Counts of Aujouleme
1. Isabella De Taillefer, Queen of England: Born about 1188, of Angouleme, Charente, France; Died 31 May 1245/1246, Fontevrault Abbey, Fontevrault, Maine-et-Loire, France; Married 26 August 1200, Bordeaux, Gironde, France; John "Lackland", King of England: Born 24 December 1166, King's Manor House, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England; Died 19 October 1216, Newark, Nottinghamshire, England. (See Kings of England #2) John inherited the nastiest characteristics of both sides of his family. The cunning that he inherited from his father was more like outright dishonesty; he had little of his father's energy but plenty of his violent temper. He inherited from his mother his love of pleasure and luxury but, unlike her, he was over-extravagant, and by the time he came to the throne there was not much money left. Although born, reared and educated in Englandat his father's court, he was "French" in outlook and temperament. He loved rich foods, good wines, (of which he drank too much), music, women, amusing companions and gambling. His favourite game was backgammon. He collected jewels and rivalled Richard in his fondness for clothes. One Christmas he was described as wearing "a red satin mantle embroidered with sapphire and pearls, a tunic of damask, and a girdle set with garnets and sapphires, while the baldric across his shoulder to sustain his sword was set with diamonds and emeralds and his white gloves adorned, one with a ruby and one with a sapphire."
His chief merit was that he had good taste and was fond of literature. In looks he was shorter than his father, about five feet six inches, was inclined to fat but, unlike his father, did not do anything about it; and he had a drooping left eye. Although he had been his father's favourite, he had been nicknamed by him "Lackland" because Henry never succeeded in finding for John any country to rule.
Henry had tried various ruses to get John land. When John was four years old he negotiated to get him engaged to a daughter of the Count of Maurienne. When the Count asked about money Henry, who never liked paying, promised that John should have lands which he had already given to Geoffrey Fitz Henry. Fitz Henry objected and started a rebellion. Later, Henry tried taking Aquitaine away from Richard and giving it to John but that started another rebellion.
Shortly before his death Henry had given John 4,000-worth of land in England and arranged for him to marry Adelicia, a rich heiress and one of the three daughters of the Earl of Gloucester and a granddaughter of Robert of Gloucester, Henry I's illegitimate son. As her father had had no heirs and her two sisters had married, she was styled Countess of Gloucester, and when John married her in 1189 he took the earldom to himself. On his marriage Richard gave him 1,000 pounds a year and, after his coronation, the Duchies of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. The Church was against the marriage from the first on the grounds of consanguinity, and the original date of the ceremony was postponed for a few months. John must have gone through with it simply because he thought that it was the most advantageous way at that moment to secure land and money; he quite obviously had no other use for Adelicia and she never appeared in public as his wife. So little indeed did he think of the marriage that, without going through any form of divorce, in 1192 he contemplated rescuing and marrying Alice, the French princess who had been Richard's fiancee and was imprisoned by him at Rouen. In 1199 John did get an official divorce from Adelicia but kept her a state prisoner until 1213, when he sold her to Geoffrey de Mandeville for 20,000 marks.
After Richard's death Arthur of Brittany, the son of Geoffrey, the third son of Henry and Eleanore, should have inherited the throne. Richard had named Arthur as his heir and had tried to persuade Constance, his mother, to send him to England to be educated. Constance hated Eleanore and had refused to do so. When Richard died she was having matrimonial adventures herself and had just eloped from her second husband, the Earl of Chester and, without a divorce, 'married' Sir Guy of Thouars, which possibly took her mind off claiming Arthur's rightful inheritance, and in 1201 she died in childbed.
John wasted no time in claiming the throne and Eleanore supported his claim. He rushed to Chinon and seized the treasure and then went back to England, leaving Eleanore as Regent over his French estates. He was crowned at Westminster on 27th May, 1199.
