Isabel FitzRobert 3rd Countess of Gloucester ^{2 4}

  General Notes:

ISABEL [Avise] FitzRobert ([before 1176]-14 Oct or [18 Nov] 1217, bur Canterbury Cathedral Church). An anonymous continuation of the Chronicle of Robert of Mont-Saint-Michel records (in order) "Comitissa Ebroicensis…uxor Guillelmi Comitis de Clara, tertia…in manu Dei et domini Regis" as the three daughters left by "Guillelmus Comes Glocestriæ" when he died. The Chronica de Fundatoribus et Fundatione of Tewkesbury Abbey names "Mabiliam comiti de Evereis in Normannia nuptam…Amiciam…Isabellam" as the three daughters of "comes Willielmus" and his wife, adding that Isabel married "Henricus rex…Johanni filio suo". Benedict of Peterborough records the betrothal in 1176 of "Johannem filium regis minimum" and "Willelmus filius Roberti filii regis Henrici primi comes Gloucestriæ…filiam ipsius comitis" and the agreement whereby John would inherit the county of Gloucester. Her marriage is recorded by Matthew Paris, who specifies that it took place despite the prohibition of Baldwin Archbishop of Canterbury on the grounds of consanguinity, although he does not name her. The Chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall records that "comes Johannes frater eius [rege Ricardo]" married "filiam comitis Glocestriæ". She was recognised as Ctss of Gloucester in her own right from her marriage in [1189]. Matthew Paris records her divorce in 1199, when he calls her "Hawisa". The Annales Londonienses record the divorce in 1200 of King John and "Hawysiam filiam comitis Gloverniæ", stating that they were "in tertio gradu consanguinitatis". King John appears to have kept her as a state prisoner after their divorce, but retained her title even after her nephew Amaury de Montfort was installed as Earl of Gloucester in 1199. The Chronica de Fundatoribus et Fundatione of Tewkesbury Abbey records the second marriage of "Isabellam" and "Galfrido de Mandevile comiti Essexiæ", and her third marriage to "Huberto de Burgo justiciario Angliæ". Her lands and title were confiscated on the death of her second husband. The Annals of Waverley record the death in 1217 of "Isabel comitissa Gloucestriæ". The Annals of Dunstable record that "Johannam comitissam Gloucestriæ" died "paucos dies" after her marriage to "Hubertus de Burgo justiciarius Angliæ" and was buried "apud Cantuarium".

m firstly (Betrothed 1176, Marlborough 29 Aug 1189, divorced before 30 Aug 1199) as his first wife, JOHN Prince of England, son of HENRY II King of England & his wife Eléonore Ctss d'Aquitaine (Beaumont Palace, Oxford 24 Dec 1166 or 1167-Newark Castle, Lincolnshire 18/19 Oct 1216, bur Worcester Cathedral). He succeeded his brother Richard I in 1199 as JOHN King of England.

m secondly ([16/26] Jan 1214) as his second wife, GEOFFREY de Mandeville Earl of Essex, son of GEOFFREY FitzPiers Earl of Essex & his first wife Beatrice de Say (-London 23 Feb 1216, bur Trinity Prior within Aldgate). He became Earl of Gloucester on his marriage, by right of his wife. He was mortally wounded at a tournament in London.

m thirdly ([Sep] 1217) as his second wife, HUBERT de Burgh, son of --- & his wife Alice (-Banstead, Surrey 12 May 1243, bur Church of the Black Friars, Holborn). Chamberlain of King John [1198]-1205. He was granted the lands of Ctss Isabel 13 Aug 1217. One of the chief advisers to King Henry III in the early years of his reign. Created Earl of Kent 19 Feb 1227. No issue.

[FMG/Medieval Lands]

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An undoubted Earl of Gloucester, perhaps the first authentic one, at any rate after the Conquest, is Robert FitzHamon's son-in-law, another Robert, who was an illegitimate son of Henry I and was so created 1122. The Earldom passed to his eldest son, William FitzRobert, and from him to John, later King John and husband from 1189 to 1199 (when he divorced her) of Isabel, the youngest of William FitzRobert's three daughters. On John's coming to the throne the title did not merge in the Crown for it was not his in his own right but in right of his wife.

Isabel's situation now became that of a great heiress, for whoever she married next would gain the Earldom. John prevented her taking a second husband at all for the time being, however, and exchanged the Earldom of Gloucester with Aumarie de Montfort, son of William FitzRobert's eldest daughter Mabel, for the Comte of Evreux, which he then used as a dowry to secure the marriage of his niece Blanche with the King of France's son. Aumarie died childless and Isabel, who towards the end of John's reign married as her second husband Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex and in right of his new wife now Earl of Gloucester too, died childless after marrying in the autumn of 1217 yet a third husband, Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent.

