Royal Women in Power I

Brief lives of women, who reigned or ruled in their own right or by marriage, by providing their:

Proper Name:

Also known as:

Proprietary Titles:

Parents/Pedigree:

Partners:

Progeny/Posterity:

Patrimony/Properties:

Persona/Personality:

Powers Exercised:

Patronages:

Picture:

Ida de Boulogne, Countess of Mortain, 1204–1216.

Ide-Raymonde de Forez, Countess of Forez.

Ilaria Scillato, Lady of Ceppaloni [62].

Ippolita I Ludovisi (1663–1724), Princess of Piombino, 1700-1724 [63].

IRENE OF ATHENS, Byzantine Empress (752-803)
a.k.a. Irene the Athenian
[Bio1]
"...The Empress was actuated by love of Greece as well as by motives of policy, for she as a native of Athens... At the age of seventeen she had been selected by the Emperor Constantine Copronymos as the wife of his son, Leo IV, and the premature death of her husband left her the real mistress of the Empire, which she governed, first as Regent for her son and then as sole ruler, for over twenty years... Irene, however, was dethroned a little later by Nikephoros I, and banished to Mitylene, where she died...."  (Essays on the Latin Orient, pp. 39-40)

Irene Palaeologina, Empress of Trebizond, 1340–1341.

Irmgard von Plotzkau (1070/80-1153), Heiress of County of Walbeck [64].

Irmgard von Wevelinghoven (d.1474), Heiress of Lordship of Alfter.

Isabeau d'Antoing (d.1354), Burgravine of Ghent [65].

Isabeau de Carlat, Viscountess of Carlat, 1303-?.

Isabeau de Carlat, Lady of Carlat.

Isabeau de Craon, Lady of Craon.

Isabeau de Germaines (d.1341), Lady of Germaines.

Isabeau de Ghistelle, Countess of Harnes, 1386-1413 [66].

Isabeau de Thouars, Lady of Mauleon & Talmond, Viscountess of Thouars, Countess of Benon & Dreux.

Isabeau de Vivonne, Lady of Regnac.

Isabel, Princess of Euboea, 1216-1220 [67].

widow of Ravano dalle Carceri, Lord of Euboea, 1209–1216

Isabel de Aragon (1409–43), Countess of Urgell, 1433–1443.

Isabel de Mauduit, heiress of County of Warwick [68].

Isabel Douglas, Countess of Mar, Countess of Mar and Lady of Garioch, 1391-1404 [69].

Isabel le Despenser
Countess of Warwick
@geni.com

ISABEL LE DESPENSER (1400-1439)

[Ref1:93]

Proprietary Titles: Lady Despenser; 5th Baroness Burghersh, 1414-1439 (succeeded brother Richard, Baron Burghersh)

Parents/Pedigree: Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester & Constance of York

" . . . She was the great grand-daughter of Edward III, and was descended on the female side from Gilbert de Clare, eighth Earl of Gloucester, and his wife the Princess Joan d'Acre, the daughter of Edward I; and thus by two channels she inherited the blood of the Plantagenets." (Blunt: 74)

Partners:

1. Richard de Beauchamp, 1st Earl of Worcester (1394-1422), mar 1411

2. Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick (1382-1439), mar 1423

Progeny/Posterity:

1. Elizabeth de Beauchamp, 3rd Baroness Bergavenny (1415-1448)

2. Henry de Beauchamp, 14th Earl of Warwick

3. Anne de Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick

Patrimony/Properties: "On the death of the last Lord Despencer in 1415, the lands and the ecclesiastical rights of his family went to his sister Isabel, who is best known by the title of her second husband as the Countess of Warwick. 

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Patronages:

Isabel Teles de Molina (1290-?), 10th Lady of Menezes.

Isabella I of Castile, Queen of Castile, 1474–1504

[Bio1] [Bio2]

Isabella of England (1332–1379), Countess of Soissons, 1365.

Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine.

Isabella II of Spain, Queen of Spain, 1833–1868.

Isabella, Countess of Gloucester (1170–1217)

[Bio1]

Proprietary Titles: 3rd Countess of Gloucester

Parents/Pedigree: Isabel was the daughter of William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester and of Hawise. 

