Isabel le Despencer, Countess of Arundel

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Lady Isabel le Despencer, Countess of Arundel

Also Known As: "Isabella", "le Despencer"
Birthdate:
Birthplace: Stoke, Gloucestershire, England
Death: circa 1356 (39-48)
Herefordshire, England
Place of Burial: Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England
Immediate Family:

Daughter of Hugh Despenser the Younger and Eleanor de Clare, suo jure 6th Lady of Glamorgan
Wife of Richard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel, 8th Earl of Surrey
Mother of Sir Edmund FitzAlan
Sister of Hugh le Despencer, 2nd Baron le Despencer; Gilbert le Despenser; Sir Edward le Despenser; Joan le Despenser; Elizabeth le Despenser, Baroness Berkeley and 2 others
Half sister of Hugh la Zouche and Edward la Zouche

Occupation: Countess of Arundel
Managed by: Noah Tutak
Last Updated:

About Isabel le Despencer, Countess of Arundel

Isabel le Despenser (1312–1356) 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.

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.[2] 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.[1] 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".[1] 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.[1] 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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_le_Despenser,_Countess_of_Arundel

there was a death date of 30/6/1376 but I couldn't find any source to this fact

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_le_Despenser,_Countess_of_Arundel



Isabel Despencer (daughter of Hugh le Despencer - "The Younger and Eleanor de Clare). She married (1) Richard Fitzalan-10th Earl of Arundel on February 09, 1319/20 in Kings Chapel, Havering-Atte-Bower, Essex, Eng.. She married (2) Richard Fitzalan on 1321.

More About Isabel Despencer and Richard Fitzalan-10th Earl of Arundel: Marriage: February 09, 1319/20, Kings Chapel, Havering-Atte-Bower, Essex, Eng..

More About Isabel Despencer and Richard Fitzalan: Marriage: 1321

Children of Isabel Despencer and Richard Fitzalan-10th Earl of Arundel are:

  • +Phillippa Fitzalan, b. 1349.

Marriage annulled: 1344

view all 22

Isabel le Despencer, Countess of Arundel's Timeline

1312
1312
Stoke, Gloucestershire, England
1356
1356
Age 44
Herefordshire, England
1356
Age 44
Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England

Birth: 1312, England
Death: 1356
Herefordshire, England

Daughter of Hugh Despenser, the Younger, Knight and 2nd Lord Despenser and Eleanor de Clare, daughter of Gilbert.

First wife of Richard FitzAlan Lord Arundel, married 09 Feb 1321 in the King's Chapel at Havering-atte-Bower, Essex. Isabel was eight, Richard was fifteen. They had one son, Sir Edmund FitzAlan who married Sybil de Montagu.

The marriage to Richard was annulled 04 Dec 1344, as Richard claimed they had been forced to marry, and force with blows to conceive a child. and Edmund was bastardized and unable to inherit from his father. Richard promptly married Eleanor of Lancaster, with whom he had been having an affair. Isabel retired to one of the manors in Essex given to her by Richard.

When Richard died, Edmund fought his half siblings for his father's estates, but was imprisoned in the Tower of London for a year, until he was released based on the requests made by his brothers-in-law, Humphrey de Bohun and Thomas Holand.

When Isabel's father, Hugh, was executed for treason in 1326, as were a great many of Despensers, Isabel avoided confinement in a nunnery because she was married at the time.

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."

Family links:
Parents:
Hugh le Despenser (1286 - 1326)
Eleanor de Clare (1292 - 1337)

Spouse:
Richard FitzAlan de Arundel (1306 - 1376)

Children:
Edmund d'Arundel (1327 - 1377)*

Siblings:
Hugh le Despencer (1308 - 1349)*
Edward Le Despenser (1310 - 1342)**
Isabella le Despenser FitzAlan (1312 - 1356)
Elizabeth le Despenser Berkeley (1326 - 1389)*

*Calculated relationship
**Half-sibling

Burial:
Tewkesbury Abbey
Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury Borough
Gloucestershire, England

Edit Virtual Cemetery info [?]

Maintained by: Anne Shurtleff Stevens
Originally Created by: P Fazzini
Record added: Dec 01, 2010
Find A Grave Memorial# 62397103

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=62397103

1932
September 13, 1932
Age 44
September 13, 1932
Age 44
Salt Lake City Utah Temple, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA
September 13, 1932
Age 44
Salt Lake City Utah Temple, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA
September 13, 1932
Age 44
September 13, 1932
Age 44
Salt Lake City Utah Temple, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA
September 13, 1932
Age 44
Salt Lake City Utah Temple, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA