The Fallen Woman: Isabella of France (1295-1358)

The Fallen Woman: Isabella of France (1295-1358)

Isabella and her son
return from France
(15th Century)

Isabella of France (1295-1358), has a bad reputation, and is remembered as the ‘She-Wolf of France’; the greatest femme fatale in English history who overthrew her husband for the love of another man. Initially a model royal wife, she fought her way to historical infamy by deposing her husband, and reigning as regent during her son’s minority with her lover, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March (1287-1330). Her reign was politically insignificant and short, but her part in her husband’s downfall was game shifting as not only had she proved that women could fight just as hard as men; she had been the catalyst for the first legal deposition of a King in English history.

Isabella was born to be a Queen. She was the only daughter, of Philip IV of France and his wife Joan I of Navarre. The influence of her parents in Isabella’s life was particularly striking. Her father was handsome, charismatic and ruthless, and one of medieval France’s most effective monarchs. Philip was instrumental in turning France’s government from reliance on the talents of the King, to being in possession of a strong bureaucratic system. Callous and ruthless, he also destroyed hundreds of lives in his drive for financial security; expelling the Jews in 1306, suppressing the Knights Templar between 1307 and 1314 to seize their assets, and took lands from King Edward I of England to build his land revenue. Isabella was said to greatly resemble him in looks and temperament. She adored her father, and Isabella was Philip’s favourite child.

Isabella's father, Philip IV "The Fair" of
France

In contrast, Isabella’s mother Joan was plump, plain and had inherited Navarre during her minority. Her father-in-law, Philip III, had taken advantage of Navarre’s weak state and married Joan into the Capetian dynasty, subsuming Navarre into France. Although Joan showed signs of bravery and courage; she quashed a Navarrese rebellion against her, she was mostly subservient and weak willed in the face of her powerful husband, and let him rule in her name. She died when Isabella was ten; having offered Isabella a model of correct female behaviour, a lesson Isabella was to profoundly reject later in life.

Isabella’s future always lay in England; her hand in marriage was a useful bargaining chip for Philip to prevent hostilities with Edward I over Aquitaine. In 1308, she was betrothed to Edward I’s heir, Edward, Prince of Wales, and they were married on 25^th January in Boulogne-sur-Mer. Chronicler Geoffrey of Paris lauded Isabella as ‘the beauty of beauties’, and she was said to resemble her father as she was tall, slender, blonde with high cheek bones and pale skin. She was also noted to be diplomatic and charming, skills she retained for her whole career, and her high intelligence was often noted upon. Isabella was off to a flying start as the Princess of Wales.

Isabella’s father-in-law, Edward I, was one of England’s great medieval kings, immortalised as ‘The Hammer of the Scots’. He had a glittering career through strengthening royal power, extending English control into Scotland and Wales, establishing Parliament as a permanent institution and creating a standardised tax system. He was tall, intimidating and the model of medieval kingship, but he felt his legacy was insecure due to the personality of his effeminate son. On his death in 1307, Edward had supposedly begged his barons to make sure his son continue the war with Scotland and be free of the influence of a coterie of unsuitable favourites.

Edward II receiving his crown

It was hoped that Isabella’s husband would be much like his father. Edward was tall and statuesque, with golden hair and a very handsome face and he appeared a model medieval King. He had some unusual hobbies, which worried some of his barons, such as thatching roofs and rowing which were not considered suitable for his class. Edward was friendly and amiable, but also had a very intense personality, bordering on the obsessive. He was intensely loyal to those he loved, and rather sadly, it was this trait that was the cause his downfall. Most notably, at the wedding feast for Edward and Isabella, Edward did not attend on his young wife. Instead, he spent the entire feast sitting next to his favourite; Piers Gaveston.

Piers was not from a noble background. He was the son of a Gascon knight, Arnaud de Gaveston, who owned extensive lands in Aquitaine due to his wife, Claramonde, Piers’ mother. This made the Gaveston family vassals of Edward I, as he was not only King of England but also Duke of Aquitaine. Piers was the same age as Isabella’s husband, and in 1300 Piers sailed for England from his homeland. The aging King Edward, fearing his son did not have the temperament or nature to be a good king, was impressed with Piers’ martial skills, and took him into his household to serve as a model for the impressionable Prince Edward.

