Isabel de Courtenay

Family/Spouse: John de St. John. John (son of John de St. John and Agnes Fitz Reynold) was born between 1272 and 1274 in of Basing, Hampshire, England; died before 4 Apr 1329. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Margaret de St. John died on 19 Nov 1361.
2. Hugh de St. John was born on 26 May 1310 in of Basing, Hampshire, England; died before 25 Oct 1335.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 25 Mar 1249

Hugh married Eleanor le Despenser. Eleanor (daughter of Hugh le Despenser and Aline Basset) died on 30 Sep 1328 in London, England; was buried in Cowick Priory, Exeter, Devon, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Isabel de Vere after 6 Oct 1240. Isabel (daughter of Hugh de Vere and Hawise de Quincy) died before 7 Jan 1291; was buried in Cowick Priory, Exeter, Devon, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Bef 1224, of Ryhall, Rutland, England

Notes:

"Sir Hugh le Despenser of Loughborough, Burton, Hugglescote, Freeby, and Arnesby, co. Leicester, Parlington and Hilliam, co. York, Sibsey and Aukborough, co. Lincoln, Ryhall and Belmesthorp, Rutland, s. and h. of Sir Hugh le Despenser, of the same (who d. between 23 Feb. and 30 May 1238). He was b. in or before 1223. Had respite of knighthood, 11 July 1244. On 7 Nov. 1255 he was appointed Constable of Horston Castle for five years from the preceding Michaelmas. In Apr. 1257 he accompanied Richard, Earl of Cornwall, to Aachen, for the latter's coronation, on 17 May, as King of the Romans. At the Parl. of Oxford, in Jun 1258, he was one of the twelve elected by the Barons to redress grievances, and also one of the twelve elected to treat with the King's Council in Parl. Appointed Justiciar of England, 25 Oct. 1260, being the nominee of the Barons: he was deprived of his office by the King, May or June 1261. Attended Montfort's Parl. at Oxford in Apr. 1263. Appointed Justiciar of England and Constable of the Tower of London, about 15 July 1263, by the Barons, with the assent of the King. In Mar. 1264, when Constable of the Tower, he led the rioters who sacked the mansion at Isleworth of the King of the Romans. Was at the battle of Lewes, 14 May 1264. Appointed, by the counsel of the Barons, Constable of the Castles of Devizes and Oxford, 12 July, of Orford Castle, 18 July, and of Nottingham Castle, 15 Dec. 1264. Was appointed an arbiter to consider the peace between the King and the Barons, 11 Sep. 1264. He was sum. for Military Service against the Welsh, 14 Mar. (1257/8) 42 Hen. III and 25 May (1263) 47 Hen. III, by writs directed Hugoni le Despenser Justic' Anglie. He was appointed an arbiter between the Earls of Leicester and Gloucester in May 1265. He m., in or before 1260, Aline, da. and h. of Sir Philip Basset, of Wycombe, Bucks, Compton-Bassett and Wootton-Basset, Wilts, &c., Justiciar of England, by his 1st wife, Hawise, da. of Sir Matthew de Lovaine, of Little Easton, Essex. He joined the Earl of Leicester in his last campaign, and with him was slain at the battle of Evesham, 4 Aug. 1265. He was bur. in Evesham Abbey." [Complete Peerage IV:259.]

Hugh married Aline Basset before 1261. Aline (daughter of Philip Basset and Hawise de Hastings) was born about 1240 in of Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England; died before 11 Apr 1281. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Between 1241 and 1249
• Alternate birth: 1245

Notes:

Also called Aliva.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Abt 27 Jul 1242, Iwerne, Dorset, England

Notes:

"Sheriff of Devonshire, and Castellan of Exeter, 1209; Castellan of Oxford and Sheriff of Oxfordshire, 1215 in which year King John committed to him the coinage of tin in Devonshire and Cornwall. In 1219 he inherited from his mother the great Honour of Okehampton amounting to 92 knight's fees." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz, citation details below.]

Ancestral Roots places Ford Abbey in Devon. It is now in Dorset, but appears to be quite close to both the Devon and Somerset borders (in fact its mailing address is in Chard, Somerset). Given shifting county borders, AR could well be correct for the time when Sir Robert was buried.

Robert married Mary de Revières between 1210 and 1211. Mary (daughter of William de Revières and Mabel de Meulan) died after 12 Nov 1242. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 15 Jul 1250

Notes:

Also called Mary de Vernon.

Notes:

Earl of Oxford. Hereditary master chamberlain.

