and heir of Enguerrand VI, Lord of Coucy and Catherine of Austria. Marriage and issue Isabella's husband had been brought to England in 1360 as a hostage exchanged for the freedom of King John II of France, an English prisoner. They married on 27 July 1365, at Windsor Castle, by which time Isabella was in her thirties. Her father, Edward III, gave her a dowry of £4,000 and a large lifetime annual income, together with expensive amounts of jewellery and lands; de Coucy was restored to his family's lands in Yorkshire, Lancaster, Westmorland and Cumberland, and was released as a hostage without any need for ransom. In November 1365, Isabella and her husband were permitted to enter France; their first daughter, Marie, was born at the family lands at Coucy in April 1366. They later returned for a visit to England; on this occasion, Enguerrand was made Earl of Bedford on 11 May 1366, which made Isabella Countess of Bedford as well as Lady of Coucy. After the birth of Isabella's second daughter, Philippa, in 1367, Enguerrand and Isabella were also made Count and Countess of Soissons by Edward. Because her husband also served the King of France as a military leader, he was frequently away from home; consequently, Isabella, though living principally with Enguerrand at Coucy, made frequent visits to her family in England. She was made a Lady of the Garter in 1376. Isabella bore two children by her marriage to Enguerrand de Coucy: Marie de Coucy (April 1366 – 1405), suo jure Countess of Soissons. She married Henry of Bar, a nephew of Charles V of France, by whom she had children. After her father's death, she disputed the inheritance of his lands with her stepmother, Isabelle of Lorraine, before dying suddenly. After her death, her patrimony was absorbed into the French royal estates. Philippa de Coucy (1367–1411), who was born at Eltham, and named after Isabella's mother. She married Robert de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, in 1371, and lived thereafter in England. She died childless. Death Isabella was at her father's side when he died on 21 June 1377 having been urgently summoned home from France by couriers the previous April. After the accession of Richard II, Isabella's nephew, in August 1377, Enguerrand resigned all of his English ties and possessions. Isabella then died in England, separated from her husband and eldest daughter, Marie. Her