Isabelle de France († 1358)
Isabelle de France ( English Isabella of France ; * around 1295 in Paris , † August 22, 1358 at Hertford Castle , Hertfordshire ) was a French princess and queen of England.
Life
Family and childhood
Isabelle of France was probably born in 1295. Her year of birth can only be inferred indirectly from documents relating to her marriage to Edward II. The documents are quite contradictory and some also point to a year of birth 1292. However, two papal dispensations and the Treaty of Montreuil of June 1299 suggest that Isabelle was born between January 1295 and January 1296.
Isabelle's father was King Philip IV of France and her mother was Joan of Navarre , who had been Queen of Navarre from the age of 11 . Isabelle was the sixth child in this marriage. After her birth, only one other brother was born, but he died at the age of 11. Her two older sisters had died either before they were born or during their first year of life. Only her three brothers Ludwig , Philipp and Karl survived their childhood years.
Little is known about Isabelle's childhood. She probably enjoyed an above-average upbringing. At a time when women were only able to read and write when they were nuns, Isabelle at least learned to read. Your later household books show multiple items for the acquisition of books that were intended for their private use. However, it is not certain that Isabelle was also able to write. She maintained extensive correspondence in later years, but presumably dictated all of her letters.
The French royal court where Isabelle grew up was one of the wealthiest and most influential in Europe. Her father Philip IV strengthened the French kingship with a clever financial policy and, among other things, introduced administrative reforms. Her mother Jeanne de Navarra not only successfully defended her own kingdom twice against the territorial claims of other European princes, but also played an active diplomatic role in the marriage of her daughter. Even if there is no evidence of it from sources, Isabelle's later actions suggest that her understanding of royal power was shaped by the example of her parents.
Promised to the English heir to the throne
Philip IV expanded the influence of the French royalty by skillfully marrying his children. The surviving Isabelles brothers married daughters from the noble families of Burgundy in their first marriage. With these marriages, parts of Burgundy fell to the French crown. Isabelle's planned marriage, on the other hand, should involve a territorial assignment. In the course of the 13th century England had lost all territories in France except for Gascony . In 1296 this area was occupied by the troops of Philip IV during a Franco-English war . In order to settle the disputes over this area, Pope Boniface VIII proposed a double wedding. The widowed English King Edward I was supposed to marry Marguerite, the sister of Philip IV. And Philip's daughter Isabelle, who was only two years old at the time of the proposal, was to be married to Edward's son and heir to the throne as soon as she reached the marriageable age of 12 years. As soon as the two royal families were connected in this way, Gascony was to fall back to England. The Montreuil Treaty of 1299 regulated the details of these marriage covenants. However, Gascony came under English rule again as early as 1303. Edward I began looking for another bride for his heir to the throne in 1303. Philip IV had to fear that, in addition to the armed conflict in Flanders, he would again be involved in an Anglo-French war. The Treaty of Paris confirmed Gascony as the French crown fiefdom of the English king with the official engagement of the two royal children, which took place in 1303.
Edward I died on July 7, 1307, before his son Edward and Isabelle were married. The obstacle was continued disputes over the contracts that accompanied the marriage. Edward II, on the other hand, advanced his marriage to Isabelle more energetically than his father. As his father was involved in armed conflict with Scotland, marrying the French king's daughter meant that he could hope for a longer peace with the French archenemy. Edward II and Isabelle de France were married on January 25, 1308 in Boulogne Cathedral. It was an unusually splendid wedding attended by eight kings and queens: the bridegroom Edward II, the bride's father Philip IV, Isabelle's eldest brother Louis, who had been King of Navarre since her mother's death in 1305, and the French queen mother Mary von Brabant , the Roman-German King Albrecht I and his wife Elisabeth of Carinthia, Gorizia and Tyrol , the Neapolitan King Charles II and the widowed Marguerite, at the same time Edward's stepmother and Isabelle's aunt.
