Customer Reviews

Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England

5 star:		(27)
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3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Alison Weir admits that there is so little known about these women of medieval history. The information she has to go on is very slight. In the first of her biographies which I read a couple of years ago she even admitted that there was not even a picture of Eleanor of Aquitaine available. And with Isabella, almost equal in fascination, she comes across many of the same problems. She resorts to using all information, no matter how slight to recreate Isabella's life.

She is one of the pivotal characters of British history. Married to the king she bore him 4 children before escaping to France. She returned with Roger Mortimer and together they overthrew the King and set her son on the throne.

Using things are diverse as inventories Weir has pieced together an excellent picture of life in Medieval times, and particularly that of this powerful queen.

The Macinations of court, make a disturbing read, to live in this time was to live in constant threat it seems. It is hard to imagine just how anyone survived to any age at all. Of course the strength of the barons derives from this period too.

I was a bit unsettled with her theory that Edward had survived the overthrow and lived out his life. On the other hand I have just been reading Byron Roger's book "And Audience with an Elephant" which talks about the lost children of Wales, these were children of royalty who were put into monasterys and convents by the English Kings to keep them from marrying and carrying on their royal line. They were locked up for their entire lives where they lived sometimes without even seeing the outside to 'play'. They had no contact and it was as though they were never heard from again. That Edward should disappear - rather than be murdered is not necessarily such a large step given how little we actually know.

Weir is enormously readable and if you enjoy this book read her book on Eleanor of Aquitaine as well. Weir is a consistently good writer whose books make good reading.

Queen Isabella of France, wife of Edward II, has heretofore enjoyed a very scandalous reputation. She defied convention at every turn, left her royal husband, embarked on an adulterous affaire and led an invasion force into England -- a successful invasion, the first since William the Conqueror. Her hapless and weak husband, owing all too much to homosexual favorites, famously died of a red hot poker inserted into his anus.

Alison Weir, a dedicated if pedestrian historian, has set out to redeem Isabella's reputation. Frankly, she does not quite succeed, as her tone throughout "Queen Isabella" is rather hestitant than firm in its ascertations that the Queen was as sinned against as sinning.

Still, it is a fascinating story, peopled by a rich array of characters and Weir, despite her rather dull style, does make the most of this Medieval murder mystery/romance/political thriller. Isabella may not end up any less villified, but she remains an intriguing woman of her -- and for these -- times.

I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Weir's biography of Queen Isabella and the demise of Edward II of England. Very well written, and much easier to read than Weir's earlier biography of Eleanor of Aquataine. Having said that, I found myself a bit dismayed by two things: 1. Very difficult to figure out what year events occurred; this author, like many others, wrote entire chapters which gave months & days, but I found myself going back in the narrative repetitively to try and determine the year...and 2. Clearly Ms. Weir's purpose was to do her best to absolve Isabella of Edward II's death! She tries very hard to make a case that Edward was in fact not killed at Berkeley Castle, but rather escaped and lived the rest of his life in exile, primarily in Italy. I found this hard to believe, and the evidence to that effect a bit lacking. One situation which really caught my eye was Weir's statement that Edward's body (or that of a substitute if he in fact was not killed but escaped?) was IMMEDIATELY embalmed and completely wrapped in waxed "cerecloth" after his death in October, 1327. The body was then kept at Berkeley until December when it was released to the Abbot of Gloucester to be buried in St. Peter's Abbey, Gloucester...at which time "the corpse had been dressed in the late King's coronation robes, including his shirt, coif, and gloves...". I found myself wondering how they "dressed" a body that was COMPLETELY wrapped in waxed cloth? Interesting! From my perspective, I don't see that Isabella needed then or now "absolution" for the death of Edward II. He was a very bad king, betrayed her repeatedly with both Gaveston and De Spenser, took away her income, seperated her from her children, etc. The way I see it, Isabella likely harbored a deadly and undying hatred for her husband, and would've wanted to ensure that, after his overthrow, he would NEVER be able to return. Nevertheless, an outstanding book and well worth the time of any reader wanting to better understand the life and times of Isabella of France and her husband, Edward II.

Alison Weir is the author of numerous biographies of the ancient kings and queens of England. Although she has written three books about Henry VIII, she specializes in the lives of female royalty ("The Life of Elizabeth I"--1998, "Eleanor of Aquitaine"--2000, and "Mary, Queen of Scots"--2002). Her latest venture in British royalty is the story of Queen Isabella's reign in the 1300's.