Early in 1200, Hugh De Lusignan had abducted Eleanor of Aquitaine and compelled her to relinquish the county of La Marche in order ot secure her release. She had no chice but to do so. Shortly thereafter John learned that Hugh had arranged for himself a marriage to 12 year old Isabella of Angouleme, daughter and heiress of Count Aymer of Angouleme, her mother a first cousin to the King of France.
Politically, the marriage would have put the vast lands of Angouleme in the hands of John's enemy, and neither he nor his mother were pleased at that thought. John very cleverly figured out the only way to stop the marriage--he arranged the hasty annulment of jhis own marriage and married Isabella himself. This was not such a great sacrafice after all, as Isabell was as beautiful as John had heard.
Hugh, when he came back, challenged John to a duel, but John refused to fight himself and said that he would appoint a champion to meet Hugh, to which Hugh replied that all champions were cut-throats and let the matter drop. The Pope, too, expressed his displeasure at the marriage because of her former betrothal, but John must have been used to papal disapproval of his marriages by that time and was not too worried.
Isabella was brought to England to be crowned. Although extravagant in his own dress, John did not seem to encourage her to make a great show. For her coronation she was given three cloaks of fine linen, one of scarlet cloth and one of grey pelisse. After this they went back to France and stayed at Rouen, where they ate splendid dinners and stayed in bed until noon. Kings at that time were expected to get up at about five o'clock in the morning, and the story went round that she had enthralled him by witchcraft.
This easy life was interrupted by Hugh de Lusignan, who, seeking his revenge, combined with Arthur, who had legitimate grievance against both John and Eleanor, to besiege Eleanor in her castle of Mirabeau in Poitou. For once John took prompt action. He had a strong filial feeling and he now marched night and day for forty-eight hours to her rescue. He took Arthur and his sister, Eleanor, prisoner. Eleanor was well treated though kept as a royal prisoner and died a natural death in 1241. Arthur died shortly after being captured, under mysterious circumstances. Some said that John ordered that he should be blinded and then killed; others that he ordered Arthur to be castrated and that the shock killed him; and another story was that, when John was drunk, he killed Arthur himself and, putting a stone round the body, sank it in a river. Whatever happened the custodian of Falaise Castle where Arthur was held prisoner, a man called Hugh de Burgh, was very much rewarded. After Arthur's death de Burgh was given lands and manors and later married the unfortunate Adelicia, John's first wife, as his third wife, and after her the King of Scotland's sister.
In November John had to go and put down more rebellions in the south of France and left Isabella, then about sixteen, in charge at Chinon, where she was attacked by rebels, and in January 1203 he had to rush to her rescue. He had lost Normandy and by 1206 most of the rest of his lands in France.
He spent the Christmas of 1204 with Isabella at Canterbury. She had not yet produced a child and her hold over him had already weakened, and his eye began to roam. He already had three acknowledged bastard sons, Oliver, Richard and Osbert, and one or two daughters, one of whom married Llewellyn of Wales, who fought against him in 1211. These had been born before his marriage to Isabella but now he took other mistresses. This naturally upset Isabella, who was quick tempered, sensual and spoilt, and they began to have quarrels. She was not the only person who was upset; the Barons did not appreciate it either when he tried to seduce their wives or daughters.
During the next twelve years he caused several scandals, one when he tried to seduce the wife of a nobleman called de Vesci by a trick. He borrowed de Vesci's ring and sent it to the Country to his wife with a message saying that her husband was dying and that she must go to London to King John. De Vesci met his wife on the way to London and substituted a prostitute for her. John next day said to de Vesci, 'Your wife is very pleasant in the silence of the night.' De Vesci told him about the substitution and then 'quickly ran from the King's wrath'. Another scandal occurred over Matilda the Fair, the daughter of one of his Barons who caught his eye in 1214. She did not reciprocate his feelings, so he abducted her and incarcerated her in the White Tower, where some said, he had her poisoned because she had resisted his advances.
