She Wolves (20 page)
In February 1321 the barons met with Lancaster in order to enlist his support against the Despensers. Isabella must have been anxious about the rise in baronial discontent and retired to the Tower of London in July to bear her youngest child, Joan.
34
This must have been an ordeal for Isabella but she still remained loyal to Edward and in October 1321 she played a major role in providing a pretext for him to make war on the barons.
Isabella departed on a pilgrimage to Canterbury in late 1321 and, on 2 October, she approached Leeds Castle, which was part of her dower, intending to stay the night. Upon arrival, Isabella’s stewards were denied entry to the castle by the wife of the castellan and, when they insisted, the castle guards became violent, killing some of Isabella’s attendants.
35
The castellan was a known supporter of the barons and it is likely that Isabella had been sent to Leeds in order to provide an excuse for Edward to attack him. However, it is also likely that Isabella was genuinely shocked at the violent response she met and may have harboured resentment towards Edward for sending her there, effectively using her as bait. When Edward heard of Isabella’s experience at Leeds he set out with an army of Londoners to capture the castle. The castle quickly fell and the castellan was hanged from the gates.
36
Edward then marched north where he met the barons in battle at Boroughbridge to win a stunning victory. Isabella’s uncle, Thomas of Lancaster, was taken prisoner and executed, poignantly in the same manner used upon Gaveston.
Isabella’s feelings on the death of her uncle were probably mixed. He had been a thorn in the side of Edward’s rule for years and she may have believed that he deserved to die. However, as his kinsman she was bound to be affronted by the manner of his death and must have been uneasy at the power Lancaster’s death would give to the Despensers. Certainly, Isabella’s treatment in England deteriorated rapidly after Lancaster’s execution.
Relations between England and France had been difficult for some years during Edward’s reign and, in 1324, Isabella’s uncle, Charles of Valois, overran the English possession of Gascony.
37
Edward retaliated on 28 September by seizing Isabella’s lands and those of foreign monasteries.
38
Suspicion fell on Isabella as a Frenchwoman and Edward and the Despensers exploited this to gain more control over the queen. Her allowance had already been cut dramatically and, in late 1324, Isabella’s three youngest children were removed from her custody.
39
The younger Despenser’s wife was also ‘appointed, as it were, guardian of the queen, and carried her seal; nor could the queen write to anybody without her knowledge: whereat my lady the queen was equally indignant and distressed, and therefore wished to visit her brother in France to seek a remedy’.
40
Isabella must have been furious at Edward’s treatment of her after sixteen years of loyal marriage and this, in addition to all Edward’s other bad conduct towards her, would be an entirely understandable motive for her to hate him. She had, after all, done no wrong and had been a loyal queen of England. Her imprisonment, on the pretext that she was a Frenchwoman, would therefore rightly have infuriated her.
Isabella kept her resentment hidden and Edward’s actions show that he did not regard her as a threat, entirely underestimating his dynamic wife. Isabella had acted as a negotiator between England and France on a number of occasions and Edward does not seem to have recognised the danger in sending her again on 9 March 1325.
41
According to the
Chronicle of Lanercost
:
The King of England sent his consort the queen to her brother, the king of France, hoping that, by God’s help, peace might be established between himself and the king of France through her, according to her promise. But the queen had a secret motive for desiring to cross over to France; for Hugh Despenser the younger, the king’s agent in all matters of business, was exerting himself at the pope’s court to procure divorce between the king of England and the queen.
42
There is no other evidence that Edward was considering a divorce and it is unlikely that he considered going so far. However, there was clearly very bad feeling between Isabella and the Despensers and Edward always sided entirely with his favourites rather than his wife.
Isabella must have felt a great sense of freedom and relief as she arrived in France. Isabella landed at Boulogne and was lavishly entertained there before travelling to Paris where her brother, King Charles, welcomed her.