Hugh married Hawise de Quincy after 11 Feb 1223. Hawise (daughter of Saher de Quincy and Margaret of Leicester) died after 1263; was buried in Earl's Colne Priory, Halstead, Great Bromley, Essex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1273

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 30 May 1238
• Alternate death: Bef 31 May 1238

Hugh married (Unknown). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Ravilious (31 Dec 2003) hypothesizes that she may have been a daughter of Saher de Quincy and Margaret de Beaumont.

Notes:

"Justiciar of England 1261; one of the deputation of the Barons to the Council of Lyons 1245; Constable of the castles of Oxford, Bristol, Corfe, and Sherburne; Sheriff of four counties; made prisoner with 'tuenti wounde' at Lewes, 1264, and imprisoned by De Montfort at Dover Castle, but was liberated after the battle of Evesham, 1265; was one of the arbitrators by which the 'dictum de Kenilworth' was drawn up; a member of the King's Council 1270; d. 'Bonae Memoriae' 1271." [The Wallop Family, citation details below.]

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has him as the son of a wife of Thomas Basset preceding Aline de Gai; they name this wife "Alice de Gray," but they also note that "the similarity of [the names Alice de Gray and Aline de Gai] is such that the possibility that Alan had only one wife cannot be excluded."

Philip married Hawise de Hastings. Hawise (daughter of Ralph de Hastings) was born in of Little Easton, Essex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Asserted in CP, the ODNB, Ancestral Roots, and The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz as a daughter of Matthew de Lovaine (Louvain, Louvaine, etc.), but Andrew Lancaster pointed out on SGM in June 2016 that this appears to have been based on the assumption that Philip Basset held Wix because Matthew de Louvaine was his wife's father, rather than her overlord, "ignoring the possibility that the family had enfeoffed a cadet branch which evidently was expected to inherit."

Lancaster points to Clarence Smith's 1966 article "Hastings of Little Easton (part 1) in Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, Volume 2, Part 1. Says Lancaster: "[T]he snippets of evidence are small and the argument seems simple. [Smith] says CP asserts it was a free marriage when it was not. And then secondly he points to the clear evidence for an enfeoffed heiress being bought by the Bassets."

Quoting Smith:

"[Ralph de Hastings] was dead by Michaelmas 1210, leaving a daughter under age whose custody and marriage had been granted to Alan Bassett for 100 marks. It is not therefore surprising to find at the death of Sir Philip Basset of Wycombe, younger son of this Alan, in 1271, that he held under Sir Matthew de Lovaine the manor of Wix 'by courtesy of England of the inheritance of Helewisia his wife'. [...] G. W. Watson in the article on Despenser in the Complete Peerage, IV, p. 261, says that Sir Hugh Despenser married 'Aline, da. & h. of Sir Philip Basset of Wycombe, Bucks....by his first wife Hawise, da. of Sir Matthew de Lovaine of Little Easton, Essex,' to which is appended a footnote: 'She had, in free marriage, the manor of Wix, Essex, by the service of 20s. a year. Some genealogists say that she was da. of John de Grey of Eaton, Bucks.' Her fathering on Sir Matthew de Lovaine has no other support than the quite unwarranted assumption that she held Wix in free marriage: in fact she held it by inheritance as the Inquisition specifies, and Sir Matthew was her overlord but not her father."

The IPM of Philip Basset specified as evidence is IPM 56 H3, Calendar I, No. 807, p. 273.

John Watson said on SGM, 6 Jun 2016: "Clarence Smith's evidence that Ralph de Hastings was dead in 1210 and that his heiress was in the custody of Alan Basset is presumably taken from the Pipe Rolls of 12 John: 1209-1210, to which I have no access at the moment. (There is nothing in the fine rolls, close rolls, patent rolls, etc.) If anyone can confirm this, then I think it is a reasonable assumption that Hawise, first wife of Philip Basset was the daughter of Ralph de Hastings and not a daughter of Matthew de Louvain. She was presumably named after her grandmother, Hawise wife of William fitz Robert." Andrew Lancaster replied: "Yes, for the death 1210, Clarence-Smith cites the Pipe Rolls, PRS 26 NS, p. 35."

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Sutton, Berkshire, England
• Alternate death: 1190

Notes:

Also called Renaud. Fought in the Second Crusade alongside Louis VII of France.

