Isabella of England
Encyclopedia
For Isabella of England, the daughter of Edward III of England
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...

 and Philippa of Hainault
Philippa of Hainault
Philippa of Hainault, or, Philippe de Hainaut was the Queen consort of King Edward III of England. Edward, Duke of Guyenne, her future husband, promised in 1326 to marry her within the following two years...

, see Isabella de Coucy
Isabella de Coucy
Isabella of England, also known as Dame Isabella de Coucy , was the eldest daughter of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault and the wife of Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy, by whom she had two daughters.She was made a Lady of the Garter in 1376.-Early years:Isabella was the royal...

.


Isabella of England, also called Elizabeth (1214 – 1 December 1241) was an English princess and, by marriage, Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, and Queen consort of Sicily.

Biography

She was the fourth child but second daughter of King John of England
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...

 and Isabella of Angoulême
Isabella of Angoulême
Isabella of Angoulême was queen consort of England as the second wife of King John from 1200 until John's death in 1216. They had five children by the king including his heir, later Henry III...

.

At a friendly meeting at Rieti
Rieti
Rieti is a city and comune in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of c. 47,700. It is the capital of province of Rieti.The town centre rests on a small hilltop, commanding a wide plain at the southern edge of an ancient lake. The area is now the fertile basin of the Velino River...

, Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX, born Ugolino di Conti, was pope from March 19, 1227 to August 22, 1241.The successor of Pope Honorius III , he fully inherited the traditions of Pope Gregory VII and of his uncle Pope Innocent III , and zealously continued their policy of Papal supremacy.-Early life:Ugolino was...

 suggested to emperor Frederick II
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...

  that he marry princess Isabella, a sister of Henry III of England
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...

. At first Frederick II was concerned to lose his French allies; but when he realised that an English marriage would end English support for his opponents, he agreed. The betrothal was formalized in London on February 1235.

The beautiful Isabella was about twenty-one years old when she set out to marry the twice-widowed Emperor Frederick II, who was forty. On her way through Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, she delighted the local women when she removed the traditionally worn veil so that they could see her face.
The marriage between Isabella and Frederick took place in Worms Cathedral
Worms Cathedral
Cathedral of St Peter is a church in Worms, southern Germany. It was the seat of the Catholic Prince-Bishopric of Worms until its extinction in 1800.It is a basilica with four round towers, two large domes, and a choir at each end...

 on 15 or 20 July 1235; in the ceremony, she was also crowned Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Germany and Sicily. Her dowry was 30,000 marks of silver (a considerable sum at the time) and she was granted the castle of Monte Sant'Angelo by her husband upon her marriage.

However, as soon as she was married she was introduced to the secluded harem life attended by black eunuchs. Their marriage had been a political match, and she was allowed to keep only two of her English women-attendants, Margaret Biset, who probably had been her nurse, and her maid Kathrein; the others were sent home.

Isabella lived in retirement at Noventa Padovana
Noventa Padovana
Noventa Padovana is a comune in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about 30 km west of Venice and about 7 km east of Padua....

 where her husband regularly visited her. When her brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, returned from the crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...

, he was allowed to visit her, although Isabella was not allowed to be present at the official reception. While the imperial court resided at Foggia
Foggia
Foggia is a city and comune of Apulia, Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also known as the "granary of Italy".-History:...

, Isabella gave birth to her last child and died. She is buried beside Frederick's previous wife, Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem, in Andria Cathedral
Andria Cathedral
Andria Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Andria in Apulia, Italy, up to 2009 in the Province of Bari but from then onwards to be part of the newly formed Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani...

, near Bari
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...

.

Issue

Primary sources are at variance concerning Isabella's issue, including the number of children she had, their names, and their birth order. What is known for sure is that Isabella had at least four children: a son who died shortly after his birth in 1236 or 1241, a daughter who - like her older brother - died shortly after her birth in 1237, Margaret
Margaret of Sicily
Margaret of Sicily , was a Princess of Sicily and Germany, and a member of the House of Hohenstaufen...

, and Heinrich. Margaret is believed by some to have been the first child, and by others to be the child whose birth caused Isabella's death. The most common belief is that Margaret was the last child. The short-lived son of Isabella has been given the name of Frederick, Jordanus/Jordan, and Carl Otto by various sources. Some historians believe Isabella actually had five children, two short-lived sons instead of one, and that they were named Jordanus/Carl Otto and Frederick, the two being born in spring 1236 and summer 1240.
  • Frederick/Jordan/Charles Otto (Spring 1236–1236)
  • Agnes (born & died 1237)
  • Henry (18 January 1238 – May 1254)
  • Margaret
    Margaret of Sicily
    Margaret of Sicily , was a Princess of Sicily and Germany, and a member of the House of Hohenstaufen...

    , landgravine of Thuringia (1 December 1241 – 8 August 1270)

Ancestors


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