In 1207 Isabella produced her first child, a son; between then and 1216 she had four more children, Richard born in 1209, Joanna 1210, Isabella 1214 and Eleanor in 1215. This did not stop their quarrels getting worse and he accused her of being unfaithful; he was reputed to have assassinated two of her lovers and to have had their bodies hung over her bed. Whether he really went as far as this or not is uncertain, but in 1212 he followed the Plantagenet habit of imprisoning wives, and kept Isabella at Gloucester Abbey with her most recently born daughter Isabella until 1213. Her other children he took away from her because he said she was immoral. After her father had died and she had inherited Angouleme he let her out of prison. Her mother came over to England to pay them a visit, and the three of them went back to Angouleme. They came back to England again for Christmas, which they spent at Windsor in great style; John had sent in as provisions 2,000 capons, 15,000 herrings, 1,000 eels, 1,000 pounds of almonds and 6,000 gallons of wine.
In June 1215 he left Windsor Castle to sign the Magna Carta. As he showed no signs of abiding by it, the Barons asked Philip to come over and rule England. Philip did not do so but sent his son Louis over with an army, which landed on 16th October. Neither side seemed to know what to do after this; Louis seemed half-hearted and John moved about from place to place. Upon leaving after a stay in the city of Lynn, the dismaly grey overcast sky prevented the accurate telling of the time, and John' sentire baggage traine got mired in the quicksand of the Wash, a frod that became unsafe during the high tide. As the tide swept in from the north, the two mile long train could only watch in terror. Men and horses drowned, the carts and thir contents were all lost--John's books, records of his courts, his gold, jewelry, regalia, clothing, household items, everything. He himself survived, but already suffering from gout, he became quite ill with fever, chills anbd dysentery. He made it to the Abbey of Swineshead, insisting upon being carried via litter on to the city of Newark, where he spent his final hours furiously dictating letters to his family and supporters, getting his affairs in order and attempting to set up the smooth succession to his young son Henry III. He worried greatly about this, as Henry was only nine years old and Engl;and was at war. As John lay dying a great storm is said to have broken at midnight. Rumors spread that the Devil was comming to claim King John and the servants fled in terror. John died shortly thereafter on 19 October, 1216.
Isabella was not asked to be Regent to her young son because her reputation was so bad, and in 1217 she returned to taker her place as Countess of Angouleme, the title and lands she inhereted from her father. Her daughter Joanna had been betrothed to the son and namesake of Isabella's own first betrothed, Hugh De Lusignan, when Joanna was only three, and had been turned over to the De Lusignan family for rearing at that time. Isabella rejoined Joanna--and married the younger Hugh herself, becomming the daughter-in-law- of her former fiancee!
Isabella tried to put this all on a very high plane and wrote to Henry 111. "To our dearest son Henry, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, Isabella, Countess of Anjou and Angouleme sends health and her maternal benediction.
'We hereby signify to you that when the Counts of March and Eu departed this life, the Lord Hugh de Lusignan remained alone and without heirs at Poitu; and his friends would not permit that our daughter should be united to him in marriage because her age is so tender, but counselled him to take a wife from whom he could speedily hope for an heir; and it was proposed that he should take a wife in France, which if he had done, all your land in Poitu and Gascony would be lost. We, therefore, seeing the great peril that might accrue if that marriage should take place (when other counsellors could give us no better advice) ourself married the said Count de March; and God knows that we did this rather for your benefit than our own; and we earnestly pray that you will restore to him (Hugh de Lusignan, Count de March) his lawful right: that is Niort, and the castles of Exeter and Rockingham which your father, our former husband, bequeathed to us.'
Neither Henry nor his Regents were much impressed by this letter and did not give Hugh the castles; but she did produce the heirs. She had five sons and three daughters by this marriage and greatly preferred these children to those of her marriage to John.
In 1245 she was accused of hiring assassins to murder the King of France, Louis, who had succeeded his father Philip. Louis called a Congress to go into the charge to which she was now bidden. The story goes that she waited outside on her horse and then galloped away when she saw a witness whom she knew was her enemy, go into the court.
