1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:04,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie Listener discretion advised. In thirteen 3 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 1: twenty six, the billowing sails of eight warships rose over 4 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:23,640 Speaker 1: the sea on the English horizon. They were flanked by 5 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:28,159 Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty two smaller vessels, all ready for 6 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:32,519 Speaker 1: an invasion. The ships had come from France. They had 7 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: sailed from Flanders and were heading toward the Thames Estuary 8 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:41,320 Speaker 1: that September, as summer turned to fall. They were coming 9 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: to depose the King of England. No invasion of England 10 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: by sea had succeeded since the Norman conquest two hundred 11 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: and sixty years earlier in ten sixty six. But this 12 00:00:56,080 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: was no ordinary invasion by some hostile foreign power. The 13 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: man leading the charge had been condemned to death, and 14 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 1: he had been spared by the very king he was 15 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: now coming to depose. But far more shocking was the 16 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:18,120 Speaker 1: woman standing next to him. She was the man's lover 17 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: in adulterous scandal. She was said to be among the 18 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:26,479 Speaker 1: most beautiful women in the world. She had blonde hair 19 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: blowing against her forehead now in the sea wind, she 20 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: was dressed in widow's weeds, the black clothes of mourning, 21 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: but her husband was alive for now. Her name was Isabella. 22 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: She had been born in France, but she wasn't some 23 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 1: foreign usurper. She was the wife of King Edward the 24 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: Second of England. She was the most treasonous queen in 25 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:56,960 Speaker 1: all of English history. Born the daughter of the King 26 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 1: of France, adored and then despised by her subjects, mother 27 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: of the future sovereign, scorned and humiliated by an unpopular 28 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 1: husband more interested in having affairs with men than in 29 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 1: her She's known to history as a sinner, a Jezebel, 30 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: maybe even a murderer, known in the end. 31 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 2: As the she Wolf of France. She was Isabella, Queen 32 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 2: of England, and she was sailing from the continent with 33 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 2: troops and her lover by her side, and a steely 34 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 2: glint in her eye, ready to depose her king. I'm 35 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 2: Danas Schwartz, and this is noble blood. The little girl 36 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:56,520 Speaker 2: who would someday overthrow the King of England was born Isabelle, 37 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 2: Princess of France around the year twelve ninety. She was 38 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:05,360 Speaker 2: the daughter of Philip the Fair, the handsome and fearsome 39 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 2: King of France. She was one of seven children, the 40 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 2: only daughter to survive to adulthood. Her father had keen 41 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 2: political designs for each of his children's marriages, which this 42 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 2: podcast actually covered in our episode on the Tordonell Affair. 43 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 2: Suffice to say that in thirteen o three, at only 44 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 2: seven years old, as a prized princess, Isabella was betrothed 45 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 2: to then Prince Edward of England, who was nineteen. At 46 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 2: the betrothal ceremony, Isabella made herself as tall as she 47 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 2: could in front of an archbishop who was Edward's proxy. 48 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 2: She put her little hand in the archbishop's big one 49 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 2: and hoped with her child's heart that her husband would 50 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 2: be good to her when they finally met, that he 51 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 2: would love her, that he would fulfill her father's hope 52 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 2: for a future king of England. And descended from both 53 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 2: the French and English lines. But she must have noticed 54 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 2: that her future husband never sent her any gifts across 55 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 2: the English Channel, nor any letters. Even as a child, 56 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 2: she may have wondered why not. Five years later she 57 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 2: would find out. On January twenty fifth, thirteen o eight, 58 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 2: twelve year old Isabella formally married Edward, who was by 59 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:34,560 Speaker 2: then King of England. Despite the mismatch in age, Edward 60 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 2: was a handsome groom. Isabella biographer Alice and Weir describes 61 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 2: the six foot tall Edward like a dang Disney prince 62 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 2: for Isabella. Quote. 