KING PHILIP THE FAIR, FATHER OF ISABELLA OF
FRANCE
A 15th-century depiction of Isabella
ISABELLA OF FRANCE
HISTORICAL IMAGE
i
FICTION
ISABELLA OF FRANCE DAUGHTER OF THE FRENCH
KING PHILIP IV, THE FAIR
WIFE OF KING EDWARD II,
MOTHER OF THE LATER KING EDWARD III
SISTER TO THE SUCCEEDING KINGS
LOUIS X OF FRANCE, PHILIP V OF FRANCE, CHARLES
IV OF FRANCE
SHE IS ACCOMPANIED BY HER LADY IN WAITING, JOAN
DE GENEVILLE [DE JOINVILLE, OF FRENCH DESCENT],
WIFE OF ROGER MORTIMER, LATER LOVER OF
QUEEN ISABELLA
IMAGE FICTION, FROM THE FILM
”LES ROIS MUADITS” [THE ACCURSED KINGS]
ISABELLA OF FRANCE, FICTION, FROM
THE FILM ”LES ROIS MAUDITS”
QUEEN ISABELLA OF FRANCE, DAUGHTER TO THE FRENCH KING
PHILIPS IV [LE BEL]
HISTORICAL FICTION
ROGER MORTIMER, 1ST EARL OF MARCH, PARTNER
IN CRIME AND MOST LIKELY LOVER OF QUEEN ISABELLA
OF FRANCE
15th-century manuscript illustration depicting Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella in the foreground
ROGER MORTIMER AND QUEEN ISABELLA ON THE FOREGROUND
15TH CENTURY HISTORICAL IMAGE
HISTORICAL IMAGE
HUGH LE DESPENSER THE YOUNGER, [ALONG WITH HIS
FATHER, THE ELDER] FAVOURITE TO KING EDWARD II,
WHO DIED A HORRIBLE DEATH AT THE ORDERS OF
QUEEN ISABELLA AND [MOST LIKELY] LOVER
ROGER MORTIMER AFTER THE INVASION OF
ISABELLA AND MORTIMER, WHICH LED TO THE DOWNFALL
AND FINAL DEATH OF KING EDWARD II
THE SHE WOLF OF FRANCE/REACTION ON THE COMMENTS
OF KATHRYN WARNER/EDWARDTHE SECONDBLOGSPOT
UPDATE
Kathryn Warner has, in my view a great factual knowledge
of the Edward II period [first half of the fourteenth century] but
sometimes a poor insight in the historical events or human reactions, as shows itself in her comments on ”the She Wolf
of France”
Her arguments often lack historical depth.
By the way, Kathryn Warner deleted my comment……
Silly, in those Internet times…………..
TO MY READERS
INTRODUCTION
As you will see, I’ll give a reaction on the comments of
Kathryn Warner, historian and writer of among else
”Edward II, an Unconventional King” and
”Isabella of France” [wife of Edward II].
Actually, she reacted on an historical fiction novel
”She Wolf of France”, about Isabella of France, fifth
in a series about the French Royal House in the first half
of the fourteenth century ”The Accursed Kings”, referring
to the ”curse of the Templars”
[See under Philip IV]
Below you will see her post [on her website] as my comment.
But I realized, that you only can follow the discussion, when you
know something of the background.
So underlying you find information about Isabella of
France and her father, King Philip IV
But who knows already a lot about the French and English history in
the beginning of the 14th century, in casu the history of Isabella of
France and her father, King Philip IV, can skip this information
and go directly to
MY COMMENTS ON THE POST OF KATHRYN WARNER
ON HER BLOG: EDWARDTHESECONDBLOGSPOT
If not, read the following for more information:
AND ENJOY THE TRAVEL TO THE PAST!
ISABELLA OF FRANCE, WIFE TO KING EDWARD II
As you will see, I’ll give a reaction on the comments of
Kathryn Warner, historian and writer of among else
”Edward II, an Unconventional King” and
”Isabella of France” [wife of Edward II].
Actually, she reacted on an historical fiction novel
”She Wolf of France”, about Isabella of France, fifth
in a series about the French Royal House in the first half
of the fourteenth century ”The Accursed Kings”, referring
to the ”curse of the Templars”
[See under Philip IV]
Below you will see her post [on her website] as my comment.
But I realized, that you only can follow the discussion, when you
know something of the background:
So here we go
Isabella of France , later called the She Wolf of France, was the daughter of the French King Philip IV,
who married her off to the English King Edward II in 1308.
Since she was 12 years, probably the marriage was consumated later.
However, fundamental problems would rise, since Edward II had
a favouritism for men, probably he was gay.
When he married Isabella, he had a deep affection for a Gascon knight,
Piers Gaveston, who was to be executed by uprising barons, who
loathed his arrogance and influence over the King.
Later Edward II had Hugh Despenser as a favourite [Despenser’s father was
also his favourite, but his deep affection was for Hugh], which led to
conflicts between Edward II and the other nobles, since the Despensers
expanded their lands [with consent of the King] at the cost of the
other nobles.
