title=How to Train Your Villain with *Robin Hood'*s Oscar Isaac |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2010/05/how-to-train-your-villain-with-robin-hoods-oscar-isaac |year=2013 |access-date=22 May 2018 |journal=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]] |publisher=[[Condé Nast]] }}
*{{cite book |title=Lindsay Anderson |last=Sussex |first=Elizabeth |publisher=MacKibbon & Kee |year=1969 |isbn=9780289797372 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3YFRAQAAIAAJ }} 
*{{cite book |first=Thomas Frederick |last=Tout |title=The Place of the Reign of Edward II in English History |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2009 }}
*{{cite book |title=King John: New Interpretations |editor-first=S.D. |editor-last=Church |first=Nicholas |last=Vincent |chapter=Isabella of Angouleme:John's Jezebel |publisher=Boydell Press |year=1999 }}
*{{cite ODNB |id=14483 |first=Nicholas |last=Vincent |title=Isabella [Isabella of Angoulême], suo jure countess of Angoulême (c. 1188–1246)|year=2004}}

==Further reading==
* Castaigne, Jean François. Isabelle d'Angoulême, Comtesse-Reine, Angoulême, 1836.
* Richardson, H.G. The Marriage and Coronation of Isabelle of Angoulême, in The English Historical Review, September 1946.
* Snellgrove, Harold. The Lusignans in England, 1247–1258, in University of New Mexico Publications in History, #2, 1950.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{NPG name}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[House of Taillefer]]||c. 1186/1188|4 June|1246}}
{{S-roy}}
|-
{{S-vac|last=[[Berengaria of Navarre]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[List of English consorts|Queen consort of England]]
|years=24 August 1200 – 18 October 1216}}
{{S-vac|next=[[Eleanor of Provence]]}}
{{S-reg|fr}}
|-
{{S-bef | before=[[Aymer of Angoulême|Aymer]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Countess of Angoulême]]
|years=16 June 1202 – 4 June 1246}}
{{S-aft| after=[[Hugh X of Lusignan|Hugh X]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{House of Plantagenet}}
{{English consort}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Isabella of Angouleme}}
[[Category:1180s births]]
[[Category:1246 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:English royal consorts]]
[[Category:Duchesses of Normandy]]
[[Category:Duchesses of Aquitaine]]
[[Category:Countesses of Maine]]
[[Category:Counts of Angoulême]]
[[Category:House of Taillefer]]
[[Category:12th-century English women]]
[[Category:12th-century English nobility]]
[[Category:12th-century French women]]
[[Category:12th-century French nobility]]
[[Category:13th-century English women]]
[[Category:13th-century English nobility]]
[[Category:13th-century queens consort]]
[[Category:13th-century French women]]
[[Category:13th-century women regents]]
[[Category:13th-century regents]]
[[Category:Burials at Fontevraud Abbey]]
[[Category:John, King of England]]
[[Category:House of Lusignan]]
[[Category:12th-century Norman women]]
[[Category:12th-century Normans]]
[[Category:13th-century Norman women]]
[[Category:13th-century Normans]]
[[Category:Remarried queens consort]]
[[Category:Remarried duchesses consort]]
[[Category:English queen mothers]]
[[Category:13th-century countesses regnant]]
[[Category:13th-century countesses consort]]
[[Category:Mothers of German monarchs]]