Reynold married Hawise de Courcy between 1173 and 1178. Hawise (daughter of William de Curcy and Maud d'Avranches) was born about 1157 in of Okehampton, Devon, England; died on 31 Jul 1219; was buried in Ford Abbey, Dorset, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Daughter and heir of William de Courcy (or ?Geoffrey de Crimes?) by Maud, daughter of Robert d'Avranches." [Royal Ancestry]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 8 Sep 1217

Notes:

Earl of Devon. Lord of the Isle of Wight. Took part in the coronation of Richard II; a supporter of King John.

Also called William de Vernon, probably because he was raised at Vernon Castle in Normandy, the seat of his grandfather.

William married Mabel de Meulan. Mabel (daughter of Robert de Beaumont and Maud of Cornwall) died after 1 May 1204. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Mabirie; Maud; Mabel de Beaumont; Mabel de Dunstanville.

Notes:

3rd Earl of Oxford; hereditary Master Chamberlain. Magna Carta surety. Justice itinerant in 1220; a justice in the king's court at Westminster, 1221.

Robert married Isabel de Bolebec. Isabel (daughter of Hugh II de Bolebec) was born about 1164; died on 2 Feb 1245; was buried in Church of the Black Friars, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 3 Feb 1245

Notes:

"Isabel, da. and h. of Walter de Bolebec, Lord of Whitchurch, Bucks. m., as his 1st wife, Aubrey (de Vere), 2nd Earl of Oxford (who d. s.p. legit. in 1214), and d. s.p.1206-7. Isabel, da. of Hugh and sister of Walter de Bolebec abovenamed, coh. to her niece, Isabel, Countess of Oxford, and widow of Henry de Nonant, m. Robert (de Vere), 3rd Earl of Oxford (who d. 1221), br. and h. of Aubrey. She d. 3 Feb. 1244/5, being ancestress of those later Earls of Oxford, who, from Tudor times, adopted the style of Viscount or Baron Bolebec, or Bulbeck." [Complete Peerage XIV:95, completely replacing the text of the entry in II:203.]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Grantchester, Cambridgeshire, England

Notes:

Earl of Winchester. Also spelled Saier, Saer.

Magna Carta surety.

Steward of the King 1205-7; Constable of Fotheringay Castle 1215; Judge in the King's Court 1211, 1213-14; Keeper of Canford and Hedingham Castles 1214.

Died in the Fifth Crusade. His heart was brought back and interred at Garendon Abbey near Loughborough, a house endowed by his wife's family. The rest of him was buried in Acre. [Royal Ancestry]

Saher married Margaret of Leicester before 1173. Margaret (daughter of Robert de Breteuil and Pernel de Grandmesnil) died on 12 Jan 1235. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1236

Notes:

Or Margery. [Royal Ancestry]

Also known as Margaret de Beaumont.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 1218

Notes:

Also called Thomas Dispensator.

Thomas married Rohese. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1231
• Alternate death: 1232
• Alternate death: Abt 1233

Notes:

"Basset, Alan (d. 1232), administrator, was one of the three sons (probably the youngest) of Thomas Basset (d. c. 1182). He founded the Bassets of Wycombe, and was a noted servant of Richard I, John, and Henry III. In 1197 Richard I sent him on a diplomatic mission with William (I) Marshal to the counts of Flanders and Boulogne to detach them from their allegiance to King Philip of France, and shortly afterwards, with his elder brother Thomas, he attested as surety for Richard in France concerning the king's treaty with the count of Flanders against Philip. Between 1197 and 1199 he witnessed six more of Richard's documents in France. Following Richard's death, he was soon in attendance upon John; Alan, Thomas, and Gilbert Basset were all described as barons when they witnessed the homage of the king of Scots to John at Lincoln on 22 November 1200. In 1202 and 1203 Alan witnessed ten of John's charters in France, and, between 1200 and 1215, twenty-five royal charters in England. Remaining loyal to John, he is often recorded in that king's service, and received such rewards as numerous quittances of scutage. In 1215 he was named in Magna Carta as one of the 'noblemen' whose counsel the king relied upon, and he was among the royalist barons who attended John at Runnymede. He appears to have accompanied John on his expedition to the north of England in the winter of 1215 - 16. He was in Henry III's service by 14 December 1216. In 1217 he fought at the battle of Lincoln, and helped to pacify the kingdom afterwards, and in 1220 he was one of three ambassadors sent to France to arrange a four-year truce. He was still in royal service in 1228, but died late in 1232." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]

Alan married Aline de Gay. Aline (daughter of Philip de Gay and Cecily) was born in of Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, England; died in 1230. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Abt 1233

Notes:

Also called Aline de Grey.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1189
• Alternate death: 1190

Notes:

Also spelled Curtenay, Cortenay. Richardson calls him "of uncertain parentage." CP (III:465, and chart facing IV:318) shows him as a son of Miles de Courtenay, Seigneur de Courtenay, and Ermengarde, dau. of Renaud, Count of Nevers; this Miles a son of Josselin, Seigneur de Courtenay in 1065, and Elizabeth, daughter of Guy de Montlhéry; this Josselin a son of Athon.

