Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Arundel

1312 - 1356  (44 years)

• Name	Isabel le Despenser
  Suffix	Countess of Arundel
  Born	1312	England
  Gender	Female
  Died	1356	Herefordshire, England
  Buried	Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England
  	Grave location, portrait and abbey photo: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=62397103 There is an inscription on the chapel where she rests. It runs along the outside and inside walls as follows: "Mementote dne Isabelle le Despenser Comitisse de Warrewick Que hanc capellam fundavit in honore bte Marie Magdalene Et obiit Londiniis apud Minres A° Dni MCCCCXXXIX Die Scti Jhis Evngste Et sepulta e i choro i dextra patris sui cuj. Ame parcet Deus. Amen." Translation: "Remember the Lady Isabelle le Despencer, Countess of Warwick, who founded this chapel to the honour of the blessed Mary Magdalene, and died in London in the Minories AD 1439 on the day of Saint John the Evangelist [27th December], and was buried in the Choir on the right hand of her father, on whose soul may God have pity. Amen."
  Notes	Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_le_Despenser,_Countess_of_Arundel She was the eldest daughter of Hugh Despenser the Younger and Eleanor de Clare. She was descended from Edward I of England through her mother, while her father is famous for being the favorite of Edward II of England. Though he had stood against Edward II in the past, Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel had loyally supported him since the 1320s. Thus it must have seemed to be politically prudent to Edmund to marry his heir Richard to the eldest daughter of the King's closest friend and adviser Hugh le Despenser. For Hugh's part, a large incentive for him must have been that he could expect his daughter Isabel would one day become Countess of Arundel. On 9 February 1321 at the royal manor Havering-atte-Bower, Isabel was duly married to Richard FitzAlan, the heir to the earldom of Arundel. Isabel was only eight at the time, while Richard was fifteen (not seven as has been claimed). Their respective ages would come up later when Richard would try to seek an annulment. Richard and Isabel had one son, Edmund Fitzalan, born in 1327, and in 1331 Isabel's husband became earl of Arundel. However, in December 1344 Richard Fitzalan had their marriage annulled on the grounds that he had never freely consented to marry Isabel and that they both had renounced their vows at puberty but had been "forced by blows to cohabit, so that a son was born". Isabel retired to several manors in Essex that were given to her by her ex-husband. After receiving a papal dispensation, Richard married Isabel's first cousin Eleanor of Lancaster, with whom he had apparently been having an affair. Richard and Isabel's only child, Edmund Fitzalan, was rendered illegitimate by this annulment and so was unable to inherit his father's earldom. When his father died in 1376 Edmund quarreled with his half-siblings, the children of his father's second marriage, over inheritance rights. Edmund was imprisoned in the Tower of London until he was released in 1377 by request of his brothers-in-law. After their father was executed for treason in 1326, Isabel and her youngest sister Elizabeth were the only daughters of Hugh the Younger to escape being confined in nunneries, Isabel because she was already married and Elizabeth because of her youth.
  Person ID	I36051	Master File
  Last Modified	8 Sep 2016

  
  

  Father	Hugh le Despenser, The Younger,   b. 1286, Gloucestershire, England ,   d. 24 Nov 1326, Hereford Herefordshire, England  (Age 40 years)
  Mother	Eleanor de la Clare, Lady of Glamorgan,   b. 03 Oct 1292, Caerphilly, Wales ,   d. 30 Jun 1337, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England  (Age 44 years)
  Family ID	F14859	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Richard (Cropped Hat) Fitz Alan, 10th Earl of Arundel and 8th Earl of Surrey ,   b. 1306, Arundel, Sussex, England ,   d. 24 Jan 1376, Sussex, England  (Age 70 years)
  Married	09 Feb 1321	Havering-atte-Bower, London Borough of Havering, England
  Children	1. Sir Edmund Fitz Alan,   b. ca 1327, Surrey, England ,   d. 1376-1382  (Age ~ 55 years)
  Last Modified	8 Sep 2016
  Family ID	F14858	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart