1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:05,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky listener Discretion advised. One night 3 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: in twelve forty two, Louis the ninth King of France 4 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:25,080 Speaker 1: was settling in for an ordinary dinner when the Royal 5 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:29,319 Speaker 1: food taster began doing the thing you never want to 6 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 1: see the royal food taster do. After taking a bite 7 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:38,559 Speaker 1: of food, he began hacking and coughing. It seemed that 8 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: food taster earned his paycheck with that meal. Somebody had 9 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: poisoned the King's meat and wine. The guards sprang into 10 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: action and began searching the royal grounds. By chance, they 11 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: stumbled upon two suspicious peasants who happened to be lurking 12 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: near the kitchens. Two peasants were tortured until they delivered 13 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:07,839 Speaker 1: a confession, and it was a startling one. Not only 14 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:12,399 Speaker 1: had they would be assassins poisoned the King's meal, they 15 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: also confessed that they had been hired to do so 16 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: by a former Queen of England, who had promised them 17 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: riches and status in return for their services. The entire 18 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: botched poisoning was a massive success for the French on 19 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: all counts. The French king had avoided death, they had 20 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:38,039 Speaker 1: caught the villains, and as a bonus, an English queen 21 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:42,480 Speaker 1: was implicated. That, at least was the story that passed 22 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: around the French court in the summer of twelve forty two. 23 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: The truth of the events probably looked more like this. 24 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:55,520 Speaker 1: One night in twelve forty two, two peasants were found 25 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: rummaging through King Louis supplies while the king was out 26 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: campaigning against some rebellious barons. These two peasants were most 27 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: likely caught trying to take some food and drink, and 28 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: they were hanged according to martial law. News of local 29 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: thieves somehow transformed, through rumor and storytelling, into news about 30 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: local assassins. Rummaging in the royal stores of mead and 31 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: meat turned into an attempted poisoning, and an otherwise ordinary 32 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 1: crime turned into a geopolitical plot of the highest order. 33 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: So who was this Queen of England who was so 34 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: reviled that what may very well have just been the 35 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: honest crime of two poor souls evolved into her elaborate 36 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: conspiracy against the French king. If it wasn't already clear, 37 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: Isabelle of ANGLEM Dowager Queen of England was not exactly 38 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: beloved by King Louis the Ninth or court. She was rather, 39 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: as powerful women often are, the perfect candidate for the 40 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:13,079 Speaker 1: rumor mail. After the supposed assassination attempt, some believed that 41 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: Isabel attempted suicide as the culmination for her life sins. 42 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: Others believed that she fled to a nearby abbey for 43 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: sanctuary from Louis's reprisals. All agreed that she would do 44 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: whatever it took to avoid losing a trial, to hold 45 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: on to whatever crumbs of power she had left after 46 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: decades of losing ground to an aggressive French kingdom. The 47 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: history of the rumor of the attempted poisoning is frankly 48 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: a minuscule part of Isabel's life story, but it illustrates 49 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 1: the problem with uncovering the historical Isabel quite well. Whatever 50 00:03:56,160 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: the medieval chronicles say about her is distorted by dynastic 51 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 1: drama and political biases. They paint her as a scandal 52 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: inducing affair having Jezebel who drove two kingdoms into turmoil, 53 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:16,359 Speaker 1: first England and then Western France. But if we cut 54 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:21,559 Speaker 1: through the gossip, what would we actually find a heartless mother, 55 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:27,159 Speaker 1: or exactly the type of ruthless parents that medieval politics rewarded, 56 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:32,839 Speaker 1: a cunning and deceitful sorceress, or a dowager queen so 57 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:37,040 Speaker 1: relentless in her pursuit of freedom from both the English 58 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: and the French that she earned a bad reputation in 59 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: both kingdoms. Isabel tried, but ultimately failed to establish a 60 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: dynasty of her own. But if she hadn't rocked the 61 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,479 Speaker 1: foundations of England and France, why would she ever have 62 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 1: been worth the elaborate smear campaign in the first place. 63 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: This is the story of a queen turned nun who, 64 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:09,039 Speaker 1: in trying to play both sides, ended up playing herself, 65 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:14,040 Speaker 1: a rogue royal who, even when stripped of her titles, 66 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:20,120 Speaker 1: lands and reputation, refused to stop signing her name as 67 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:25,359 Speaker 1: Dowager Queen of England. I'm Danish schwartz and this is 68 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: noble blood. In the month of October twelve sixteen, Isabelle 69 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 1: of Angoulem learned that her husband, the King of England 70 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:44,799 Speaker 1: and patriarch of the House of Plantagenet, had died. King 71 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:48,719 Speaker 1: John had spent the past year embroiled in a war 72 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 1: against his barons, who raised demands in a little treaty 73 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: called the Magna Carta, which John had absolutely no intention 74 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:02,920 Speaker 1: of accepting. The vain king marched from county to county, 75 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:06,599 Speaker 1: pillaging as he went along, all the while his wife 76 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:10,279 Speaker 1: remained confined to a castle in the city of Bristol. 77 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: When she heard the news that dysentery took John, she 78 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: probably felt a weight lift from her shoulders. For context, 79 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,719 Speaker 1: this is the King John, who was the younger brother 80 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,720 Speaker 1: of Richard the Lionheart, the guy who's the villainous Prince 81 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:30,839 Speaker 1: John in several adaptations of robin Hood. Upon the death 82 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: of his brother Richard, John inherited not only the Kingdom 83 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: of England, but also a vast swathe of territory in 84 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 1: western France, encompassing Normandy, Brittany, and Aquitaine together called the 85 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:51,760 Speaker 1: Anchovin Empire. John's queen, Isabel, was originally from the French 86 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: city of Angoulem, part of the land that she was 87 00:06:55,600 --> 00:07:00,599 Speaker 1: technically supposed to inherit from her father account, but Isabel 88 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 1: never spent much time with her inheritance, owing to the 89 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:08,279 Speaker 1: fact that she married John when she was only twelve. 90 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:14,040 Speaker 1: By all accounts, their marriage was considered scandalous from the start. 91 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: In twelve hundred, Isabel was already betrothed to a French count. 92 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: The union of their lands in central and western France 93 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 1: would have cut off the northern part of John's empire 94 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: in Normandy from the southern part in Aquitaine. As any 95 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:36,520 Speaker 1: conniving king would do, John made a back room deal 96 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: to cut off Isabel's betrothal to that count, and he 97 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: promptly married the girl himself. From twelve hundred to twelve sixteen, 98 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: Isabel reigned as the Queen of England, but in fact 99 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:55,000 Speaker 1: she resided in what amounted to a golden cage, let 100 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,640 Speaker 1: out at the whims of her husband. According to the 101 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:02,840 Speaker 1: terms of their marriage, Isabel was entitled to rents from 102 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 1: royal estates, but her husband frequently intercepted these funds to 103 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 1: spend on his own lavish wardrobe. Instead of lodging Isabel 104 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: in her own household as was customary, John thought it 105 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: fit to put her up in the apartments of his 106 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: former wife, the Countess of Gloucester, and then in the 107 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: household of his mistress, the Lady de Neville. Most disturbingly, 108 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 1: after Isabel bore her first child, Henry, in twelve oh seven, 109 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:39,200 Speaker 1: the Canterbury chronicles refer to her as being quote in custody. 110 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: A few historians have speculated that Isabel was under some 111 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: kind of house arrest, and this seems corroborated by the 112 00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: relative absence of her name among contemporary letters and court records. 113 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:58,800 Speaker 1: Either way, what's certain is that Isabel's husband humiliated her, 114 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 1: stole her in, and confined her to a handful of castles. 115 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: At some point in the sixteen years of her English captivity, 116 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: Isabel decided she would no longer take being upawn in 117 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:18,160 Speaker 1: other people's politics. When her husband died, she may have 118 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 1: mourned he was, after all, the father of her four children. 119 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: We know that she made three offerings for the salvation 120 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: of her husband's soul in the months that followed, but 121 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,480 Speaker 1: she never again mentioned her husband in any of her 122 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 1: correspondents for the remaining thirty years of her life. This 123 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:44,960 Speaker 1: feeling of indifference was probably reciprocal. Considering that John invested 124 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 1: the care of his heir henry in the hands of 125 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: an esteemed earl and not the boy's own mother, Isabel 126 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: had little to no chance of assuming any power in England. 127 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:00,880 Speaker 1: She was pushed out of the Regency council and the 128 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,360 Speaker 1: very men that made up that council seemed to have 129 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: purchased a well chartered ship for Isabel to be on 130 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:11,840 Speaker 1: her merry way off of English shores and back to France. 131 00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:16,600 Speaker 1: Isabel left behind her young sons, Henry and Richard, and 132 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: took only her daughter Joan with her as she set 133 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:30,960 Speaker 1: sail for the continent. Was it ruthless for a mother 134 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:34,280 Speaker 1: to have abandoned her children upon the death of their father. 135 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: The medieval chronicles certainly say so, and while they certainly 136 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: overexaggerate Isabel's egomania and irresponsibility, her actions suggest that she was, 137 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,960 Speaker 1: if anything, opportunistic, and her husband's death just so happened 138 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:56,960 Speaker 1: to present an opportunity to reclaim her inheritance and establish 139 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:01,720 Speaker 1: her own little kingdom in western France. In the year 140 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:06,720 Speaker 1: twelve seventeen, Isabel entered the French city of Angoulem to 141 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:11,200 Speaker 1: great fanfare by the local populace, So much fanfare that 142 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: the mayor of Angoulem even bestowed upon Isabel the keys 143 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: to the city. Only a few years before Isabelle's arrival, 144 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:23,920 Speaker 1: King John had assigned a group of administrators and barons 145 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:28,559 Speaker 1: to oversee the county of Angoulem oversee its principal estates 146 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 1: revenues and defense. Isabel planned to rest political control back 147 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: from her late husband's group, but there would be serious 148 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:44,080 Speaker 1: obstacles in her path. From twelve seventeen to twelve nineteen, 149 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 1: those barons launched rebellious campaigns against Isabel's rule. She used 150 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:54,479 Speaker 1: every ruthless strategy in her playbook to subdue her vassals. 151 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,240 Speaker 1: In one case, she took the two sons of one 152 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:04,800 Speaker 1: baron hostage until capitulated, a tactic considered so extreme that 153 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:11,439 Speaker 1: a bishop in a nearby city threatened Isabel with excommunication. Isabel, 154 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:16,120 Speaker 1: leveraging her prestige as a dowager Queen of England, sent 155 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: a letter to the Pope about her discontent with the 156 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:23,480 Speaker 1: local bishop, sort of the equivalent of going directly to 157 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 1: the manager. By twelve eighteen, the Pope wrote back and 158 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: proclaimed that Isabel could not be excommunicated except by a 159 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:37,719 Speaker 1: direct order from Rome. Isabel used every tool in her 160 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 1: arsenal to exert control over her inheritance, brute force against 161 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:48,400 Speaker 1: the barons, ride diplomacy among the bishops, even deceit occasionally 162 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:53,560 Speaker 1: to win the favor of her powerful children, Isabel needed 163 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:58,000 Speaker 1: deeper pockets to continue her war against the barons, so 164 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:01,679 Speaker 1: she sent please for finance shall help to her son 165 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: in England, King Henry the Third. Technically Isabel owned a 166 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: variety of dower estates in England, but Henry's Regency Council 167 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: withheld the income from those estates out of fear that 168 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:19,480 Speaker 1: Isabel would use them to create her own base of power, 169 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 1: which was in fact exactly what she was doing. In 170 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:29,240 Speaker 1: her letters to her son Henry, Isabel persuasively explained that 171 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:34,439 Speaker 1: her takeover of western France wasn't about personal interest, but 172 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:39,679 Speaker 1: instead was about maintaining the Anjevin Empire. She blamed the 173 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:43,600 Speaker 1: barons for collaborating with the King of France, and so 174 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:48,440 Speaker 1: she needed additional resources to squash their resistance before it 175 00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:53,160 Speaker 1: turned into a crisis. Wouldn't Henry help his poor mother 176 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:58,559 Speaker 1: as she defended his empire. The letters worked, but even 177 00:13:58,679 --> 00:14:02,520 Speaker 1: with the additional coin, Isabelle had to face the fact 178 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:06,880 Speaker 1: that she was in a pretty weak position. She was 179 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 1: sandwiched in between the two massive kingdoms of England and France, 180 00:14:12,559 --> 00:14:16,960 Speaker 1: operating on a paltry budget, and she had even failed 181 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 1: to fully establish her claim over Angoulem. Her cousin Matilda, 182 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 1: was also claiming those ancestral lands. Isabelle needed an ally, 183 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:39,200 Speaker 1: or alternatively a new husband. Back in twelve fourteen, isabel 184 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:43,400 Speaker 1: had betrothed her baby daughter Joan to a count named 185 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:47,040 Speaker 1: Hughes of Lusignan, a twenty four year old who ruled 186 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:52,080 Speaker 1: over the lands just north of Angoulem. The countess had 187 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: originally intended for the powerful Lucignon family to act as 188 00:14:55,880 --> 00:15:01,000 Speaker 1: allies of the English crown, but in twelve twenty, with John, 189 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: King of England dead and Isabelle desperately needing support for 190 00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 1: her own government, she began to see Hughes, her would 191 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:13,640 Speaker 1: be future son in law in a new light. This 192 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: now thirty year old count was dashing, a bachelor, and 193 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 1: most important of all, in control of large and wealthy 194 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:27,960 Speaker 1: estates in some of the most hotly contested French territories. 195 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 1: Isabelle broke off her daughter's engagement to Hughes and took 196 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:37,560 Speaker 1: the count for herself. It's also highly likely that the 197 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:40,840 Speaker 1: two had an affair leading up to the actual exchanging 198 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:46,240 Speaker 1: of vows, to make matters even more complicated. Before Isabelle 199 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 1: had married King John of England twenty years earlier, she 200 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:55,240 Speaker 1: had originally been betrothed to Hugh's father, So in effect, 201 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: the Countess ended up marrying the son of her former 202 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:04,760 Speaker 1: fiance and the former fiance of her daughter. Messi is 203 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: an understatement, you can imagine what the thanksgivings would have 204 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:14,040 Speaker 1: been like. Even before this Messi second marriage, the chroniclers 205 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:20,000 Speaker 1: of the day already despised Isabel. They believed her wicked, adulterous, 206 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:24,840 Speaker 1: and manipulative, the very source of England's instability during her 207 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 1: husband John's reign. In fact, this character portrait has no 208 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:34,800 Speaker 1: real basis. In reality, we have no evidence to suggest 209 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:38,800 Speaker 1: that Isabel had any say in matters of her husband's government, 210 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:42,400 Speaker 1: nor evidence that she had an affair while her husband 211 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 1: was alive. The chroniclers did not take too kindly to 212 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:51,600 Speaker 1: her second marriage, seeing it as further proof of her depravity. 213 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:57,440 Speaker 1: One contemporary historian wrote that news of the marriage quote 214 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 1: really stimulated conversation. Indeed, rumor got around that Isabel not 215 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:08,359 Speaker 1: only stole away her own daughter, Joan's future prospects, but 216 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,880 Speaker 1: also that she was keeping her daughter captive in order 217 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:15,639 Speaker 1: to extract a ransom from her son, King Henry the 218 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:21,040 Speaker 1: Third in England. These accusations eventually made their way to Rome, 219 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:24,919 Speaker 1: where the Pope furiously wrote to Isabel in twelve twenty 220 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: one that her son had ultimate authority over his sister Joan. 221 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:34,040 Speaker 1: This in no way deterred Isabel from refusing to send 222 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:39,000 Speaker 1: her daughter to England. The Regency Council in England retaliated 223 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:45,000 Speaker 1: by confiscating Isabel's English estates, but when Isabel threatened to 224 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:50,200 Speaker 1: ally with the French king, the council relented. Of course. 225 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:54,720 Speaker 1: In letters to King Henry, her son, Isabel pretended all 226 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:58,239 Speaker 1: of this was in his best interest. Her marriage to 227 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: Hughes was in service of the English crown, as she 228 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:05,800 Speaker 1: wrote in one letter, God knows we did this more 229 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:12,000 Speaker 1: for your sake than four hours. It was clear to 230 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:15,920 Speaker 1: all passers by that Isabel seemed willing to do almost 231 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:20,680 Speaker 1: anything in her pursuit of dynastic power, or at least 232 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:26,960 Speaker 1: control over her own lands. Many accounts describe her as vain, glorious, 233 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:33,000 Speaker 1: or megalomaniacal. She demanded a court befitting a queen, but 234 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:38,120 Speaker 1: operated on the income of three counties. She always expected 235 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,400 Speaker 1: to be taken seriously as a political actor, even when 236 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:46,439 Speaker 1: her power waned At the same time, she learned to 237 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:51,120 Speaker 1: try her best, and she often succeeded in switching sides 238 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:55,919 Speaker 1: between the English plantagenets and the French copetions when it 239 00:18:55,960 --> 00:19:01,000 Speaker 1: was convenient for the growth of her own territory. For example, 240 00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: when the French King Louis the eighth died prematurely in 241 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:10,200 Speaker 1: twelve twenty six, Isabel sought an opportunity to win broader 242 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:14,960 Speaker 1: privileges from the fragile French kingdom, despite the fact that 243 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:19,680 Speaker 1: she technically owed full fealty to her son Henry in England. 244 00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 1: The King of England was sent into a spiral at 245 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: this betrayal. He refused to send any more of the 246 00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:32,119 Speaker 1: income from his mother's dower land, and no more imploring 247 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:36,960 Speaker 1: letters from Isabel would ever change his mind. This, of course, 248 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:41,400 Speaker 1: would pose quite the challenge for Angoulem, as it depended 249 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:46,399 Speaker 1: so much on English coin. This then, would have been 250 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:50,239 Speaker 1: the perfect time for Isabel to deepen her relationship with 251 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,000 Speaker 1: the new French king, now that she had all but 252 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:57,119 Speaker 1: ruined her relationship with her son Henry in England. The 253 00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: new king in France, Louis the ninth, was just a 254 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:04,720 Speaker 1: twelve year old boy when he took the throne, meaning 255 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,400 Speaker 1: most of the kingdom's affairs were vested in the hands 256 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: of his mother and regent, Blanche of Castile, granddaughter of 257 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: Eleanor of Aquitaine and sister to Isabel's late husband, King John. 258 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: Unfortunately for Isabel and her grand designs at her own 259 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:29,960 Speaker 1: independent kingdom, Blanche, her previous sister in law, would prove 260 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,160 Speaker 1: to be more of a thorn in her backside than 261 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:37,760 Speaker 1: a stepping stone to power. To begin with, Blanche was 262 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:42,600 Speaker 1: everything that Isabel was not. Where Isabel's husband, King John 263 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 1: had refused to invest the future of his heir in 264 00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:49,640 Speaker 1: the hands of his wife Isabel, the old French king 265 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 1: had entrusted Blante with the full stewardship of young Louis. 266 00:20:55,119 --> 00:21:00,479 Speaker 1: Where Isabel had needed to remarry under scandalous circumstance in 267 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:04,680 Speaker 1: order to expand and hold her reach, Blanche had been 268 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:09,399 Speaker 1: able to preserve her widowhood and her reputation, all while 269 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 1: commanding France's ruling Copetian dynasty. Contemporary accounts usually frame Isabelle 270 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:22,920 Speaker 1: as selfish and promiscuous and Blanche as sage and chaste, 271 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:28,000 Speaker 1: though we should be wary about those subjective and highly 272 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:36,160 Speaker 1: political and totalizing characterizations. Either way, Isabel undoubtedly agonized over 273 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: the Queen consort and what Isabel considered Blanche's wicked brood 274 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:46,760 Speaker 1: of French princes. Isabelle was by no means impervious to jealousy, 275 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: and it's exactly when she attempted to hurl down Blanche 276 00:21:52,320 --> 00:22:01,359 Speaker 1: that the Countess of angouleem sealed her own fate. Well 277 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 1: into the twelve thirties, Isabel continued signing her letters as 278 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:10,080 Speaker 1: the Queen of England, despite the fact that she hadn't 279 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:14,640 Speaker 1: stepped onto English soil for over a decade, and also 280 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,679 Speaker 1: despite the fact that she was taking every measure to 281 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:22,520 Speaker 1: actively ingratiate herself with France, the full enemies of the 282 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:28,200 Speaker 1: English crown. In twelve thirty, when Blanche foremented unrest among 283 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:33,080 Speaker 1: King Henry of England's vassals in Brittany, Isabel agreed to 284 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:37,480 Speaker 1: support Blanche's insurrection on the condition that one of her 285 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 1: newborn children that she had with her second husband would 286 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: be betrothed to one of Blanche's children. In other words, 287 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:50,199 Speaker 1: she was siding against her own oldest son, Henry, but 288 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:53,920 Speaker 1: there would be no better way of securing Isabel's dynasty 289 00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:57,600 Speaker 1: than by using her newest children to mix in with 290 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:04,120 Speaker 1: the Kapecians sick Isabelle fashion, though her tactics changed as 291 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:08,760 Speaker 1: the winds of opportunity blew from one direction to the other. 292 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:14,240 Speaker 1: The agreement fell through, and by twelve thirty six, Isabelle 293 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:18,360 Speaker 1: was convincing the King of Navarre to wage war against 294 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:22,399 Speaker 1: the French King Louis on a promise of military aid. 295 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 1: It took no time at all for the French to 296 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:29,360 Speaker 1: repel that attack, win the pope to their side, and 297 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:34,840 Speaker 1: disgrace Isabelle and Hughes for their treachery. The following years 298 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:39,119 Speaker 1: saw Isabelle and Hughes begin to lose their grip on 299 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,760 Speaker 1: the lands of Angoulem and Lucignan in the face of 300 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:48,480 Speaker 1: a prosperous and well governed French kingdom edging them out. 301 00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:53,359 Speaker 1: Isabelle and her second husband simply didn't have the revenue, 302 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:57,720 Speaker 1: the military might, or the allies to compete with King 303 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:03,000 Speaker 1: Louis and his mother Blanche one on one. Isabel's worst 304 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:07,720 Speaker 1: fears culminated in a nighting ceremony that would go on 305 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:12,600 Speaker 1: to haunt isabel for the rest of her life. Before 306 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,480 Speaker 1: he died, the late King Louis the Eighth had dictated 307 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:21,760 Speaker 1: a comprehensive will. Among his stipulations was a decree that 308 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:26,639 Speaker 1: his and Blanche's son, Alphonse would receive the title to 309 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:30,800 Speaker 1: the County of Poitier when he came of age. Poitier 310 00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:35,560 Speaker 1: overlapped with much of the territory that was formally controlled 311 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:40,120 Speaker 1: by Isabel and Hughes at the time of the late 312 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:44,320 Speaker 1: king's decree. That wasn't much of a problem. The French 313 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 1: king was distracted with too many other things to really 314 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:51,960 Speaker 1: focus on consolidating his power in the west. Not to 315 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,160 Speaker 1: mention those western lands were also at the time occupied 316 00:24:56,240 --> 00:25:00,720 Speaker 1: by baron's loyal to the English crown. But by twelve 317 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:05,439 Speaker 1: forty one, the political landscape was looking a lot worse 318 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: for Isabelle. Prince Alphonse was angling to marry a princess 319 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:15,040 Speaker 1: from the County of Toulouse, which would threaten to create 320 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:19,480 Speaker 1: a block of southern territories that could easily all but 321 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 1: absorb the land that Isabel had worked so tirelessly to 322 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: make independent. A knighting ceremony where she would be expected 323 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:35,119 Speaker 1: to show fealty to Alphonse would only solidify that horrible 324 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:40,359 Speaker 1: state of affairs. Needless to say, Isabel went into that 325 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:50,720 Speaker 1: ceremony looking for trouble. The account we have of Alphonse's 326 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:55,200 Speaker 1: oath swearing ceremony was told by a baron to Queen Lance, 327 00:25:55,280 --> 00:26:00,320 Speaker 1: who already hated jealous Isabel. So with that disclaimer, take 328 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:03,240 Speaker 1: the following events as I described them, with a grain 329 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: of salt. There was a great feast in Poitier to 330 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:11,359 Speaker 1: celebrate the ceremony, and nobles from all over France streamed 331 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 1: into the city for a cornucopia of savory meats, courtly games, 332 00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:22,600 Speaker 1: and joyous camaraderie. King Louis, his younger brother Alphonse, and 333 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:26,520 Speaker 1: their entourage brought all of these festivities into the city, 334 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:32,000 Speaker 1: where Hughes was obligated to host and entertain his honored 335 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:37,200 Speaker 1: guests in preparation for the oath swearing. But during the 336 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:41,600 Speaker 1: actual ceremony there must have been some sort of mistake. 337 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:46,480 Speaker 1: Isabelle arrived to the oath swearing finding that Queen Blanche 338 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:51,879 Speaker 1: and several French countesses all had seats, while Isabelle, the 339 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: Countess of Agoulem, and must she remind you, Dowager Queen 340 00:26:56,640 --> 00:27:02,360 Speaker 1: of England, was somehow expected to stay. And the indecency 341 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:07,520 Speaker 1: outraged isabel so much that she apparently tore down the 342 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 1: tapestries hanging over Hugh's throne, packed up the fine dinnerware, 343 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:17,359 Speaker 1: and even removed quote image of the Blessed Mary, along 344 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,920 Speaker 1: with the altar cloth and all the ornaments from the chapel. 345 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:25,840 Speaker 1: Isabel took everything fifty miles away to her own castle 346 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:29,600 Speaker 1: in Angoulem, in a fit of rage that could only 347 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 1: have been meant to signal her anger at her husband, Hughes, 348 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,720 Speaker 1: who she blamed for failing to stand his ground in 349 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:43,200 Speaker 1: the face of their combined enemy. Hughes, understandably embarrassed, finished 350 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,840 Speaker 1: up the oath swearing, and then rushed off to confront Isabel, 351 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:51,480 Speaker 1: at which point she immediately scolded him, get away, get 352 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:54,440 Speaker 1: out of my sight. You are viler and baser than 353 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:58,480 Speaker 1: anybody else, and a reproach to everyone you've honored, the 354 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,479 Speaker 1: very people who disenhaet you. I'll never look at you again. 355 00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:07,880 Speaker 1: Isabel refused to see her husband Hughes for three days, and, 356 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,359 Speaker 1: according to the writer of the letter that gives us 357 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:15,959 Speaker 1: that quote, what finally spurred Hughes to action was his 358 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:20,639 Speaker 1: wife's insistence that she wouldn't bed him until he rebelled 359 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:26,520 Speaker 1: against Queen Blanche. That most certainly is apocryphal, and it's 360 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:30,679 Speaker 1: worth noting that this detail both confirmed popular perceptions of 361 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:36,240 Speaker 1: Hughes as meek and Isabel as manipulative, exactly the sort 362 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:39,960 Speaker 1: of gossip that Blanche and the French court would have relished. 363 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:44,840 Speaker 1: What isn't apocryphal is that isabel played a major role 364 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:50,920 Speaker 1: in convincing Hughes to organize a rebellion against the French crown. 365 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:57,479 Speaker 1: It may have been symbolically sparked by Blanche's disrespect at court, 366 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:01,960 Speaker 1: but it was actually Isabelle's life last ditch effort to 367 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:07,880 Speaker 1: exert control over her inheritance. Hughes and isabel managed to 368 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:11,680 Speaker 1: recruit the Count of Toulouse as an ally, and they 369 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: mustered every noble in the North that already resented Louis. 370 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,480 Speaker 1: In a familiar turn of events, Isabel reached out to 371 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,600 Speaker 1: the only person who wanted to see the ruin of 372 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:28,080 Speaker 1: the French more than she did. Her son. Henry, the 373 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 1: King of England, looked past his rocky relationship with his 374 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:36,520 Speaker 1: mother in the face of this opportunity, and he gathered 375 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:40,640 Speaker 1: funding in late twelve forty one and early twelve forty 376 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:46,520 Speaker 1: two for an army. One chronicle relates the encounter between 377 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: King Henry and his mother Isabel. When they finally met 378 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: in France after decades of mutual vitriol apart, Isabel tenderly 379 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:02,040 Speaker 1: kissed her first born and in the sweetest tone, said 380 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:05,560 Speaker 1: to him, dear son, you have such a good character 381 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:09,800 Speaker 1: to help your mother and your brothers, whom the sons 382 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:14,040 Speaker 1: of Blanche of Spain want so wickedly to crush and 383 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:22,760 Speaker 1: keep under their feet. Tender maternal words. Notwithstanding, the invasion 384 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:25,920 Speaker 1: fell apart as soon as it began. The Count of 385 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:30,040 Speaker 1: Toulouse pulled his support. Henry wasn't able to raise a 386 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 1: force large enough to compete with King Louis, and even 387 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:39,120 Speaker 1: Hughes only halfheartedly went about the whole rebellion thing, maybe 388 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 1: hoping for an escape plan just in case. When the 389 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: French and English armies met at Talburg in July twelve 390 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:52,000 Speaker 1: forty two, a French cavalry charge decimated the English forces. 391 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:56,760 Speaker 1: King Louis handed Henry a defeat so horrendous that the 392 00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:00,400 Speaker 1: English king would have been captured had it not been 393 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:07,400 Speaker 1: for the diplomatic intervention of Henry's brother Richard. Hughes switched sides, 394 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:10,720 Speaker 1: to the chagrin of his wife in less than a 395 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:15,719 Speaker 1: week of fighting. According to a popular myth, one that 396 00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:21,040 Speaker 1: we can't verify or completely disprove, Isabel made a last 397 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:26,360 Speaker 1: stand by hiring out two serfs to poison the French king. 398 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:32,600 Speaker 1: Promised vast estates and noble titles. The two paupers managed 399 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:36,280 Speaker 1: to poison the meat and drink of Louis and Alphonse, 400 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:40,280 Speaker 1: but as we know, they were caught in the act 401 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:46,040 Speaker 1: and hanged for their treason. One rumor circulating claimed that 402 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:50,520 Speaker 1: isabel tried and failed to commit suicide when she heard 403 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:55,280 Speaker 1: the news of the serf's hangings. Another source says that 404 00:31:55,360 --> 00:32:01,040 Speaker 1: she broke down beyond consolation. As punishment for their betrayal, 405 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:06,680 Speaker 1: King Louis forced Isabelle and Hughes to finance three French 406 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:12,360 Speaker 1: garrisons in their own territories. He also took Isabelle's titles 407 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,080 Speaker 1: and cut her off from any pensions the French crown 408 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 1: may have allotted her in the past. Isabel and Hughes 409 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:24,959 Speaker 1: signed a joint charter to dissolve and disseminate their holdings 410 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:31,080 Speaker 1: across their nine children in medieval royal customs that effectively 411 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:37,800 Speaker 1: amounted to a divorce twenty years of scheming, building, maneuvering, 412 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:43,440 Speaker 1: and fighting all gone to waste. Isabel, at fifty three 413 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:47,680 Speaker 1: years old, was almost exactly where she had started when 414 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:51,760 Speaker 1: she left England as a widow at twenty five, cut 415 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:55,800 Speaker 1: off from the royal family and without a state of 416 00:32:55,840 --> 00:33:03,000 Speaker 1: her own. Contemporary chronicles regularly depict Isabel as a heartless 417 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:07,640 Speaker 1: mother and an unfaithful wife. Many of these chronicles were 418 00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:12,000 Speaker 1: themselves written from the perspective of the French monarchy, so 419 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:16,640 Speaker 1: we'd be right to question their characterizations. Certainly, Isabel is 420 00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: the villain of the story. From that perspective, There's no 421 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:25,120 Speaker 1: doubt that Isabel had grand ambitions and took extreme measures, 422 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:29,320 Speaker 1: going so far as to side against her children to 423 00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:32,800 Speaker 1: get what she wanted. But at the end of the day, 424 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 1: she was a fairly intelligent political schemer and a competent administrator, who, 425 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:44,600 Speaker 1: like all members of the aristocracy, angled to conserve her 426 00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:48,800 Speaker 1: estates and increase her own lavish income. She may have 427 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:52,000 Speaker 1: flown to close to the sun by the end, but 428 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:55,480 Speaker 1: twenty years of playing the English and French off one 429 00:33:55,520 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 1: another was no simple task. One cannot tell a full 430 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:04,400 Speaker 1: story of the Countess of Angoulem without at least giving 431 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:09,160 Speaker 1: her that Hughes was the laughing stock of the French 432 00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:12,799 Speaker 1: nobility for the rest of his life. In time, his 433 00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:17,319 Speaker 1: reputation improved a little, especially as he died on a 434 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,839 Speaker 1: crusade to the Holy Lands in an act of political 435 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:25,840 Speaker 1: and spiritual penance. Isabel also found her own way to 436 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:31,080 Speaker 1: God in the final years of her life. Disgraced and despairing, 437 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:34,920 Speaker 1: she retreated to the abbey of Fontrevau and took holy 438 00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:40,680 Speaker 1: orders in twelve forty three. Right before her death in 439 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:45,120 Speaker 1: twelve forty six, Isabel wrote a final plea, this time 440 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:48,399 Speaker 1: to the French King, begging him to look after her 441 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:51,719 Speaker 1: children that she had with Hughes, to ensure that they 442 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:56,240 Speaker 1: would receive their fair share of her inheritance. This letter 443 00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 1: was completely unlike every other that she wrote in her lifetime. 444 00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:05,800 Speaker 1: The parchment is of inferior quality. It phrays at the edges. 445 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:09,640 Speaker 1: In it, she begs not from a position of high court, 446 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:14,920 Speaker 1: but from the lowly chambers of a nun's scriptorium. Yet 447 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:19,400 Speaker 1: still at the bottom of the page her same old 448 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:34,640 Speaker 1: signature Isabelle, Queen of England. That's the complicated story of 449 00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:38,960 Speaker 1: Isabelle of Angoulem. But keep listening. After a sponsor break 450 00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:46,800 Speaker 1: to hear a little bit more about her family legacy. 451 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:55,200 Speaker 1: Isabel ordered that she be buried in the common plots 452 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:59,280 Speaker 1: outside the Abbey of Fonteiveau when she died. These plots 453 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:02,439 Speaker 1: were reserved for the brothers and sisters of the Order, 454 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:06,279 Speaker 1: never ever for a noble let alone a member of 455 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:11,760 Speaker 1: the Plantagenet royal family. The abbey itself had deep ancestral 456 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:15,600 Speaker 1: ties to the Duchy of Aquitaine and the English royal family. 457 00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:20,640 Speaker 1: Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was Isabel's mother in law, had 458 00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:25,160 Speaker 1: patronized the abbey for over sixty years, funding a massive 459 00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:30,560 Speaker 1: octagonal kitchen with multiple fireplaces. The abbey would also serve 460 00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:33,960 Speaker 1: as Eleanor's base of power for the latter half of 461 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:38,400 Speaker 1: her life, and it was an ideal accommodation for anyone 462 00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:44,040 Speaker 1: loosely affiliated with the royal family. While Isabel carried out 463 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:48,359 Speaker 1: penance by taking the veil, she most definitely lived with 464 00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:51,080 Speaker 1: some degree of luxury at the end of her life. 465 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:56,000 Speaker 1: Being buried in the common plots, however, was too extreme 466 00:36:56,200 --> 00:37:00,880 Speaker 1: an act of penance. When Isabel's son Henry visited the 467 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:04,400 Speaker 1: abbey in twelve fifty four and learned about his mother's 468 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:10,600 Speaker 1: unceremonious burial, he ordered her reinterment in the abbey itself, 469 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:14,280 Speaker 1: next to the remains of Henry the Second and Eleanor 470 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:18,840 Speaker 1: of Aquitaine. In another act of grace towards the memory 471 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:23,240 Speaker 1: of his mother, Henry the third invited the five sons 472 00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:28,920 Speaker 1: of Isabel's second marriage to England, understanding that their options 473 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:34,000 Speaker 1: in France were limited by the poor reputation of their parents. 474 00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:38,160 Speaker 1: If you went to the abbey today, located near the 475 00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:41,920 Speaker 1: French city of chinand you'd find a bust of Isabel 476 00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:46,880 Speaker 1: situated atop what looked like a tomb, but her remains 477 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:52,400 Speaker 1: aren't there. During the French Revolution, after the nascent government 478 00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:56,640 Speaker 1: of the Third Estate declared all monasteries property of the nation, 479 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:02,320 Speaker 1: radicals exhumed Isabel's bone bones in addition to the bones 480 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:08,040 Speaker 1: of Henry and Eleanor, and scattered them across the fields outside, 481 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:20,040 Speaker 1: never to be recovered. Noble Blood is a production of 482 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:25,200 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood 483 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:29,520 Speaker 1: is created and hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional 484 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:34,720 Speaker 1: writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hanna Zwick, Mira Hayward, 485 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:39,040 Speaker 1: Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The show is edited and 486 00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:44,279 Speaker 1: produced by Noemi Griffin and rima Il Kahali, with supervising 487 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:49,960 Speaker 1: producer Josh Sayin and executive producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, 488 00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:54,840 Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 489 00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:59,200 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 490 00:38:59,239 --> 00:39:33,440 Speaker 1: favorite shows.