43
Charles secretly promised Isabella aid and she clearly felt confident enough to act against Edward. Soon after her arrival she was also able to persuade Edward to send their eldest son, young Edward, to her in Paris to do homage for Gascony.
44
Young Edward’s arrival meant that Isabella held a trump card against her husband and she began to attract English exiles to her in Paris, the most significant of these being Edmund, Earl of Kent, her husband’s own brother. She was also joined by Roger Mortimer, a nobleman who had escaped from the Tower of London some years previously.
With young Edward in her possession and her brother’s aid, Isabella finally showed her true intentions and the anger that must have been building within her for years and she refused to return to Edward in England. The
Chronicle of Lanercost
relates how there were rumours in England that Isabella, young Edward and Kent intended to invade to exact revenge upon the Despensers, who they blamed for Lancaster’s death. However, there were also ‘contradictory rumours in England about the queen, some declaring that she was the betrayer of the king and kingdom, others that she was acting for peace and the common welfare of the kingdom, and for the removal of evil counsellors from the king’.
45
Reports of Isabella’s actions sent Edward and the Despensers into panic and proclamations were read in London calling Isabella and her son traitors.
46
They also sent bribes to France, attempting to have Isabella and young Edward returned to England.
Isabella’s brother was also under increasing pressure to return her to England, especially as rumours began to emerge regarding Isabella’s relationship with Mortimer. The pair became lovers during their stay in Paris and Isabella would remain devoted to Mortimer for the rest of her life. It is likely that she revelled in Mortimer’s attentions after escaping her loveless marriage and she may well have seen no harm in her actions given Edward’s own relationships with his male favourites. Certainly, their relationship appears to have had a fiery passion that Isabella’s own marriage had lacked. During their time in France, Isabella and Mortimer are reported to have quarrelled, with Isabella threatening to leave Mortimer and return to her husband.
47
Mortimer responded by threatening to kill her if she tried to leave him. This was, of course, a disturbing incident but, for Isabella, it may have been taken as proof of the depth of Mortimer’s feelings towards her. She does not seem to have threatened to leave him again.
Although her relationship with Mortimer gave Isabella personal satisfaction, the rumours about her relationship did nothing to help her and women were always more heavily censured for adultery than men. Finally, disturbed by the scandal she was causing, her brother asked her to leave France, allowing her and the other exiles to travel to Hainault. Isabella found a warm reception in Hainault and arranged a treaty with the Count of Hainault for military aid in return for the marriage of her son, Edward, to one of the count’s daughters.
48
Isabella must have been pleased with this alliance and eager to return to England with her army, in spite of the uncertainty of her enterprise. She clearly saw her own cause as righteous and the Despensers as the enemy, writing to the Bishop of Exeter in one letter that ‘we can see clearly that you are in league with the said Hugh and more obedient towards him than towards us’.
49
She could have been writing these lines to Edward.
Isabella and her fleet landed at Harwich on 24 September 1326.
50
Isabella had always been popular in England and she exploited this on arrival, insisting that she had come only to rid Edward of his evil counsellors. In a proclamation issued soon after their arrival, Isabella, young Edward and Kent insisted that they had ‘come to this land to raise up the state of the Holy Church and of the kingdom, and of the people of this land against the said misdeeds and grievous oppressions, and to safeguard and maintain, so far as we can, the honour and profit of the Holy Church, and of our said lord the king’.
51
It is unclear what their actual intentions were upon arrival in England but it seems unlikely that Isabella would have considered returning to Edward even if the Despensers were removed. She must have been too angry with the memory of his treatment of her to countenance this and, again, this is an entirely understandable position, to modern eyes at least.
Upon landing, Isabella sent word to London asking for aid and the city rose to support her.
52
The mob seized the king’s treasurer, the Bishop of Exeter, and murdered him in the street before capturing the Tower and placing Isabella’s young son, John of Eltham, as its warden.