Patrimony/Properties

Persona/Personality

Powers Exercised

Patronages

Partners/Progeny: She married 1) King John of England; 2) Geoffrey FitzGeoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex; and 3) Hugh de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent. She had no children by both husbands.

"No son survived to succeed to the lordship of Gloucester and Tewkesbury. Isabella, the third daughter of William Fitzcount, had the ill fortune to attract Prince John, afterwards the king. The broadlands of Tewkesbury, in default of a male heir, were in the keeping of the Crown, and on his marriage with Isabella of Tewkesbury were bestowed on Prince John, then Earl of Moreton. The marriage was an unhappy one, and when John after some ten years became king, he divorced Isabella, but on payment of an enormous fine he gave Tewkesbury and the lordship of Gloucester to her second husband, Geoffrey Mandeville, Earl of Essex. She died childless as did her elder sister Mabel, the wife of Almeric de Montfort, Count d'Evreux. . . ." (The English Illustrated Magazine: 783)

Proper Name: Isabella d'Ibelin (1252-1282)

Also known as: Isabella of Beirut

Proprietary Titles: Lady of Beirut, 1264-1282

Other Titles: Queen of Cyprus

Parents/Pedigree: John II of Beirut & Alice de la Roche

Partners:

1. Hugh II of Cyprus (1252-1267), betrothed 1265

2. Hamo le Strange (d.1273), mar 1272

3. Nicolas l'Aleman, Lord of Caesarea

4. William Barlais (d.1304), mar 1277

Progeny/Posterity:

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Picture:

Isabella of Jerusalem, Queen of Jerusalem, 1190–1206.

Isabella of Oultrejourdain, Lady of Oultre Jourdain.

Isabella Appiani, Lady of Piombino & Elba, 1590–1594; Princess of Piombino, 1594-1661 

a.k.a. Isabella d'Appiani d'Aragon

[71].

ISABEL MARSHAL (1200-1240)

[Bio1] [Ref1:51]

Proprietary Titles: Countess of Hertford

Parents/Pedigree: Isabel was the seventh child, and second daughter, of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and of Isabel de Clare.

Patrimony/Properties

Persona/Personality

Powers Exercised: Countess of Cornwall

Patronages

Partners/Progeny: She married 1) Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford, with whom she had six children, and, in 1231, 2) Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall with whom she had four children.

"The same abbot officiated less than five months later at the marriage of Earl Gilbert's widow Isabel to his friend Richard, earl of Cornwall, the brother of Henry III, the ceremony being performed on March 30, 1231, at Fawley, near Marlow in Buckinghamshire. She thus became Countess of Gloucester, Hertford, Cornwall, and Poitiers; but though these great titles overshadowed the comparatively humble one which she derived from Tewkesbury, her affections were firmly rooted in the old abbey until her last hour...." (Blunt, 1875, p. 51)

ISABELLA PALLAVICINI, Marchioness of Bodonitsa, 1278-1286 [72].

a.k.a. Jezebel

[Bio1]

Isabella de Roucy, Countess of Roucy, ?-1379.

Isabella of Spain (1566–1633), Countess of Charolais, 1598–1633, Countess Palatine of Burgundy, 1598–1633.

Isabella di Taranto, Princess of Taranto, 1463–1465.

Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain.

Isabel de Warenne (1136–1203)

Proprietary Titles: 4th Countess of Surrey, 1148-1203

Parents/Pedigree: Daughter & only surviving heir, of William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey, and his wife Adele de Ponthieu.

Partners/Progeny: She married 1) 1148, William I of Blois (1137-1159), Count of Boulogne, 1153-1159 & 3rd Earl of Surrey (in wife's right), 1153-1159, son of King Stephen of England; and 2) 1164, Hamelin Plantagenet (1130-1202), 4th Earl of Surrey (in wife's right), a.k.a. Hamelin de Warenne, illegitimate son of Geoffrey of Anjou & an unknown woman.