"Edward II and Gaveston" (1872) by Marcus Stone

Initially, Piers made a good impression on both Edward I and the Prince of Wales. By 1304, Piers was in such high esteem that he was given the wardship of a young sixteen-year-old boy, an orphan named Roger Mortimer, who would later play a dramatic role in Isabella’s story. Although Piers was not a member of the aristocracy, his relationship to the Prince of Wales was worryingly close. At this stage, Edward and Piers’ relationship was already being described as being ‘excessive, immoderate, beyond measure and reason’ (Flores Historianum) and Edward was suspected of harbouring desires for ‘wicked and forbidden sex’ (Flores Historianum) with Piers.

By the time Isabella arrived in England in 1308, Piers and Edward had already been involved in political wrangling.  In 1306, Edward I had banished Gaveston from court but when he died and his son became king in 1307, Gaveston was recalled and made Earl of Cornwall, in spite of his humble background. The Cornwall fortune included land worth £4000 a year and Edward further honoured his favourite by betrothing Piers to his niece Margaret de Clare. For some, the marriage was worse than Gaveston’s rise to the peerage, as Margaret was of the blood royal while Gaveston was a commoner. While Edward claimed that he was merely attempting to surround Piers with friends, Edward’s barons believed he was attempting to bolster Gaveston’s power against them. Edward ignored the Barons complaints, and as Piers and Margaret exited their wedding, Edward had them showered with silver pennies.

Thomas of Lancaster (left) with
St George

The problems in Edward’s reign were caused both by his predecessor’s financial policies and his own excesses. The main problem for the Barons was that during Edward I’s last years fighting in Scotland he had relied on purveyance, or requisitioning goods for military use without compensation, to fund his army. Edward II continued to implement this policy, but refused to continue the war in Scotland. This, coupled with Edward’s failing to capitalise on his father’s Scottish victories, only served to increase the Barons venom towards him. Slowly allying against the king they were led by Edward’s cousin, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and a veteran of the Scottish wars, Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln. Gaveston did nothing to relieve the problem, and instead he began to ridicule the magnates and gave them denigrating nicknames; Lancaster was ‘The Fiddler’, and Lincoln ‘Burst-Belly’.

In these early years, Isabella was too young to be actively involved in the intrigue involving Edward and Piers, but she became a potent symbol for their opponents. As a French Princess, she became a key meeting point between the English Court and her father, Philip, who was secretly funding the dissenting barons, who became known as the Lords Ordainers. Isabella also became a symbol of perfect Queen-ship in contrast to Edward’s failed kingship. However, Isabella’s popularity was not enough to prevent the Ordainers from acting, and in 1308 they created the Bourlogne Agreement, in which they spoke of the oppression of the people and the attacks on the honour of the crown in rather a vague manner. Yet although the wording was not precise, it was clear their target was Gaveston. Although it did not immediately affect Gaveston’s role, it forced Edward to change his coronation oath, and when crowned he promised to protect the laws that the people ‘shall have chosen’. This meant that under sacred oath he promised to retain the Ordainers as his political advisors.

Edward I's Coronation Chair

Gaveston’s position saw the continued neglect of the now thirteen-year-old Isabella that had begun at her wedding feast. Edward channelled lands and monies intended for her coffers to Gaveston, and even refused to give her the jewels destined for the Queen. This selfishness on the part of Edward seriously backfired, as when Parliament met in April 1308, the Ordainers were ready. Led by Lincoln they presented the King with a document that claimed “Homage and the Oath of Allegiance are more in respect of the crown than in respect of the king’s person…If ... it should befall that the king is not guided by reason.” It even stated the intention of the Ordainers to “reinstate the king in the dignity of the crown.” They demanded the exile of Gaveston, and although Edward initially refused, he was forced when he discovered that Isabella’s powerful father supported the Ordainers due to the mistreatment of his daughter. Gaveston was exiled under the threat of excommunication from June 1308, but he would not be gone for long.

In the year of Gaveston’s exile from England Isabella and Edward’s relationship greatly improved. Edward gifted the northern French counties of Ponthieu and Montreuil to Isabella and began to show her more respect ending Philip’s support for the Ordainers. It was during this year that Isabella began to form the great political mind that she later possessed, as she began to side passionately with her husband. She made a strong alliance between herself and the Beaumont family, particularly Henry de Beaumont and his sister Isabella de Vesci. They actively began to oppose the Ordainers, particularly Lancaster, and he noted them down for later political annihilation.

Meanwhile, Edward had been working for the return of Gaveston, and in August 1309, when King Philip withdrew his support for the Ordainers, Gaveston returned to England. As ostentatious and arrogant as ever, the Ordainers refused to even attend Parliament while Gaveston was present forcing Edward to grant them reforming powers. Edward returned to the Scottish war and became focussed on capturing their leader Robert the Bruce. Most of the Ordainers refused to support what they saw as an insincere venture, so while Edward and Piers were absent in Scotland, they published of the Ordinances of 1311, which made clear the Barons attentions. Now led exclusively by the radical Lancaster, they singled out Gaveston, Beaumont and de Vesci as evil counsellors of the king. Gaveston was exiled one final time.

Isabella stayed loyal to her husband, but Piers returned in less than three months, in Christmas 1311. This was the final straw for the Ordainers and the situation officially became a Civil War as they went on the hunt for Gaveston. Gaveston, whose wife had just given birth to a daughter, moved with Edward to York to celebrate, confident in his King’s support. It was around this time that Isabella fell pregnant with her first child, and this caused her to become separated from her husband and Gaveston as they moved to Newcastle, while Isabella was sent to the comfort of Tynemouth Priory away from the impending fighting.

It was at this point that Isabella made her first, emotional entrance into the history books in the cast of a model Queen and wife. Lancaster’s army, aware of Gaveston’s presence, arrived on the outskirts of Newcastle, and Edward and Piers were forced to flee. They raced to Isabella and the safety of Tynemouth Priory, where they planned to take to sea to escape the Ordainers. On their arrival a tearful, pregnant Isabella who was furious at her husband’s plans greeted them. Isabella was apparently distraught and sobbed at Edward’s feet, accusing him of favouring Gaveston and never caring for her wellbeing, in spite of the fact she was his Queen. Edward ignored her protests, and abandoned her, leaving her alone to face Lancaster’s oncoming army. It was the last time Isabella was ever to see Piers. Terrified, Isabella was forced to abandon her household and move with a small group down the road to York, hoping to reconvene with Edward there.

Piers Gaveston dead at
the feet of the Earl of
Warwick

Edward and Gaveston moved to Scarborough Castle, where Edward left the now ill Piers. He returned to Isabella, and reunited with her as planned in York. For Gaveston, however, the game was up, as he was captured by one of the Ordainers, Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke. Moderate Pembroke, wanting a fair trial for Gaveston, took Piers to Doddington in Oxfordshire where he was given luxury accommodation. Pembroke was not as attentive as he ought to have been, and while he went to visit his wife, another Ordainer, Warwick ‘The Black Dog’ discovered Gaveston’s location and stormed his lodgings shouting – ‘Get up you traitor!’ through his open bedroom window. Warwick escorted Gaveston to Warwick castle where he was thrown in the cells, while Warwick convened with the Ordainers. Led by Lancaster, they promised to protect each other on Gaveston’s death, and Piers was sentenced to death as per the laws of the Ordinances of 1311. Piers was brought to Blacklow Hill in Warwick where he was run through with a sword and beheaded, ending his glittering career by Edward’s side.

For Isabella, it seemed her one rival for Edward’s affection was gone, and she became determined to be the best wife she could to Edward. Although Edward grieved deeply for Gaveston and promised revenge against his murderers, this was the high point of their marriage. In November 1312 their son, also named Edward, was born and Isabella became a leading member of the group opposing Lancaster, which also included her husband and rising forces in Court, the Despenser father and son, both named Hugh respectively. Isabella also became instrumental in trying to forge a strong relationship between her husband and her father to counter the power of the Ordainers. It was this attempt to heal relations between the pair that saw Isabella’s involvement in an incident that undermined her reputation both at home and abroad.

Contemporaries described Isabella’s father as being akin to a statue, with little interest in pleasures of the flesh. Therefore, when Isabella uncovered supposed infidelity on the part of all three of her sister-in-laws, it ignited Philip’s wrath and spelt the end of her father’s dynasty. On a visit to France in 1313, Isabella attended on her father and her three brothers; Louis, Philip and Charles. She gifted each of her sisters-in-law embroidered purses, which appeared on the belts of two Norman knights, Gautier and Philippe d'Aunay, at a feast in London later in the year. Isabella concluded that her brother’s wives were having affairs with the knights, and informed her father on the next visit to France in 1314.

