1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:08,040 Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Maankie. Listener discretion advised. 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:18,800 Speaker 1: In thirteen twenty six, the billowing sails of eight warships 4 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: rose over the sea on the English horizon. They were 5 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: flanked by one hundred and thirty two smaller vessels, all 6 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: ready for an invasion. The ships had come from France. 7 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: They had sailed from Flanders and were heading toward the 8 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 1: Thames Estuary that September, as summer turned to fall. They 9 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: were coming to depose the King of England. No invasion 10 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: of England by sea had succeeded since the Norman conquest 11 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty years earlier in ten sixty six. 12 00:00:55,400 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 1: But this was no ordinary invasion by some hostile foreign hour. 13 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:05,039 Speaker 1: The man leading the charge had been condemned to death, 14 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: and he had been spared by the very king he 15 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:13,680 Speaker 1: was now coming to depose. But far more shocking was 16 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: the woman standing next to him. She was the man's 17 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: lover in adulterous scandal. She was said to be among 18 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: the most beautiful women in the world. She had blonde 19 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: hair blowing against her forehead now in the sea wind, 20 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: she was dressed in widows 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 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: She had been born in France, but she wasn't some 23 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: foreign usurper. She was the wife of King Edward the 24 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: Second of England. She was the most treasonous queen in 25 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: all of English history. Born the daughter of the King 26 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 1: of France, adored and then despised by her subjects, mother 27 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: of the future sovereign, scorned and humiliated by an unpopular 28 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: husband more interested in having affairs with men than in 29 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:15,240 Speaker 1: her She's known to history as a sinner, a Jezebel, 30 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: maybe even a murderer, known in the end as the 31 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:25,799 Speaker 1: she Wolf of France. She was Isabella, Queen of England, 32 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: and she was sailing from the continent, with troops and 33 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 1: her lover by her side, and a steely glint in 34 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:39,520 Speaker 1: her eye, ready to depose her king. I'm Dani Schwartz, 35 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 1: and this is noble blood. The little girl who would 36 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 1: someday overthrow the King of England was born Isabel, Princess 37 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: of France around the year twelve five. She was the 38 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:05,799 Speaker 1: daughter of Philip the Fair, the handsome and fearsome King 39 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 1: of France. She was one of seven children, the only 40 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: daughter to survive to adulthood. Her father had keen political 41 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,519 Speaker 1: designs for each of his children's marriages, which this podcast 42 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: actually covered in our episode on the Tordonell Affair. Suffice 43 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,239 Speaker 1: to say that in thirteen o three, at only seven 44 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: years old, as a prized princess, Isabella was betrothed to 45 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: then Prince Edward of England, who was nineteen. At the 46 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: betrothal ceremony, Isabella made herself as tall as she could 47 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: in front of an archbishop who was Edward's proxy. She 48 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: put her little hand in the archbishop's big one and 49 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:52,120 Speaker 1: hoped with her child's heart that her husband would be 50 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 1: good to her when they finally met, that he would 51 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 1: love her, that he would fulfill her father's hope for 52 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: a future king of England. And descended from both the 53 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: French and English lines. But she must have noticed that 54 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: her future husband never sent her any gifts across the 55 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: English Channel, nor any letters. Even as a child. She 56 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:20,599 Speaker 1: may have wondered why not. Five years later she would 57 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: find out. On January twenty five, oh eight, twelve year 58 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:30,480 Speaker 1: old Isabella formally married Edward, who was by then King 59 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:34,919 Speaker 1: of England. Despite the mismatch in age, Edward was a 60 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,799 Speaker 1: handsome groom. Isabella biographer Alice and Weir describes the six 61 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: foot tall Edward like a dang Disney prince for Isabella. Quote. 