Isabella of Valois

Infobox British Royalty|majesty|consort
name =Isabella of Valois
title =Queen consort of England


caption =
reign =1 November 1396 - 30 September 1399
coronation =8 January 1397
spouse =Richard II
Charles, Duke of Orléans
titles =The Duchess of Orléans
"Her Grace" Queen Isabella
"Her Grace" The Queen
Princess Isabella of France
royal house =House of Valois
father =Charles VI of France
mother =Isabella of Bavaria
date of birth =birth date|1389|11|9|df=y
place of birth =Paris, France
date of death =death date and age|1409|9|13|1389|11|9|df=y
place of death =Kimbolton Castle, Cambridgeshire|

Isabella of Valois (9 November, 1389 – 13 September, 1409) was a Princess of France, daughter of King Charles VI and Isabella of Bavaria-Ingolstadt. She was Queen consort of Richard II, King of England from 1396 to 1400.

Life

Isabella's younger siblings included: John, Dauphin; Catherine of Valois (who later married Henry V, King of England) and Charles VII of France. She lived during a period of political tension between France and England known as the Hundred Years War, the situation was exacerbated by the mental instability of her father who was known as the Mad (French:le Fol or le Fou).

On 31 October, 1396, when Isabella was six, she married the widower King Richard II of England, in a move for peace with France. Although the union was political, Richard II and the child Isabella developed a mutual respectful relationship. Isabella was moved to Wallingford Castle for protection while Richard went on a military campaign in Ireland. When, on his return to England, Richard II was imprisoned and murdered, Isabella was ordered by new king Henry IV to move out of Windsor and to settle in the Bishop of Salisbury's Thameside palace at Sonning.

Henry IV then decided Isabella should marry his son, the future Henry V of England, but she put her foot down and refused to have anything to do with the prince. Knowing her husband was dead, she went into mourning, ignored Henry IV's demand and eventually he let her go back to France.

On 29 June, 1406, Isabella married her cousin Charles, Duke of Orléans. She died in childbirth at the age of 19, leaving one daughter Jeanne who married John II of Alençon in 1424.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Isabella de Valois

ahnentafel-compact5
style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%;
border=1
boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0;
boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
1= 1. Isabella de Valois of France
2= 2. Charles VI of France
3= 3. Isabella of Bavaria-Ingolstadt
4= 4. Charles V of France
5= 5. Jeanne of Bourbon
6= 6. Stephen III, Duke of Bavaria
7= 7. Taddaea Visconti
8= 8. John II of France
9= 9. Bonne of Luxembourg and Bohemia
10= 10. Peter I, Duke of Bourbon
11= 11. Isabella of Valois
12= 12. Stephen II, Duke of Bavaria
13= 13. Elizabeth of Sicily
14= 14. Bernabò Visconti
15= 15. Beatrice della Scala
16= 16. Philip VI of France
17= 17. Joan of Burgundy
18= 18. John of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia
19= 19. Elisabeth of Bohemia
20= 20. Louis I, Duke of Bourbon
21= 21. Mary of Hainaut
22= 22. Charles of Valois
23= 23. Mahaut of Chatillon
24= 24. Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor
25= 25. Beatrix of Silesia-Glogau
26= 26. Frederick III of Sicily
27= 27. Eleanor of Anjou
28= 28. Stefano Visconti
29= 29. Valentina Doria
30= 30. Mastino II della Scala
31= 31. Taddea da Carrara