Isabella of France was born in 1292. She was the third and last of the daughters of King Philip IV of France and Queen Joanna of Navarre, was the sister of King Louis X, Philip V and Charles IV. Her English contemporaries call it "The She Wolf of France".
She married King Edward II of England, after arduous negotiations that lasted nearly 10 years, in the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, on January 25, 1308.
Since coming to the English court Isabel was celebrated for her beauty. It was described as "the fairest of the fair ... in the kingdom but perhaps in all of Europe." However, her beauty did not attract enough her husband, who preferred the company of his favorite, Piers Gaveston.
Despite all the royal couple had 4 children:
- Edward III of England.
- John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall.
- Eleanor, Countess of Guelders.
- Joanna of England, Queen of Scots.
Over the years, the king leaned more toward his favorite, Piers Gaveston and Despenser, relegating the queen. On one occasion, he came to leave his fate in the dangerous town of Tynemouth, in Scotland. Miraculously, Isabel escaped the army of Robert Bruce and reach the English coast.
The queen despised above all Hugh Despenser the Younger among all her husband's favorite. In 1321, while she was pregnant with her youngest child, Elizabeth begged dramatically to banish forever the kingdom to the family Despenser. The king obeyed and exiled, but that same year Despenser reinstated in court. This eventually return to the queen totally against him. Isabel helped Sir Roger Mortimer, Baron of Wigmore, to escape from the Tower of London, where the king had imprisoned for opposing Despenser.
Eager to escape her husband, Elizabeth found the perfect opportunity when King Charles IV of France, the third of her brothers-ceded to his brother Edward II of England his French possessions: the duchies of Aquitaine and Guyenne. The queen offered to go to France to secure peace between the two nations. There he was reunited with Mortimer, becoming his lover. Aware of this, the English king demanded the return of his wife, but King Charles IV of France refused to evict her sister in France.
Isabella and Roger Mortimer left the French court in 1326. Marched to the court of Count William of Hainault, whose wife was a cousin of Elizabeth. The Count of Hainault gave the armed assistance they needed, in exchange for his daughter Philippa commitment to the future King Edward III.
That same year, Isabella and Mortimer, commanding their mercenary army, reached the coast of Suffolk. Edward II offered a generous bounty on the heads of both, but all was lost to him. His allies abandoned him, the Despensers were killed and finally the king was captured and forced to abdicate in favor of his son in January 1327. In September of that same year the old king was murdered in Berkeley Castle, by order of the Queen and Mortimer.
Young Edward III was crowned king a few months later. From that moment, Isabella ruled as queen regent, together with her lover Mortimer. But the new king forgave Mortimer not have made his mother's lover, she took control of the government and overtook him in 1330. Despite the entreaties and tears of life Isabella by her lover, Mortimer was tried for treason and hanged. Unfortunate to lose her love and the son was expected of him, Isabella, now Queen Mother, retired from the court to live in a self-banishment.
Isabella was confined in the castle of Hereford, in Roseing, where she died after taking clarisa nun's habit, the August 22, 1358, at 67 years of age. She was buried in the Franciscan Church of Newgate.
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