62 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: He was well proportioned and had curly, fair shoulder length 63 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:52,080 Speaker 1: hair with a mustache and beard. He was also well spoken. 64 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: His mother tongue was Norman French and articulate, and he 65 00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:03,160 Speaker 1: dressed elegantly, even lavishly end quote. One limitation of histories 66 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: that old is we have very little insight into Isabella's 67 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:10,840 Speaker 1: thoughts around this time. Even the biographies and articles about 68 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:15,839 Speaker 1: her are frequently about her husband, which leaves a blank 69 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,919 Speaker 1: space in our understanding. The fact is that Isabella was 70 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: twelve years old at her wedding to a man twice 71 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: her age. Both Isabella's mother and her new husband's mother 72 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:31,679 Speaker 1: had been married by age eleven. Twelve was the youngest 73 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 1: age at which the Church permitted sex between husband and wife. 74 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: Historians generally believe that Isabella and Edward didn't consummate the 75 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,479 Speaker 1: marriage on their wedding night. I can imagine a young 76 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,839 Speaker 1: Isabella who was grateful for this reprieve. Maybe she felt 77 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: like a child thrown into a stranger's bed, albeit a 78 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: bed that she had been preparing for since youth. Maybe 79 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: she viewed her new husband's restraint as chivalrous or loving, 80 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: but that wasn't all it was. This podcast has covered 81 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: the story of Edward the Second and his affair with 82 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: the love of his life, his boyhood courtier Piers Gaveston. 83 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:17,480 Speaker 1: The fact that he's the tragic hero of one episode 84 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: of this podcast and a side character in this one. 85 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: It's just more proof that history can be told from 86 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:27,600 Speaker 1: many angles. Love for one person is heartache for another. 87 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: The difference between comedy and tragedy is often just a 88 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: matter of who your main character is. When Isabella arrived 89 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:40,159 Speaker 1: in England after the wedding, her husband greeted Gaveston with 90 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: a degree of enthusiasm that shocked Isabella's relatives. Isabella had 91 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: to watch as Gaveston wore jewels that were part of 92 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 1: her dowry, and he wore purple to the coronation, the 93 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 1: color of royalty, as though he were the true spouse 94 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:02,240 Speaker 1: of Edward being elevated to the throne. For Isabella, it 95 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:06,600 Speaker 1: was embarrassing. She told her father that she was quote 96 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: the most wretched of wives. She received no money from 97 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: her husband. She was miserable. She wasn't the only one. 98 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:20,720 Speaker 1: The English barons all wanted the king's favorite, Gaveston gone, 99 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: and they got their way. In th eight, six months 100 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: after Isabella arrived in England, Gaveston was banished from the country. 101 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: With Gaveston gone, Isabella's husband warmed to her. He started 102 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 1: giving her lands and money. Wherever he traveled, she went 103 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: with him. She may have felt like any girl who 104 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: has a crush on a guy who has a crush 105 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: on someone else. It hurts, yes, but maybe his affections 106 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:57,680 Speaker 1: can be turned. But then Edward brought Gaveston back. Everybody 107 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 1: likes a catfight sensation. Aalized history would have us believed 108 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:07,000 Speaker 1: that Isabella hated Gaveston to the end. Isabella was probably 109 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:10,840 Speaker 1: pained to see the return of her competition, but she 110 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: was quite a bit older now with some relationship of 111 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:17,640 Speaker 1: her own with the king, and she reached some equilibrium 112 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,960 Speaker 1: with Gaveston. It's worth noting that everyone in this saga, 113 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 1: from Gaveston to the lovers of both king and Queen 114 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: that I'll mention later in this episode was married to 115 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,280 Speaker 1: a member of the opposite sex and had children of 116 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:36,600 Speaker 1: their own. Once Gaveston came back, Isabella was kind to 117 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,840 Speaker 1: his pregnant wife. She spent time with Gaveston. She may 118 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:44,559 Speaker 1: have even found him kind of amusing. But if Isabella 119 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 1: mellowed somewhat towards Galveston, the English courts as a whole 120 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 1: did not. They wanted him gone for good, violently if 121 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: need be, as violence mounted around them. In thirteen eleven 122 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:04,079 Speaker 1: and twelve of Isabella told her husband that she was pregnant, 123 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:09,319 Speaker 1: probably hoping that with that news, Edward would prioritize her protection. 