From: RAOUL DE TOENI
The Conqueror and His Companions
by J.R. Planché, Somerset Herald. London: Tinsley Brothers
, 1874 (made available by Pat Patterson)
"In 1077, he married Elizabeth, or Isabel, daughter of Simo
n de Montfort l'Amauri, whose hand he obtained by the audac
ious act of carrying off by night Agnes, daughter of Richar
d, Comte d'Evreux, who was his half-sister, and marrying he
r to the said Simon. Orderic gives an amusing account of th
is Isabel and her sister-in-law Havise, daughter of William
, Comte de Nevers, the wife of her brother Willliam, Comt
e d'Evreux. The Countess Havise took offence, it appears, a
t some taunts of the Lady of Conches, and used all her infl
uence with her husband and his barons to have recourse to a
rms, in which mischievous attempt she unfortunately succeed
ed. "Both these ladies," the chronicler tells us, "were gre
at talkers, and spirited as well as handsome; they ruled th
eir husbands, oppressed their vassals, and inspired terro
r in various ways: but still their characters were very dif
ferent. Havise had wit and eloquence, but she was cruel an
d avaricious; Isabel, on the contrary, was generous, enterp
rising, and lively, so that she was beloved and esteemed b
y those immediately about her. She rode in knightly armou
r when the vassals took the field, and exhibited as much da
ring amongst belted knights and men-at-arms as Camilla, th
e renowned Virgin of Italy, among the squadrons of Tevenus."
CHAN13 Sep 2003