Isabel of Gloucester

Isabel of Gloucester (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, Hawise, Joan, Eleanor, Avise and Avisa.

Lineage

Isabel was the daughter of the 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 and, as he had no male heirs, his title merged in the Crown, but a new creation was granted to her in 1186 and she became Countess of Gloucester.

Royal Marriage & Annullment

On 29 August 1189, she married John, Earl of Cornwall at Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire and he assumed the title in her right. Shortly before or after John's accession as King in 1199, he had the marriage annulled by Pope Boniface VIII on the grounds of consanguinity (they were second cousins as descendants of King Henry I). As a result, Isabel was never recognised as Queen of England and her former title merged in the Crown.

Later Marriages

Isabel 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) in September 1217.

Death & Burial

Isabel died a just a month later that year and was interred in Canterbury Cathedral.

Isabel in fiction

*A very fanciful depiction of her as a witch appears in "The Devil and King John", a historical novel by Philip Lindsay, where she is called Hadwisa.

*She also appears as the character Hadwisa in Robin of Sherwood.