Her excuse for her sudden flight was that she had been instulted because, when her husband had gone to do homage to the King and Queen, they did not receive her for three days, and when they did they did not ask her to sit down. After her flight she went back to La Marche, stripped the castle of everything and had it sent to Angouleme. She then shut herself into her room, would not see the Count for three days, and only came out when he promised to start a rebellion against the King.
The whole episode upset her so much that she was said to have attempted to kill herself with a dagger, but somebody seized it and stopped her. Hugh again wanted a duel, this time with Louis's brother, for his wife's honour, but he declined, saying that Hugh was too treason-spotted. This so upset Isabella that she took the veil and died in 1246. Since 1216, when Henry came to the throne, she was an almost permanent nuisance to him, but he always treated her with the greatest respect.
2. Aymer De Taillefer, Count of Angouleme: Born about 1160, of Angouleme, Charente-Maritim, France; Died 1218, L'Abbey La Couro, France; Married 1180, Angouleme, Aquitaine, France; Alix De Courtenay, Countess of Angouleme: Born about 1160, of Courtenay, Galinois, France; Died 1218, France. (See Kings of France #2)
3. William IV De Taillefer, Count of Angouleme: Born about 1134, Angouleme, Charente, France; Died 7 August 1187, Messina, Sicily, Italy; Married before 1160; Emma De Limoges: Born about 1138, Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France.
Emma's Parents and Maternal Grandparents--
William IV's Parents--
4. Vulgrin II De Taillefer, Count of Angouleme: Born about 1108, Angouleme, Charente, France; Died 16 November 1140, France; Married Ponce De Lusignan: Born 1091, France. (See The Sires De Lusignan)
5. William III De Taillefer, Count of Angouleme: Born about 1084, of Angouleme, Charente, France; Died 16 April 1118, France; Married before 1108; Vitapoy De Benauges: Born about 1086, of Benauges, Gironde, France. (See Above)
Vitapoy's Parents--
William's Parents--
6. Fulk De Taillefer, Count of Angouleme: Born about 1015, of Angouleme, Charente, France; Died 1087; Married before 1084, of Angouleme, Charente, France; Cundo Vagena: Born about 1062, Angouleme, Charente, France.
Cundo's Parents--
Folques' Parents--
7. Geoffrey De Taillefer, Count of Angouleme: Born about 988, Angouleme, Charente, France; Died 1048; Married about 1014, of Angouleme, Charente, France; Petronille De Archaic: Born about 994, of Conteville, France.
Petronille's Parents--
Geoffrey's Parents--
8. William II De Taillefer, Count of Angouleme: Born about 952, Angouleme, Charente, France; Died 6 April 1028; Married about 985, of Angouleme, Charente, France; Gerberga D'Anjou, Countess of Angouleme: Born about 962, of Anjou, France.
Gerberga's Parents--
Guillaume's Parents--
9. Armand Manzer De Taillefer, Count of Angouleme: Born about 924, of Angouleme, Charente, France; Died 992; Married about 951, of Angouleme, Charente, France; Hildegarde (Taillefer): Born about 926, of Angouleme, Charente, France; Died 4 March 992/1001, St. Cybar, France.
10. William I De Taillefer, Count of Angouleme: Born about 895, of Angouleme, Charente, France; Died 956; Married about 923, of Angouleme, Charente, France; Mrs. William De Taillefer, Countess of Angouleme: Born about 900, of Angouleme, Charente, France. This couple seems never to have been married so her titles and the use of "Mrs." may well be incorrect and the date listed for their marriage may simply be the date they became romantically linked.
11. Alduin, Count of Angouleme: Born about 866, of Angouleme, Charente, France; Died 25 March 916; Married about 894, of Angouleme, Charente, France; Mrs. Alduin, Countess of Angouleme: Born about 870, of Angouleme, Charente, France.