63 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:45,200 Speaker 1: He was well. 64 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 2: Proportioned and had curly, fair shoulder length hair, with a 65 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:52,920 Speaker 2: mustache and beard. He was also well spoken. His mother 66 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,280 Speaker 2: tongue was Norman French and articulate, and he dressed elegantly, 67 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 2: even lavishly end quote. One limitation of histories this old 68 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 2: is we have very little insight into Isabella's thoughts around 69 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:11,840 Speaker 2: this time. Even the biographies and articles about her are 70 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 2: frequently about her husband, which leaves a blank space in 71 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 2: our understanding. The fact is that Isabella was twelve years 72 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,359 Speaker 2: old at her wedding to a man twice her age. 73 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,240 Speaker 2: Both Isabella's mother and her new husband's mother had been 74 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:32,280 Speaker 2: married by age eleven. Twelve was the youngest age at 75 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 2: which the Church permitted sex between husband and wife. Historians 76 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 2: generally believe that Isabella and Edward didn't consummate the marriage 77 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:45,160 Speaker 2: on their wedding night. I can imagine a young Isabella 78 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 2: who was grateful for this reprieve. Maybe she felt like 79 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 2: a child thrown into a stranger's bed, albeit a bed 80 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,520 Speaker 2: that she had been preparing for since youth. Maybe she 81 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 2: viewed her new husband's restraint as chivalrous or loving, but 82 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 2: that wasn't all it was. This podcast has covered the 83 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,839 Speaker 2: story of Edward the Second and his affair with the 84 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:14,159 Speaker 2: love of his life, his boyhood courtier Peers Gaveston. The 85 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 2: fact that he's the tragic hero of one episode of 86 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:20,960 Speaker 2: this podcast and a side character in this one is 87 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 2: just more proof that history can be told from many angles. 88 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 2: Love for one person is heartache for another. The difference 89 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,240 Speaker 2: between comedy and tragedy is often just a matter of 90 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 2: who your main character is. When Isabella arrived in England 91 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 2: after the wedding, her husband greeted Gaveston with a degree 92 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 2: of enthusiasm that shocked Isabella's relatives. Isabella had to watch 93 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 2: as Gaveston wore jewels that were part of her dowry, 94 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 2: and he wore purple to the coronation, the color of royalty, 95 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:59,119 Speaker 2: as though he were the true spouse of Edward being 96 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 2: elevated to the throne. For Isabella, it was embarrassing. She 97 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 2: told her father that She was quote the most wretched 98 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 2: of wives. She received no money from her husband. She 99 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 2: was miserable. She wasn't the only one. The English barons 100 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 2: all wanted the king's favorite, Gaveston gone, and they got 101 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 2: their way. In thirteen eight, six months after Isabella arrived 102 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 2: in England, Gaveston was banished from the country. With Gaveston gone, 103 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 2: Isabella's husband warmed to her. He started giving her lands 104 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 2: and money. Wherever he traveled, she went with him. She 105 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 2: may have felt like any girl who has a crush 106 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:44,840 Speaker 2: on a guy who has a crush on someone else. 107 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 2: It hurts, yes, but maybe his affections can be turned. 108 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 2: But then Edward brought Gaveston back. Everybody likes a catfight. 109 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 2: Sensationalized history would have us believe that Isabella hated Gaveston 110 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:08,360 Speaker 2: to the end. Isabella was probably pained to see the 111 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 2: return of her competition, but she was quite a bit 112 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 2: older now with some relationship of her own with the king, 113 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 2: and she reached some equilibrium with Gaveston. It's worth noting 114 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 2: that everyone in this saga, from Gaveston to the lovers 115 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 2: of both King and Queen that I'll mention later in 116 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 2: this episode was married to a member of the opposite 117 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:35,040 Speaker 2: sex and had children of their own. Once Gaveston came back, 118 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 2: Isabella was kind to his pregnant wife. She spent time 119 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 2: with Gaveston. She may have even found him kind of amusing. 