124 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: He didn't. He left her at Newcastle while he protected 125 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: Gaveston instead. Some piece of her must have learned, no 126 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: matter how good her relationship with Edward seemed, she would 127 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:29,560 Speaker 1: never really come first. Gaveston would be brutally executed on 128 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 1: June twelve. The details of that brutality belonged to edwards story, 129 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 1: covered in another episode. This is Isabella's story, and here 130 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:45,600 Speaker 1: it's more interesting to imagine her reunion with her grieving 131 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:49,280 Speaker 1: husband in the aftermath. I wonder if she felt a 132 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 1: victor's gladness at being the only remaining competitor for her 133 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:58,560 Speaker 1: husband's heart, or a wife's sorrow for her husband's grief, 134 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:03,400 Speaker 1: or maybe she felt the empathy of the fellow unlucky 135 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: in love. Either way, five months later, at age seventeen, 136 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 1: Isabella gave birth to the heir to the throne, another Edward. 137 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 1: She went on to have three more children with the king, 138 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:19,480 Speaker 1: and whether there was any love in the act of 139 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: conception or purely dynastic duty was a secret that died 140 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:28,640 Speaker 1: with their history. What certain is that once Gaveston was 141 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 1: out of the picture for good, there was at least 142 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:37,040 Speaker 1: mutual respect between Isabella and her husband. Isabella was smart 143 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 1: and savvy, versed in both English and French territorial and 144 00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:48,839 Speaker 1: political interests. She was also impressively involved in negotiations and diplomacy. Edward, 145 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 1: never one of the greats when it came to statecraft, 146 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:56,240 Speaker 1: seemed to like having his queen involved. They simply liked 147 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:59,120 Speaker 1: each other. They wrote letters to each other any time 148 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: they were apart. They played gambling games together as a team. 149 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:07,319 Speaker 1: It would have been hard to imagine that this beautiful 150 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,960 Speaker 1: woman laughingly playing games of chance beside her husband would 151 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:16,600 Speaker 1: some day gather the flotilla that would overthrow him. But 152 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:21,160 Speaker 1: maybe there were hints. At one point, giggling playing a game, 153 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:26,360 Speaker 1: Isabella's ladies fake captured the king and wouldn't let him 154 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:31,400 Speaker 1: go until the fake ransom had been paid. Some games 155 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:39,400 Speaker 1: seemed more ominous in retrospect. Isabella spent years developing mutual 156 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:43,800 Speaker 1: respect with her husband, maybe even genuine affection, so she 157 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:47,839 Speaker 1: must have been devastated when she learned that his dalliances 158 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:52,400 Speaker 1: did not die with Gaveston. Not yet a decade after 159 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:58,520 Speaker 1: Gaveston's death, Edward took a new lover, Hewla Dispenser, Royal Chamberlain. 160 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:03,720 Speaker 1: This dispense her was nothing like Isabella's earlier arrival, Galveston, 161 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:08,359 Speaker 1: who honestly seemed kind of meek, almost cute by comparison, 162 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: Dispenser was a cruel and violent man, especially depraved toward women. 163 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:18,720 Speaker 1: He had one widow tortured until all four limbs were 164 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:21,640 Speaker 1: broken and she was said to have lost her mind. 165 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:28,679 Speaker 1: Isabella hated him. Dispenser began to turn her husband against her. 166 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:33,920 Speaker 1: It's possible that Dispenser actually sexually harmed Isabella in some way, 167 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:39,680 Speaker 1: although the details aren't quite clear. As relations between France 168 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: and England worsened, Dispenser whispered in the King's ear and 169 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 1: Isabella lost everything King Edward asked the Pope to annul 170 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:54,120 Speaker 1: their marriage, though the Pope declined. Isabella's lands were taken 171 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:57,200 Speaker 1: from her. French servants, who had come to England with 172 00:12:57,240 --> 00:12:59,839 Speaker 1: her when she was twelve years old, were taken from 173 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:04,560 Speaker 1: her household. Finally, her three younger children were taken from her, 174 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 1: on suspicion that she would incite them to treason because 175 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:12,720 Speaker 1: she's a French woman. Well, you tell someone what they 176 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:17,360 Speaker 1: are enough, they might believe you. She didn't deserve this treatment. 177 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:21,200 Speaker 1: Isabella was the Queen of England, the daughter of King 178 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:25,440 Speaker 1: Philip of France. She had spent years giving Edward children, 179 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 1: doing his diplomacy, playing games with him, delighting side by 180 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: side at the animals in their menagerie. No, she deserved 181 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: a husband like her father had been, who never remarried 182 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:42,320 Speaker 1: after the death of his wife. Isabella's mother loyal to 183 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:46,560 Speaker 1: the end. Isabella's father was harsh as a king, but 184 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 1: as a father, he was in touch with his daughter constantly. 185 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:54,520 Speaker 1: He mentioned Isabella's name in every written record of French 186 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:58,680 Speaker 1: concessions to England. Knowing that she loved books, he made 187 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 1: sure she got the gift of an ornately illustrated apocalypse 188 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:06,800 Speaker 1: when she burned her hand, he sent doctors to attend 189 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 1: to her. In England, Isabella's husband didn't show loyalty anywhere 190 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:15,960 Speaker 1: nearly that much. But Isabella's husband had never been loyal 191 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:20,080 Speaker 1: to her, so why she thought should she be loyal 192 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:26,120 Speaker 1: to him? Isabella started smiling. It hurt far more to 193 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 1: have lost her husband's respect as a thirty year old 194 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:32,360 Speaker 1: adult than it had been as a child to have 195 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:37,120 Speaker 1: never had it. But she played nice, so nice that 196 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 1: Edward himself allowed his beautiful, smiling wife to go alone 197 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:47,920 Speaker 1: to France, ostensibly as a peacemaker between the nations. A 198 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: nightmare dressed like a day dream. When Isabella arrived in France, 199 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 1: she kissed her brother, King Charles the Fourth, who looked 200 00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: so much like their departed father. She breathed in the 201 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: sweet scent of home, and soon enough she encountered a 202 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: man named Roger Mortimer. He had once been a friend 203 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:15,200 Speaker 1: and ally of King Edward, until, under Dispenser's cruel regime, 204 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:20,000 Speaker 1: he turned against the English king. They had this in common. 205 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:24,720 Speaker 1: Mortimer and Isabella. Mortimer had once been sentenced to death 206 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:28,080 Speaker 1: for treason against the king, but Edward had commuted the 207 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 1: sentence he could not have known at the time that 208 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: he was sparing the life of the man who would 209 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:41,360 Speaker 1: become his wife's lover. Yes, Isabella started an affair with Mortimer, 210 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:46,120 Speaker 1: fueled by the aphrodisiac of shared hatred for her husband. 211 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: There's something almost tragic that Isabella and Edward had so 212 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: much in common. Both were trapped in a marriage when 213 00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:01,200 Speaker 1: their real devotions were elsewhere. Both turned to an adulterous affair. 214 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,840 Speaker 1: We can imagine in a different life, in a different 215 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:09,040 Speaker 1: time in history, with a different understanding of sexuality, the 216 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:13,760 Speaker 1: wife and husband might have divorced, might have even remained married, 217 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:17,400 Speaker 1: but understood their desires for people that their spouses could 218 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:21,480 Speaker 1: never be. They had respected each other once upon a time, 219 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:29,160 Speaker 1: but that time was now long past. By thirty five, 220 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:33,160 Speaker 1: Isabella and Mortimer were playing it very smart, while at 221 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:38,240 Speaker 1: the exact same moment Edward played it very dumb. Edwards 222 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 1: sent his firstborn son to visit Isabella in France, which 223 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,720 Speaker 1: put all the power in her hand. She now had 224 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:52,120 Speaker 1: the heir. The king pretty soon realized his mistake. He 225 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 1: started sending letter after letter to Isabella, to Charles, to 226 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 1: anyone he could think of. He asked Isabella to come 227 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: home to England with their son. She sent back de 228 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:07,160 Speaker 1: mural letters with feeble excuses. Oh, I couldn't possibly leave France, 229 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:11,200 Speaker 1: my brother wants us to say. Edward started to get 230 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:17,000 Speaker 1: very nervous. He was right to. Isabella was hanging out 231 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:21,280 Speaker 1: in France with English exiles who hated Edward. She was 232 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:26,640 Speaker 1: wearing the black garb of a widow, major alarm bells. 