Isabella+of+France

Isabella of France was a powerful and significant woman in fourteenth century Europe who displaced a King and established another, becomining known as the She-Wolf of France. born in 1295 to [|King Philip IV] of France and [|Queen Joan I of Navarre], she married [|King Edward II] of England in 1308 but her relationship with Edward soon deteriated. Driven away by her husband, Isabella found solace in the arms of another man, who, together with powerful allies, raised a small army and marched on England.

__Marriage and Life at Court __ Her marriage to Edward II of England was for political reasons and was intended to be a resolution to the ongoing conflicts between France and England. However, Edward’s favouritism towards men of the court, in particular  [|Hugh Despenser] slowly damaged the marriage. Isabella soon became alienated from court, her lands confiscate and the French members of her household were also removed and imprisoned as a result of the power Hugh Despenser had accumulated within court. Her alienation from the court was a significant, though less obvious, consequence of Hugh Despenser’s favouritism from her husband and the family’s ascendancy to power and wealth which ultimately resulted in Isabella’s invasion of England.

__Peace Negotiation with France __ In 1324, war broke out between England and France over the destruction of the fortress of [|Saint Sardos] on the border of Gascony and the Agenais. Edward and his officials ignored [|Charles IV] summons to compensate the French crown so, in response, Charles declared Gascony, previously under English rule, confiscated. Isabella was sent to France to negotiate a peace agreement between her brother, Charles IV and her husband, Edward II. She managed to negotiate an agreement which stated Gascony would remain under French rule until Edward II payed homage to Charles. Edward agreed but allowed his young son, [|Edward III] to travel to France in his place. This placed Isabella in a position of great strength. With her son now in France with her, Isabella refused to return to England until the Despensers were removed from court and exiled. Edward refused her requests and Isabella soon began to rally a force against Edward and the Despensers.

__The She-Wolf Marches on England __ Isabella and her lover, [|Roger Mortimer], gained the support of several lords and Bishops, who had been alienated from the increasingly threatening Despenser regime. The most notable being the king’s half brother, the Earl of Kent; the Earl of Richmond and the Bishops of Hereford, Winchester and Norwich also joined the She-Wolfs cause. Isabella and Mortimer eventually landed at Suffolk in September, 1326, with small mercenary army of approximately 1500 men.When they landed in Suffolk, they found little to no effective opposition. The King fled after his forces deserted him; the Earl of Norfolk and Henry of Lancaster both defected to the Queen’s support. The incompetence of the king, and the arrogance and greed of the Despensers, had so alienated men from the court that none expected the few who profited from the king’s favour would fight for him. The rapid defection of prominent figures such as the King’s half brother and Edward’s rapid flee to Wales, enabled the Queen to take over governance with little opposition.

__Abdication of Edward II and the Aftermath __ Edward had attempted to flee to Wales with Hugh Despenser but the two were captured and returned to Kenilworth where Hugh was executed and Edward II was forced to abdicate his throne, dying shortly after. Power lay with Isabella as [|regent]  on behalf of her young son, Edward III, until 1330 when Edward III organised a coup to remove Mortimer and Isabella from power.

__Legacy __

Isabella was a significant figure during the 14th century who managed to raise a force to <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">overturn an English monarchy. She has become a popular femme fatal figure, portrayed in various modern visualizations.



<span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;"> Michael Prestwich, //Plantagenet England 1225 – 1360//(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005), 178 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> //Gesta Edwardi//, 32 (//sub// 1308) as quoted in Seymour Phillips, //Edward II// (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010), 481 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> //Foedera, Conventiones, Litterae et Acta Publica//, II, i, 570 quoted in Phillips, //Edward II//, 483 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Anthony Tuck, //Crown and Nobility 1272 – 1461// (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985), 88 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Ibid., 88 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;"> Prestwich, //Plantagenet England//, 303 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;"> George Holmes, //The Later Middle Ages 1272 – 1485// (Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1962), 116 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Tuck, //Crown and Nobility//, 88 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Phillips, //Edward II//, 481-8 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Michael Jones, //The New Cambridge Medieval History//, v.6 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 287 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Marilyn Livingstone and Morgen Witzel, //The Road to Crécy: The English Invasion of France//, //1346// (London: Pearson Longman, 2005), 7 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;"> Ibid., 90; Holmes, //The Later Middle Ages//, 116 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;"> Tuck, //Crown and Nobility//, 90; //Pauline Annals//, 314 quoted in Prestwich, //Plantagenet England//, 215 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;"> Tuck, //Crown and Nobility//, 91 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;"> Ibid., 94 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Michael Jones, //The New Cambridge Medieval History//, v.6 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 287 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;"> Prestwich, //Plantagenet England//, 216 <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;"> Prestwich, //Plantagenet England//, 220