120 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 2: But if Isabella mellowed somewhat towards Galveston, the English courts 121 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 2: as a whole did not. They wanted him gone for good, 122 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 2: violently if need be, as violence mounted around them. In 123 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 2: thirteen eleven and twelve, Isabella told her husband that she 124 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:07,679 Speaker 2: was pregnant, probably hoping that with that news, Edward would 125 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 2: prioritize her protection. He didn't. He left her at Newcastle 126 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:18,319 Speaker 2: while he protected Gaveston instead. Some piece of her must 127 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 2: have learned, no matter how good her relationship with Edward seemed, 128 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:28,559 Speaker 2: she would never really come first. Gaveston would be brutally 129 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:33,640 Speaker 2: executed on June nineteenth, thirteen twelve. The details of that 130 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:38,600 Speaker 2: brutality belonged to Edward's story, covered in another episode. This 131 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 2: is Isabella's story, and here it's more interesting to imagine 132 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 2: her reunion with her grieving husband in the aftermath. I 133 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 2: wonder if she felt a victor's gladness at being the 134 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:56,559 Speaker 2: only remaining competitor for her husband's heart, or a wife's 135 00:09:56,679 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 2: sorrow for her husband's grief, or maybe she felt the 136 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 2: empathy of the fellow unlucky in love. Either way, five 137 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:10,440 Speaker 2: months later, at age seventeen, Isabella gave birth to the 138 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:14,560 Speaker 2: heir to the throne, another Edward. She went on to 139 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:17,920 Speaker 2: have three more children with the king, and whether there 140 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 2: was any love in the act of conception or purely 141 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:25,400 Speaker 2: dynastic duty was a secret that died with their history. 142 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 2: What's certain is that once Gaveston was out of the 143 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:32,960 Speaker 2: picture for good, there was at least mutual respect between 144 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:38,800 Speaker 2: Isabella and her husband. Isabella was smart and savvy, versed 145 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:43,600 Speaker 2: in both English and French territorial and political interests. She 146 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 2: was also impressively involved in negotiations and diplomacy. Edward, never 147 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 2: one of the greats when it came to statecraft, seemed 148 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:56,760 Speaker 2: to like having his queen involved. They simply liked each other. 149 00:10:57,240 --> 00:10:59,840 Speaker 2: They wrote letters to each other any time they were apart. 150 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 2: They played gambling games together as a team. It would 151 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:08,760 Speaker 2: have been hard to imagine that this beautiful woman laughingly 152 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 2: playing games of chance beside her husband would someday gather 153 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 2: the flotilla that would overthrow him, but maybe there were hints. 154 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 2: At one point, giggling playing a game, Isabella's ladies fake 155 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:27,560 Speaker 2: captured the king and wouldn't let him go until the 156 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 2: fake ransom had been paid. Some games seemed more ominous 157 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:40,840 Speaker 2: in retrospect. Isabella spent years developing mutual respect with her husband, 158 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:45,320 Speaker 2: maybe even genuine affection, so she must have been devastated 159 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:50,320 Speaker 2: when she learned that his dalliances did not die with Gaveston. 160 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:55,080 Speaker 2: Not yet a decade after Gaveston's death, Edward took a 161 00:11:55,160 --> 00:12:00,560 Speaker 2: new lover, Hula Dispenser, Royal Chamberlain. This dispense Her was 162 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:05,680 Speaker 2: nothing like Isabella's earlier rival, Galveston, who honestly seemed kind 163 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:10,720 Speaker 2: of meek, almost cute by comparison, Dispenser was a cruel 164 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:15,840 Speaker 2: and violent man, especially depraved toward women. He had one 165 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 2: widow tortured until all four limbs were broken and she 166 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:24,840 Speaker 2: was said to have lost her mind. Isabella hated him, 167 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:29,960 Speaker 2: Dispenser began to turn her husband against her. It's possible 168 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:34,720 Speaker 2: that Despenser actually sexually harmed Isabella in some way, although 169 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 2: the details aren't quite clear. As relations between France and 170 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:44,559 Speaker 2: England worsened, dispenser whispered in the King's ear, and Isabella 171 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 2: lost everything. King Edward asked the Pope to annul their marriage, 172 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 2: though the Pope declined. Isabella's lands were taken from her. 173 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:57,559 