Isabel (Bolebec) de Vere (abt. 1164 - abt. 1245)

Born about 1164 in England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 3 Feb 1245 at about age 81 in England [uncertain]

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NOTE: Not to be confused with her niece who married her 2nd husband's older brother, Bolebec-41. This Isabel was heir to her younger niece named Isabel.

Biography

Isabel de Bolebec

Biographical Summary: Isabel, daughter of Hugh de Bolebec II, married (1) Henry de Nonant (died 1206), (2) Robert de Vere, Knt., 3rd Earl of Oxford. They had two children: Hugh de Vere, Knt. (born c1210, married Hawise de Quincy), and Eleanor de Vere (married Ralph Gernon, Knt.). Robert de Vere died 1221; Isabel died the 2nd or 3rd of February 1245 and was buried in the new church of Black Friars, Oxford, which she had founded.^[1]

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

"Isabel was the eldest daughter of Hugh de Bolebec. She appears first in the records as the widow of Henry de Nonant (d. 1206), lord of Totnes, Devon, her first husband. In 1207 she petitioned the crown for the right to marry whom she wished. The first installment of her fine was paid by Robert de Vere, earl of xford, her second husband, who had made his own fine to marry Isabel if she consented. At the time of her remarriage she was coheir of her niece Isabel de Bolebec, countess of Oxford and Robert de Vere's former sister-in-law (with whom she is frequently confused). By c.1225 Isabel had inherited all of the Bolebec honour of thirty knights' fees in Buckinghamshire.

"Isabel bore her only known child, Hugh de Vere,^[2] late in her reproductive years. She purchased his wardship and the guardianship of his inheritance upon her husband's death in 1221 for £2228 (6000 marks), and traveled with him on pilgrimage beyond the seas in 1237 (CPR, 1237 42, 175). A generally successful suitor at court, she engaged in a long-running dispute with Woburn Abbey.

"The countess was the chief benefactor of the Dominican order in Oxford. The friars sent to England in 1221 were assisted in their search for quarters in the Oxford Jewry by Isabel, who took a Dominican as her confessor and financed their oratory to the east of St Aldate's Street c.1227. When the friars decided to expand, she bought land to the south of Oxford for them. On her death on 3 February 1245 her body was temporarily entombed in their oratory, then transported to the newly consecrated Dominican priory church in St Ebbe's for burial. A monument proclaimed Isabel their foundress. Her other known charitable grants were to the hospital of St Mary Magdalene, Crowmarsh, Oxfordshire, and to Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire (a Bolebec foundation)."

Birth

c1164, from the citation to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography in her Wikipedia article^[3] note that this differs from the birth year guessed for her "1176?" in the ODNB entry for her husband, Robert de Vere.

about 1160, based on "...in or just before 1207...Isabel, who was probably a maiden aunt, well over forty,1 was at once sought in marriage as 'daughter of Hugh and sister and heir of Walter de Bolebec,' by Robert de Ver, younger brother to the Earl (Pipe Roll, 9 John).^[4]

1176?^[5]

about 1175^[6]

Marriages

Before 1206 to Henry de Nonent^[6] (about 1197^[5])

Between 1206 and 1210 to Robert de Vere^[6] (fine to marry in 1208^[5]); "before Michaelmas 1207"^[7]

"Sometime before Michaelmas 1207 Robert had married Isabel de Bolebec, the aunt and namesake of Earl Aubrey’s wife, who had died childless in 1206 or 1207. Isabel the niece had been the heiress to the Bolebec estate, which was centred on Whitchurch (Bucks.), and her own heirs were her two aunts. Robert’s marriage can therefore be seen as part of a de Vere strategy to retain control over at least half of the Bolebec lands."^[7]

"Her two marriages are confirmed by the Testa de Nevill which includes a writ of King John dated 1212 recording that "Robertus de Ver" held "manerium de Cliston" in Devon "de dote cum Isabella uxore sua que fuit uxor Henrici de Nunant", adding that King Henry I had first granted the manor to "Rogero de Nunant antecessori suo".^[8]

Children with Robert de Vere

They had one son, Hugh (born about 1210^[5]), and one daughter, Eleanor.^[1]

"... order dated 20 Oct 1222 under which King Henry III granted custody of "Hugonis filii et heredis Roberti de Ver, quondam comitis Oxonie" to "Ysabelle de Bolebec comitisse Oxonie" dated 19 Jun 1222^[8]

Death

3 February 1245^[5][9][10]

Burial

February 1245, Church of the Black Friars, Oxford, England^[1]

bur Oxford, Church of the Preaching Friars^[8]

The Dominican priory church of the Black Friars (Friars Preachers), Oxford, Oxfordshire, was founded by her husband, Robert de Vere, 3rd Earl of Oxford, in the early 13th century and was dissolved by Henry VIII in the 1530s during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Research Notes

Fines Rolls show Isabel out-lived her husband:

6/23 (13 November 1221)

[No date]. Isabella de Bolbec, countess of Oxford, has made fine with the king, by £2228 2s. 9½d., for having custody of the land and her son, the heir of Robert de Vere, formerly earl of Oxford , her husband, so that, beyond that fine, she will answer the king at the Exchequer for £1778 11s. of the debt that the earl owed to the king for several debts. She is also to render 250 m. of the aforesaid monies at Hilary in the sixth year, 250 m. at Easter in the same year, 250 m. at the Nativity of St. John the Baptist in the same year, 250 m. at Michaelmas in the same year, and £400 in the following year at the terms aforesaid, and £400 from year to year by the same terms until the aforesaid fine and debt have been paid in full.

