Isabella of France

French-born queen of England (r. 1308-1327 and 1327-1330)

• Born: c. 1292
• Birthplace: Unknown
• Died: August 23, 1358
• Place of death: Hertford, England

For many years, Isabella was queen of the English king Edward II, whose incompetence, eccentricities, and male lovers eventually forced her to oppose him. She played a leading role in his eventual deposition, imprisonment, and execution.

Early Life

Isabella (ihz-uh-BEHL-uh) was the daughter of Philip IV the Fair, king of France, and of his wife, Joan of Champagne and Navarre. Although it is impossible to be precise, there can be no doubt that Isabella was very young in 1298, when as a part of the peace treaty between her father and Edward I of England, she was betrothed to the prince of Wales. The marriage was carried out in January of 1308, followed by the coronation in Westminster a month later. Thus began the public portion of her career. From that point until the time of her political downfall in 1330, Isabella would play a pivotal role in the politics of the age.

Life’s Work

For much of Edward II’ reign, Isabella was a dutiful queen and a faithful wife. She struggled to adapt to a new country and had to cope with Edward’s political ineptitude, his eccentric behavior, and a predilection for what the chroniclers of the age called “evil counselors.” The most offensive member of the king’s troupe was Piers Gaveston, an imperious Gascon knight who had earlier been exiled by Edward I. Gaveston was the king’s intimate companion and adviser, the recipient of many gifts, grants, and titles that might otherwise have been bestowed on Isabella and his English nobles. The relationship most assuredly alienated many powerful people, including the king’s cousin, Thomas, earl of Lancaster. As a result, few people, including Isabella, grieved when Gaveston was seized in 1312 and executed by his political enemies.

Gaveston’s death and the imposition of reforms by Thomas and the nobility weakened the position of the king. Over the next five years, the king was beset by many problems, not the least among which was yet another Scottish uprising, which resulted in one of the worst defeats in English military history (Battle of Bannockburn, 1314) and a Great Famine that ravaged the land for three years. Interestingly enough, these events seem to have worked to the advantage of the troubled marriage and, at the same time, thrust the queen into a prominent political position. Between 1312 and 1321, Isabella worked hard to effect peace between her husband and the disaffected nobles while serving as a mediator with the king of France. Along the way, she bore the king four children, including an heir, the future Edward III.

In the performance of her duties as queen, Isabella was oftentimes put in harm’s way. In 1319, while the king besieged Berwick, Isabella was very nearly abducted by the Scots near York. The plot was foiled when a captured spy revealed the plan and Isabella was able to safely make her escape to Nottingham. On another occasion, Isabella avoided capture by the Scots at Byland Abbey (now North Yorkshire) only by fleeing to the coast, where she was forced to make her escape through a perilous voyage by sea. She was sometimes roughed up by her own English subjects. In 1321, while traveling to Canterbury, she and her party became embroiled in a struggle with Lady Badlesmere, wife of one of the king’s political enemies, over her refusal to admit Isabella and her entourage for lodging at Leeds Castle near Maidstone. The matter was only resolved after the king entered the dispute and laid siege to the castle.

Whatever hope there might have been for a normal relationship between the king and queen, however, was shattered by the emergence of the prominent and influential Despenser (Spencer) family as a major factor in politics after 1318. Hugh le Despenser the Younger, in a manner reminiscent of Gaveston, quickly won a place in the king’s heart and probably also his bed. Unscrupulous and greedy, the Despensers proved to be even more objectionable than the king’s earlier favorites. Their enemies were imprisoned, executed, or driven from the land and their money, lands, and titles confiscated. In retribution, Thomas and other dissidents gathered enough support in a parliament held in London to banish the greedy pair from the country for a short period of time. However, in 1322 Edward regained the upper hand, gathered an army, and routed Thomas’s forces in the decisive Battle of Boroughbridge. The Despensers, now back in the country, were free to “pillage, plunder, and persecute their enemies” during the next five years.

Under the rule of Edward and the Despensers, Isabella was made to suffer many indignities. Her property was confiscated and her every move was watched, in large part because of her connections with a number of dissidents, including some of the most influential ecclesiastical lords of the kingdom and her fairly obvious ties with the French monarchy. Even so, in a move that defies explanation, Edward did allow the queen to journey to Paris in March of 1325 as a representative of the English government on the occasion of her youngest brother’s coronation as king. The decision would prove to be a fatal mistake, one that was exacerbated when Prince Edward was permitted to join his mother on the Continent in the fall of that year, ostensibly to render homage to the new French king. Edward fully expected mother and son to discharge their political duties and return to England in a timely manner. Now free of a husband she loathed and free of his evil minions, Isabella, the king’s protestations notwithstanding, adamantly refused to return to England. Her defiant stance endeared her to many, including those English exiles and criminals who had taken refuge in France. Foremost among them was the Welsh lord Roger Mortimer, whose family had suffered grievously at the hands of the Despensers. Isabella soon formed a close attachment to Mortimer that, in the words of one source, “soon ripened into criminal intimacy.”