An SGM discussion of some of the uncertainties surrounding his ancestry begins here .

Reynold married (Unknown first wife of Reynold de Courtenay). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Called by Douglas Richardson and others a "kinswoman of Eleanor of Aquitaine", but this appears to be less than perfectly established as fact.

Notes:

Also spelled de Courcy.

William married Maud d'Avranches about 1155. Maud (daughter of Robert d'Avranches and (Unknown daughter of Gelduin of Dol)) died on 21 Sep 1173. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Baldwin de Redvers. Earl of Devon. "He was one of the first to rebel against King Stephen, and was the only first rank magnate never to accept the new king. He seized Exeter, and was a pirate out of Carisbrooke, but he was driven out of England to Anjou, where he joined the Empress Matilda. She made him Earl of Devon after she established herself in England, probably in early 1141." [Wikipedia]

Founded Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight, and the priory of St. James at Exeter.

Baldwin married Adelise. Adelise was buried in Quarr Abbey, Isle of Wight, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography gives this Adelise a death date of 1146, and says that "between 1151 and 1155 Baldwin married as his second wife, Lucy, the widow of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Hertford." But Complete Peerage IV:312, footnote (c), says "The pedigree of the Earls of Devon in the Cartulary of Twynham makes the certainly erroneous statement that Earl Baldwin was father of Earl Richard, of William de Vernon [shown here as William de Revières], of Henry, and of Hawise de Reviers, 'ex Lucia Comitissa uxore sua.'" In other words, the ODNB biographer is clearly assuming that the Twynham cartulary pedigree is correct, and has derived a death date of 1146 for Adelise based on the known birth years of children that the pedigree mistakenly assigns to a nonexistent marriage of Baldwin to Lucy de Clare.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Abt 1212

Notes:

Count of Meulan.

As a large landholder in both France and Normandy, he was put in a dangerous position by the developing confrontation between Philip Augustus and the kings of England. Eventually this led to his chastisement by both sides and subsequent ruin. He died landless and deposed.

Robert married Maud of Cornwall about 1165. Maud (daughter of Reynold fitz Roy and Mabel fitz William) died between 1220 and 1221. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Maud FitzRoy.

Notes:

1st Earl of Oxford. Hereditary Master Chamberlain. Count of Guisnes 1139-~1145.

"In 1142 he sided with Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, against King Stephen for which he was arrested in 1143 and released only after he surrendered Canfield Castle. In 1142 the Empress Maud appointed him Earl of Oxford. He probably founded the priories of Ickleton and Castle Hedington and was a frequent benefactor of Colne Priory." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz]

Aubrey married Agnes of Essex between 1162 and 1163. Agnes (daughter of Henry of Essex and Cecily de Valognes) was born between 1151 and 1152; died after 1205; was buried in Earl's Colne Priory, Halstead, Great Bromley, Essex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1151

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire, England

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Buckby, Northamptonshire, England
• Alternate death: Bef 29 Sep 1197
• Alternate death: Bef 1208

Notes:

Or de Quency. [Royal Ancestry] Justiciar of Scotland; Crusader.

Robert married Orabel fitz Ness before 1155, and was divorced before 1174. Orabel (daughter of Ness fitz William) died before 30 Jun 1203. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Countess of Mar. Also called Orabel de Leuchars.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Bef 1135
• Alternate death: 31 Aug 1190, At sea
• Alternate death: 31 Aug 1190, Romania

Notes:

Earl of Leicester. Also known as Robert de Beaumont. According to Complete Peerage, nicknamed ès Blanchemains, which translates as "white-hands".

Steward of England and Normandy; seigneur of Bréteuil and Paci in Normandy. In 1173, he supported Prince Henry, the "young king," in his rebellion against his father Henry II, and in consequence he and his wife were imprisoned by the elder Henry from fall 1173 to fall 1174.

Died on the way to Jerusalem. Durazzo is now the city of Durres in Albania.