Wars broke out, the King and the Despensers won at the cost of many executions,
imprisonments of the opponents.
One of them was Roger Mortimer, who later became the lover of Queen Isabella,
who was imprisoned in the Tower and [as one of the few in history] escaped succesfully and fled to France.
The marriage between Isabella and Edward, which never was very good, detoriated
after the influence of the Despenser and Isabella would write later in a letter
to her husband [when she was in France] that Despenser shared the Kings bed…..
Meantime, they had four children, under who the later King Edward III,
who would start the Hundred Years War with France.
[And his descendents would slaughter each other in the Wars of the Roses
for the succession of the English throne]
When things detoriated, Isabella went in 1325 to her homeland, France, as a pretext
to negociate between Edward II and her brother King Charles IV over
aroused tensions between the two lands.
Her son Edward [later III] was with her.
But she didn’t come back and lived there under protection of her
brother the King for longer than a year.
She met Roger Mortimer [the nobleman, who escaped the Tower
of London], they began a relationship and eventually returned
to England with troops [which they begat after bethroting
son Edward to Philippa, the daughter of the Count of Hainault,
who provided the troops]
The demand was, that de Despensers would be ousted out
of power.
They could easily win, because nearly all nobles had left
the King, out of hatred for the Despensers.
The King and Hugh Despenser fled, but were arrested and Hugh
Despenser was to die a terrible death, the traitors death.
His father and many others were executed too.
Isabella and Mortimer imprisoned the King and forced him to
abdicate in favour of his son, who was crowned
The abdication was in januari 1327.
The crowning of Edward III was in february 1327
In september the old King Edward II died in strange
circumstances, probably ordered by Isabella and Mortimer,
who were the de facto rulers in England.
They however did as the Despensers, enriching themselves shamelessly.
Of course the tensions between Edward III and Mortimer grew:
Edward II had no actual power, Mortimer l[who was married also]
lived openly with his mother [a shame in that time, especially
for a woman] and he could be held responsible for
the death of Edward’s father.
After the execution of Edward”s uncle, the Earl of Kent
[halfbrother of his father] enough was enough.
Secretly Edward planned an attack and with 20 or 30 armed
men of his age, they overwhelmed Mortimer and Isabella.
Mortimer was arrested and executed and of course Isabella,
being his mother, was spared, but her political influence was over.
But she lived in extreme wealth until 1358.
See also
KING PHILIP IV, FATHER OF ISABELLA OF FRANCE
King Philip IV, father of Isabella, was a mighty ruler, who was named
”Philip the Fair”, because of his good looks and ”The Iron King”
because of the iron fist with which he ruled France.
He relied rather on skillful civil servants like Nogaret and Marigny
then on his barons, wanting to limit the feudal society and
establising a strong central power.
Interesting facts during his reign
Under his reign, in 1302, the Flemish lower classes beat the
French army in the Battle of the Golden Spurs [Guldensporen
slag]
Notorious events during his reign:
He expelled the Jews and destroyed the Templars.
According to popular belief Jaques de Molay, Grandmaster
of the Templars, cursed the King, Pope Clement V and Nogaret
for their part in the prosecution, before burning to death on the stake.
The curse of the Templars.
Anyway:
The King, the Pope as Nogaret died in the same year, 1314, as
Molay should have predicted,.
The King was to succeed by his three sons, who ruled one
after the other untill 1328, died young without mle
heirs.
And in 1314, the Tour The Nesle adultery scandal came to
light, in which the three wives of the Kings’ sons were involved…..
The curse of the Templars?
MY COMMENTS ON THE POST OF KATHRYN WARNER
ON HER BLOG: EDWARDTHESECONDBLOGSPOT
TO MY READERS;
Being a fan of the historical fiction novels of Maurice Druon
”The Accursed Kings” [Les Rois Maudits] about the last Capet Kings
in the early half of the 14th century, I have written some critical
comments on a posting of Kathryn Warner [historian and autho
of ”Edward II, the Unconventional Ling] on her website
EdwardthesecondBlogspot.
Her posting concerns part 5 of the ”Accursed Kings”, ”The She Wolf
of France” about Queen Isabella, wife of the English King Edward II,
mother to the latter King Edward III [who started the Hundred Years
War with France]
Her reaction on the book was very critical and negative and I have
fought her about that, because in my opinion The She Wolf of
France is impressive and interesting novel
READ THE BOOK
MAURICE DRUON
SHE WOLF OF FRANCE
Also read the whole series
See Kathryn Warner’s comments
EDWARD II NOVEL OF THE WEEK [2]: ”THE SHE WOLF OF
FRANCE” BY MAURICE DRUON
LINK
SEE TEXT BELOW MY COMMENTS
MY COMMENTS ON KATHRYN WARNER
THE SHE WOLF OF FRANCE/AN IMPRESSING AND INTERESTING
HISTORICAL FICTION
MY COMMENTS ON YOUR POSTING
Dear Kathryn Warner
Compliments with your historically accurate and
very detailed blog about English 14th century history, concerning
the reign of King Edward II.
