Product Description

In Newgate Street, in the city of London, once stood the magnificent church of a Franciscan monastery. Entirely paved with marble, this royal mausoleum, built in the 14th century, was set to rival Westminster Abbey. Among the many crowned heads buried, there was Isabella of France, Edward II's queen - one of the most notorious femme fatales in history. Today, according to popular legend, Isabella's angry ghost can be glimpsed among the church ruins, clutching the beating heart of her murdered husband. It's also said that her maniacal laughter can be heard on stormy nights at Castle Rising in Norfolk. In literature, she has fared no better. Christopher Marlowe's 'unnatural Queen, false Isabel' has also been described as 'a woman of evil character, a notorious schemer', and as the 'She-Wolf of France'. Tragic, cruel, tormented: how did Isabella acquire such a reputation? Isabella was born in 1292, the daughter of Philip IV of France and sister to three future French kings. A pawn in the game of international politics, she was married at the age of twelve to Edward II of England. And, so began a public and private life more turbulent and eventful than any heroine - or anti-heroine - of fiction. Isabella lived through a long period of Civil War. She bore Edward four children, but was constantly humiliated by his relationships with male favourites. Although she is known to have lived adulterously with Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, accusations of murder and regicide remain unsubstantiated. Had it not been for her unfaithfulness, history may have immortalised her as a liberator - the saviour who unshackled England from a weak and vicious monarch. Dramatic and startling, this first full-length biography of Isabella will change the way we think of her and her world, for ever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52164 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-06
• Released on: 2006-07-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Irish Times
‘pierces the veil of history with scholarly precision…A serious
rendering of a sensational life.’

From the Publisher
The first full-length biography of a much maligned - but astonishingly colourful - Queen of England.

About the Author
Alison Weir lives and works in Surrey. Her books include Britain's Royal Families, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Children of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry VIII: King and Court and most recently, Mary, Queen of Scots.

Customer Reviews

A book not to be missed
"She-wolf of France, but worse than wolves of France, whose tongue more poisons than the adder' s tooth! How ill-beseeming is it in thy sex to triumph, like an Amazoninan trull.." not my words but those of William Shakespeare in his "King Henry the Sixth".

Well, that sums up the reputation of Queen Isabella. And at first glance the reputation seems to be justified: a Queen who takes a lover, overthrows with the lovers help her husband and king, assumes the power in the land and under her controll the husband and former king dies. Her exercise of power with her lover is quite a bad, so she gets overthrown herself and ends her days in a golden cage captivity.

Yes, all this is true but there is much more to Queen Isabella. She wasn' t always the "she-wolf" that later came to be called by a gisgruntled British populace. By all accounts she was said to be a beautifull woman, a beloved mother, a competent mediator and an accomplished diplomat.

So who was this very interesting woman?

Isabella was the daughter of Philip IV., King of France, and of his wife Joanna, Queen of Navarre in her own rights, and sister of three French kings: Louis X., Philip V. and Charles IV.. At the tender age of 12 she was married to Edward II., King of England, twice her age, very handsome and very gay. This might have been quite bad on a personal leveland might have led to just another unhappy queen of a marriage of state. However, Edward was quite an uncapable ruler, letting his favorite Piers Gaveston, raised to be Eral of Cornwall, rule the country.
Isabella - humilated as this proud royal princesss felt - remained through the various ups and downs of Edward' reign a loyal consort. England was most of the time near or in a kind of civil war due to the king's misrule. When the Despensers - now the favorites - got hold of Edward and he started to move even against his queen, deriving her of her dower lands and income, she became tired of it all. While in France she become the lover of Mortimer, one of the English exilies, and organized the overthrow of Edward and the Despensers. This was much helped by the fact that the future Edward III. was with his mother. Most English were quite happy to get rid of Edward II.. In 1327 Edward II. was either murdered or escaped from capitivity. With Edward III as nominal king, Mortimer's power through Isabella was unquestioned. However, the new regime started to abuse power and behaved as badly as the previous one of favorites. In a brazen move, the 18 year old Edward III. had Mortimer arrested and executed and started to rule himself. Isabella spend the reminder of her life in quite seclusion, but neither ignored and badly treated by her son, the King, but no politcial force any longer.

Alsion Weir manage to cut through historical myth and propaganda, paints a different picture of a woman, a princess and queen than historical reputation grants Isabella. But it is not a white wash! By far, Isabella emerges from this book not as an innocent saint who does not deserve criticism. But she is neither the "living devil".

The Times critized the book a lot, especially with regards to the fate of Edward II. and Weir's believe that he was not murdered. I
do not share this criticism. As in all of her books Weir presents all arguments, but without refraining from having an opinion herself. But by being open about other views she invites the reader to form his/her very own opinion. Yes, as a reader I want to know what the author thinks, but I do not want to manipulated. In this specific case, I appreciated Weir's opinion but I am not convinced and do not share it. But The Times is quite wrong to critize Alison Weir for it.

My expectations of this book were fully met, I enjoyed very much reading this balanced account of Isabella of France who does indeed not deserve to be called "she-wolf". Well, but I am afraid that it will stick as even Mrs. Weir's felt fit to give Isabella that "title" on the book's cover.

Without a shadow of doubt you will enjoy this book. 5 stars - whatelse!!

Don' t miss it!
"She-wolf of France, but worse than wolves of France, whose tongue more poisons than the adder' s tooth! How ill-beseeming is it in thy sex to triumph, like an Amazoninan trull.." not my words but those of William Shakespeare in his "King Henry the Sixth".

Well, that sums up the reputation of Queen Isabella. And at first glance the reputation seems to be justified: a Queen who takes a lover, overthrows with the lovers help her husband and king, assumes the power in the land and under her controll the husband and former king dies. Her exercise of power with her lover is quite as bad, so she gets overthrown herself and ends her days in a golden cage captivity.

Yes, all this is true but there is much more to Queen Isabella. She wasn' t always the "she-wolf" that later came to be called by a gisgruntled British populace. By all accounts she was said to be a beautifull woman, a beloved mother, a competent mediator and an accomplished diplomat.

So who was this very interesting woman?

Isabella was the daughter of Philip IV., King of France, and of his wife Joanna, Queen of Navarre in her own rights, and sister of three French kings: Louis X., Philip V. and Charles IV.. At the tender age of 12 she was married to Edward II., King of England, twice her age, very handsome. This might have been quite bad on a personal level and might have led to just another unhappy queen of a marriage of state. However, Edward was quite an uncapable ruler, letting his favorite Piers Gaveston, raised to be Eral of Cornwall, rule the country.
Isabella - humilated as this proud royal princesss felt - remained through the various ups and downs of Edward' reign a loyal consort. England was most of the time near or in a kind of civil war due to the king's misrule. When the Despensers - now the favorites - got hold of Edward and he started to move even against his queen, deriving her of her dower lands and income, she became tired of it all. While in France she become the lover of Mortimer, one of the English exilies, and organized the overthrow of Edward and the Despensers. This was much helped by the fact that the future Edward III. was with his mother. Most English were quite happy to get rid of Edward II.. In 1327 Edward II. was either murdered or escaped from capitivity. With Edward III as nominal king, Mortimer's power through Isabella was unquestioned. However, the new regime started to abuse power and behaved as badly as the previous one of favorites. In a brazen move, the 18 year old Edward III. had Mortimer arrested and executed and started to rule himself. Isabella spend the reminder of her life in quite seclusion, but neither ignored and badly treated by her son, the King, but no politcial force any longer.

Alsion Weir manage to cut through historical myth and propaganda, paints a different picture of a woman, a princess and queen than historical reputation grants Isabella. But it is not a white wash! By far, Isabella emerges from this book not as an innocent saint who does not deserve criticism. But she is neither the "living devil".

The Times critized the book a lot, especially with regards to the fate of Edward II. and Weir's believe that he was not murdered. I
do not share this criticism. As in all of her books Weir presents all arguments, but without refraining from having an opinion herself. But by being open about other views she invites the reader to form his/her very own opinion. Yes, as a reader I want to know what the author thinks, but I do not want to manipulated. In this specific case, I appreciated Weir's opinion but I am not convinced and do not share it. But The Times is quite wrong to critize Alison Weir for it.

My expectations of this book were fully met, I enjoyed very much reading this balanced account of Isabella of France who does indeed not deserve to be called "she-wolf". Well, but I am afraid that it will stick as even Mrs. Weir's felt fit to give Isabella that "title" on the book's cover.

Without a shadow of doubt you will enjoy this book. 5 stars - whatelse!!

A wonderful book on Isabella AND this era..
I enjoyed every single page of this book! Finally a decent, objective and thorough book on Isabella. In trying to correct the somewhat tyrannical image Isabella has been given by history Alison Weir is not overtly biased in Isabella's favour; everything she states and presents for the reader is backed up with evidence from documents, chronicles, household records and letters from the time. She also doesn't write that things DEFINITELY happened in a certain way, but presents convincing cases and evidence that suggest various events were most "likely" to have happened in a certain way.

This is the closest I've felt to knowing Isabella as the true woman she was. How she felt at becoming the young bride to the future Edward II, and how she felt at not getting the due regard her position deserved. It is a fascinating story of a woman that basically had to balance her life and actions to face each new challenge...in an age when the power a woman could wield was very limited and hidden behind other's actions.

Her relationship with Roger Mortimer is examined and provides some wonderful ideas about her mindset at that time; her time in France and leading up to and through her invasion of England and the years of her regency over her son Edward III, and how it all went very wrong.

For the first time the life of Edward II is looked at objectively too, and gives an interesting insight on the character of the man throughout the book. Along with some more convincing evidence that really does make it look as though he wasn't murdered and lived out his days as a hermit.

In conclusion, I can't praise this book enough. So many of history's myths on this woman have been proven by this book to be just that...MYTHS. The information on day to day living and culture in the 14th century was a joy to read!
I've been waiting for a good biography on Isabella for years, and here it is! 5 Stars!