Like Eleanor of Aquitaine, she was of French royal stock and a child bride to King Edward II in an arranged marriage to cement a Franco-Anglo alliance. The documentation is sparse for that time period, unlike other eras in English history. Hence Ms. Weir is forced to make educated suppositions rather than interpret conflicting historical records (which in terms of Isabella's life was too few and too brief). Still she tells the tale of Isabella and of the less-than-noble men in her orbit in an entertaining fashion. Fans (and new readers) of Ms. Weir will enjoy this rather long biography (500+ pages) of betrayal, death and sex among the royal families of England and France.

Alison Weir's Queen Isabella is an excellent reminder of just how much of the history we think we know is based not on facts, but rather on someone's interpretation of the facts. Relying on the same information that Paul C. Doherty uses in his 2003 book, Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II, Weir comes to a very different conclusion about the death, possible escape, and reappearance of Edward II.

There seems to be little debate among historians that Edward II died in 1327. There is some disagreement about whether he was murdered by, in the words of author Desmond Seward, "being buggered with a red-hot poker," or if he died or was murdered in some other way. Seward, Doherty, John Gillingham, even Simon Schama, all agree that Edward died, one way or another, in 1327. But I think Weir is the first to seriously entertain the notion that Edward II escaped from imprisonment at Berkeley Castle, fled eventually to Italy, and lived out his days as a religious hermit, dying in about 1341. Gillingham addresses this possibility by playing the psychologist, declaring that the idea of the luxury-loving Edward II living in monkish solitude beggars belief. One might also wonder whether an escaped deposed king wouldn't also be quite likely to attempt a coup to regain his throne.

Other historians have discounted the Fieschi letter, which describes the escape of Edward II, by calling it a blackmail attempt on a gullible Edward III. Weir finds the letter credible, and she even thinks that the mysterious William le Galeys (William the Welshman), was probably Edward II himself, incognito in order to visit his son one final time. Other historians are more skeptical and consider William a fraud or pretender.

You may quibble with Weir about her conclusions and interpretations, but her research is thorough. She includes every detail about Isabella that is available. Sometimes it slows down the narrative, but it makes an excellent resource for anyone studying the life of Isabella. Here in one book, a researcher can find out every journey that Isabella made, every overnight stop, her household expenses, what she wore, what she ate, what she read. It's all footnoted (with footnotes in the back, not at the foot of the page), with an extensive bibliography. And if you don't mind skimming such details, or if you find them rather fascinating, Isabella's story as Weir tells it is gripping stuff.

While researching the life of Isabella, Weir found herself becoming sympathetic to the Queen, and wondered if the conventional wisdom about Isabella being the "she-wolf of France" might be exaggeration. After all, much of that reputation came from the Christopher Marlowe play about her husband, Edward II. Marlowe was a dramatist, not a historian, so maybe Isabella has been getting a bad rap all these years. As with Shakespeare's Richard III, it turns out that the real Isabella was probably not quite as storybook evil as she is remembered, but the gist of the story is true. She did turn on her husband (although not without provocation), and with her lover Roger Mortimer, overthrew Edward II in favor of their (Edward II and Isabella) son, Edward III. She probably did not have her husband killed although she very likely did have one or both of her husband's favorites, Gaveston and Despenser, executed.

If the people of England had not already been fed up with Edward II's incompetence as a ruler, and if there had not been a legitimate heir already in his teens, it seems unlikely that Isabella and Mortimer would have been able to pull off the coup. As it was, the people of England were more than ready when Edward III took charge at seventeen and ousted Mortimer and placed his mother under house arrest.

Once again, Alison Weir has written an enthusiastic and provocative biography that had me searching for more information and wondering who will be the subject of her next book.

This is the best of the Alison Weir books I have read, and the others are 5 star books as well. The beginning part develops the characters, the later part is more reportorial. Weir concludes with a summary of Isabella's role as a revolutionary.

Isabella clearly defied the narrow female role of her times, but her revolutionary role, in my view, was accidental. It was not the confiscation of land of the nobles, nor the suspension of habeas corpus that motivated her, it was the suspension of her revenues and it seems to a lesser extent, her forced separation from the crown prince.

She was clever in "networking" with the many who had grievances against Edward II, and wise in her pardoning her adversaries and paying her supporters. Weir guides us towards blaming Mortimer for the re-institution of conficatory policies. I'm not convinced. As a woman in this time, Isabella surely needed male support and advice. Perhaps he steered in the directions she wanted to go.

Medieval England is barbarous, in many ways. The descriptions of the hangings anesthetize the reader to the ultimate burial of Isabella.

There are incisive descriptions of the relationships with Scotland, France and other continental courts, and the church. These narratives contribute to making the book more than just a good read for the lay reader.

In 1308, Isabella, the twelve-year-old daughter of French King Philip IV, arrived in London to marry Prince Edward, the heir to the throne of England. The marriage was designed to secure peace between England and France, which it did--for a time.