This spelled disaster for her family. Philip ordered the knights be put under surveillance, and soon the probably fictitious story emerged that Louis and Charles’ wives, Margaret and Blanche of Burgundy, had in adulterous relationships with the d’Aunay brothers in the Tour de Nesle Castle, of which the incident takes it’s name. Isabella’s other sister-in-law, Joan of Burgundy, was suspected of knowing of the infidelity but not bringing it to Philip’s attention. The d’Aunay brothers were tortured and executed horribly; they were broken on the wheel, emasculated and skinned alive before their corpses were hanged. While Joan’s name was eventually cleared, Margaret and Blanche suffered horrific treatment. Their heads were symbolically shaved and they were imprisoned for life. Margaret died after two years in captivity due to poor treatment, while Blanche was imprisoned for the rest of her life underneath the Château Gaillard.

Isabella's family (l-r): Charles IV of France (brother), Philip V
of France (brother), Isabella herself, Philip IV (father),
Louis X of France (brother) and Charles of Valois
(uncle).

In light of Isabella’s later actions, this is seen as a hypocritical move on her part to secure favour with her husband and father, and perhaps an attempt to test her own power. The Tour de Nesle Affair not only precipitated the collapse of the Capetian dynasty, it also ruined Isabella’s reputation in France and undermined her in England, and as her actions corresponded with Edward’s notable defeat at the Battle of Bannockburn against Robert the Bruce in 1314, helped to bolster Lancaster’s power.

Once Edward and Isabella had returned to England, Isabella returned to her duties as a wife and mother. In 1316 Isabella gave birth to their second child, John, followed by a daughter, Eleanor, in 1318, seemingly capturing her husband’s affections at last. Although Isabella seemed to be more secure in her position, it was still obvious that she was a political animal; after a Oxford clerk named John Drydas, who had a strong resemblance to Isabella’s husband, claimed to be the real Edward who had been swapped at birth, Isabella took the opportunity to counter Lancaster’s smugness by tightening her alliance with the Beaumont’s, and promoting Isabella de Vesci within her household which promoted her husbands cause. It finally seemed that Isabella’s loyalty to her husband had been proved, and Isabella could finally relax.

With the execution of Gaveston, it seemed that the problem of an overmighty favourite within the English Court was a distant possibility, but a new favourite emerged in 1318, more greedy, dangerous and scheming than Gaveston had ever been. Hugh Despenser the younger was an old ally of Edward’s, particularly against Lancaster in 1312 and had spent his life fighting in Scotland and on the Welsh Marches. He also appears to have been a brutal and ruthless man; in 1318 he had a Welsh rebel, Llewelyn Bren, who was well respected by the English Marcher Lords, hung, drawn and quartered in Cardiff Castle, in spite of promising him protection. It was clearly an extrajudicial killing. Although knowing of Despenser’s character, Edward made him a royal chamberlain and Hugh quickly worked his way into Edward’s affections.

It was also in 1318 that another man returned to court. Roger Mortimer had been Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for Edward II for ten years. He was everything Edward was not; militaristic, masculine and adventurous and had won stellar victories in both Ireland and Wales. On meeting Isabella, there may have been an instant attraction between the two, as some historians argue that their relationship began in earnest at this point, but it seems more likely that Isabella, riding high in her husband’s favours and having witnessed what happened to her sisters-in-law who committed adultery, stayed loyal to Edward.

Isabella and Roger Mortimer (15th century)

Mortimer and Despenser were old enemies. Despenser had always harboured a longing for revenge on Mortimer due to an old enmity between their families. The loathing was soon realised as Hugh was awarded some of Mortimer’s lands in the Welsh Marches. Mortimer was pushed into the arms of Lancaster and the other disaffected Barons. Edward did little to help the problem as he repeatedly favoured Despenser in disagreements, most notably when in 1320 Edward confiscated the lordship of Gower from its rightful owner for the demanding Despenser. The barons were in uproar and started to arm themselves against Despenser.

However, the Barons were not the only ones to hate Despenser. Isabella, although having a working relationship with Edward’s previous favourite, Gaveston, openly detested Despenser. Froissart, the contemporary chronicler, claims it was because Isabella had proof that Despenser and her husband were sodomites, while historian Weir goes further and speculates that the violent Despenser possibly sexually assaulted or even raped her. Although she detested Despenser, Isabella was trapped in political stalemate, as she was also estranged from Lancaster’s faction, leaving her unable to oppose the Despenser’s.

