Alice of Courtenay


Alice of Courtenay was a French noblewoman. Her father was Peter I of Courtenay and her brother was Peter II of Courtenay, Latin Emperor of Constantinople. Alice married twice; by her second husband, Count Aymer of Angoulême, she was the mother of the English queen Isabella of Angoulême.

Family

Alice was born in 1160, the second eldest daughter and one of the ten children of Peter I of Courtenay and Elisabeth of Courtenay, daughter of Renauld de Courtenay and Hawise du Donjon. Her family was one of the most illustrious in France; and her paternal grandparents were King Louis VI of France and Adélaide de Maurienne. Her eldest brother Peter became the Latin emperor of Constantinople in 1216.
Alice's first husband was Andrew, lord of La Ferté-Gaucher, Champagne, whom she married some time after 1169. Following his death in 1177, Alice married Count William I of Joigny. The marriage produced one surviving child, Peter, later count of Joigny,. The couple were divorced 1184. A charter dated 1180 records that Count William, with Alice's consent, donated property to Pontigny Abbey. Alice married her third husband, Aymer of Angoulême, 1186. That year he succeeded his brother, William V, as count of Angoulême. The marriage produced one surviving child, Isabella. Aymer on 16 June 1202 and was succeeded by their daughter, Isabella. Isabella married King John of England in 1200.
Alice died on 12 February 1218 at the age of about 58.