Isabel of Cambridge, Countess of Essex

Isabel of Cambridge
Countess of Essex
Remains of Beeleigh Abbey, first burial place of Isabel of York
Born	1409
Died	2 October 1484 (aged 74–75)
Burial	Beeleigh Abbey, Little Easton, Essex
Spouse	Sir Thomas Grey Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex
Issue	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 Mortimer

Isabel of Cambridge, Countess of Essex (1409 – 2 October 1484) was the only daughter of Richard, 3rd Earl of Cambridge and Anne 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 Lady 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. Her mother was the granddaughter of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (grandson of Lionel of Antwerp) and Lady Alianore Holland (granddaughter of Lady Joan of Kent, Princess of Wales).

Isabel's father, Richard, Earl of Cambridge, was beheaded on 5 August 1415 for his part in the Southampton Plot against King Henry V, and although the Earl's title was forfeited, he was not attainted,^[2] and Isabel's brother, Richard, then aged four, was his father's heir.^[3] Moreover, 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), 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. They had one son.^[4] The elder Sir Thomas Grey was an associate of Isabel's father who also lost his life in the Southampton Plot.

She married secondly, before 25 April 1426, the marriage being later validated by papal dispensation, Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex, by whom she had seven sons and one daughter:^[5]

• 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, 8th 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.
• Sir Thomas Bourchier (b. prior to 1448 d. 1492), who married Isabella Barre.
• Edward Bourchier (d. 30 December 1460), slain at the Battle of Wakefield.
• Fulk Bourchier, died young.
• Isabel Bourchier, died young.^[6]

Death

Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex, died on 4 April 1483. Isabel remained a widow and died on 2 October 1484.^[7] 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.^[8]

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

Footnotes

1. Richardson IV 2011, pp. 400–404.
2. Cokayne states that he was attainted.
3. Harriss 2004.
4. Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999 Page: 15, 1222
5. Richardson IV 2011, pp. 401–3.
6. Weir states that there were three additional children, Laura Bourchier (b.1440), who married John Courtenay, 7th Earl of Devon; Florence Bourchier (d. 1525); and Hugh Bourchier, died young.
7. Richardson IV 2011, pp. 401–3.
8. Richardson IV 2011, pp. 401–3.

References

• Cokayne, George Edward (1932). The Complete Peerage, edited by H.A. Doubleday. VIII. London: St. Catherine Press. pp. 445–53.
• Harriss, G.L. (2004). Richard , earl of Cambridge (1385–1415). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 4 October 2012. (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. III (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 144996639X.
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G., ed. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. IV (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 1460992709.