Alice of Courtenay
Countess of Angouleme
Countess of Joigny
Born1160
France
Died12 February 1218 (aged 57–58)
Noble familyCapetian House of Courtenay
Spouse(s)William I, Count of Joigny
Aymer Taillefer, Count of Angouleme
IssueIsabella, Queen of England
FatherPeter I of Courtenay
MotherElisabeth of Courtenay

Alice of Courtenay (French: Alix; 1160 – 12 February 1218) was a French noblewoman. Her father was Peter I of Courtenay and her brother was Peter II of Courtenay, Latin Emperor of Constantinople. Alice married twice; by her second husband, Count Aymer of Angoulême, she was the mother of the English queen Isabella of Angoulême.

Family

Alice was born in 1160, the second-eldest daughter and one of the ten children of Peter I of Courtenay and Elisabeth of Courtenay,[1] daughter of Renauld de Courtenay and Hawise du Donjon. Her family was one of the most illustrious in France; and her paternal grandparents were King Louis VI of France and Adelaide of Maurienne. Her eldest brother Peter became the Latin emperor of Constantinople in 1216.

Alice's first husband was Andrew, lord of La Ferté-Gaucher, Champagne, whom she married some time after 1169.[2] Following his death in 1177, Alice married Count William I of Joigny.[3] The marriage produced one surviving child, Peter, later count of Joigny, (d.1222). The couple were divorced c. 1184. A charter dated 1180 records that Count William, with Alice's consent, donated property to Pontigny Abbey. Alice married her third husband, Aymer of Angoulême, c. 1186.[4] That year he succeeded his brother, William V, as count of Angoulême. The marriage produced one surviving child, Isabella (c. 1188 – 1246). Aymer died on 16 June 1202 and was succeeded by their daughter, Isabella. Isabella married King John of England in 1200.

Alice died on 12 February 1218 at the age of about 58.[5]

References

  1. ^ Vincent 1999, p. 175.
  2. ^ Vincent 1999, p. 176.
  3. ^ Vincent 1999, p. 176-177.
  4. ^ Vincent 1999, p. 171.
  5. ^ [see Molinier, Obituaires de la Province de Sens 1(1) (Recueil des Historiens de la France, Obituaires 1) (1902): xxxi–xxxii (“On peut affirmer maintenant qu’elle se nommait Alais ou Alix. Elle est mentionnée en trois des nécrologes que renferme le présent volume. Son décès est inscrit au 11 février dans l’obituaire de Saint-Victor, au 12 du même mois en celui de l'Hôtel-Dieu de Provins, et au 22 janvier, autrement dit au 11 des calendes de février dans l’obituaire de la léproserie sénonaise du Popelin. J’en conclus qu'elle mourut le 11 février, la date du 11 des calendes de février donnée par le nécrologe du Popelin résultant certainement d’une confusion avec le 11 février.”), 542 (Abbaye de Saint-Victor de Paris: “III id. febr. [11 February]. It. anniv. domne Adelaidis, comitisse Engolismensis [1218], de cujus beneficio habuimus Lta libras.”), 928 (Hôtel-Dieu de Provins: “pridie idus [12 February]. Ob. dilectissima nostra Alesis, comitissa Angolismensis [1218], que multa bona nobis contulit et in fine duos equos et centum libras, de quibus emimus quadraginta octo arpenta nemoris apud Orbetam.”), 972 (Léproserie du Popelin à Sens: “XI kal. [22 January]. Ob. comitissa d'Angoloiesme, que dedit nobis C solidos annuatim pro anniversario suo faciendo.”)

Sources

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