Speaker 2: French servants, who had come to England with her when 174 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:01,840 Speaker 2: she was twelve years old, were taken from her household. Finally, 175 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 2: her three younger children were taken from her, on suspicion 176 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 2: that she would incite them to treason because she's a 177 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 2: French woman. Well, you tell someone what they are enough, 178 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:18,439 Speaker 2: they might believe you. She didn't deserve this treatment. Isabella 179 00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:21,720 Speaker 2: was the Queen of England, the daughter of King Philip 180 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:26,120 Speaker 2: of France. She had spent years giving Edward children, doing 181 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 2: his diplomacy, playing games with him, delighting side by side 182 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 2: at the animals in their menagerie. No, she deserved a 183 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:38,560 Speaker 2: husband like her father had been, who never remarried after 184 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,880 Speaker 2: the death of his wife. Isabella's mother loyal to the end. 185 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:47,400 Speaker 2: Isabella's father was harsh as a king, but as a father, 186 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,440 Speaker 2: he was in touch with his daughter constantly. He mentioned 187 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 2: Isabella's name in every written record of French concessions to England, 188 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:59,440 Speaker 2: knowing that she loved books. He made sure she got 189 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 2: the gift of an ornately illustrated apocalypse. When she burned 190 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:07,720 Speaker 2: her hand, he sent doctors to attend to her. In England, 191 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:13,440 Speaker 2: Isabella's husband didn't show loyalty anywhere nearly that much. But 192 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:17,520 Speaker 2: Isabella's husband had never been loyal to her, so why 193 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 2: she thought should she be loyal to him? Isabella started smiling. 194 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 2: It hurt far more to have lost her husband's respect 195 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 2: as a thirty year old adult than it had been 196 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 2: as a child to have never had it. But she 197 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 2: played nice, so nice that Edward himself allowed his beautiful, 198 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 2: smiling wife to go alone to France, ostensibly as a 199 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:49,960 Speaker 2: peacemaker between the nations. A nightmare dressed like a day dream. 200 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:55,600 Speaker 2: When Isabella arrived in France, she kissed her brother, King 201 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 2: Charles the Fourth, who looked so much like their departed father. 202 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 2: She breathed in the sweet scent of home, and soon 203 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:08,520 Speaker 2: enough she encountered a man named Roger Mortimer. He had 204 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 2: once been a friend and ally of King Edward, until 205 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:17,960 Speaker 2: under Despenser's cruel regime, he turned against the English king. 206 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 2: They had this in common. Mortimer and Isabella. Mortimer had 207 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 2: once been sentenced to death for treason against the king. 208 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 2: But Edward had commuted the sentence. He could not have 209 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:33,200 Speaker 2: known at the time that he was sparing the life 210 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 2: of the man who would become his wife's lover. Yes, 211 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 2: Isabella started an affair with Mortimer, fueled by the aphrodisiac 212 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 2: of shared hatred for her husband. There's something almost tragic 213 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:54,600 Speaker 2: that Isabella and Edward had so much in common. Both 214 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:58,400 Speaker 2: were trapped in a marriage when their real devotions were elsewhere. 215 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:02,920 Speaker 2: Both turned to an adulterous affair. We can imagine in 216 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 2: a different life, in a different time in history, with 217 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 2: a different understanding of sexuality, the wife and husband might 218 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 2: have divorced, might have even remained married, but understood their 219 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 2: desires for people that their spouses could never be. They 220 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:22,600 Speaker 2: had respected each other once upon a time, but that 221 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:30,000 Speaker 2: time was now long past. By thirteen twenty five, Isabella 222 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 2: and Mortimer were playing it very smart, while at the 223 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:38,560 Speaker 2: exact same moment Edward played it very dumb. Edward sent 224 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:42,960 Speaker 2: his first born son to visit Isabella in France, which 225 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 2: put all the power in her hand. She now had 226 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 2: the heir. The king pretty soon realized his mistake. He 227 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 2: started sending letter after letter to Isabella, to Charles, to 228 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 2: anyone he could think of. He asked Isabella to come 229 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:02,360 Speaker 2: home to England and with their son. She sent back 230 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:07,119 Speaker 2: demure letters with feeble excuses. Oh, I couldn't possibly leave France. 