The Bourchier and Bowker Pages

Discovering the ancestry of the South African Bowkers, and the English Bourchiers

Isabel Plantagenet, of Cambridge, Countess of Essex

Female 1409 - 1484  (75 years)


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  • Name Isabel Plantagenet 
    Suffix of Cambridge, Countess of Essex 
    Birth 1409  [1
    Gender Female 
    Death 2 Oct 1484  [1
    Burial Little Easton Church, Essex, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Person ID I344  Bourchiers
    Last Modified 4 Apr 2020 

    Father Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Cambridge,   b. 20 Jul 1375, Conisbrough Castle, Yorkshire Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 5 Aug 1415 (Age 40 years) 
    Mother Anne Mortimer   d. 21 Sep 1411 
    Family ID F528  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Sir Thomas Grey 
    Family ID F527  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 30 Jul 2015 

    Family 2 Lord Henry Bourchier, 5th Baron Bourchier, 2nd Count of Eu, 1st Viscount Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex,   b. 1406   d. 4 Apr 1483 (Age 77 years) 
    Marriage Bef 25 Apr 1426 
    Children 
     1. Fulke Bourchier   d. died young Find all individuals with events at this location
     2. Isabel Bourchier,   b. 1431   d. died young Find all individuals with events at this location
     3. Sir Humphrey Bourchier, Lord Cromwell,   b. 1433, Great Totham, Essex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 14 Apr 1471, Battle of Barnet, Hertfordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 38 years)
    +4. William Bourchier, Viscount Bourchier,   b. Abt 1435, Great Totham, Essex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 Jun 1480 (Age 45 years)
     5. Henry Bourchier,   b. Abt 1437, Great Totham, Essex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 12 Aug 1458 (Age 21 years)
    +6. Thomas Bourchier,   b. 1440   d. 26 Oct 1491 (Age 51 years)
     7. Sir John Bourchier, 6th Baron Ferrers of Groby,   b. 1438   d. 1495 (Age 57 years)
     8. Florence Bourchier   d. Abt 1525
     9. Hugh Bourchier   d. died young Find all individuals with events at this location
     10. Sir Edward Bourchier   d. 30 Dec 1460
     11. Laura Bourchier, Countess of Devon,   b. 1440
    Family ID F205  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 7 Apr 2020 

  • Notes 
    • 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] On her father's side 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. On her mother's side she 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]

      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, Isabel.[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]

      Footnotes[edit]
      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.

  • Sources 
    1. [S1870] Wikipedia, (en.wikipedia.org), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_of_Cambridge,_Countess_of_Essex.