by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Isabella’s first of three husbands, King John of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Isabella, 3rd Countess of Gloucester was the first wife of King John of England. Born circa 1173/1174, Isabella was the youngest of the four children and the second of the two daughters of William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester and Hawise de Beaumont of Leicester. Isabella’s paternal grandparents were Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester, an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England, and Mabel FitzRobert, Countess of Gloucester. Her maternal grandparents were Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester and Amica de Gael.

Isabella had three elder siblings:

• Robert fitz William (1151 – 1166), died in his teens
• Mabel fitz William, married Amaury III, Count of Évreux, had one son
• Amice fitz William (? – 1220), married Richard de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford, had four children, their descendants eventually inherited the Earldom of Gloucester

In 1176, King Henry II of England betrothed his youngest son John to Isabella of Gloucester. As Isabella was only three and John was only nine, the marriage had to be delayed. Isabella’s father William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester was a first cousin of King Henry II as his father was the illegitimate son of King Henry I, Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester and King Henry II’s mother Empress Matilda was the legitimate daughter of King Henry I. Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester was Matilda’s chief military support during the long civil war called The Anarchy with their cousin Stephen of Blois (King Stephen of England) for the English throne. Isabella stood to inherit part of her father’s estate along with her two elder sisters because their only brother had died. However, King Henry II disinherited Isabella’s elder sisters so that Isabella would become Countess of Gloucester in her own right and John would eventually receive the whole Gloucester estate. In 1183, when her father died, Isabella became the Countess of Gloucester in her own right.

John’s father King Henry II died on July 6, 1189, and John’s elder brother succeeded their father as King Richard I of England. On August 29, 1189, John and Isabella of Gloucester were married at Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire, England and John assumed the Earldom of Gloucester in the right of his wife. Isabella and John were second cousins as they were both great-grandchildren of King Henry I of England. For that reason, Baldwin of Forde, Archbishop of Canterbury declared the marriage null by reason of consanguinity. Roman Catholic Canon Law prohibited marriage between a couple who were within four degrees of consanguinity. As second cousins, Isabella and John were within three degrees. An appeal was made to Rome and the Archbishop of Canterbury was overruled by Pope Clement III.

On April 6, 1199, John’s childless brother King Richard I died of gangrene from an arrow wound, and John became King of England. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on May 27, 1199. John’s next order of business was to have his marriage to Isabella annulled. Isabella and John were ill-matched and the marriage had produced no children. Isabella had not been acknowledged as queen and the marriage was easily annulled using the grounds of consanguinity. John kept Isabella’s lands and Isabella did not contest the annulment. After the annulment, John granted the title of Earl of Gloucester to Isabella’s nephew Amaury IV, Count of Évreux. When Amaury died without children in 1213, Isabella once again became Countess of Gloucester in her own right and held the title until she died in 1217. In 1200, John married Isabella of Angoulême, the only child of Aymer III, Count of Angoulême, and therefore destined to be Duchess of Angoulême in her own right. John and Isabella of Angoulême had five children including John’s successor King Henry III.

Isabella’s third husband Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent; Credit – Wikipedia

Isabella married two more times. On January 20, 1214, she married Geoffrey FitzGeoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex. King John charged Geoffrey 20,000 marks to buy her in marriage and to obtain her title, jure uxoris, a Latin term that means “by right of his wife” and so Geoffrey was the 4th Earl of Gloucester. The marriage resulted in no children and Geoffrey died in 1216 in a tournament. In September 1217, Isabella married Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent. However, the next month, on October 14, 1217, Isabella died at age 43 and was buried at Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England. Isabella’s nephew Gilbert de Clare, the son of her sister Amice and Richard de Clare, became the 5th Earl of Gloucester.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Geoffrey FitzGeoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_FitzGeoffrey_de_Mandeville,_2nd_Earl_of_Essex> [Accessed 25 June 2022].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Isabella, Countess of Gloucester – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella,_Countess_of_Gloucester> [Accessed 25 June 2022].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2022. William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_FitzRobert,_2nd_Earl_of_Gloucester> [Accessed 25 June 2022].
• Unofficial Royalty. 2016. King John of England. [online] Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-john-of-england/> [Accessed 25 June 2022].
• Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.