History has not been kind to Isabella. She is notorious for betraying her husband with another man, her country through the deposition and murder of a sitting English king, and her people through her ambition and greed. In this new biography of Queen Isabella, however, Alison Weir re-examines the evidence, and tries to place the accusations against Isabella into the context of the time and place in which she lived, giving her credit where credit is due, and placing blame perhaps more fairly than ever before.

Isabella's story is one of intrigue, treachery, betrayals, and mystery. There is no doubt that she committed adultery, but her husband was suspected of having homosexual affairs, and certainly largely ignored her. Isabella did lead an invasion of England that removed her husband and placed her son on the throne, but Edward was a tyrannical king. On the question of whether Isabella murdered Edward, Weir actually posits that Edward was not murdered at all, but escaped to live out his live in secret in Italy. Perhaps the shakiest conclusion she draws in the book, but she does make a point.

History is murky, and Weir shows us many possible ways that events could have played out, so we can come as close as possible to meeting Isabella ourselves, and passing our own judgment upon her.

In her introduction, Alison Weir says "Nowadays, after decades of change in the perception of the role of women, it is possible to view Isabella in a new light: to pity her, even to respect her." Weir has done her research, thoroughly and with an eye toward a new understanding of a woman who has been tidily condemned in myth and legend.

Armchair Interviews says: Weir shows that real life and history are rarely as black and white nor as easily understood as fairy tales.

Allison Weir is an outstanding author who takes a fresh look at Queen Isabella. She paints a picture of a woman who takes on the debauchery and misrule of Edward II and his consorts, and saves England from tyranny. Not only does Weir provide a convincing argument that Isabella was a strong and intelligent ruler, she also shows evidence that Isabella was compassionate and spiritual. Isabella did what needed to be done in a time when women were easily pushed aside simply because of their gender.

Weir's writing style is entertaining and fact filled. Few historical writers can write a "page turner" with the same style as Weir. She brings the characters to life and has the reader cheering the heros or condemning the villian along with her, only to later realize that virtually no one is immune from the pull of power and riches.

This book left me with the satisfaction that Frodo Lives! Yes, I'm convinced by Weir's argument that the death of Edward II was one of politic's first great "spins".

I'm looking forward to my next Allison Weir read.

Alison Weir who managed to rehabiliated Mary,Queen of Scots from charges of murdering her husband, does it once again for Isabella who spent much of history as a fellow murderer of her husband, Edward II. Alison Weir wrote a highly entertaining, interesting and well researched book on Queen Isabella's life and deeds.

Alison Weir make a pretty strong and williful case for Isabella. History haven't been kind to this wife of Edward II and Weir audaciously tried to portaryed Isabella in a positive light whenever and whereever possible. The key element of her effort to exonerate Isabella from her most henious crime, murdering her husband, Edward II, Weir emphasized strongly the Fieschi letter which explained how Edward II escaped from his captivity and lived as a hermit-monk until his more peaceful death (instead of the red hot poker type). Much of the Fieschi letter and other elements around it appears to be highly speculative in nature and it can be twisted in almost any direction you want. Weir twisted it in her favor and perception of Isabella's exoneration.

The book read well and most readers should be convinced in Weir's favor. My only complaint would be that Weir goes out of her way to soft-pedal Isabella's numerous sins and her failure to see that politics may have something to do with Edward III's correct behavior toward his mother after the fall of Mortimer. Some readers will find some of Weir's explanations to be bit too incredulous and speculative.

Weir with all her efforts, still can't explained the fact away that Isabella, by all logic, committed adultery with a King's enemy,committed treason, broken her marriage vows and was a tyrant, spendthrift and betrayer of her son's legacy. Blaming it all on her lover, Mortimer is a cheap way to go.

Overall though, this is a great reading book, probably geared mostly toward readers who have a good background on English history of this period to be effective. I would highly recommended this book since it does opened out new territory. Believed it or not is up to the reader.

After completing this biography, one can get the sense that Weir obviously enjoyed the subject matter and has some definite opinions regarding Queen Isabella. However, while her arguments regarding Isabella as a negotiator are compelling, she tends to back away from the "ugly" side of Isabella's relationship with the man that helped her to bring down the king, her lover, Roger Mortimer. Yes, Isabella's adulterous affair might be less criticized today, but this queen allowed herself to be taken over by Mortimer. Weir does not address this issue head on, and seemingly backs away from being critical of her subject. The book as a whole is very interesting, written almost like a novel, but it is at the end, when examining the end result of Isabella's affair, that one can see that Weir does not want to criticize her hero. Having sympathy for one's subject is one thing, but she loses her objectivity at the end.