Isabel of Gloucester

Isabel of Gloucester (d. 14 October 1217) was the first wife of King John of England. She is also known by an exceptionally large number of alternative names: Hadwisa, Hawise, Joan, Eleanor, Avise and Avisa.

Isabel was the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Gloucester and his wife, Hawise. Her father died in 1183 and as he had no male heirs, his title merged in the Crown, but a new creation was granted to her in 1186 and she became Countess of Gloucester.

On 29 August 1189, she married John, Earl of Cornwall at Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire and he assumed the title in her right. Shortly before or after John's accession as king in 1199, he had the marriage annulled by Pope Boniface VIII on the grounds of consanguinity (they were second cousins as descendants of King Henry I) and Isabel was never recognised as queen and her former title merged in the Crown.

She later married the 2nd Earl of Essex on 20 January 1214 and after he died in 1216, she married Hugh de Burgh (later Earl of Kent) in September 1217. Isabel died a month later that year and was interred in Canterbury Cathedral.

Isabel in fiction

• A very fanciful depiction of her as a witch appears in The Devil and King John, a historical novel by Philip Lindsay, where she is called Hadwisa.
• She also appears as Hadwisa in Robin of Sherwood.

Preceded by: New creation

Countess of Gloucester 1186–1189

Succeeded by: The Earl of Cornwall