Family Notes

From:  RAOUL DE TOENI
The Conqueror and His Companions
by J.R. Planché, Somerset Herald. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1874 (made ava
ilable by Pat Patterson)
"In 1077, he married Elizabeth, or Isabel, daughter of Simon de Montfort l
'Amauri, whose hand he obtained by the audacious act of carrying off by ni
ght Agnes, daughter of Richard, Comte d'Evreux, who was his half-sister, a
nd marrying her to the said Simon. Orderic gives an amusing account of th
is Isabel and her sister-in-law Havise, daughter of William, Comte de Neve
rs, the wife of her brother Willliam, Comte d'Evreux. The Countess Havi
se took offence, it appears, at some taunts of the Lady of Conches, and us
ed all her influence with her husband and his barons to have recourse to a
rms, in which mischievous attempt she unfortunately succeeded. "Both the
se ladies," the chronicler tells us, "were great talkers, and spirit
ed as well as handsome; they ruled their husbands, oppressed their vassal
s, and inspired terror in various ways: but still their characters were ve
ry different. Havise had wit and eloquence, but she was cruel and avaricio
us; Isabel, on the contrary, was generous, enterprising, and lively, so th
at she was beloved and esteemed by those immediately about her. She ro
de in knightly armour when the vassals took the field, and exhibited as mu
ch daring amongst belted knights and men-at-arms as Camilla, the renown
ed Virgin of Italy, among the squadrons of Tevenus."