A Fourteenth-Century Parent Trap: Mary and Philippa de Coucy

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England, Isabella de Coucy

17th century line engraving of Robert de Vere and Philippa de Coucy, National Portrait Gallery. Note the wildly seventeenth century versions of medieval dress!

As the daughters of Isabella de Coucy, Mary and Philippa were the granddaughters of the English king Edward III and his wife, Philippa of Hainault. Their father, Enguerrand de Coucy, married Isabella whilst a hostage in the English court and began serving England.

However, Enguerrand later returned to his native loyalty to France, and the couple effectively separated. In a fourteenth-century version of The Parent Trap, Isabella and their younger daughter Philippa returned to England, whilst Mary stayed in France with Enguerrand. The couple never reunited.

Mary de Coucy (1366-1405)

• Also known as: Marie, Dame de Coucy and d’Oisy, Countess of Soissons
  • Not to be confused with: Marie de Coucy (1218-1249) daughter of an earlier Enguerrand de Coucy, queen of Scotland and wife of Alexander II
• Parents: Enguerrand de Coucy (1340-1397) and Isabella de Coucy (1332-1379)
• Spouse: Henry (Henri) of Bar
• Offspring:
  • Enguerrand (1387-1400)
  • Robert of Bar, through whom Marie was the ancestress of the Bourbon kings of France and Mary, Queen of Scots

As her father’s heir to his French estates, Marie became Countess of Soissons in her own right on his death. Marie married Henry, the son of Robert, the duke of Bar, producing Enguerrand in 1387, who predeceased his mother in 1400, and Robert.

Philippa de Coucy (1366-1405)

• Also known as: Countess of Oxford, Duchess of Ireland
• Parents: Enguerrand de Coucy (1340-1397) and Isabella de Coucy (1332-1379)
• Spouse: Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford
• Offspring: None

Philippa produced no children, but had arguably a more scandalous life than her sister, as her husband repudiated her for another woman.

Robert de Vere was a royal ward when the right of his marriage was granted to Enguerrand and Isabella de Coucy, Philippa’s parents. Wardships and the marriages of heirs were a traditional form of income in the medieval period.

Robert and Philippa married around the 5th October, 1376, when Philippa was between 9 and 6, and Robert about 14.

Robert de Vere became one of the king Richard II’s favourites – ‘favourite’ being a catch-all term for ‘close friend’ to ‘lover’. However, the standing afforded by Robert’s closeness with the king was ruined when he divorced his wife, who was technically the king’s cousin. Little is known about Agnes Lancecrona, who Robert subsequently married. She probably came to England with Anne of Bohemia, Richard II’s wife, and was employed as a lady of the queen’s bedchamber. Few mentions of Agnes survive other than in reference to the scandal. Robert was exiled and died before 1392.

After her divorce, Philippa lived with her former mother-in-law, Maud de Offord, with a few recorded appearances at court, including accompanying Richard II’s second wife Isabella back to France after the king’s deposition. Philippa died on the 24th September, 1411, somewhere in England.

Sources and Further Reading 

James L. Gillespie, ‘Isabella, countess of Bedford (1332–1379)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.

M. H. Keen, ‘Coucy, Enguerrand (VII) de, earl of Bedford (c.1340–1397)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.

Anthony Tuck, ‘Vere, Robert de, ninth earl of Oxford, marquess of Dublin, and duke of Ireland (1362–1392)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.