Isabel of France
Encyclopedia
Isabelle was the daughter of Louis VIII of France
Louis VIII of France
Louis VIII the Lion reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226. He was a member of the House of Capet. Louis VIII was born in Paris, France, the son of Philip II Augustus and Isabelle of Hainaut. He was also Count of Artois, inheriting the county from his mother, from 1190–1226...

 and Blanche of Castile
Blanche of Castile
Blanche of Castile , was a Queen consort of France as the wife of Louis VIII. She acted as regent twice during the reign of her son, Louis IX....

. She was a younger sister of Louis IX of France
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...

 (Saint Louis) and Alfonso, and an older sister of Charles I of Sicily
Charles I of Sicily
Charles I , known also as Charles of Anjou, was the King of Sicily by conquest from 1266, though he had received it as a papal grant in 1262 and was expelled from the island in the aftermath of the Sicilian Vespers of 1282...

. In 1256 she founded the Franciscan Abbey of Longchamp in the part of the Forest of Rouvray now called the Bois de Boulogne
Bois de Boulogne
The Bois de Boulogne is a park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine...

, west of Paris.

Early Life

Her father died when she was not yet 2 years old and it was her mother Blanche who oversaw her education. Like her sisters, she studied Latin and became an expert in this language. She also got a short religious education.

When still a child at court Isabelle was already devoted to religion. By the Bull of 26 May 1254, Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV , born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 25, 1243 until his death in 1254.-Early life:...

 allowed her to retain some Franciscan fathers as her special confessors. She was even more devoted to the Franciscan Order than her royal brother. She not only broke off her engagement with a count, but moreover refused the hand of Conrad IV of Germany
Conrad IV of Germany
Conrad IV was king of Jerusalem , of Germany , and of Sicily .-Biography:...

, son of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...

, although pressed to accept him by everyone, even by Innocent IV, who however did not hesitate subsequently to praise her fixed determination to remain a virgin.

Abbey of Longchamp

As Isabelle wished to found a convent of the Order of Poor Ladies
Order of Poor Ladies
The Poor Clares also known as the Order of Saint Clare, the Order of Poor Ladies, the Poor Clare Sisters, the Clarisse, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Congregation, and the Second Order of St. Francis, , comprise several orders of nuns in the Catholic Church...

 of Saint Clare, Louis IX began in 1255 to acquire the necessary land in the Forest of Rouvray, not far from the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...

 west of Paris. On 10 June 1256, the first stone of the convent church was laid. The building appears to have been completed about the beginning of 1259, because Pope Alexander IV
Pope Alexander IV
Pope Alexander IV was Pope from 1254 until his death.Born as Rinaldo di Jenne, in Jenne , he was, on his mother's side, a member of the de' Conti di Segni family, the counts of Segni, like Pope Innocent III and Pope Gregory IX...

 gave his sanction on 2 February 1259, to the new rule which Isabelle composed along with a team of at least four leading Franciscans, including Saint Bonaventure. This rule was drawn up solely for this convent, which was named the Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin (monasterium humilitatis beatae Mariae virginis). In the rule the sisters were called the Sorores Ordinis humilium ancillarum Beatissimae Mariae Virginis ("sisters of the humble order of servants of the most blessed virgin Mary"). The fast was not so strict as in the Rule of Saint Clare; the community was allowed to hold property, and the sisters were subject to the Franciscans. Some of the first sisters came from the female Franciscan convent at Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....

.Feast day February 26.
Isabelle refused to become an abbess, and she never entered the cloister, but from 1260 (or 1263) she followed the rules in her own home nearby. Isabelle was not altogether satisfied with the first rule drawn up, and therefore submitted a revised rule to Pope Urban IV
Pope Urban IV
Pope Urban IV , born Jacques Pantaléon, was Pope, from 1261 to 1264. He was not a cardinal, and there have been several Popes since him who have not been Cardinals, including Urban V and Urban VI.-Biography:...

, through the agency of her brother Louis IX, who had also secured the confirmation of the first rule. Urban approved this new constitution on 27 July 1263. The difference between the two rules consisted for the most part in outward observances and minor alterations. This new rule was also adopted by other French and Italian convents of the Order of St. Clare, but one can by no means say that a distinct congregation was formed on the basis of Isabel's rule. In the new rule Urban IV gave the nuns of Longchamp the official title of sorores minores inclusae, which was doubtlessly intended to emphasize closer union with the Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans).She'd help the sick and poor for love.

Isabelle died in her house at Longchamp on 23 February 1270, and was buried in the convent church. After nine days her body was exhumed, when it showed no signs of decay, and many miracles were said to have been wrought at her grave. In 1521 Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X , born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, was the Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 Theses...

 allowed the Abbey of Longchamp to celebrate her feast with a special office. On 4 June 1637, a second exhumation took place. On 25 January 1688, the nuns obtained permission to celebrate her feast with an octave, and in 1696 the celebration of the feast on 31 August was permitted to the whole Franciscan Order.

The Abbey of Longchamp had many vicissitudes. The French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 closed it, and in 1794 the empty building was offered for sale, but as no one wished to purchase it, it was destroyed. In 1857 the walls were pulled down except one tower, and the grounds were added to the Bois de Boulogne
Bois de Boulogne
The Bois de Boulogne is a park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine...

.

Ancestry


Further reading

  • Agnes d'Harcourt (third Prioress of Longchamp, 1263–1270), Vie de Madame Isabelle, Archives Nationales L. 1021 MSS., Paris.
  • André
    André
    André is a French and Portuguese masculine given name, the French form of Andrew. It may refer to :* André , a French graffiti artist* André , an Armenian pop star* André-Marie Ampère* André Ayew, a football player from Ghana...

    , Histoire de Ste Isabelle, Carpentras, 1885.
  • Daniélo, Vie de Madame Ste Isabelle, Paris, 1840.
  • Berguin, La Bienheureuse Isabelle de France, Grenoble, 1899.
  • Duchesne
    Duchesne
    -People:*André Duchesne , French historian*André Duchesne , Canadian musician*Antoine Nicolas Duchesne French botanist and strawberry breeder*Ernest Duchesne , French physician...

    , Histoire de l'abbaye royale de Longchamp, 12557–1789, Paris, 1904.
  • Sbaralea
    Sbaralea
    Giovanni or Gian Giacinto Sbaraglia , otherwise Joannes Hyacinthus Sbaralea, was a historian of the Franciscan Order.Works include Supplementum et castigatio ad scriptores trium ordinum S. Francisi and...

    , Bull. Franc., III, Rome, 1765, 64-9.
  • Sbaralea, Bull. Franc., II, Rome, 1761, 477-86.
  • Sean L. Field, Isabelle of France: Capetian Sanctity and Franciscan Identity in the Thirteenth Century (University of Notre Dame Press, 2006).
  • Sean L. Field, ed. and trans., The Writings of Agnes of Harcourt: The Life of Isabelle of France and the Letter on Louis IX and Longchamp (University of Notre Dame Press, 2003).

External links

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