Isabella of Angouleme Queen to Englands King John

Known for: Queen of England; rather fiery marriage to King John Dates: 1186? or 1188? - May 31, 1246 Occupation: Countess of Angouleme, queen consort to John, King of England,  one of the Plantagenet queens Also known As: Isabella of Angoulà ªme, Isabel of Angoulà ªme Family Background Isabellas mother was Alice de Courtenay, granddaughter of Frances King Louis VI. Isabellas father was Aymar Taillefer, Count of Angouleme. Marriage to John of England Betrothed when very young to Hugh IX, Count of Lusignan, Isabella of Angouleme married John Lackland of England, son of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England. John had put aside his first wife, Isabella of Gloucester, in 1199. Isabella of Angoulà ªme  was twelve to fourteen years old at her marriage to John in 1200. In 1202, Isabellas father died, and Isabella became Countess of Angouleme in her own right. The marriage of Isabella and John was not an easy one. John was infatuated with his young and beautiful wife, but they both were reported to have engaged in adultery and to have had strong tempers which they used on each other. When John suspected Isabella of having had an affair, he had her suspected lover hanged and then dangled above her bed. Isabella and John had five children before John died in 1216. At Johns death, Isabellas quick action had her son Henry crowned  in Gloucester where they were at the time. Second Marriage Isabella of Angouleme returned to her homeland after Johns death. There she married Hugh X of Lusignan, son of the man shed been betrothed to before marrying John, and the man who was betrothed to her eldest daughter by John. Hugh X and Isabella had nine children. Her marriage took place without the permission of the English kings council, as would be required as queen dowager. The resulting conflict including confiscating her Normandy dower lands, stopping her pension, and a threat by Isabella to keep Princess Joan from marrying the Scottish king. Henry III involved the Pope. who threatened Isabella and Hugh with excommunication. The English finally settled on compensation for her seized lands, and restoration of at least part of her pension. She supported her sons invasion of Normandy before he carried out that mission, but then failed to support him once he arrived.   In 1244, Isabella was accused of conspiring against the French King to poison him, and she fled to the abbey at Fontevrault and hid for two years. She died in 1246, still hiding in the secret chamber. Hugh, her second husband, died three years later on crusade.  Most of her children from her second marriage returned to England, to the court of their half-brother. Burial Isabella had arranged to be buried outside the abbey at Fontevrault as penance, but some years after her death, her son, Henry III, King of England, had her re-interred beside her mother-in-law Eleanor of Aquitaine and father-in-law Henry II, inside the abbey. Marriages betrothed to: Hugh le Brun, Count of Lusignanmarried to: John I of England, August 24, 1200married to: Hugh X of Lusignan, Count of La Marche Children of Queen Isabella of Angouleme and King John King Henry III of England, born October 1, 1207Richard, Earl of Cornwall, King of the RomansJoan, married Alexander II of ScotlandIsabella, married Emperor Frederick IIEleanor, married William Marshall and then Simon de Montfort Children of Isabella of Angouleme and Hugh X of Lusignan, Count of La Marche Hugh XI of LusignanAymer de Valence, Bishop of WinchesterAgnes de Lusignan, married William II de ChauvignyAlice le Brun de Lusignan, married John de Warenne, Earl of SurreyGuy de Lusignan, killed at the Battle of LewesGeoffrey de LusignanWilliam de Valence, Earl of PembrokeMarguerite de Lusignan, married Raymond VII of Toulouse, then married Aimery IX de ThouarsIsabele de Lusignan, married Maurice IV de Craon then Geoffrey de Rancon