Led by Lancaster, the Marcher Lords, who included Mortimer, refused to attend Edward’s Parliament’s in 1319, and when a succession dispute broke out, it was to Lancaster, not Edward, they turned for the dispute to be settled. Due to the change in the balance of power, Edward was forced to send his favourite and his father into exile in 1321. Again, Isabella made an emotional appeal to her husband, similar to the one in Tynemouth Priory in 1311, and she got down on her knees and begged her husband to do right by her and the country and exile the Despensers. This offered Edward a face saving excuse to exile his favourites, which he did; the younger Hugh becoming a pirate in the English Channel. However, in spite of Isabella’s pleas, Edward recalled the Despenser’s within weeks.

Lancaster and Edward were now at loggerheads, and Edward was desperate for a reason to attack his enemies. Historians believe he conscripted his wife, who was seemingly willingly to please him, to be the catalyst for war. He sent her on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, but she made a detour to Leeds Castle, one of Isabella’s properties but also the home of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, a supporter of Lancaster. Bartholomew at the time was away in Oxford at a meeting with the other Barons, and had left the Castle under the charge of his wife, Margaret. Margaret de Badlesmere had a long-standing estrangement with the Queen; as Isabella had refused to promote one of Margaret’s relatives in the Exchequer in 1317. When Isabella demanded entrance to the castle, Margaret refused, stating she would only open the gates if her husband commanded her. Fighting broke out just outside of the castle, sparking what became known as the Despenser Wars.

Taking this opportunity as a sign of defiance, Edward moved northwards to engage his cousin. Lancaster retaliated by making an alliance with King Robert I of Scotland (previously Robert the Bruce) to give himself diplomatic and military support.  The two sides met at the Battle of Boroughbridge on 16^th March, and in a shocking turn of events, Lancaster was defeated. He was captured, and brought before a trial whose judges consisted of Edward and the two Despenser’s. He was forbidden from speaking in his defence, or for having anyone speak for him. He was found guilty of treason, but due to his relation to Edward, his sentence was commuted to beheading. It was carried out in Pontefract Castle on 22^nd March.

Meanwhile, Roger Mortimer had not been present at Boroughbridge as he had been captured by the Kings forces in Shrewsbury. He was incarcerated in the Tower of London, where he remained a prisoner for a year. However, in August 1323, rumour reached Mortimer that Despenser had persuaded Edward to have him executed so he made an escape plan. He had made friends with the Deputy Constable of the Tower, Gerard d’Alspaye, who he convince to drug the Constable and release Mortimer from his cell from where the two men made their way to the kitchens. Once there, they climbed out of the window and scaled the curtain wall on ropes, before going to exile in France.

Edward was triumphant and victorious, and along with Despenser brought a reign of tyranny down on his subjects, punishing harshly those who had opposed Despenser’s reign, including land confiscations and the punishment of the extended families. A good example of the punishments enacted against Edward’s enemies is in the case of the de Badlesmere family, who defiance at Leeds Castle had precipitated Lancaster’s fall. Bartholomew de Badlesmere, who had always been an unwilling rebel, was hung, drawn and quartered as a rebel at Blean in April 1322, while his wife Margaret was sent to the Tower with her five children. On her journey through London, Margaret was insulted and jeered by the people of the city. Isabella was supposedly troubled by the brutality, even to enemies like Margaret de Badlesmere. It may have been at this point that Isabella first realised the tyrant her husband had become.

Isabella and her son, Prince Edward
(14th century)

Hugh and Edward also began to target Isabella herself, and this may possibly have been when Despenser made some kind of attempt to physically or sexually assault the Queen. Despenser refused to pay her money he owed her, or return the Castles of Marlborough and Devizes that were part of her dower that he had captured during campaign. Edward even turned on his wife; refusing to enact on a tradition to gift the Queen any of the spoils of war from the failed rebellion. Isabella was further exasperated with Edward’s inability to counter the Scottish problem, as Robert I’s forces were now breaching the English borders.

It was at the end of the year that the final breach in Edward and Isabella’s marriage came. Spurred on by Robert’s continued disregard for English borders, Edward, Isabella and Hugh rode north to counter the Scots. After the disastrous English defeat at the Battle of Old Byland in Yorkshire in November 1322, Edward and Hugh rode south to raise more troops. Edward, perhaps not wishing to be encumbered by his wife, moved her once again to Tynemouth Priory. With the Scottish army marching south, Isabella became justifiably concerned that she would be attacked, and sent requests to Edward pleading for support. When Edward wrote back, suggesting he send Despenser troops to aid her, Isabella resoundingly rejected his offer, demanding less hostile troops. Hugh, possibly seeing Isabella as his biggest political rival, persuaded Edward to retreat south, leaving Isabella isolated and trapped her between the Scottish Army to her west, and the dangerous sea patrolled by Flemish vessels allied with the Scots to her east. Confirmed in her belief that her husband was no longer an ally, she used a small group of squires from her retinue to fight the Scottish army off while others commandeered a ship. While the fighting continued Isabella and her retinue fled onto the ship, and the ensuing skirmish resulted in the deaths of two of her ladies in waiting. Evading the Flemish fleet, she dashed south and ran to York, where Edward was waiting.

