Isabella de Warenne

Isabella de Warenne
Baroness of Bywell
Isabella with her husband
Spouse(s)	John of Scotland
Issue Edward de Balliol
Noble family	Plantagenet
Father	John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey
Mother	Alice de Lusignan, Countess of Surrey
Born	c.1253
Died	before 1292

Isabella de Warenne (c.1253- before 1292) was Baroness of Bywell by her marriage to John Balliol; there is however doubt that she lived to become his Queen consort when he succeeded to the Scottish throne.

Family

Isabella was the second of three children born to John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and his wife Alice de Lusignan, Countess of Surrey, maternal half-sister of Henry III of England. Her elder sister Eleanor, married Henry Percy and became mother of Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy. Their mother died while giving birth to Isabella's younger brother, William, who was killed in a tournament after he had married Joan de Vere and sired two children.

Life

On about 9 February 1281 Isabella married John Balliol, who had a claim to the Scottish throne. The marriage lasted about ten years. The Chronicle of Thomas Wykes records the marriage.^[1] It has been established that the couple had at least one child:

• Edward Balliol, Scottish pretender, (d.1364). Married to Marguerite de Taranto, daughter of Philip I, Prince of Taranto (d. 1332) - annulled or divorced with no issue.

However, other children have been linked to the couple as other possible issue:

• Henry de Balliol. He was killed in the Battle of Annan on 16 December 1332, leaving no issue.^[2]
• Agnes (or Maud) de Balliol was married to Bryan FitzAlan, Lord FitzAlan, and feudal Baron of Bedale. They were parents to Agnes FitzAlan (b. 1298), who married Sir Gilbert Stapleton, Knt., of Bedale ^[3] (1291–1324). Gilbert is better known for his participation in the assassination of Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall.

It is believed that Isabella did not live to see her husband become King of Scotland, so it is likely that she died before 1292, when her husband ascended to the throne. However, some are of the opinion that Isabella did survive long enough to see her husband succeed and then abdicate.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Isabella de Warenne

16. Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou               8. Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey                       17. A mistress               4. William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey                             18. William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey               9. Isabel de Warenne, 4th Countess of Surrey                       19. Adela of Ponthieu               2. John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey                                   20. John Marshal               10. William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke                       21. Sybilla of Salisbury               5. Maud Marshal                             22. Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke               11. Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke                       23. Aoife MacMurrough               1. Isabella de Warenne                                         24. Hugues de Lusignan               12. Hugh IX of Lusignan                       25. Orengarde               6. Hugh X of Lusignan                             13. Agathe de Preuilly                       3. Alice de Lusignan                                   28. William IV of Angoulême, Count of Angoulême               14. Aymer of Angoulême                       29. Marguerite of Turenne               7. Isabella of Angoulême                             30. Peter of Courtenay               15. Alice of Courtenay                       31. Elizabeth de Courtenay

References

1. English Earls
2. Dunbar, Sir Archibald H.,Bt., Scottish Kings - A Revised Chronology of Scottish History 1005 - 1625, Edinburgh, 1899: p. 118
3. Norcliffe of Langton, M.A., Charles Best, editor, The Visitation of Yorkshire, 1563-64 by William Flower, Norroy King of Arms, London, 1881, p. 294 and footnotes