Isabel of Cambridge, Countess of Essex

Isabel of Cambridge
Countess of Essex
Born	1409
Died	2 October 1484 (aged 74–75)
Burial	Beeleigh Abbey, Little Easton, Essex
Spouses	Sir Thomas Grey Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex
Issue	Thomas Grey William Bourchier, Viscount Bourchier Sir Henry Bourchier Humphrey Bourchier, 1st Baron Cromwell John Bourchier Sir Thomas Bourchier Edward Bourchier Fulk Bourchier Isabel Bourchier
House	York
Father	Richard, 3rd Earl of Cambridge
Mother	Anne de Mortimer

Isabel of Cambridge, Countess of Essex (1409 – 2 October 1484) was the only daughter of Richard, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, and Anne de Mortimer. She was the sister of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and like him a great-grandchild of Edward III of England.

Early life

Isabel of York, the only daughter of Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, and Anne de Mortimer, was born about 1409.^[1] Through her father, she was the granddaughter of King Edward III's fourth surviving son, Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his first wife, Isabella of Castile. Through her mother, Anne de Mortimer, Isabel was the granddaughter of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, and Lady Alianore Holland (granddaughter of Lady Joan of Kent, Princess of Wales) and the great-great-granddaughter of Edward III's second surviving son, Lionel of Antwerp.

Isabel's father, Richard, Earl of Cambridge, was beheaded on 5 August 1415 for his part in the Southampton Plot against King Henry V. Although the Earl's title was forfeited, he was not attainted,^[a] and Isabel's brother, Richard, then aged four, was his father's heir.^[2] Within a few months of his father's death, Richard's childless uncle, Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, was slain at the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415, and Isabel's brother was eventually his uncle's heir as well.

Marriages and issue

In 1412, at three years of age, Isabel was betrothed to Sir Thomas Grey (1404 – d. before 1426),^[b] son and heir of Sir Thomas Grey (c. 1385 – 1415) of Heaton in Norham, Northumberland, and his wife, Alice Neville, the daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland. The marriage took place on 18 February 1413. They had one son,^[3] also called Thomas Grey (1423–1493). The elder Sir Thomas Grey was an associate of Isabel's father who also lost his life in the Southampton Plot.

She married, secondly, Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex, before 25 April 1426. The marriage was later validated by papal dispensation. By Essex, she had at least eleven children:^[4]

• William Bourchier Viscount Bourchier (d. 1480), who married Anne Woodville, daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, parents of Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Cecily Bourchier, wife of John Devereux, 9th Baron Ferrers of Chartley;
• Sir Henry Bourchier (d. 1462), who married Elizabeth Scales, 8th Baroness Scales.
• Humphrey Bourchier, 1st Baron Cromwell (d. 14 April 1471), slain at the Battle of Barnet.
• John Bourchier, 6th Baron Ferrers of Groby (d. 1495), who married, firstly, Elizabeth Ferrers, and, secondly, Elizabeth Chichelle.
• Edward Bourchier (d. 30 December 1460). Killed in the Battle of Wakefield.^[5]
• Sir Thomas Bourchier (b. prior to 1448 – 1492), who married Isabella Barre. No known children.^[5]
• Florence Bourchier (d. 1525).^[5]
• Fulk Bourchier, considered to have died young.^[5]
• Hugh Bourchier, considered to have died young.^[5]
• Isabella Bourchier, considered to have died young.^[5]

Death

Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex, died on 4 April 1483. Isabel remained a widow and died on 2 October 1484.^[4] A manuscript calendar records her death on VI Non Oct in 1484. Both were buried at Beeleigh Abbey near Maldon, Essex, but later reburied at Little Easton, Essex.^[4]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Isabel of Cambridge, Countess of Essex

16. Edward II of England 8. Edward III of England 17. Isabella of France 4. Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York 18. William I, Count of Hainaut 9. Philippa of Hainault 19. Joan of Valois 2. Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge 20. Alfonso XI of Castile 10. Peter of Castile 21. Maria of Portugal 5. Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York 22. Juan García de Padilla, 1st Señor de Villagera 11. María de Padilla 23. María Fernández de Henestrosa 1. Isabel of Cambridge, Countess of Essex 24. Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March 12. Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March 25. Lady Philippa Montacute 6. Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March 26. Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence 13. Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster 27. Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster 3. Lady Anne de Mortimer 28. Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent 14. Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent 29. Lady Joan, 4th Countess of Kent 7. Lady Alianore Holland 30. Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel 15. Lady Alice Fitzalan 31. Eleanor of Lancaster

Notes

1. Cokayne states that he was attainted.
2. Some sources assert that this Thomas Grey died not on 1426, but, rather, sometime before 26 July 1443. The marriage is instead said to have been annulled in 1426.

References

1. Richardson IV 2011, pp. 400–404.
2. Harriss 2004.
3. Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999. pp. 15, 1222
4. Richardson IV 2011, pp. 401–3.
5. Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy (London, UK: The Bodley Head, 1999), p. 111.

Bibliography

• Cokayne, George Edward (1932). The Complete Peerage, edited by H.A. Doubleday. Vol. VIII. London: St. Catherine Press. pp. 445–53.
• Harriss, G.L. (2004). "Richard , earl of Cambridge (1385–1415)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23502. Retrieved 4 October 2012. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) (subscription required)
• Pugh, T.B. (1988). Henry V and the Southampton Plot of 1415. Alan Sutton. ISBN 0-86299-541-8.
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. III (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1449966393.
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. IV (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 978-1460992708.