Edward II and Piers Gaveston
The royal favorite
Edward II was born on April 25, 1284 and was thus about 11 years older than his young wife. He was the fourteenth child out of the marriage of Edward I to Eleanor of Castile . His three older brothers had died before Edward was even one year old. Only a few of his sisters survived their childhood and most of the survivors were significantly older than Edward. Edward I therefore had his son raised together with ten other young men. One of these was Piers Gaveston , born in Gascony, from 1300 , whose father fought on Edward I's side in France and Wales and won his esteem. A very close relationship developed between the young Edward and Piers Gaveston. Most of the contemporary sources do not directly refer to them as homosexual, but they do point out the unusual nature of the relationship. In view of the sources, Isabelle's biographer Alison Weir comments that today's viewer finds it difficult not to attribute at least some homoerotic traits to the relationship.
Isabelle de France faced the close relationship between her husband and Piers Gaveston from the start of their marriage. Gaveston was part of the delegation who greeted the young couple when they docked at Dover on February 7, 1308 . The greeting between Gaveston and Edward II was unusually warm. A little later Gaveston not only wore the jewels that Edward had received from his father-in-law on the occasion of the wedding, but also part of the jewelery that belonged to Isabelle's dowry.
Power struggle with the English Parliament
Isabelle's first years of marriage were marked by the conflict over Gaveston. In this conflict over the royal favorite, however, it was not Isabelle but the English barons who led the way. The first major scandal occurred on the occasion of the coronation of Edward and Isabelle, as Gaveston, who had only recently been raised to the highest nobility, not only took part in the procession dressed in royal purple, but also carried the Edwardian crown in it. This privilege would normally only have been granted to one of the highest English nobles. These and numerous other favors, which Gaveston were bestowed by Edward, led to the fact that on March 3rd the English parliament demanded the exile of Gaveston. Supporters of the opposition to Gaveston included Edward's stepmother Marguerite, who supported the campaign with 40,000 pounds, Isabelle's father Philip IV and the English Archbishop Winchelsey , who threatened Gaveston's excommunication if he did not leave England. A few weeks later, Edward II agreed to Gaveston's exile. To the annoyance of the English barons, however, he transferred the reign of Ireland to Gaveston.
By 1312 Gaveston had returned from exile to Edward's court three times and had to go back into exile twice. The fact that Edward brought Gaveston back several times led to a growing estrangement between the barons and Edward. Parliament had already passed a damning judgment on Edward's previous exercise of power in February 1310. Edward was accused among other things of not vigorously advancing the war against Scotland and of taking bad advice. Under the threat of otherwise giving up Edward's allegiance, Parliament put 21 Lords Ordainer - consisting of bishops and barons - at the side of their king , who were supposed to advise him and control his exercise of power. A few months later, the “Ordainers” had drawn up a forty-point catalog of requirements, the so-called Ordinances . The 20th demand called for Piers Gaveston to be banished forever under threat of eight for misleading Edward and giving him bad advice. In fact, Gaveston left English territory in October 1311. In March 1312, however, Edward had him recalled. This renewed return, in defiance of Parliament's demands, caused some of the barons to take up arms. Leading among them was Thomas, Earl of Lancaster , a cousin of Edward II. They succeeded in establishing Gaveston. On June 19, 1312 they had Piers Gaveston executed. However, the execution of Piers Gaveston without a formal process split the parliament, which had hitherto been closed behind the Lords Ordainer, because some of the members assembled in it classified this act as unlawful and lawless.
Isabelle's role in the Gaveston conflict
In the early weeks of the marriage, Edward II had spent more time with Gaveston than with his wife. It was not until Philip IV's letters of formal notice that Edward provided Isabelle with sufficient financial means so that she could run her household. In the months after Gaveston's first exile, the relationship between the two spouses gradually improved. Isabelle began to accompany her husband on his travels; They spent Christmas 1308 together in Windsor. Isabelle's financial position also improved significantly after Edward paid her due income. After Gaveston's first return from exile, Isabelle was not involved in the opposition movement against the royal favorite. Isabelle's biographer Weir suspects that Isabelle increasingly realized that Gaveston was not jeopardizing her position as Queen of England, that the very young Isabelle Gaveston may even find Gaveston amusing and charming. In view of the power struggle with the English barons, it was probably also Isabelle's view of herself to support her husband's position. She wrote several letters to English barons to influence them in the interests of her husband. At Christmas 1311 she sent precious gifts to Gaveston's wife. What impression the execution of Gaveston by English barons made on them is not known.