Robert married Pernel de Grandmesnil in 1155. Pernel (daughter of William de Grandmesnil) died on 1 Apr 1212. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Called "Petronilla" in many sources.

Royal Ancestry gives her as the "daughter of Hugh de Grandmesnil of Hinckley, Leicestershire."

Complete Peerage says "[Robert, Earl of Leicester (d. 1190)] m., before 1155-1159, Pernel (Petronilla), heiress of the Norman honour of Grandmesnil, great-granddaughter of Hugh de Grandmesnil, the Domesday tenant, but her ancestry has not been discovered. (h)
"Note (h):
"Hugh de Grandmesnil, the Domesday tenant, had five sons -- Robert, William, Hugh, Ives and Aubrey ... Robert, the eldest son, inherited the Norman lands which are later found in Robert FitzPernel's hands [i.e. Robert, Earl of Leicester (d. 1204), the son of Pernel]. He m., 1stly, Agnes, da. of Ranulph de Bayeux; 2ndly, Emma, da. of Robert d'Estouteville; and, 3rdly, Lucy, da. of Savary FitzCana (Orderic, vol. iii, p. 359). ... if she [Pernel] inherited the Norman lands she would in all probability be a daughter of a son of Hugh's son Robert. Hugh's father and son are both called Robert, and if this alternating nomenclature -- a very usual system -- was continued, a son of Robert the younger would be named Hugh. This is the name given to Pernel's father in the foundation narrative of Leicester Abbey, and although the story told there is fictitious ... it is possible that the writer may have had before him a document such as a list of obits giving the authentic name. It is not claimed that this suggested descent is more than speculative."

Chris Phillips, in his Some corrections and additions to the Complete Peerage, Volume 7: Leicester, says "In fact, Pernel's father was called William, as shown by a charter for St-Evroult discovered by David Crouch [The Beaumont Twins, p.91, citing the Cartulary of St-Evroult, ii, fo 33v]. However, the argument that her grandfather is likely to have been Robert, the eldest son of Hugh de Grandmesnil, still seems sound. To some extent it is supported by the following evidence.

"In 1157, Henry II confirmed gifts made to the hospital of Falaise by William de Grentmesnil and others [Cal. Docs France, no 1157]. By an undated charter (perhaps from 1160 or later), one Beatrix de Rye gave land to the abbey of St Jean of Falaise, for the well-being of her mother Emma and of her brother William de Grentemesnil [Lechaude d'Anisy, Extrait des Chartes ... dans les archives du Calvados, vol.1, p.232, no 9 (1834)]. It seems likely that this Beatrix was a daughter of Robert de Grandmesnil by his second wife, Emma d'Estouteville, particularly as the name Beatrix occurs in the Estouteville family, and was possibly borne by Emma's mother [C.T. Clay, ed., Early Yorkshire Charters, vol.9, p.2 (1952)]. If so, this would confirm that Robert also had a son William, who would probably be Pernel's father.

"Note that K.S.B. Keats-Rohan [Domesday People I, p. 263 (1999)] states that Pernel's father William was the son of Robert by Emma d'Estouteville, but no evidence is cited for the relationship."

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1185

Notes:

"Basset, Thomas (d. c. 1182), justice, belonged to a distinguished family of royal servants which began with Ralph Basset (d. 1127?), the brother of Thomas's father, Gilbert (d. in or before 1154). Thomas Basset had entered Henry II's service by 1163. His first known post in the royal administration was as sheriff of Oxfordshire (1163 - 4). A baron of the exchequer from 1169 to c. 1181, he was an itinerant justice in the south and west in 1175, and again in 1179; in December 1180 he joined the justiciar Ranulf de Glanville and other royal justices at Lincoln in approving a final concord. He was custodian of the honour of Wallingford for the king from 1172 to 1179. He witnessed royal documents in England fourteen times between 1174 and 1179, and he was with the king in Normandy, c. 1181, attesting at Barfleur. He died shortly afterwards, perhaps in 1182." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]

Thomas married Alice de Dunstanville. Alice (daughter of Alan de Dunstanville) was born in of Shiplake, Oxfordshire, England; died after 1181. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1185
• Alternate death: Aft 1209

Notes:

Called by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Adeliza de Dunstanville.

Philip married Cecily. Cecily died after 1195. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Referred to in some sources as Cecily or Sedzilia de Berkeley, allegedly a daughter of Roger de Berkeley d. 1170, on what evidence I am unaware.

William married Helewise de Guerres. Helewise died after 1219 in Bildeston, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]