This Isabel was "co-heiress in 1206-7 to her niece, Isabel de Bolebec, wife of Robert's brother Aubrey de Vere."^[1]

J.H Round explained the confusing records about Isabel and her family:^[4]

Her land, we read, had been (like her father's) in the custody of Reginald de Curtenai, since 1175 or thereabout, but she herself was in that of Aubrey, Earl of Oxford. In 1190 (she was then about fifteen) he gave no less than 500 marcs for licence to marry her to his son, who must have secured the fief, for he paid the scutage due on it (Pipe Roll, 2 Ric. I). Her name and the fact of the marriage (although ignored in works on the peerage) are proved (Mr. H. J. Ellis informs me) by two charters—Harl. Chart., 57 C. 3 and Add. Chart. 6026—granted by "Albericus de Ver filius Alberici comitis et femina sua Isabel filia Walteri de Bolebech," of which the latter was granted to Woburn Abbey and was, I have found, the actual charter produced by the Abbot of Woburn in 1231 (Bracton's Notebook, Case 633). This Isabel, it appears, died childless, so that her husband, then Earl, could not even claim tenure " by the curtesy." The Bolebec fief passed away to his wife's heirs.

This crisis in the Veres' fortunes must be dated in or just before 1207. It is evident that the heirs of the Countess were her father's sisters, Isabel and a younger sister. Isabel, who was probably a maiden aunt, well over forty,1 was at once sought in marriage as " daughter of Hugh and sister and heir of Walter de Bolebec," by Robert de Ver, younger brother to the Earl (Pipe Roll, 9 John). She retorted, clearly, by offering £200 and three palfreys that she might not be " distrained " to marry by the King or any other lord (ibid.)." Robert, however, married her and was holding, in 1211, her moiety of the Bolebec barony.3 He succeeded to the earldom and was father by her of the next earl, Hugh. There were thus two successive earls, each of whom married an heiress, named Isabel de Bolebec. This singular fact has been hitherto unsuspected.

Marriage to Henry de Nonant:

Richardson states that Robert de Vere married the widow of Henry de Nonant (d 1206).^[1] This agrees with with conclusion given in Complete Peerage, in its "Oxford" article, which explains that the evidence is in the Curia Regis Rolls, vol. vii, p. 342, and also explains how the evidence has been misinterpreted.^[9]

Darryl Lundy states, incorrectly, that Isabel married Henry de Nonant after 1221,^[11] presumably based on Robert de Vere's death in 1221 - Richardson has that Robert de Vere died "before 25 October 1221".^[1]

Alleged daughter Eleanor

Isabel has previously been shown on WikiTree as mother of Eleanor, wife of Ralph Gernon. No reliable evidence has been found for this. See research notes on Eleanor's profile and on the profile of Robert de Vere.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City, Utah: the author, 2013), Volume V, pages 251-253, VERE #1. Robert de Vere, Knt.
2. ↑ Royal Ancestry (#Richardson), also lists a daughter Eleanor.
3. ↑ Wikipedia: Isabel de Bolebec, citing ODNB for "c. 1164" birth (accessed 16 Oct. 2018)
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Round, J.H (1913) Rotuli de Dominabus et Pueris et Puellis de Donatione Regis in XII Comitatibus, 31 Henry II, 1185, Pipe Roll Society (1913), xxxix-xl. (available on FamilySearch)
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4} #ODNB
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} Isabel de Bolebec, "Our Royal, Titled, Noble, and Commoner Ancestors and Cousins" (website, compiled by Mr. Marlyn Lewis, Portland, OR; accessed 13 October 2018)
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} article on Robert de Vere by Professor Nigel Saul, Royal Holloway, University of London, for Magna Carta 2015 Committee
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families by Charles Cawley,© Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, 2000-2017.
   • Isabel de Bolebec
   • Robert de Vere
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Cokayne G.E.; Gibbs, H.A. et al. (1910-1959) The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, 2nd ed., Vol.10, pp 212-3, footnote "l".
10. ↑ Complete Peerage (citing Matthew Paris Vol.4 p.406) and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (#ODNB) say 3 February 1245; Richardson, a more recent source, says 2 or 3 February 1245 (Royal Ancestry above)
11. ↑ Henry de Nonant, "thepeerage" (website, compiled by Darryl Lundy, Ngaio, Wellington, New Zealand; accessed 13 October 2018)

• Sanders, English Baronies, p.98
• Keats-Rohan, Domesday Descendants, p.334
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Robert de Vere)
• Weis, Frederick Lewis. Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists Who Came to New England between 1623 and 1650 6th ed. (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD, 1988)
• WikiTree's Source page for The Complete Peerage