231 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:11,240 Speaker 2: My brother wants us to say. Edward started to get 232 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 2: very nervous. He was right to. Isabella was hanging out 233 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 2: in France with English exiles who hated Edward. She was 234 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:26,160 Speaker 2: wearing the black garb of a widow, major alarm bells. 235 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:30,760 Speaker 2: It was probably seen as a symbol of her displeasure 236 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:35,280 Speaker 2: with her husband's infidelity, but it was also a threat. 237 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:39,399 Speaker 2: If she wasn't a widow yet, she would be one soon. 238 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:44,640 Speaker 2: She would make sure of it. Edward kept asking Isabella 239 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:49,320 Speaker 2: to return with their son, and Isabella kept defying him. 240 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:53,680 Speaker 2: It became like a game of keep away. Finally she 241 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 2: made it plain she would not return to England except 242 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:03,399 Speaker 2: upon quote the destruction of Hugh. At this point Edward 243 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:09,480 Speaker 2: really and rightly freaked out. On December first, thirteen twenty five, 244 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:14,199 Speaker 2: his bishops wrote to Isabella, quote, the whole country is 245 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 2: disturbed by the answers which you have lately sent to 246 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:20,800 Speaker 2: our Lord King, and because you delay your return out 247 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:24,280 Speaker 2: of hatred for Hugh la Dispenser. We warn you as 248 00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:28,240 Speaker 2: a daughter to return to our lord King your husband. 249 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:33,399 Speaker 2: It's striking that Edward's bishops wrote from the perspective of 250 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,640 Speaker 2: a father figure to this woman whose father had actually 251 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:42,520 Speaker 2: helped her in her life. Isabella knew whose daughter she 252 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:49,560 Speaker 2: really was, so she and Mortimer drew up plans they 253 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:53,479 Speaker 2: would invade England by sea. At the time, it had 254 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:57,160 Speaker 2: been two hundred years since the last successful sea invasion, 255 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:01,439 Speaker 2: far but not so far outside life history that it 256 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:06,080 Speaker 2: couldn't be done again. They gathered their eight warships and 257 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:11,280 Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty two support vessels. Together they set sail. 258 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:17,520 Speaker 2: They landed in England two days later, September twenty fourth, 259 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:21,719 Speaker 2: thirteen twenty six. As far as invasions go, it was 260 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:26,760 Speaker 2: a shockingly easy and bloodless one. As had happened with Gaveston, 261 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:33,359 Speaker 2: Isabella's hatred of Dispenser matched the public sentiment. Under Dispenser's influence, 262 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 2: Edward had become a tyrant. The people were on her side. 263 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:44,000 Speaker 2: Isabella and Mortimer captured Cambridge, then Oxford. Militias that were 264 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 2: called in defense of the king instead defected to the 265 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 2: side of the invaders. When Isabella found out what her 266 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:56,000 Speaker 2: husband did next, perhaps she felt only a superior, justified 267 00:19:56,160 --> 00:20:00,520 Speaker 2: kind of vengeance. Perhaps she felt a twinge of sorrow 268 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:04,359 Speaker 2: at how predictable her husband was, how well she knew 269 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:08,879 Speaker 2: his heart, how much she had changed while he had not. 270 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:15,080 Speaker 2: As his reign collapsed around him, Edward left with Dispenser, 271 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:19,199 Speaker 2: just as he had with Gaveston years before, when she 272 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:23,560 Speaker 2: had been left alone and pregnant with their son. Isabella's 273 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:27,600 Speaker 2: husband had never been a great tactician. His actions gave 274 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:30,560 Speaker 2: her the chance to claim that he had abandoned his people, 275 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:33,960 Speaker 2: given up his throne. No one was willing to fight 276 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:37,639 Speaker 2: for him. The will of the nation was with Isabella. 