Isabella II: The She-Wolf of France Edwardum occidere nolite timere bonum est (Do not be afraid to kill Edward, it is good) Born in Paris, sometime in 1295, she was the daughter of Philip IV of France and his Queen, Jeanne of Navarre. Betrothed to the future Edward II, then Prince of Wales, when still an infant, it was early rumoured that their marriage would neither be a happy nor fruitful one. Her age would seem to preclude the notion that Edward I himself took her virginity in order to ensure male issue, as has been suggested. Isabella and Edward did not in fact marry until after the old Kings death in 1308. It was first and foremost a political marriage designed to stabilise relations between England and France. Edward had no interest in his marriage and rarely, if ever, showed his wife any affection. His sexual proclivities lay elsewhere. She was humbled and humiliated time and time again as her husband took a string of, often low-born, male lovers. He doted on his favourites showering them with gifts, particularly the handsome French nobleman Piers Gaveston, and the young Hugh Dispenser. Isabella was shamed and embarrassed by her husband’s flaunting of his homosexuality, this sin against God. Despite this she did her duty and bore him four children including the future Edward III. But she seethed with anger and the desire for revenge. Possibly not as openly effeminate as he is often portrayed, Edward never troubled to hide or disguise his love of handsome young men. Tall, fair haired, and as physically impressive as his father had been, he was by all accounts brave in battle. He was, however, easily led, easily distracted, and had a low threshold of boredom. He was little interested in the minutiae of administration preferring to party. He liked to hug and kiss in public displays of affection. Isabella was disgusted by his activities. Unlike his fearsome father, who could strike terror into the hearts of all those he met, Edward II never acquired the respect of those he ruled. His reign was riven with dispute, disorder, rebellion and war. His frivolous nature, love of luxury, and open homosexuality were despised. Defeat in the Baron's War of 1311, led to his lover Gaveston being dragged from the Castle where he had taken shelter and being beheaded on Blacklow Hill. However, with Gaveston dead and the Baron's thirst for vengeance sated they lost the impetus to go on and depose Edward, who was then able to restore his authority. Only for it to be shattered once again by defeat at the hands of Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Throughout this period of instability Isabella conspired with her husband’s enemies. And it would be Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer who would bring about her husband’s downfall, not the Barons. In 1320, Edward took another lover, Hugh Dispenser the younger, on whom he lavished gifts and titles. Outraged, the Baron's once again took up arms and forced Edward to banish the Dispenser's, both father and son. But Edward soon summoned their return and this time he was determined to assert his authority once and for all. In 1322 he issued a statute revoking all ordinances that in any way limited his power. Having reasserted his power, Edward now made a fatal mistake. He had refused to pay homage to the French King for the territory of Gascony. War seemed imminent. Having only recently restored stability in his own Kingdom, and unable to depend upon the loyalty of his own nobility, Edward wished to avoid conflict at all costs. So he decided to send Isabella to negotiate a settlement (no doubt grateful to be rid of her). She by now detested her husband and his lickspittles, the Dispensers. She negotiated a settlement that favoured the French King, Charles IV, who also just happened to be her brother. Humiliated, Edward still refused to pay homage and so sent his son to do so instead. This played right into Isabella's hands. Safe in the Court of her brother and with her son, the heir to the throne, in her possession, she openly declared her liaison with Roger Mortimer, condemned her husband’s homosexuality, and declared her intention to invade England with a French army. Edward immediately demanded that the French King send her home. This Charles refused to do stating that "the Queen has come of her own will and may freely return if she wishes But if she prefers to remain, she is my sister and I refuse to expel her". Edward's authority began to unravel. His son refused to return to England deciding instead to side with his mother. Edward's brother now married Mortimer's cousin securing a family connection and the Earls began to desert their King and declare for Isabella. When the army he had ordered to gather failed to materialise it became evident that Edward II's days were numbered.
The invasion when it came was unopposed. Isabella's army though small took London. The Dispenser's were captured and brutally executed, suffering live disembowelment and castration before being decapitated; The older Dispenser being executed in Isabella's presence. It is said she looked on with some satisfaction. Edward II was imprisoned and forced to abdicate in favour of his son. But this did not answer the question of what was to be done with him. On 3 April, 1327, Edward was moved from Kenilworth to the more isolated Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire. According to Sir Thomas More what happened next was brutal and unequivocal: "On the night of 11 October, while lying on a bed (the King) was suddenly seized, and while a great mattress held him down and suffocated him, a plumbers iron, heated intensely hot, was introduced through a tube into his private parts so it burned the inner parts of his intestines." A hot rod pushed up his rectum would have represented a clean death. The insertion of a tube ensuring there would be no marks. For a Queen who had long thirsted for vengeance it would have been a deserved and appropriate death. In 1330, just three years later, when Edward III came of age, he ended the short-lived regency of Isabella and Mortimer. Almost immediately he had Mortimer executed. His mother he forced into retirement and internal exile. Though he awarded her a generous allowance and she was a frequent visitor to Court she was never again allowed to involve herself in politics or affairs of State. When she died on 22 August, 1358, she was buried in her wedding dress.