In-Law: Isabel/Hawise of Gloucester, 1173-1217

There's a black sheep in most families, and for Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, it was their youngest surviving son John.  He was known in his day as John Lackland and it wasn't a compliment.  While his older brothers Henry and Richard inherited the domains of their father and mother respectively, and his brother Geoffrey made a brilliant marriage with a duchess in her own right, John had to be content with a few scraps and pieces.  Henry II's solution to his youngest son's lack of land was less than brilliant.

Enter Hawise, also known as Isabel, 1173-1217, the daughter of William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester.  Through her father, she was a great granddaughter of Henry I, the last Norman King of England, though from an out-of-wedlock son.  John was the great-grandson of Henry through his grandmother, the Empress Matilda.  William FitzRobert had three daughters.  Isabel, the eldest, stood to inherit his Earldom but would have to divide the land inheritance with her two other sisters.  As a potential female heiress to a noble estate, she was of interest to Henry II, who had an immediate use for her.  He betrothed her to his son John in 1176.  William FitzRobert was okay with it, but the Church would have to be consulted, as the bride and groom were cousins.  The marriage contract specified that, if the Pope refused consent to the marriage, Henry would find a suitable bridegroom for Isabel.  In fact, he had no intention of letting such a rich prize get out of the family.  Isabel and John were married.

Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, declared the marriage null and placed the Gloucester inheritance under an interdict.  Pope Clement handed Henry his just desserts with a unique conundrum.  He lifted the interdict and agreed to the marriage, so long as it was never consummated.  No Plantagenet male would've stood for this and John was furious.  His father-in-law William died in 1183 and Henry disinherited Isabel's two sisters.  She was Countess of Gloucester in her own right and had plenty of land, but no children and no reasonable prospect of doing anything to beget children.  Henry died in 1189 and Richard saw no reason to help John out of his predicament.  Finally, in 1199, John became King and sought an annulment.  Isabel agreed and stepped aside before she was crowned Queen.  John rewarded her grace by taking away the Earldom of Gloucester and giving it to her cousin. 

Not to be outdone, Isabel got on with her life.  She married twice, Geoffrey FitzGeoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, and after his death, Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent.  Essex's death left her a wealthy widow and in 1213, she got the Earldom of Gloucester back after her childless cousin died and left no other heir.  At least John was still around for this glorious bit of sweet revenge.  A month after her third marriage, Isabel died at Keynsham Abbey, where she'd gone to seek medical care as her health began to fail.  She was buried in Canterbury Cathedral.  She figures in a few novels, but her most spectacular appearance was in Russell Crowe's version of the Robin Hood legend, in 2010, played by Jessica Rains.