277 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:43,760 Speaker 2: Dispenser was captured and brutally executed. He was hanged, castrated, 278 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,680 Speaker 2: and burned. Edward the Second was kept under guard in 279 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:53,320 Speaker 2: Berkeley Castle. On January twenty fifth, thirteen twenty seven, Edward 280 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:57,159 Speaker 2: the Third was proclaimed King of England. As he was 281 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:01,399 Speaker 2: only fourteen, not yet of age, someone else would have 282 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 2: to rule as regent in his stead. Well, one woman 283 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:10,479 Speaker 2: was up to the task. Queen Isabella had invaded with 284 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:16,280 Speaker 2: popular support. She had deposed her husband. She essentially took 285 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:25,399 Speaker 2: the crown Queen. Mother Isabella came to rule on behalf 286 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:29,400 Speaker 2: of her son on a wave of public popularity. But 287 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:34,600 Speaker 2: the public is fickle. On September twenty first, thirteen twenty seven, 288 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,960 Speaker 2: former King Edward the Second was murdered in his captivity. 289 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:42,640 Speaker 2: It was said that he was suffocated by a pillow 290 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:45,880 Speaker 2: to the mouth and a heavy table to the stomach, 291 00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:51,200 Speaker 2: and then killed, my apologies, by a hot iron up 292 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 2: the rectum. Rumors swirled that Isabella and Mortimer had secretly 293 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,640 Speaker 2: ordered the king's death. After all, a living former king 294 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,320 Speaker 2: who had been deposed by his French wife and her 295 00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:06,639 Speaker 2: lover would always be a threat to their rule. The 296 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:11,400 Speaker 2: public is fickle, after all, this was the Middle Ages. 297 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 2: What if opinion had turned? What if over time Edward 298 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 2: came to be seen as the wronged party and he 299 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:22,400 Speaker 2: gathered support. God knew if he were reinstated, it would 300 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:27,000 Speaker 2: be Isabella's head that rolled. But whoever was responsible for 301 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:31,720 Speaker 2: the loss of Isabella's husband, he was gone. Isabella was 302 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:37,160 Speaker 2: making royal decisions, and six months later, in thirteen twenty eight, 303 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:42,760 Speaker 2: she supported the Treaty of Edinburgh Northampton, which recognized Scotland's 304 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 2: independence and promised her daughter to the son of the 305 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 2: Scottish king. The English public felt betrayed, their support for 306 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:57,280 Speaker 2: Isabella fell apart. In an ironic twist, Isabella did what 307 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:00,680 Speaker 2: her husband had done. In the face of public day disapproval. 308 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:05,119 Speaker 2: She unjustly elevated the status of her lover to the 309 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:09,120 Speaker 2: consternation of the public and the pain of her family. 310 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:14,959 Speaker 2: Amidst calls for Mortimer's banishment, Isabella defiantly gave him an 311 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,439 Speaker 2: earldom that she invented for him, pretty much exactly in 312 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:24,440 Speaker 2: the mold of Edward's defiant elevation of Gaveston and then Dispenser. 313 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:29,600 Speaker 2: Isabella and her husband really did have a lot in common, 314 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:35,040 Speaker 2: and just as Isabella had done to her husband, her 315 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:40,000 Speaker 2: son did to her in thirteen thirty he took Isabella's 316 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 2: favorite away. Mortimer was convicted of treason and hanged naked 317 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 2: in London, where his body was left dangling for two days. 318 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:55,320 Speaker 2: And as for Isabella, for a woman regarded by history 319 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 2: as evil, she got off pretty lightly. In life. Queen's 320 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 2: of England have been beheaded and imprisoned for far less 321 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 2: than deposing a king alongside an adulterous lover. But Edward 322 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:12,120 Speaker 2: the Third made sure that his mother was barely even 323 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 2: mentioned in Mortimer's trial. Isabella was briefly placed under house arrest, 324 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:20,399 Speaker 2: but she lived out the majority of her next twenty 325 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:25,159 Speaker 2: eight years in freedom. Isabella died on August twenty second, 326 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:29,840 Speaker 2: thirteen fifty eight, at sixty three years old. Her body 327 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,920 Speaker 2: was embalmed and, per her own instructions, wrapped in her 328 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:37,520 Speaker 2: wedding cloak. It was an odd move for a woman 329 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:41,360 Speaker 2: who had been so betrayed by her husband. In the end, 330 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:46,200 Speaker 2: she wanted to dress as his bride. History was not 331 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:50,040 Speaker 2: kind to Isabella. The beautiful daughter of the Fair King, 332 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 2: was called ugly, a sinner, a Jezebel until two thousand 333 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:59,040 Speaker 2: and six. She had no published biography, but her influence 334 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:04,359 Speaker 2: lasted centuries. When her brother, Charles the Fourth died, she 335 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:08,080 Speaker 2: insisted that her son had the rightful claim to the 336 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:12,280 Speaker 