53
Isabella must have been anxious to hear that her youngest son was unprotected in London but jubilant at the popular support for her cause in England. She must also have been anxious to capture Edward and the Despensers who had fled London upon hearing of her landing.
Isabella and her army set out for Bristol a few weeks after landing. The town was being held by the elder Despenser and he was quickly captured following a siege. Isabella must have been pleased to take him into custody although the younger Despenser was the true focus of her hatred. Under Isabella’s orders, the elder Despenser was executed and his corpse chopped up and fed to dogs.
54
There is no doubt that she approved of this treatment of the elder Despenser and this is the first real indication of a bloody streak in Isabella’s character.
Following the execution of the elder Despenser, Mortimer and Henry of Lancaster set off in pursuit of Edward and the younger Despenser. They were found wandering around Wales and Edward was despatched to Kenilworth Castle.
55
The younger Despenser was taken to Hereford where he was brutally executed. Amongst the punishments meted out on him was castration, an indication of Isabella’s belief about his relationship with her husband. The younger Despenser was Isabella’s greatest enemy and she must have been jubilant at his death. Certainly with Edward a prisoner and the Despensers both dead, Isabella must have thought her and Mortimer’s future was secure.
Isabella must have spent a triumphant Christmas at Wallingford in 1326, before entering London on 4 January 1327.
56
She called a meeting of parliament a few days later and played a prominent role in its proceedings.
57
At the parliament it was agreed that Edward II would be replaced on the throne by his son, Edward III. This must have been the culmination of Isabella’s dearest hopes and she was also able to use the parliament to further her own position. According to the Chronicle of Lanercost, ‘it was further ordained that our lady the Queen, for the great anxiety and anguish she had suffered as well this side as overseas, should stay queen all her life’.
58
This must have reassured Isabella that she would not be forced back to live with Edward II, a prospect she cannot have relished. Isabella sent embassies to Edward II asking him to abdicate and, as soon as they obtained a favourable answer, her fourteen-year-old son was crowned as Edward III. Isabella is recorded as having wept throughout the coronation, although it is likely that these were imitation tears rather than the symptom of any grief at her hated husband’s fate.
59
Edward III’s youth meant that Isabella and Mortimer were able to set themselves up as the real rulers of England. Isabella was able to wield more power than any earlier queen of England and assigned herself a magnificent dower, leaving the crown itself in relative poverty.
60
Isabella probably wanted this money to help safeguard her position and the existence of her deposed husband in England must have been a worry to her. Isabella had no wish to see him again and, when he requested that she visit, she refused, saying that the lords would not allow her to see him.
61
Edward presents a pitiful figure in his imprisonment, recorded as weeping when he was asked to abdicate and requesting visits from his wife and children. It is possible that Isabella also felt some pity for him and she sent him gifts and clothes.
62
It seems more likely, however, that, like her tears at Edward III’s coronation, Isabella’s gifts were really just to maintain the appearance of a dutiful wife. She certainly recognised that he was a threat to her regime and she would have believed, as most people in England did, that he was the architect of his own downfall and deserving of his fate.
Edward II did not long survive his deposition. His death was shrouded in secrecy and precise details are difficult to discover but late in 1327, Edward was brought to Berkeley Castle and, on the night of 21 September, he was murdered. The exact manner of his death is unknown but the most common story is that he was killed when a red-hot spit was inserted into his rectum, to ensure that no mark should be seen on his body.
63
There is no contemporary evidence to support this manner of death but it is now irrevocably associated with the murder of Edward II. Isabella’s exact involvement in the murder is unclear. However, as ruler of the kingdom it is unlikely that such a momentous step would be taken without Isabella’s approval, even by the domineering Mortimer. Certainly, Isabella and Mortimer benefited most from Edward’s death and this, taken with Isabella’s later obvious remorse at his death, suggests strongly that she was involved. Isabella’s reputation is irreparably tarnished by the death of Edward II and the misrule over which she and Mortimer presided.