The latter seems not to have been recognised as Earl of Gloucester as well as of Kent, despite his wife's undoubted possession of the former Earldom by the time of their marriage. But then she died only a few days later and her sister Amice, by now the only one of William FitzRobert's daughters still living, seems to have been recognised as Countess of Gloucester till her own death some seven and a half years later. On the other hand Amice's son Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Hertford or of Clare (usually called the latter), was apparently acknowledged as Earl of Gloucester in addition to his other dignity from as soon as the month after his aunt Isabel's death back in 1217.

[Burke's Peerage]

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He [Hubert de Burgh] married, 2ndly, probably a few days before her death, Isabel, COUNTESS OF GLOUCESTER, widow of Geoffrey (DE MANDEVILLE), Earl of Essex, and previously the divorced wife of KING JOHN. She died 14 October 1217.

[Complete Peerage VII:133-42, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

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He married, 2ndly, between 16 and 26 January 1213/4, Isabel, COUNTESS OF GLOUCESTER (the divorced wife of KING JOHN), 3rd daughter and coheir of William, EARL OF GLOUCESTER, by Hawise, da. of Robert, EARL OF LEICESTFR. For this marriage, which appears to have been forced upon him, and by which he becarne EARL OF GLOUCESTER, he had to pay or rather he agreed to pay a ruinous fine of 20,000 marks... He died s.p., 23 February 1215/6, being mortally wounded at a tournament in London, and was buried in Trinity Priory within Aldgate. The honour of Gloucester remained in the King's hand, and on 13 August 1217 the sheriffs of nine counties were ordered to give seizin to Hubert de Burgh, Justiciar or England, of all the lands of Isabel, Countess of Gloucester, which the King had committed to his custody, and Faukes de Breauté was ordered to give him seizin of the manor of Walden, which the Countess had held in dower: but on 17 September following, the Countess having returned to her allegiance, the sheriffs were ordered to give her seizin of the lands which she had held ante guerram motam inter dominum J. Regem patrem nostrum et barones Anglie, and R. de Clifford was ordered to restore to her her residence (domum) and all her lands in Henley. She married (possibly before the date of these writs, but if so, secretly), 3rdly, as 2nd wife, the said Hubert (DE BURGH), EARL OF KENT. She died s.p., 14 October 1217, and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral Church. He died at his manor of Banstead, Surrey, 12 may 1243, and was buried in the Church of the Black Friars in Holborn. [Complete Peerage V:126-30, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

Isabel married John I of England King of England, 3rd Earl of Gloucester, son of Henri d'Anjou King of England (Henry II) and Aliénor d'Aquitaine Duchesse d'Aquitaine, on 24 Aug 1200 in Cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, Gironde, Aquitaine, FR.^{1 2 3} (John I of England King of England, 3rd Earl of Gloucester was born 24 Dec 1166 or 1167 in Beaumont Palace, Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1, GB,^{5 6} died 18-19 Oct 1216 in Newark Castle, Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG24 1BG, GB ^{6 7 8} and was buried in Worcester Cathedral, Worcester, Worcestershire, WR1 2LA, GB ⁹.)

• Divorce: Divorce, 1199.

  Marriage Notes:

Betrothed 1176, Marlborough 29 Aug 1189, divorced before 30 Aug 1199 ¹⁰

Isabel next married Hubert de Burgh 1st Earl of Kent, son of de Burgh and Alice, after 1205.^{2 4} (Hubert de Burgh 1st Earl of Kent was born before 1172,¹¹ died on 12 May 1243 in Banstead, Surrey, SM7, GB ¹¹ and was buried in Holborn Dominican (Black Friars) Friary, Stone Buildings, Holborn, London, WC2A 3SZ, GB.)

Isabel next married Geoffrey de Mandeville 2nd Earl of Essex, 3rd Earl of Gloucester, son of Geoffrey FitzPiers 1st Earl of Essex and Beatrice de Say, between 16 and 26 Jan 1214. (Geoffrey de Mandeville 2nd Earl of Essex, 3rd Earl of Gloucester was born about 1184, died on 23 Feb 1216 in London, GB ^{12 13} and was buried in Holy Trinity Priory, [now Mitre Street/Square], Aldgate, London, EC3A, GB.). The cause of his death was Of mortal wounds at tournament.