Royal: Isabella of England, Holy Roman Empress, 1214-1241

It was rare that a member of the Plantagenet family found their match in the larger-than-life category.  Isabella, 1214-1241, great-granddaughter of Matilda, a Holy Roman Empress, granddaughter of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, niece of Richard the Lionheart and daughter of John and Isabella of Angouleme, who had a family history of her own, found the wonder of the world-literally. 

Isabella was the fourth child and second daughter of John and Isabella of Angouleme.  Unlike many women of her era and class, she was rather late to the altar at the ripe old age of 21.  She was reported to be very beautiful, but the man she was about to marry had seen more than his fair share of beautiful women.  Frederick II, 1194-1250 of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was Holy Roman Emperor, and King of Germany and Sicily.  A veteran of two crusades, a man who took his own navy to Arabia and almost sacked Mecca and Medina, he was the scourge of Muslims.  A learned man in his own right who patronized the arts and sciences and manage to balance his crusading with wars against various popes as well as French kings, Frederick was known in Latin as Stupor Mundi, the Wonder of the World.  And he knew how wonderful he was and made sure everyone else knew it, too.  He was a free-thinker who dabbled in Islam, Greek Philosophy and Paganism as well as mystic Christianity, leading at least one Pope to suggest Frederick was the Biblical Anti-Christ.

He was 40 years old when Pope Gregory IX, one of the few men of that era who could take him on intellectually, suggest that the twice-widowed Frederick marry as his third wife Isabella.  Gregory reasoned that a match with Henry III of England would counterbalance French influence on the Continent, which would give Frederick an advantage in his wars with France, and perhaps give Gregory a break from Frederick.  Frederick took the suggestion, but demanded 30,000 marks as Isabella's dowry.  Henry had to impose an unpopular tax of 2 silver marks per person in England to raise the sum.  While the English were more than happy to see Isabella gone, the women of Cologne, Germany thought her very beautiful.  She and Frederick were married in July 1235 at Worms Cathedral, where she was also crowned Holy Roman Empress, a title her great-grandmother Matilda had, as well as Queen Consort of Germany and Sicily.

However, if she thought she would be the only woman in her husband's life, she was sadly mistaken.  Kings of the day did take mistresses but Frederick had brought back from his travels several Arab and African women, who were guarded by black eunuchs in the manner of a harem.  Frederick also sent most of her English attendants back home.  Isabella retired to her estates at Noventa Padovana, where Frederick visited her and they had at least four children.  Only one, Margaret, survived to adulthood and became Landgravine of Thuringia.  Isabella's brother, Richard of Cornwall, who attempted to succeed Frederick as Holy Roman Emperor years later, visited her on one occasion, but in the harem tradition, Isabella was not allowed to participate in any official welcome ceremony for him.  In 1241, while Federick and Isabella were at Foggia, she died from the effects of childbirth and was buried in Andria Cathedral, near Frederick's second wife, another Isabella, Queen of Jerusalem.