You don’t know me, so let me introduce myself first:
Being a journalist and historian, although I am not an expert,
I always have had a passion for Medieval history,
From that interest and certain knowledge,
I wrote a number of articles/comments about the Wars of the Roses
and other medieval subjects:
See some examples
CRITICAL REMARKS ON YOUR COMMENTS
ABOUT MAURICE DRUON’S ”SHE WOLF OF FRANCE”
You will be surprised about my somewhat late reaction on
your comment dd 10 may 2006,
on the fifth part of Maurice Druon’s famous
serie books ”The Accursed Kings” [les rois Maudits], ”The
Reason is, that I saw your comment only today, 6 march 2017, due to some historical investigation.
And I found it interesting enough to give some comment,
especially because I have recently read ”The She Wolf of France”
which I appreciate as thrilling, horror like and moving.
To say it bluntly:
I disagree with you on some some important aspects, which
I want to point out to you clearly.
But shortly:
I think the style of Druon is very vividly, historically convincing
[besides some errors you rightly point out, but partly are corrected
in part 6] and moving.
He succeeds to provoke pity and sympathy for less sympathetically
portayed characters and combines, in his books, elements of
epics, thriller, romantic, travelling with the reader in a distant
past.
But let me put some remarks you made to the critical light
YOUR COMMENT
1
You wrote
”I’m afraid I really dislike this novel. Really, really dislike it, so Druon fans might wish to stop reading now….”
MY REACTION
It is of course,your liberty to dislike the ”She Wolf of France”
But you see, I am a fan of the series ”The Accursed Kings”
of Maurice Druon and I did not stop reading your comment,
because I always open myself to critical notes, from which I can learn, as I hope you will leaarn from my remarks
Now all jokes in the cupboard, I become more serious
YOUR COMMENT
2
”I’ll begin with a few things that I did like.
…..”
I can be short about that:
I agree with you
YOUR COMMENT
3
”The rest of the characterisation, at least of the English characters, is just horrible. Edward II himself is so utterly feeble you can only feel contempt. Mortimer is the only remotely sympathetic English character. And the biggest problem I have with the novel is that, despite the title, it’s really not about Isabella at all. It’s a novel about France which happens to include some scenes set in England. OK, it’s a series about French history – but then why call this one ‘The She-Wolf of France’ when Isabella and Edward only appear in a handful of scenes? There are pages and pages on Lombard bankers in Paris. This may be interesting to readers of the whole series – I presume they’re regular characters – but I wanted to read about Isabella and Edward II, not Lombard bankers! Most of the novel is set in France. The death scene of Charles of Valois, Isabella’s uncle, goes on interminably.”
MY REACTION:
In the first place I disagree with you, that the figure of
Roger Mortimer is the only sympathetic character.
I deal with that later.
Further you are in sofar right, that calling the book
”The She Wolf of France” is not entirely right,
since a great deal of the book involves other subjects.
But see it like that:
It’s part five in the historical series about the early
part of the 14th century concerning the French royal
Family, with as an important theme the effects of
the socalled ”curse of the Templars”, which affects
the offspring [and further generations]] of King
Philip IV, who persecuted them and sent them to the stake.
The other parts concern the reigns of two brothers of
Queen Isabella, Louis X [Le Hutin] and Philip V
[The Long] and their disastrous end.
She Wolf of France concerns the reign of her last brother,
King Charles IV and of course involves her, being
Philip IV’s daughter.
The chapters 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, concern Queen Isabella
, Roger Mortimer [who escapes from the
Tower in chapter 1] and the French-English relations.
But of course the parallel French history, with the financial
role of the Italian bankers [the money lenders of Kings
and nobles], as the political conflicts within French nobility,
etc must be described too!
You are a too good historian not to realize, that a story
can’t only involve two important historical persons
[here Edward II and Isabella], but that they must be
seen against the background of the whole
economic-political landscape.
YOUR COMMENT
4
FIRST PART
”The only time Edward and Isabella appear together (and one of only four scenes where Edward appears at all) is in the second scene of the novel, after the Prologue and Mortimer’s escape from the Tower. Isabella is sitting on her throne whinging to the French ambassador about her awful life when Edward, the Despensers and some of the English nobles enter the room. Isabella then proceeds to insult Edward, over and over, in front of the whole court. Neither Edward nor Hugh Despenser respond to her insults – they blush, pretend not to hear, change the subject. This is a really bad way of writing fiction: the scene should have crackled with tension, as Edward and Isabella exchange (spoken) blows and witty repartee.”
MY REACTION
In this I agree with you sofar, that it is highly likely,
a Queen like Isabella, as a French princess trained
in not only very good manners, but also in the womanly
role of modesty and a role on the background, should
have uttered in public on that way to her husband, she
being a Queen and he, the King. especially in the
companion of a French ambassador as the Despensers,
who she loathed.
But it’s fiction after all and should not be judged with
a too strict historical view.
Besides, people are complicated.
Who can tell, that Isabella not uttered herself on that
way out of yearlong frustration and that the
King and Despenser said nothing out of a certain’
feeling of guilt?
Who can say.
I was not present and either you…………..
YOUR COMMENT