233 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:30,760 Speaker 1: It was probably seen as a symbol of her displeasure 234 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:34,880 Speaker 1: with her husband's infidelity, but it was also a threat. 235 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:39,359 Speaker 1: If she wasn't a widow yet, she would be one soon. 236 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:44,600 Speaker 1: She would make sure of it. Edward kept asking Isabella 237 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:49,600 Speaker 1: to return with their son, and Isabella kept defying him. 238 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 1: It became like a game of keepaway. Finally she made 239 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:58,160 Speaker 1: it plain she would not return to England except upon 240 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:03,359 Speaker 1: quote the destruct action of Hugh. At this point Edward 241 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:09,720 Speaker 1: really and rightly freaked out. On December one, five, his 242 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:14,840 Speaker 1: bishops wrote to Isabella, quote, the whole country is disturbed 243 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: by the answers which you have lately sent to our 244 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:20,879 Speaker 1: Lord King, and because you delay your return out of 245 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:24,399 Speaker 1: hatred for Hugh la dispenser, we warn you as a 246 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:29,400 Speaker 1: daughter to return to our Lord King. Your husband. It's 247 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:33,480 Speaker 1: striking that Edwards Bishops wrote from the perspective of a 248 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:38,359 Speaker 1: father figure to this woman whose father had actually helped 249 00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 1: her in her life. Isabella knew whose daughter she really was, 250 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:50,399 Speaker 1: so she and Mortimer drew up plans they would invade 251 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:54,000 Speaker 1: England by sea. At the time, it had been two 252 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:58,159 Speaker 1: hundred years since the last successful sea invasion, far but 253 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:01,919 Speaker 1: not so far outside in history that it couldn't be 254 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:06,880 Speaker 1: done again. They gathered their eight warships and one hundred 255 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:13,400 Speaker 1: and thirty two support vessels together they set sail. They 256 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:19,119 Speaker 1: landed in England two days later, September twenty four, twenty six. 257 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:23,280 Speaker 1: As far as invasions go, it was a shockingly easy 258 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:28,240 Speaker 1: and bloodless one, As had happened with Gaveston. Isabella's hatred 259 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:34,159 Speaker 1: of Dispenser matched the public sentiment. Under Dispenser's influence, Edward 260 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:38,160 Speaker 1: had become a tyrant. The people were on her side. 261 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:43,960 Speaker 1: Isabella and Mortimer captured Cambridge, than Oxford militias that were 262 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:47,199 Speaker 1: called in defense of the king instead defected to the 263 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 1: side of the invaders. When Isabella found out what her 264 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:55,960 Speaker 1: husband did next, perhaps she felt only a superior, justified 265 00:19:56,119 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: kind of vengeance. Perhaps she felt a twinge of sorrow 266 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:04,359 Speaker 1: at how predictable her husband was, how well she knew 267 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:08,920 Speaker 1: his heart, how much she had changed while he had not. 268 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:15,040 Speaker 1: As his reign collapsed around him, Edward left with Dispenser, 269 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:19,199 Speaker 1: just as he had with Gaveston years before, when she 270 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 1: had been left alone and pregnant with their son. Isabella's 271 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:27,600 Speaker 1: husband had never been a great tactician. His actions gave 272 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,480 Speaker 1: her the chance to claim that he had abandoned his people, 273 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:33,960 Speaker 1: given up his throne. No one was willing to fight 274 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,600 Speaker 1: for him. The will of the nation was with Isabella. 275 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:43,760 Speaker 1: Dispenser was captured and brutally executed. He was hanged, castrated, 276 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: and burned Edward the Second it was kept under guard 277 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:54,520 Speaker 1: in Berkeley Castle. On January seven, Edward the Third was 278 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:58,760 Speaker 1: proclaimed King of England. As he was only fourteen, not 279 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:01,880 Speaker 1: yet of age, some one else would have to rule 280 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:06,479 Speaker 1: as regent in his stead. Well, one woman was up 281 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:11,640 Speaker 1: to the task. Queen Isabella had invaded with popular support. 