Isabella was the daughter of Charles of Valois by his third wife Mahaut of Châtillon.

Her husband died at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356,[2] and Isabella never remarried.

After her husband's death Isabella's son Louis became the Duke of Bourbon.

In the same year 1356, Isabella arranged for her daughter Joanna to marry Charles V of France; as he was at the time the Dauphin of France, Joanna duly became Dauphine.

She had as her butler Jean Saulnier, knight, lord of Thoury-on-Abron, councilor and Grand Chamberlain of France and bailli of Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier.