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

by Alison Weir

  His marriage to Philippa of Hainault was enduringly happy, and the couple produced thirteen children. Edward was fortunate in that Philippa turned a blind eye to his many infidelities, for he was unable to control “the dissolute lusts of the flesh.”53 It is unfair to speculate that he inherited his sensual bent from Isabella, since many of his royal forebears were as promiscuous as he.

  Edward put an end to the factional fighting that had so long dominated English politics, and unified his realm. By creating his sons dukes and marrying them into the great aristocratic families, he identified the interests of the nobility with those of the monarchy. He also ensured that the martial instincts of the baronage were channeled into a popular war. The military victories he won during that war restored the prestige of the monarchy and assured Edward of great popularity and renown. He established a famously brilliant court and raised the cult of chivalry to an art form. When he died in 1377, the epitaph on his tomb in Westminster Abbey described him as “the glory of the English, the flower of kings past, the pattern for kings to come.” Isabella had given England a ruler to be proud of.

  After the removal of Mortimer, Edward could afford to be tolerant and conciliatory. There was no purge of those who had supported Isabella and Mortimer. Bishops were left in their sees. Airmyn was appointed Treasurer in February 1331 and would hold the post for a year. He died in 1336. Bartholemew, Lord Burghersh, became one of the King’s chief advisers and helped administer Isabella’s dower lands in Ponthieu. Richard FitzAlan was restored to the earldom of Arundel. Hugh de Audley was created Earl of Gloucester.

  Although Lancaster largely retired from public life in the 1330s, he remained in favor with the King until his death in 1345. In 1359, his granddaughter and heiress, Blanche of Lancaster, would marry Edward’s fourth son, John of Gaunt, who thereby became Duke of Lancaster. In 1399, their son, Henry IV, became the first sovereign of the House of Lancaster.

  Edward took measures to reverse the injustices of the previous regime. He promised his people that, in future, he would rule his realm with the advice of the council of magnates. He removed corrupt sheriffs and officials and dealt with complaints against them. In January 1332, in order to prevent an avalanche of disputes over land and titles, the King declared that the validity of a grant could not be questioned on the grounds that it had been made in the time of evil counselors.54

  Before long, Edward had reestablished the authority and standing of the Crown, enlisted the support of the barons, and made foreign alliances that would lead to greater prosperity.

  Edward was still anxious to get his hands on the men he believed to be his father’s murderers and had paid a secret agent, Giles of Spain, to search for them. Ockle proved impossible to track down, having disappeared without trace, but before 20 May 1331, Giles had reported that Thomas Gurney was in Castile. Edward immediately requested King Alfonso XI to have Gurney arrested and sent warrants and letters of protection to ensure his safe passage. Alfonso complied, and when he received news of Gurney’s arrest in Burgos, Edward rewarded both the captor and the messenger handsomely. Giles of Spain took Gurney in custody to Bayonne in Gascony, where, on the specific orders of the King, they were to board a ship bound for England. But Gurney gave his custodian the slip and disappeared.55 On 17 June, Giles turned up at Dover without his prisoner and presented his bill for 372 days spent in pursuing him. Clearly, he was attempting to cheat the King, for Gurney had been out of England for only six or seven months.56

  Edward III’s treatment of the Mortimer family was just. In October 1331, Wigmore and other lordships were restored to Roger’s eldest surviving son, Edmund. The following month, Roger’s widow was given license to move his body to Wigmore Abbey, to lie with those of his ancestors; although there have been claims that it was moved to Wigmore or Shrewsbury,57 recent research suggests that it remained undisturbed at Coventry.58 Edmund Mortimer died of a fever on 16 December, leaving a three-year-old son, Roger, as his heir.

  During the remaining years of her life, we only have occasional glimpses of Isabella in contemporary sources. She was not present, nor was Edward III, when, on 24 November 1331, King David II of Scotland and Queen Joan were crowned at Scone Abbey.

  In January 1332, Isabella wrote “to her very dear sovereign lord the King” to inquire about two of the grants that he had made to her in December 1330. The manor of Bristlesham in Berkshire had turned out to belong to Alice de Lacy, Countess of Lincoln, and the rents of the town of Derby were swallowed up in an annuity to one Edward Chandos. Naturally, Isabella wanted compensation; clearly, she was in full possession of all her faculties. “As his dearest mother had surrendered her dower into his hands,” the King assigned her other lands to the value of the Derby rents and persuaded Alice de Lacy to surrender Bristlesham in return for another manor. Edward also assigned to Isabella “divers other castles and lands, to the amount of £2,000.”59 With an income of £5,000 a year, more than her original dower as Queen Consort, Isabella could live very comfortably.

