Isabel de Redvers, 8th Countess of Devon

Isabel de Redvers, 8th Countess of Devon (* July 1237 , † November 10, 1293 Stockwell, Surrey ) was Countess of Devon and Lady of the Isle of Wight in her own right from 1262 . As a wife, she was named Isabel de Forz or Isabella de Fortibus .

Origin and marriage to William de Forz

Isabel came from the noble family Redvers . She was the daughter of Baldwin de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon and Amicia de Clare . At the age of eleven or twelve he was married to the already widowed William de Forz , a baron with extensive estates in Yorkshire and Cumberland and titular earl of Aumale . When he died in 1260, she received parts of the property as Wittum . When Isabel's brother Baldwin de Redvers, 7th Earl of Devon died in 1262 with no surviving descendants, she inherited extensive estates in Devon , Hampshire and the Isle of Wight . As a young widow she was one of the richest heiresses in England. She now called herself "Countess of Aumale and of Devon, and lady of the Isle" (of Wight) and lived mainly in Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight.

Escape from a new marriage during the War of the Barons

Before the younger Simon de Montfort tried to marry her in 1264, she first hid in Breamore Priory , the family necropolis , and later in Wales - for good reason, as the applicant was the second son of Simon de Montfort, 6. Earl of Leicester , who ruled the government from 1264 during the Second Barons War . Their escape ended in 1265 with the fall of the Montfort family. 1268 received Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster , the son of King Henry III. permission to marry her, but it eluded him too. Edmund then married their daughter Aveline de Forz in 1269 .

Later life and manipulation of the inheritance by the king

As a widow, Isabel de Redvers remained an influential figure as a wealthy magnate. In 1279 she successfully campaigned for a pardon for Adam Stratton , Chancellor of the Treasury, who was her previous administrator. In the 1280s there was a dispute between her and Chief Justice Ralph de Hengham , which led to Hengham's dismissal in 1290. The king himself tried to preserve their possessions after Isabel's children all died prematurely with no offspring. In 1276 he suggested that she sell her property in southern England to him for 20,000 marks. Then she would get the goods back for life, and after her death they would go to the crown instead of their heirs. Either the amount offered was not sufficient or the protests of Isabel's relatives and potential heirs led to the sale not taking place. In 1279, for the small sum of £ 100 and the payment of an annual pension, the king acquired the rights of a John de Eshton who, as an alleged relative, claimed the inheritance of Isabel's daughter Aveline. In 1293 the king resumed negotiations for the Isle of Wight. In November, Isabel fell ill on her way from Canterbury to London and stopped at Lambeth . They quickly went to Antony Bek and Walter Langton , two confidants of the king. They managed to get confirmation from the dying Isabel that she had sold the Isle of Wight and three other goods to the king for the payment of 6,000 marks . The contract was signed on November 9th, and Isabel died on the early morning of November 10th. On November 11th, the amount was paid to their executor and the king took over the property, thereby robbing the legal heir, the underage Hugh de Courtenay, of his inheritance. Isabel, like her ancestors, was buried in Breamore Priory . Courtenay was later by Edward's grandson Edward III. Isabel awarded the title of Earl of Devon .

progeny

Five children are known from her marriage to William de Forz, all of whom died before her:

• John († before August 11, 1260)
• Thomas (September 9, 1253; † before April 6, 1269), buried in the Franciscan Church (Black Friars) in Stamford
• William († Oxford), buried in the Franciscan Church (Black Friars) in Oxford
• Amice / Anice, buried in Meaux Abbey
• Aveline (January 20, 1259 - November 10, 1274), buried in Westminster Abbey ; ⚭ April 8 or 9, 1269 Westminster Abbey Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster ( House Plantagenet )

literature

• George Edward Cokayne : The Complete Peerage , Volume IV, pp. 322f
• Barbara English, Forz, Isabella de, suo jure countess of Devon, and countess of Aumale (1237-1293) , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept. 2004; online edition, Jan 2008

Individual evidence

1. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 341
2. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 293
3. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 103
4. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 104
5. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 353

predecessor	Office	successor
Baldwin de Redvers	Countess of Devon 1262-1293	Title expired
Baldwin de Redvers	Lady of the Isle of Wight 1262-1293	Title expired