This incident effectively ended Isabella and Edward’s marriage. She was furious with him for abandoning her to the Scots and for him following Hugh’s direction over hers. Edward angrily blamed her supporters, particularly the Beaumont’s for not protecting her, and Isabella knew the charade was over. Not wanting to spend any longer with her weak husband, she began a ten month long pilgrimage round England, leaving Edward and Hugh to live together in a way she knew she should be living as Queen, the wife to a King.

After the end of her pilgrimage, it seemed as if she had very few allies and that Hugh was campaigning for her destruction. With the death of Lancaster, the Ordainers, perhaps her natural allies, had all been executed or fled abroad, and so she had little choice but to return to Edward in 1323. It even seemed as if she had lost support from her family, as her brother Charles, now Charles IV of France, worsened the situation by conquering Aquitaine, Edward’s duchy. With Isabella refusing Edward’s command to take an Oath of Allegiance to the Despenser’s, she was stripped of all her lands, the Queen’s privilege of giving patronage, her coffers were overtaken by the Despensers, all her French attendants were arrested and her three youngest children, John, Eleanor and Joan (born 1321) were taken away from her. It was at this moment that Isabella decided she was not going to be a victim anymore.

It was also at this point that Edward seemed to have grown more paranoid about the threats against him. In 1324 it was alleged that a famous magician, John of Nottingham had been hired to kill Edward and Hugh using wax poppets, and Edward became convinced that if he left Hugh’s side for a moment the Barons would strike against Hugh, just as they had done with Piers. However, the situation in France was heating up, and Edward desperately needed to visit Isabella’s brother to pay homage to him as overlord of his remaining territory of Gascony. Pope John XXII called in to oversee the dispute between Charles and Edward, suggested that Isabella be sent to France to help make relations more agreeable. Isabella jumped at the opportunity, desperately wanting to escape her husband and Hugh, who she now evidently loathed equally.

Edward I pledging homage to Philip IV
(15th Century)

Edward agreed and Isabella arrived in Paris in March 1325, and invented a solution both to appease her brother and bring more political cards into her hands. She arranged for her eldest son, Prince Edward, now twelve years old, to come and pay homage to Charles IV for Gascony, the territory remaining to the English, in place of his father. Edward agreed and Prince Edward arrived in Paris in September, but was expected to return home almost immediately. Isabella not wanting to relinquish her control over the most important political piece she now had refused to come home. Angry at her disloyalty, Edward sent letters to Charles IV for his wife’s return but Charles supported his sister and refused to expel her from France. It seemed that Isabella was resolved to stay in Paris forever, as far away from Edward and Hugh as she could possibly get.

Isabella went on to become involved in political intrigues against her husband, most notably supporting her brother pressurising Edward into relinquishing Aquitaine. Edward then attempted to get his agent, Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, to convince Isabella to return. Stapledon did not succeed, but he returned with worrying news. Isabella had declared that Despenser had destroyed her marriage with Edward and that she dressed as a widow in protest. Even worse, he had discovered that the political exiles that had fled after Lancaster’s execution were gathering in France and forming a court in exile, revolving entirely around the person of the Queen. People in the Queen’s party included Edmund, Earl of Kent who was Edward’s own half-brother and John of Brittany, another cousin. But the most important man in the Queen’s circle was the man that Stapledon widely suspected Isabella of taking for her lover in December 1325; Roger Mortimer.

Isabella and Roger were reintroduced by Isabella’s cousin Joan, Countess of Hainault. While Joan had merely intended to cultivate Roger’s support in a plan to marry Prince Edward to one of her daughters, the meeting sparked off a passionate affair that has been described as the greatest romance of the Middle Ages. It is almost certain that there had been a long standing sexual attraction between the two which until this point had never been acted upon, but they were also intellectually compatible, sharing interests in Arthurian legends and high culture. Both parties were committing adultery; Roger had been married to Joan de Geneville since childhood, and they had a large family together, while Isabella was making her husband a cuckold and the laughing stock of Europe. The greatest risk of Isabella’s life had taken place for one reason; both she and Mortimer were committed to the downfall of the Despenser’s regime.

