Isabella of Lusignan

Isabella of Lusignan
Dame de Beauvoir-sur Mer et de Mercillac
Spouse(s)	Maurice IV, Sire of Craon Geoffery de Rancon
Issue Amuary II, Sire of Craon Maurice V, Sire of Craon Oliver, Archbishop of Tours Margaret de Pressigny Jeanne of Chabot
Noble family	Lusignan
Father	Hugh X de Lusignan, "le Brun", Seigneur de Lusignan, Count of La Marche
Mother	Isabella of Angoulême
Born	c.1224-7
Died	14 January 1300 (aged 65-66)

Isabella of Lusignan (c.1224 – 14 January 1300) was a daughter of Hugh X of Lusignan and his wife Isabella of Angoulême, Dowager Queen of England.^[1] Isabella was half-sister to Henry III of England. She was Dame de Beauvoir-sur Mer et de Mercillac.

Lineage

Isabella's year of birth is unknown. She is mentioned in the Treaty of Vendome in March 1227. She was the daughter of Hugh X de Lusignan, "le Brun", Seigneur de Lusignan, Count of La Marche and Isabella of Angoulême, queen dowager of England.

Life

Isabella was betrothed by the treaty of Vendôme in March 1227 to Alfonso, Count of Poitiers, third surviving son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile.^[2] The marriage contract was however broken off and Alfonso instead married Joan, Countess of Toulouse.

Isabella was firstly married to Maurice IV, Sire of Craon.^[3] They were married until Maurice's death in 1250. They had the following children:

1. Amuary II (died 1269), successor to his father as Sire and married Yolande, daughter of John I, Count of Dreux but died without issue.
2. Maurice V (died 11 February 1293), succeeded his brother as Sire, married Matilda of Berthout and had issue.
3. Oliver (died 24 August 1285), Archbishop of Tours
4. Margaret (died after 16 August 1280), married Renaud de Pressigny
5. Jeanne (died before 1288), married Gerard II of Chabot and had a daughter named Isabella.

A charter dated October 1252 records a dispute with Isabella and her husband's will.^[4]

Only one year after Maurice's death, Isabella remarried to Geoffery de Rancon,^[5] relative of a much older Geoffrey de Rancon. They had no children. Isabella was granted a payment by her half-brother King Henry III in 1254.^[6] After thirteen years of marriage Geoffery died.

Isabella herself died on 14 January 1300 having most likely outlived all of her children. She had several grandchildren. Isabella also outlived all of her siblings (full and half).

Ancestry

Ancestors of Isabella of Lusignan

Hugh VIII of Lusignan               Hughes of Lusignan, co-Seigneur of Lusisgnan                       Bourgogne de Rancon, Dame de Fontenay               Hugh IX of Lusignan, Count of La Marche                             Orengarde N.                       Hugh X de Lusignan, Count of La Marche                                   William IV of Angoulême, Count of Angoulême               Wulgrin III of Angoulême                       Marguerite of Turenne               Mathilde Taillefer of Angoulême                             Hughes II d'Amboise               Elizabeth d'Amboise                       Mathilde de Vendôme               Isabella of Lusignan                                         Wulgrin II of Angoulême, Count of Angoulême               William IV of Angoulême, Count of Angoulême                       Ponce de Montgommery               Aymer Taillefer, Count of Angoulême                             Raymond I, Viscount of Turenne               Marguerite of Turenne                       Mahaut du Perche               Isabella of Angoulême                                   Louis VI of France               Peter II of Courtenay                       Adélaide de Maurienne               Alice of Courtenay                             Renaud de Courtenay               Elizabeth de Courtenay                       Hawise de Donjon

References

1. Joan de Valence: A Lady of Substance, Linda E. Mitchell, Writing Medieval Women's Lives, ed. Charlotte Newman Goldy and Amy Livingstone, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 205 note4.
2. Sean L. Field, Isabelle of France: Capetian Sanctity And Franciscan Identity in the Thirteenth Century, (University of Notre Dame Press, 2006), 15-16.
3. Thomas Frederick Tout, The Place of the Reign of Edward II in English History, (Manchester University Press, 2009), 395 n1.
4. Broussillon, B. de (1893) La maison de Craon (Paris), Tome I, 285, p. 195.
5. Adrian Jobson, The First English Revolution: Simon de Montfort, Henry III and the Barons' War, (Bloomsbury Academic, 2012), xxv.
6. Francisque-SMichel (ed.) (1875) Rôles Gascons (Paris), Tome I, 38 Hen III, 3865, p. 483.