Harmonious marriage and difficult years in government
On November 13, 1312, Isabelle gave birth to the heir to the throne, Edward . The birth solidified Isabelle's position and in the next few years no other favorite replaced Gaveston at Edward II's side. On August 15, 1316, Isabelle gave birth to another son, named John of Eltham because of his place of birth . Eleanor of England was born on June 18, 1318 . Three years later, probably on July 5, 1321, Isabelle gave birth to her last daughter, Joan, in the Tower of London . She may have had a miscarriage before Joan's birth.
There is no evidence that Edward and Isabelle lived an inharmonious married life between 1312 and 1322, or that Isabelle was not loyal to her husband. During the times when they were separated, the two spouses exchanged letters with each other. In the reconciliation between Edward and the barons who were responsible for the execution of Gaveston, Isabelle took on a mediating role. Similar mediation roles in conflicts between her husband and the barons or the French court as well as between the interests of individual cities and church institutions are documented several times for this period. As her husband's envoy, she tried to assert English interests regarding Gascony at the French court.
As is typical for a medieval queen, Isabelle moved with her entire entourage between the 28 royal residences. As a devout Christian, she regularly visited the English pilgrimage sites on her travels. On several occasions it made financial means available for the construction of churches or the maintenance of monasteries. Her household consisted of 180 people, including a charity giver, her confessor , a doctor, two pharmacists and four knights who were responsible for her safety. As long as her mother-in-law was alive, the country estates had not yet been transferred to her, the income of which was traditionally at the disposal of the English Queen. The estates, whose income accrued to her in the meantime, were in North Wales and in 17 English counties and were so extensive that they could compete with the largest landowners among the English nobles. Only after her mother-in-law died on February 14, 1318, did she receive the estates to which she was entitled as Queen of England. Their previous property was returned to the English Crown Domain.
The apparently harmonious married life of Isabelle and Edward II was accompanied by a number of political and military failures. At the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, Edward II was defeated by the Scots under the leadership of Robert the Bruce . The parliament under the leadership of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster blamed Edward for this defeat, accused him of being the cause of, among other things, the non-compliance with the "Ordinances" and curtailed his powers again. Scottish military forces invaded the north of England again and again, conquered the strategically important English fortress of Berwick in 1318 and achieved military successes in Ireland as well. Two rainy summers resulted in one of the worst famines in the history of England. The growing dissatisfaction with the rule of the militarily hapless and politically clumsy Edward II caused rumors to circulate that he had been mixed up in his childhood.
The new favorites
As a counterweight to parliament, Edward II increasingly relied on a new circle of favorites, centered around Hugh le Despenser and his son of the same name . The father - commonly referred to as Hugh le Despenser the Elder for distinction - had always been a loyal supporter of Edward. Hugh le Despenser the Younger had been part of the Edwardian household for a while when Edward was Prince of Wales . He was married to Eleanor de Clare , one of Edward's nieces. The favor of Edward was used by father and son, in which they took more and more influence on the ruling apparatus and built up a considerable domestic power through the transfer of property, especially in the border area of Wales.
Edward's favoritism met again with resistance in parliament and some of the barons seemed ready in the spring of 1321 to take up arms if the two despensers were not banished from court. Isabelle was asked to mediate by moderate representatives in parliament and the English bishops. It is reported that on her knees she asked Edward to banish the Despensers. Edward gave in to his wife's requests, at least for a short time: In the summer of 1321 the Despensers left England. However, their banishment only lasted a short time.
The royal tyrant
In the so-called Despenser War , the military conflict between the king and his favorites on the one hand and the baronial opposition led by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster on the other, Isabelle played the initiating role.