Philippa of Hainault (14th century)

Isabella and Mortimer’s first move was to take up Joan of Hainault’s offer of a betrothal between Prince Edward and one of her daughters. On arrival in Hainault in the summer of 1326, Prince Edward chose Joan’s middle daughter Philippa, who was described as being dark haired, dark eyed and sweet natured, the opposite of his ferocious mother. Although Isabella undertook the marriage for political advancement, Edward and Philippa had a strong marriage that remained loving and faithful until Philippa’s death almost fifty years later. The marriage brought financial support for Isabella and Mortimer from the Hainaulters and enabled Isabella to start building the force that she aimed would depose both Despenser and her husband, while gaining secret promises from the Scots not to intervene in the impending Conquest.

Although Edward was pre-warned of Isabella’s plan, she managed to avoid his fleet that was awaiting her in the Channel and landed in Orwell on 24^th September with a force of 1,500. Local levies raised to defend Edward quickly defected to Isabella, and together with Mortimer, she rolled in land. Leading nobles rallied to her cause, most notably Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk, Edward’s half-brother, and Henry of Lancaster, the younger brother of the murdered Thomas. This united all opposition of the King under one flag, and they headed for London. Edward and Despenser, failing to find support, and were forced to flee from London to Gloucester, and Isabella and Mortimer gave chase. Mortimer laid siege to Bristol, a town held by Hugh Despenser the Elder, and on it’s fall Isabella was reunited with her daughters who were held captive there. Edward and Despenser attempted to escape to the island of Lundy on the Devon coast but due to bad weather were forced to land in Wales. They were captured in Llantrisant on 16^th November.

Execution of Hugh Despenser the
Younger (Froissart)

Revenge against the regime began almost instantly. Although Isabella tried to protect Hugh Despenser the Elder, who had once been her ally, she could not stop Mortimer’s wrath, and he was hanged on 27^th October and his corpse fed to the dogs of Bristol. Hugh Despenser the Younger tried to starve himself before his trial, but Mortimer and the Queen tried him and sentenced him to be hung, drawn and quartered. Froissart goes further and mentions that he was castrated before his execution, possibly a punishment alluding to his homosexuality or his suspected rape of the Queen. Despenser let out a ‘ghastly inhuman howl’ just before his death, much to the joy of the spectators that had gathered to see him die. His corpse was beheaded and he was cut into four pieces, and his head mounted on the gates of London. Mortimer and Isabella supposedly feasted with their supporters as they watched his execution. But for Mortimer and Isabella, the most difficult decision was yet to come.

Isabella’s husband was a divinely anointed monarch, and could not be disposed of in the way the Despenser’s had. He was given to the custody of Henry of Lancaster, and in the Parliament in January 1327, it was decided to legally depose Edward, hold him under house arrest for the rest of his life and replace him with his son. Edward III was declared King, and Isabella was made his regent. The deposed Edward supposedly wept at the news, but faced with the hard choice of seeing his son crowned if he collaborated or usurpation by Roger Mortimer if he resisted, he was faced with little choice. However, most felt that Parliament did not have the authority to depose Edward, and Isabella knew she was under constant threat if her husband remained alive.

Allegorical arrest of Edward II (15th Century)

What happened next was one of the most mysterious incidences in English History. Edward was moved to Berkeley Castle on the Welsh Marches, a hotbed of support for Mortimer. On 23rd September, his custodian, Lord Thomas Berkeley, informed Isabella and Mortimer that Edward had died in an accident on the 21st. Edward was buried with much display at Gloucester Cathedral to prove the old king was really gone, but there is a popular theory cited by several historians that Edward did not die but escaped to Italy and lived until 1341, evidenced by the Fieschi Letter, that was sent to Edward III in 1337 in which “Edward” claimed he had survived an lived out the rest of his life peacefully in Italy. However, it is most likely that he did die in 1327, and whether by the legendary hot poker or through natural causes, Edward II’s tyrannous reign had been brought to a brutal end.

