Isabella of France

Isabella or Isabelle was the daughter of King Philippe IV of France and the sister of three French kings. Her mother was Joan, Queen of Navarre. Isabella was born in Paris some time between 1292 and 1295. She married Edward at Boulogne-sur-Mer on January 25, 1308. He had ascended the throne the previous year, hence Isabella never held the title of Princess of Wales, as was wrongly portrayed in the film Braveheart.

The marriage had been under negotiation for several years. Its political intent was to settle the conflicts between the two kingdoms which had arisen over the English continental possessions. Pope Boniface VIII had urged the marriage as early as 1298. In the intervening years there had been a great deal of wrangling over the precise conditions of the marriage contract.

Although Isabella had four children from the marriage, the king was popularly believed to be homosexual, and lavished his attention on a succession of male favourites, including Piers Gaveston and Hugh le Despenser. When her brother, King Charles IV of France, seized Edward's French possessions in 1325, she returned to France and gathered an army to oppose Edward, in alliance with Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, who had become her lover. Together they invaded England and defeated Edward, who then abdicated in favour of his eldest son, Edward III of England. Since the young king was only fourteen, Isabella and Mortimer ruled as regents in his place.

Isabella and Mortimer famously plotted to murder the deposed king in such a way as not to draw suspicion on themselves. However, when Edward III attained his majority, he remembered their disloyalty, and had both Isabella and Mortimer taken prisoner. Mortimer was executed for treason, but Isabella's life was spared and she was allowed to retire to Castle Rising in Norfolk. It was probably there that she died, on August 22, 1358, and her body was returned to London for burial.

See also: Hundred Years' War

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