Isabelle, accompanied by a military escort, was supposed to travel to Canterbury via Leeds at Edward's request. On the way she asked for an overnight stay in Leeds Castle , the seat of the opposition Bartholemew de Badlesmere . Badlesmere was not present; his wife, Lady Badlesmere, denied the Queen of England access to the castle on the grounds that her husband had forbidden her to admit anyone . When Isabelle's companions tried to force her to enter, Lady Badlesmere had the archers of the castle shot at Isabelle's military escort. Six of Isabelle's companions perished. Edward's reaction to the denial of hospitality to the English Queen and the subsequent attack was the siege of Leeds Castle. He found support from parts of the population as well as part of the English nobles. After the castle was taken, he left fourteen men of the Leeds Castle crew hung outside the castle gates without trial. Lady Badlesmere and her family were imprisoned in the Tower of London . This first military success that Edward II was able to achieve marked a change in the way Edward was ruled. Together with the Despensers, who had been ordered back to England, in 1321 and 1322 he sought open military disputes with the aristocrats who had previously been opposed to him. The climax of the conflict was the Battle of Boroughbridge on March 16, 1322, in which Edward succeeded in capturing his old adversary Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. Lancaster was instrumental in the execution of royal favorite Piers Gaveston and, like Gaveston, was executed without trial on March 22nd. Lancaster was not the only one executed - a total of 118 people, including many barons and knights, were either executed, imprisoned or exiled on Edward II's orders. High fines were imposed on an even larger number.
Edward's new reign, though financially successful under the influence of the Despensers, was ruthless and brutal.
Affair with Mortimer and fall of Edward. II
Isabelle, however, had nurtured a growing hatred of her husband and his unworthy favorite being and took part in conspiratorial activities. She became the lover of Edward's enemy Roger Mortimer (1287-1330) Baron von Wigmore and went with him in March 1325 to France. Mortimer was one of the few who managed to escape from the Tower of London as a prisoner in 1323. In October 1326, Queen Isabelle and her favorite Mortimer landed with an invading army in Surrey on the coast of England. They found ample support among the discontented nobles and the barons of the Lancasterian party, so that Edward II could quickly be imprisoned. Eduard's younger half-brother, the Duke of Kent, was also involved in the conspiracy. Parliament convened in the name of the king and declared Edward incapable of governing .
After being deposed, he was imprisoned at Berkeley Castle , from where news of his death was spread. He was probably killed on the orders of Isabelle and Mortimer, but may also have died of an illness contracted while in captivity. After Edward's death, Isabelle arranged for her husband to have a splendid burial in Gloucester Abbey, now St. Peter's Cathedral. Legend has it that Isabelle and Mortimer sent an ambiguous order to Berkeley to get rid of responsibility. The Latin phrase "Eduardum occidere nolite timere bonum est." Can be understood both as "Edward is not afraid to kill, it is good." Or "Edward does not kill, to be afraid is good". According to another, albeit not contemporary, account, Edward was killed when a red-hot iron rod was pushed rectally into his intestines through a sawed-up cow horn - an allusion to the allegation of homosexuality. However, there were also rumors that he had escaped custody.
Widowhood and death
After his father's abdication, their son, Edward III, followed. Queen Isabelle and her favorite took over the reign. After Edward came to power in 1330, Roger Mortimer was charged with treason and executed. Isabelle was removed from the farm with an annual pension. She retired to Castle Rising Castle in Norfolk , England , where she maintained her main residence until her death. She was buried in Christ Church Greyfriars in London.
ancestors
progeny
With Edward II she had two sons and two daughters:
- Edward III. (13 November 1312 - 21 June 1377), King of England
- John (14 August 1316 - 13 September 1336), Earl of Cornwall
- Eleanor (June 18, 1318 - April 22, 1355), ⚭ Duke Rainald II of Geldern
- Joan (July 5, 1321 - September 7, 1362), ⚭ David II Bruce , King of Scotland
About Isabelle were Edward III. and his descendants are direct descendants of Philip IV of France and thus the Capetians . When the French royal family died out after the death of Philip and his male heirs in the male line, Eduard III directed. from this female line of succession a claim to the French throne, an occasion of the Hundred Years War .
reception
Isabelle's life and actions have inspired numerous writers and artists. She is often portrayed as a femme fatale .
swell
- Annales Londoniensis. Edited by W. Stubbs. in: Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II. 2 vols. Rolls Series. HMSO, London 1882-1883.
- Annales Paulini. Edited by W. Stubbs. in: Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II. 2 vols. Rolls Series. HMSO, London 1882-1883.
- The Chronicle of Lanercost, 1272-1346. 2 vols. Edited by J. Stevenson. Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh 1839, Edited and translated by Sir Robert R. Maxwell. Maitland Club, Glasgow 1913.