Patrimony/Properties: "The Warenne earls of Surrey had been stalwart supporters of the crown since William de Warenne, the first earl, had fought alongside William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. The family held a total of sixty knights' fees in England. They had lands stretching from Lewes in Sussex to sandal Castle in West Yorkshire, with their main landholdings at Castle Acre in Norfolk; they also had extensive estates in Normandy, including Mortemer and Bellencombre. . . ." (Ladies of Magna Carta: 126)

Hamelin de Warenne, 4th Earl of Surrey: "Warenne's lands in England centered on Conisborough Castle in Yorkshire, which powerful castle he built. He also possessed the "third penny" (an entitlement to one third of the fines levied in the county courts) of his County of Surrey and held the castles of Mortemer and Bellencombre in Normandy." (Wikipedia)

Persona/Personality

Powers Exercised

Patronages

"One such was Isabel de Warenne, a young lady whose vast inheritance made her an attractive bride. Isabel was the only surviving child of William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey, and his wife Ela or Ala. Ela was the daughter of William (III) Talvas, Count of Ponthieu. Isabel was probably in her mid- to late teens when her father was killed during the Second Crusade; in January 1148, he was fighting in the rearguard of France's king, Louis VII, when the force was destroyed in the defiles of Laodicea. Ela would marry, for a second time, sometime before 1152; her second husband was Patrick, Earl of Salisbury, by whom she had four sons, William (Patrick's successor as earl), Patrick, Philip and Walter, before her death on 4 October 1174.

"On the death of her father, Isabel became 4th Countess of Surrey, in her own right, and one of the most prized heiresses in England and Normandy. She had large estates in Yorkshire and Norfolk. Her father had been a strong supporter of King Stephen; he fought alongside the king during the Anarchy -- Stephen's battles with his cousin, the Empress Matilda, to control England -- and supported his wife, Queen Matilda, after King Stephen was captured at Lincoln. This affinity with Stephen's regime helps to explain why, in the same year that her father died, and as part of King Stephen's attempts to control the vast de Warenne lands, Isabel was married to Stephen's younger son, William of Blois, who became Earl of Surrey, by right of his wife. William, it seems, was about seven years younger than his wife, having been born in 1137. William was removed from the succession to the crown, by his own father when Stephen made a deal with Empress Matilda's son, Henry of Anjou, that the crown would go to him on Stephen's death." (Connolly. Heroines of the Medieval World)

Isabella da Ponte, Heiress of Tagliacozzo [73]

Isabelle d'Albret (d.1294), Lady of Albret & Viscountess of Maremne, 1283–1294.

Isabelle, Lady of Argos and Nauplia.

Isabelle d'Angoulême (1187–1246), Countess of Angoulême, 1202–1246.

Isabelle de Beaujeau (d.1297), Lady of Beaujeau, 1250-1297.

Isabelle de Beauvau (1436–1474), Lady of La-Roche-sur-Yon, Lady of Champigny-sur-Vende.

Isabelle de Blois (d.1236), Lady of Chateaurenault & Countess of Chartres, 1218-1236 [74].

Isabelle de Brienne (1305–1360), Countess of Conversano, 1356–1360, Countess of Lecce, 1356–1360, Countess of Brienne, 1356–1360.

Isabelle de Clermont (1424-1465)

Princess of Taranto, 1463-1465 (succeeded uncle Giovanni Antonio del Balzo Orsini)

Isabelle de Coucy (d.1411), Countess of Soissons, ?-1411.

Isabelle de Dreux (1160–1239), Lady of Baudemont.

Isabelle de Foix (1360–1426), Viscountess of Béarn & Castelbon & Countess of Foix, 1398-1412.

Isabelle de France (1158–1197), Countess of Vexin.

Isabella, Countess of Vertus (1348–1373), Countess of Vertus 1361-1373.

Isabelle of Luxemburg (d.1472), Countess of Guise.

Isabelle de Mayenne (d.1257), Lady of Mayenne, 1220-1257 [75].

Isabelle de Rumigny (1263–1322), Lady of Rumigny, 1270–1322.

Isabelle I de Villehardouin (1260–1311), Princess of Achaea, 1289–1297, 1301-1307