2: French crown, which eventually set off the Hundred Years War 337 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:18,760 Speaker 2: between England and France. She instigated the first parliamentary deposition 338 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,200 Speaker 2: of a king, which set a precedence that would depose 339 00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:26,560 Speaker 2: five more kings over the next three hundred years. Today 340 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:30,199 Speaker 2: we might call her a fem fetale. They're sort of 341 00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:35,400 Speaker 2: a hashtag feminist kind of basic reading of Isabella which 342 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 2: her story lends itself to. She was a slighted woman 343 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:43,840 Speaker 2: overthrowing her tyrannical husband and removing his lover, who was 344 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:48,239 Speaker 2: a brutal torturer of vulnerable women and widows. But the 345 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:53,200 Speaker 2: Middle Ages don't really lend themselves to girl bosses. Mortimer 346 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 2: had at one point threatened to kill her if she 347 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:59,639 Speaker 2: didn't follow through with their designs against the king. However 348 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:04,159 Speaker 2: bius or not he was, Isabella had needed Mortimer to 349 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,880 Speaker 2: do what she did. The role of women was constricted 350 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:13,960 Speaker 2: in the fourteenth century, and while Isabella acted fiercely, audaciously, bravely, 351 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,200 Speaker 2: she still had to rely on a man in order 352 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:21,640 Speaker 2: to do it. In fifteen ninety one, Shakespeare would coin 353 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,480 Speaker 2: the term she Wolf of France to describe Henry the 354 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:31,800 Speaker 2: Fourth's wife, Margaret of Anjous. Centuries later, in seventeen fifty seven, 355 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:36,520 Speaker 2: the English poet Thomas Gray applied the term to Isabella, 356 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:42,400 Speaker 2: quote she Wolf of France with unrelenting fangs that tersed 357 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:47,800 Speaker 2: the bowels of thy mangled mate. The name stuck. Isabella 358 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:51,080 Speaker 2: became known to history as the she Wolf of France. 359 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:56,840 Speaker 2: The imagery is striking a feigned creature waiting in the woods, 360 00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:03,720 Speaker 2: the suggestion of sexual predation and indiscretion. There's also the 361 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:08,439 Speaker 2: suggestion in the phrase, though Gray didn't mean it, of 362 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:20,560 Speaker 2: a pack of other she wolves to come after. That's 363 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:24,040 Speaker 2: the story of Queen Isabella deposing her husband the King, 364 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,119 Speaker 2: but stick around after a brief sponsor break to find 365 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:32,680 Speaker 2: out whether she really was responsible for Edward the Second's murder. 366 00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:45,040 Speaker 2: While many sources, including this very podcast, have speculated that 367 00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 2: Isabella and her lover Mortimer were behind the murder of 368 00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:54,080 Speaker 2: the deposed King Edward the Second, not all historians agree. 369 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:57,359 Speaker 2: Another story goes that Isabella had nothing to do with 370 00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,960 Speaker 2: the death of her husband. According to that story, Edward 371 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:05,400 Speaker 2: escaped his captors in thirteen twenty six, and a dampelganger 372 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:10,000 Speaker 2: was buried in his place. Eventually, he even reunited with 373 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:13,600 Speaker 2: his son, Edward the Third, in disguise as a humble, 374 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:19,600 Speaker 2: unsuspecting Welshman William the Welshman. It sounds like a merry 375 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 2: children's book character, but it has an outside chance of 376 00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:27,000 Speaker 2: being true. In this version of events, Isabella knew or 377 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:30,879 Speaker 2: had reason to suspect, that her husband was alive, and 378 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 2: gave her peace to know she was not his murderer 379 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 2: enough piece that she felt comfortable wrapping herself in their 380 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:56,920 Speaker 2: wedding cloak after her death, her conscience free. Noble Blood 381 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 2: is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Miles from 382 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:04,320 Speaker 2: Aaron Manke. Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz. 383 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:09,920 Speaker 2: Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Mira Hayward, 384 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:13,719 Speaker 2: Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The show is produced by 385 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 2: rima Il Kayali, with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive 386 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:23,120 Speaker 2: producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more 387 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:28,440 Speaker 2: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 388 00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:30,280 Speaker 2: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.