Isabella and Mortimer’s rule as regents only lasted four years, and they proved to be as capricious and greedy as the Despenser’s. Isabella increased her land holdings to £13,333 making her the richest landowner in the kingdom and refused to give her dower lands to the new Queen in contradiction of convention. However, Isabella did try to heal some of the foreign policy disasters of her husband’s reign. She betrothed her daughter Joan to the new king of Scotland, David II, and brought an end to the war with Scotland under the Treaty of Northampton. Isabella also bought back some English lands in France for 50,000 marks a year, but both these ventures made her wildly unpopular, and the fragile alliance that had been formed to fight her husband slowly fell apart.

Henry of Lancaster was the first to dissent, and after the Treaty of Northampton in 1328 he refused to return to court. In attempting to regain popularity, after Isabella began to champion her son’s claim to France over the heir, Isabella’s cousin, who became King Philip VI in 1328. Failing, she became more unpopular than ever before, and in January 1329 Lancaster rallied his forces against her, including her long time supporters Henry de Beaumont and Isabella de Vesci. Isabella marched to meet them in full armour, and it was possibly this symbolism that made the Lancastrians surrender. Although this rebellion was crushed and the rebels let off lightly, an even worse threat emerged in 1330, when Mortimer tricked Edmund of Kent, Edward III’s uncle, into believing his brother was still alive. Desperate to free Edward, he began to conspire against Isabella, and when discovered, he was beheaded in Winchester Castle. The execution was carried out by a local murderer who was offered a pardon as Mortimer was unable to find a trained man willing to execute a man of the blood royal.

Isabella's son, Edward III, later in life
(15th century)

Isabella and Mortimer, paranoid and convinced that the nobles were trying to overthrow them, retreated to Nottingham Castle with Edward III for protection in mid 1330. Mortimer, afraid and angry, in anger claimed his word was more important than Edward’s. On hearing this, Edward became convinced that Mortimer was trying to overthrow him, just like his father. On the 19^th October Edward rallied twenty-three men and crept up to the keep of the castle using secret tunnels and burst in on Isabella and Mortimer in bed. Edward himself seized Mortimer and had him dragged away while Isabella supposedly screamed – ‘Fair son, have pity on the gentle Mortimer!’ Lancastrian troops surrounded the Castle as Edward seized control of his own kingship for the first time.

Parliament was called and Mortimer was put on trial for treason. No word of his relationship with Dowager Queen was mentioned and Edward, a lenient man, spared Mortimer the horrors of being hung, drawn and quartered. The great love of Isabella’s life was hanged at Tyburn on the 29^th November 1330, and with him Isabella’s ambitions died. Edward, no longer trusting his mother, put her under house arrest at Berkhamsted Castle, but she later transferred to Windsor then in 1332 Castle Rising, her own property in Norfolk. It was during her stay at Berkhamsted that Isabella possibly suffered a nervous breakdown at the brutal loss of her lover, and she remained in a deep depression for some time. From this point onwards, Isabella’s life would be a lot quieter than it had been previously.

Although confined to Castle Rising, she began to cultivate a mini-court around her with hunting, dancing and other sports. Eventually, Edward recognised her as a useful asset in his dealing with France. When the Hundred Years War with France began, Isabella, with her knowledge of France, was used as a negotiator. Towards the end of her life, she became a rather conciliatory woman and among her group of friends were the remaining family of her great love, Roger Mortimer, particularly his grandson, also named Roger, who Edward restored to his grandfather’s titles. Isabella died in Castle Rising on 22^nd August 1358 and she commanded to be buried in her wedding dress, and as if to erase her disloyalty to her husband, she asked to be buried with his heart, which had been placed in a casket at his death thirty years previously.

Although Isabella has been remembered to history as a ruthless she-wolf who overthrew her husband, was corrupt, self-serving and tyrannous, Isabella achieved something that none of her predecessors as Queen could ever match. She proved that women could be as powerful and brutal as men, and by deposing Edward, she set a precedent which clearly dictated that the King was the exclusive source of power and could be challenged by disaffected subjects. While seen as a cold-hearted schemer, it was her overwhelming passion for Roger Mortimer that persuaded her to take the final leap to move from being a victim to overthrowing Edward’s tyranny. Therefore, although it seems that Isabella was the most ruthless political player of her age, she was clearly capable of throwing off the shackles of acceptable female behaviour to fight for the people she truly loved.

Castor, Helen, “She-Wolves: The Women who Ruled England before Elizabeth” (2011)

Jones, Dan, "The Plantagenets: The Kings who Made England”, (2012)

Weir, Alison, "Isabella: She-Wolf of France", (2006)

Next time... Boudicca; the Rebel, the Queen, the Victim...