- Chronicle of Meaux. Chronica Monasterii de Melsa, a Fundatione usque ad Annum 1396, Auctore Thoma de Burton, Abbate. Accedit Continuato as Annum 1406 a Monacho Quodam ipsius Domus. 3 vol. Edited by EA Bond. Rolls Series. HMSO, London 1866-1868.
- Johannis de Trokelowe, Henrici de Blaneford: Chronica et Annales. Edited by HT Riley. Rolls Series. HMSO, London 1866.
- Vita Edwardi Secundi Monachi Cuiusdam Malmsberiensis. The Life of Edward II by the so-called Monk of Malmesbury. Presumably by John Walwayn , ed. by VH Galbraith and Roger AB Mynors . Oxford 1957.
literature
- Karl-Friedrich Krieger: History of England from the beginning to the 15th century. CH Beck, Munich 1990. ISBN 3-406-33004-5
- Alison Weir: Isabella - She-Wolf of France, Queen of England. Random House, London 2005. ISBN 0-7126-4194-7
- Björn Karau: minions at the court of Edward II of England - the rise and fall of the Despensers. MA thesis, Kiel 1999. ( Free download )
- Thomas Frederick Tout : Isabella of France (1292-1358) . In: Sidney Lee (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 29: Inglis - John. , MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London 1892, pp. 64 - 67 (English).
- John Carmi Parsons: Isabella (1295-1358). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of January 2008 [not viewed].
- John Robert Maddicott: Isabella of France, Queen of England . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 5, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7608-8905-0 , Sp. 667 f.
Web links
- Isabelle de France on thepeerage.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ JR Maddicott: Isabella of France, Queen of England , Col. 667.
- ↑ For a more detailed discussion of the possible years of birth see Weir, p. 8f
- ↑ Weir, pp. 77f
- ↑ Weir, p. 7f
- ↑ dtv Atlas Weltgeschichte, 2nd edition 2001, ISBN 3-423-03000-3 , p. 191
- ↑ The wedding is described in the Annales Londoniensis and Annales Paulini, among others
- ↑ Weir, pp. 18f
- ↑ The sources include the Annalis Paulini , the Vita Edwardi Secundi , the Johanni de Trokelowe et Henrici de Blaneford Chronica et Annales , the Chronicle of Lanercost (which describes the relationship between the two men as inappropriate) and the Chronicle of Meaux , that speaks directly of sodomy
- ↑ Weir, p. 29 and p. 30f
- ↑ The term "baron" does not refer to a specific title of nobility, but to the aristocratic landowners and magnates
- ↑ The incident is described in the Annales Paulini, among others
- ↑ The Annales Paulini also note that the French nobles who attended the coronation returned to the French royal court with the news that the English king "preferred Gaveston's couch to that of his wife".
- ↑ The English parliament was still a relatively young institution at that time. From 1259 onwards, “parliaments” consisted of councils from the king and elected representatives of the baronial opposition. After 1265 representatives of the county knights and the towns also belonged to parliament. In the course of the 14th century, the parliament increasingly saw itself as a forum that represented the whole of the empire vis-à-vis the king and advised on essential political questions such as the collection of taxes and duties and also decided on complaints about the administration of the king. For a more detailed account of the development of Parliament during this period, see Krieger, pp. 170–172
- ↑ Weir, p. 43
- ↑ Weir, pp. 46-48
- ↑ Krieger, p. 175
- ↑ Krieger, p. 176
- ↑ Weir, pp. 58f
- ↑ For a very detailed account of the Gaveston conflict, see Weir, pp. 29–68
- ↑ Weir, pp. 94f and 96ff
- ↑ For a more detailed account of Isabelle's everyday way of life between 1312 and 1322, see Weir, pp. 68–90
- ↑ Weir, pp. 117f
- ↑ Krieger, p. 176
- ^ Weir, p. 132
- ↑ Weir, pp. 133-135
- ↑ a b J. R. Maddicott: Isabella of France, Queen of England , Sp 668th.
| predecessor | Office | Successor |
|---|---|---|
| Margaret of France |
Queen Consort of England 1308-1327 |
Philippa of Hainaut |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Isabelle de France |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Isabella of France; She-wolf of France; Isabella of France |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Princess of France and wife of King Edward II. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1295 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 22, 1358 |
| Place of death | Hertford , Hertfordshire |