282 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:17,000 Speaker 1: She had deposed her husband. She essentially took the crown. 283 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:25,720 Speaker 1: Queen Mother Isabella came to rule on behalf of her 284 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:30,080 Speaker 1: son on a wave of public popularity. But the public 285 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:35,480 Speaker 1: is fickle. On September twenty first, thirteen twenty seven, former 286 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: King Edward the Second was murdered in his captivity. It 287 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:42,720 Speaker 1: was said that he was suffocated by a pillow to 288 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:46,359 Speaker 1: the mouth and a heavy table to the stomach, and 289 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:51,920 Speaker 1: then killed, my apologies, by a hot iron up the rectum. 290 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:57,240 Speaker 1: Rumors swirled that Isabella and Mortimer had secretly ordered the 291 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:00,960 Speaker 1: king's death. After all, a living former king who had 292 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:04,080 Speaker 1: been deposed by his French wife and her lover would 293 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: always be a threat to their rule. The public is fickle, 294 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:12,480 Speaker 1: after all, this was the Middle Ages. What if opinion 295 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:16,000 Speaker 1: had turned. What if over time Edward came to be 296 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:20,200 Speaker 1: seen as the wronged party and he gathered support. God 297 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:23,640 Speaker 1: knew if he were reinstated, it would be Isabella's had 298 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,639 Speaker 1: that rolled. But whoever was responsible for the loss of 299 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:33,200 Speaker 1: Isabella's husband, he was gone. Isabella was making royal decisions, 300 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:38,600 Speaker 1: and six months later, in thirty eight, she supported the 301 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:44,639 Speaker 1: Treaty of Edinburgh Northampton, which recognized Scotland's independence and promised 302 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 1: her daughter to the son of the Scottish king. The 303 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: English public felt betrayed, their support for Isabella fell apart. 304 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:58,600 Speaker 1: In an ironic twist, Isabella did what her husband had done. 305 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: In the face of public disapproval, she unjustly elevated the 306 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:06,880 Speaker 1: status of her lover to the consternation of the public 307 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:12,199 Speaker 1: and the pain of her family. Amidst calls for Mortimer's banishment, 308 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:17,960 Speaker 1: Isabella defiantly gave him an earldom that she invented for him, 309 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:22,120 Speaker 1: pretty much exactly in the mold of edwards defiant elevation 310 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:27,560 Speaker 1: of Gaveston and then Dispenser. Isabella and her husband really 311 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:32,639 Speaker 1: did have a lot in common, and just as Isabella 312 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:36,360 Speaker 1: had done to her husband, her son did to her 313 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:42,280 Speaker 1: in thirteen thirty he took Isabella's favorite away. Mortimer was 314 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:46,679 Speaker 1: convicted of treason and hanged naked in London, where his 315 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:52,640 Speaker 1: body was left dangling for two days. And as for Isabella, 316 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:57,240 Speaker 1: for a woman regarded by history as evil, she got 317 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:01,360 Speaker 1: off pretty lightly. In life, Queens of England have been 318 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:05,600 Speaker 1: beheaded and imprisoned for far less than deposing a king 319 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:10,080 Speaker 1: alongside an adulterous lover, But Edward the third made sure 320 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,840 Speaker 1: that his mother was barely even mentioned in Mortimer's trial. 321 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:18,240 Speaker 1: Isabella was briefly placed under house arrest, but she lived 322 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:22,560 Speaker 1: out the majority of her next twenty eight years in freedom. 323 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:27,720 Speaker 1: Isabella died on August twenty second, fifty eight, at sixty 324 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,399 Speaker 1: three years old. Her body was embalmed and, per her 325 00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: own instructions, wrapped in her wedding cloak. It was an 326 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,119 Speaker 1: odd move for a woman who had been so betrayed 327 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 1: by her husband. In the end, she wanted to dress 328 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:48,119 Speaker 1: as his bride. History was not kind to Isabella, The 329 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,560 Speaker 1: beautiful daughter of the fair King, was called ugly a 330 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 1: sinner at Jezebel until two thousand and six. She had 331 00:24:55,640 --> 00:25:02,199 Speaker 1: no published biography, but her influence lasted juries. When her brother, 332 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:06,640 Speaker 1: Charles the Fourth died, she insisted that her son had 333 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,800 Speaker 1: the rightful claim to the French crown, which