With her motley crew in tow, Isabella and Mortimer crossed the Channel and landed in Essex on September 24, 1326, where they were enthusiastically embraced by all who had grievances. The king, finding that he had little support, fled westward with the queen in pursuit. The Despensers were soon apprehended and executed. The king was captured not long thereafter in Wales and brought before Parliament in London on January 7, where he was forced to abdicate in favor of his son and heir, Edward III. Edward II was then imprisoned at Berkeley Castle, where he was starved, tortured, and eventually murdered. Isabella’s complicity in the crime has earned for her a not-so-special niche in the history of the English monarchy. A seventeenth century writer would dub Isabella the She-Wolf, an epithet that has colored the judgment of historians for generations.

From 1327 to 1330, Isabella and Mortimer governed England on behalf of the youthful Edward III. The two proved to be no less rapacious than the Despensers. Their arrogance and extravagance, coupled with a political policy of appeasement for both Scotland and France, alienated the young king and many of his adherents. On October 18, 1330, a coup was carried out that swept the queen mother and her paramour from power. Mortimer, despite Isabella’s pitiful pleas for mercy, was executed. Isabella was spared, though she would spend the last twenty-eight years of her life in honorable confinement. Although Isabella was excluded by her son from the affairs of government, she seems to have led a comfortable existence though subject to bouts of melancholia at Castle Rising and other places, amid her books, jewelry, religious relics, and gifts of food and wine. Her last days were spent in the religious habit of the sisters of Santa Clara. She died on August 23, 1358, and was buried in November in the Franciscan church at Newgate in London.

Significance

Isabella has had few apologists. On the contrary, most scholars and novelists have portrayed her as an adulterer and a murderer. Her involvement in Edward’s deposition, imprisonment, and murder cannot be denied, nor can her image be totally rehabilitated. However, it might be argued that the sins of her youth were the inevitable results of a life spent with an incompetent king who was dominated by his male favorites. To stress these sins is to overlook the fact that for most of her public career, Isabella was dutiful. On numerous occasions, Isabella interceded with the nobility to bring peace and stability to the kingdom. It was only after the king spurned his wife for the Despensers that Isabella became the leader of the opposition movement. Had it not been for the tragic events of 1325-1327, Isabella might well have taken her place among the greatest queens of the age.

Bibliography

Davies, James Conway. The Baronial Opposition to Edward II, Its Character and Policy: A Study in Administrative History. 1918. Reprint. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1967. Still considered one of the best studies of Edward II’s reign. Isabella appears throughout, but not always in a favorable light.

Doherty, Paul. Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II. New York: Carroll and Graf, 2003. An engaging look at Isabella’s role in the controversy and intrigue surrounding Edward’s deposition and death.

Hutchison, Harold. Edward II, 1284-1327. 1971. Reprint. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1996. A sympathetic biography that attempts to exonerate the king of the charges of incompetence and cowardice, while citing mitigating circumstances for his vices. The author is, however, less charitable to Isabella.

Johnstone, Hilda. “Isabella, the She-Wolf of France.” History 21 (1936): 208-218. The author attempts to paint a more favorable picture of Isabella by citing some of the concerns especially the king’s relationship with Gaveston that forced her into opposition. Much of the article focuses on the queen’s years of honorable confinement.

McKisack, May. The Fourteenth Century, 1307-1399. 1959. Reprint. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1971. A volume in the Oxford History of England series long regarded as one of the most comprehensive studies of the fourteenth century.

Menache, Sophia. “Isabelle of France, Queen of England A Reconsideration.” Journal of Medieval History/Middle Ages 10 (1984): 107-124. An excellent short study of the queen’s life, and a sympathetic look at a queen considered here to be powerful, very influential, and one who was oftentimes used as a peacemaker between the king and his enemies.

Mortimer, Ian. The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, First Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327-1330. London: Jonathan Cape, 2003. A historical analysis of Mortimer for the general reader, one that presents an unfavorable, critical perspective.

Strickland, Agnes. Lives of the Queens of England: From the Norman Conquest. New York: Harper and Bros., 1886. An oft-cited study of the many queens of England. The author’s relatively short sketch of Isabella tells a familiar story from Isabella’s betrothal to her last years at Castle Rising.