Anastasia de Montfort


Anastasia de Montfort, Countess of Nola, was an Italian noblewoman and a wealthy heiress. She was the eldest daughter of Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola, himself the son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. She held the title suo jure Countess of Nola after her father's death in 1291. She also held the titles of suo jure Dame de Chailly and suo jure Dame de Longjumeau. She was the wife of Romano Orsini, Senator of Rome, by whom she had at least three children. English queen consort Elizabeth Woodville was among her numerous descendants.

Family

Anastasia was born in Italy in about 1274, the eldest daughter of Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola, and Margherita Aldobrandeschi, Countess of Sovana and Pitigliano. She had a younger sister, Tommasia, who married Pietro Vico, but the marriage was childless. Her paternal grandparents were Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and Eleanor of England, daughter of King John of England and Isabella of Angoulême. Her maternal grandparents were Ildebrandino Aldobrandeschi, Count of Sovana and Tommasia di Baschi.
Her father, Guy, fled England in 1266 after he had escaped from prison, eventually arriving in Italy. He entered the service of Charles of Anjou who made him Count of Nola and Vicar-general of Tuscany. On 10 August 1270, Guy married Margherita Aldobrandeschi at Viterbo. In 1271, her father was excommunicated for killing his cousin Henry of Almain inside San Silvestro church. Later he was captured by the Aragonese and died in a Sicilian prison in 1291.
Upon his death, Anastasia became the suo jure Countess of Nola. In an effort to retain her lands, Anastasia's mother married four more times after Guy's death. Her four additional husbands were: Orsello Orsini, Loffredo Caetani, her cousin Guido Aldobrandeschi di Santa Fiora, and Nello de' Pannocchieschi.

Marriage and issue

On 8 June 1293 Anastasia married Romano Orsini, Senator of Rome and son of Gentile II Orsini, Senator of Rome and Claricia de Ruffo. The marriage had been arranged by Cardinal Napoleon Orsini, who was her mother's guardian. Anastasia, being Margherita's eldest daughter and heiress, eventually brought the rich Aldobrandeschi and Sovana inheritances into the Orsini family.
Together Romano and Anastasia had at least three children:
f Nola. Her husband Romano died in 1327., who