eventually set 334 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:15,159 Speaker 1: off the Hundred Years War between England and France. She 335 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:20,359 Speaker 1: instigated the first parliamentary deposition of a king, which set 336 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:23,840 Speaker 1: a precedence that would depose five more kings over the 337 00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:27,920 Speaker 1: next three hundred years. Today we might call her a 338 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:33,040 Speaker 1: femme fatale. They're sort of a hashtag feminist kind of 339 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:36,840 Speaker 1: basic reading of Isabella, which her story lends itself to. 340 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:41,760 Speaker 1: She was a slighted woman, overthrowing her tyrannical husband and 341 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 1: removing his lover, who was a brutal torturer of vulnerable 342 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:49,960 Speaker 1: women and widows. But the Middle Ages don't really lend 343 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:54,760 Speaker 1: themselves to girl bosses. Mortimer had at one point threatened 344 00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:57,240 Speaker 1: to kill her if she didn't follow through with their 345 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:01,359 Speaker 1: designs against the King. However areous or not he was, 346 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,879 Speaker 1: Isabella had needed Mortimer to do what she did. The 347 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,840 Speaker 1: role of women was constricted in the fourteenth century, and 348 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:15,600 Speaker 1: while Isabella acted fiercely, audaciously, bravely, she still had to 349 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: rely on a man in order to do it. In 350 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:22,960 Speaker 1: fifteen ninety one, Shakespeare would coin the term she wolf 351 00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:27,920 Speaker 1: of France to describe Henry the Fourth's wife, Margaret of Anjou. 352 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:33,600 Speaker 1: Centuries later, in seventeen fifty seven, the English poet Thomas 353 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:38,760 Speaker 1: Gray applied the term to Isabella, quote she Wolf of 354 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:43,640 Speaker 1: France with unrelenting fangs that tearced the bowels of thy 355 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:49,200 Speaker 1: mangled mate. The name stuck. Isabella became known to history 356 00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 1: as the she wolf of France. The imagery is striking 357 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 1: a feigned creature waiting in the woods, the suggestion of 358 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:05,400 Speaker 1: sexual predation and indiscretion. There's also the suggestion in the phrase, 359 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:10,720 Speaker 1: though Gray didn't mean it, of a pack of other 360 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:21,639 Speaker 1: she wolves to come after. That's the story of Queen 361 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,840 Speaker 1: Isabella deposing her husband the King, but stick around after 362 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,400 Speaker 1: a brief sponsor break to find out whether she really 363 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:41,520 Speaker 1: was responsible for Edward the seconds murder. While many sources, 364 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:46,080 Speaker 1: including this very podcast, have speculated that Isabella and her 365 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:50,040 Speaker 1: lover Mortimer were behind the murder of the deposed King 366 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:55,240 Speaker 1: Edward the Second, not all historians agree. Another story goes 367 00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:57,879 Speaker 1: that Isabella had nothing to do with the death of 368 00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:02,359 Speaker 1: her husband. According to that story, Edward escaped his captors 369 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 1: in thirty six and a doppelganger was buried in his place. Eventually, 370 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,480 Speaker 1: he even reunited with his son, Edward the Third in 371 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 1: disguise as a humble, unsuspecting Welshman William the Welshman. It 372 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,640 Speaker 1: sounds like a merry children's book character, but it has 373 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:25,640 Speaker 1: an outside chance of being true. In this version of events, 374 00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 1: Isabella knew or had reason to suspect that her husband 375 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,639 Speaker 1: was alive, gave her peace to know she was not 376 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 1: his murderer enough piece that she felt comfortable wrapping herself 377 00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:41,960 Speaker 1: in their wedding cloak after her death. Her conscience Free 378 00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: Noble Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and 379 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,880 Speaker 1: Grim and Mile from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted 380 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:07,680 Speaker 1: by me Danishwartz. Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, 381 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:12,520 Speaker 1: hannah's Wick, Miura Hayward, Courtney Sunder, and Laurie Goodman. The 382 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 1: show is produced by rema Il Kayali, with supervising producer 383 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:21,520 Speaker 1: Josh Thaine and executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and 384 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:25,520 Speaker 1: Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit 385 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 386 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:30,240 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.