Isabelle de Craon, Dame de Fougères (born 1212), was a French noblewoman, being the daughter of Amaury I, Sire de Craon, a wealthy baron who was the possessor of many lordships in Anjou and Maine. She was the wife of Raoul III, Sire de Fougères, by whom she had one daughter, Jeanne de Fougères, who became the heiress to her father's seigneury.

Family

Isabelle was born in 1212, the youngest daughter of Amaury I, Sire de Craon and Jeanne des Roches (c.1195- 28 September 1238). She had a younger brother, Maurice IV, Sire de Craon (1213–1250), who married Isabella of Lusignan, a half-sister of King

Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry as ...

by whom he had three children. She had an elder sister, Jeanne who was bethrothed to the three-year-old Arthur of Brittany in 1223. Arthur died that same year, and nothing further is known about Jeanne. Isabelle's paternal grandparents were

Maurice II de Craon Maurice II de Craon (–1196) was Lord of Craon, Mayenne, Craon, Governor of County of Anjou, Anjou and Maine (province), Maine under Henry II of England, Henry II, a military figure and Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norman of the century. Maurice II also ...

and Isabelle de Meulan. Her maternal grandparents were

Guillaume des Roches William des Roches (died 1222) (in French Guillaume des Roches) was a French knight and crusader who acted as Seneschal of Anjou, of Maine and of Touraine. After serving the Angevin kings of England, in 1202 he changed his loyalty to King Philip I ...

, Seneschal of Anjou and Marguerite de Sablé. Being the husband of Jeanne, eldest daughter of Guillaume des Roches, the hereditary seneschalship of Anjou and the vast Sablé barony passed to Isabelle's father upon the death of her maternal grandfather on 15 July 1222. Amaury died in 1226, when Isabelle was fourteen years old.

Marriage and issue

On an unknown date sometime before 1230, Isabelle married Raoul III, Sire de Fougères, the son of Geoffrey, Seigneur de Fougères and Mathilde de Porhoet. The marriage was documented in a charter dated February 1233. The chateau of

Fougères Fougères (; br, Felger; Gallo: ''Foujerr'') is a commune and a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine department in the region of Brittany in northwestern France. As of 2017, Fougères had 20,418 inhabitants. The Fougères area comprises a ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...

became their principal residence. Together Raoul and Isabelle had: * Jean de Fougeres (born and died 6 December 1230) * Jeanne de Fougères,

suo jure ''Suo jure'' is a Latin phrase, used in English to mean 'in his own right' or 'in her own right'. In most nobility-related contexts, it means 'in her own right', since in those situations the phrase is normally used of women; in practice, especi ...

Dame de Fougères (died after 1273), on 29 January 1254 married Hugh XII of Lusignan,

Count of La Marche The County of La Marche (; oc, la Marcha) was a medieval French county, approximately corresponding to the modern ''département'' of Creuse. La Marche first appeared as a separate fief about the middle of the 10th century, when William III, ...

Count of Angoulême Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

, by whom she had six children. Isabelle died on an unknown date. Her husband Raoul died on 24 February 1256, and his seigneury of Fougères was inherited by their only surviving child, Jeanne who thereafter held the title of ''suo jure'' Dame de Fougères.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Isabelle De Craon Craon family 1212 births 13th-century deaths 13th-century French people 13th-century French women