  In March 1332, Queen Philippa bore a daughter, who was named Isabella in honor of the Queen Mother. This suggests that a conscious effort was being made to rehabilitate Isabella and also that Edward was anxious for harmonious relations with his mother.

  Certainly, by March 1332, Isabella had been permitted to leave Windsor and had regained a degree of freedom, for that month, the constable of Windsor Castle secured the payment of “expenses incurred by him in safe-keeping Queen Isabella in that castle for some time, by the King’s order.”60 At Easter, she was with the court when it stayed for ten days at Peterborough Abbey.

  She may also have been involved in preparations for the wedding of her elder daughter, Eleanor, now nearly fourteen, who married Reginald II, Duke of Gueldres, at Nijmegen in May 1332. The marriage had been arranged by Isabella’s cousin, the Countess of Hainault, but the auguries for the future were not good. Reginald, a widower, was dark of coloring and character. He had seized power from his feebleminded father and imprisoned him for six years.

  Isabella’s hand may perhaps be detected in the trousseau that was prepared for Eleanor. The Princess’s wedding gown was of Spanish cloth of gold embroidered with brilliant silks and was worn with a crimson velvet mantle and a white lawn veil. When she sailed from Sandwich, she took with her caps, gloves, shoes of Cordoba leather, a bed hung with green velvet and silk curtains, rare spices, and loaves of sugar and traveled in a painted chariot upholstered in purple velvet and decorated with gold stars.

  The new Duchess was well received by her husband’s subjects. She bore him two sons, Reginald and Edward, who succeeded him in turn. But the catastrophic events of her unhappy childhood had left her nervous and overeager to please, and Reginald soon tired of her. In 1338, he sent her from court, pretended she had leprosy, and attempted to have the marriage annulled so that he could take another wife. Eleanor now proved that she had something of her mother’s spirit: she turned up at Reginald’s palace in Nijmegen and, before the whole court, removed her cloak; beneath it, she was either completely naked, according to some chroniclers, or was wearing only a diaphanous shift that left little to the imagination. Either way, everyone could see that there were no signs of leprosy on her body. Reginald had to take her back, and they remained together until he died after a fall from his horse in 1343.

  After Eleanor’s departure, Isabella probably took up residence at Castle Rising in Norfolk, a place indelibly associated with her, and the setting for most of her legends. The fact that Sir John de Moleyns was appointed her steward there indicates that she was still under the King’s supervision, as does the fact that, in 1332, she was given permission to dwell at Eltham Palace, which was restored to her in November of that year, “whenever her health required a change of air.”61 Isabella cannot have relished Moleyns’s presence, since it was he who had arrested Mortimer. However, he must have been absent for much of the time, since he was often in attendance on the King or serving abroad, and in 1340, he was dismissed from a
ll his offices and imprisoned for acts of oppression and for failing to supply money he had promised to lend the King.62

  Castle Rising was Isabella’s own property, purchased in 1327. Built by William d’Albini, Earl of Arundel, the husband of Henry I’s widow, Adeliza of Louvain, around 1150, it was a fine example of a Norman fortress, with a massive square keep that stood fifty feet high and boasted walls three yards thick decorated with Romanesque arcading, and doors with chevron decoration. The keep was surrounded by a deep ditch and massive ramparts, on which stood a stout curtain wall with three towers. It was not only a secure residence but also afforded complete privacy.

  The castle was approached through a gateway protected by a portcullis, then entered by a processional stair enclosed by a richly sculpted wall. A passage led from the vaulted vestibule to the chapel. Inside the keep was a great hall; a great chamber, probably for the Queen’s private use; the chapel; a kitchen; and a dungeon. In the basement were storerooms. Passages had been cut into the thickness of the walls, while garderobes were set into mural recesses. The castle kitchen was too small to cater for a household as large as Isabella’s, so another was built outside in the bailey. The chapel, already described, was magnificently furnished.

  Isabella’s private lodgings were not in the castle itself but in a range of half-timbered buildings that were squeezed into the southern area of the narrow bailey. Their foundations were discovered in the late twentieth century. Isabella’s private chambers were laid with black carpets and hung with painted cloths. She maintained a small library, and her Household Book records the constant preparation of parchment and vellum for it.63

  At Castle Rising, Isabella maintained a considerable degree of state and lived a life of affluent leisure, passing her time “quite comfortably.”64 She had her own steward, treasurer, seneschal, falcon-bearer (William of Lakenham), surgeon (Master Lawrence), knights, huntsmen, grooms of the stable, thirty-three clerks and squires, eight ladies of her chamber, several damsels, and many menial servants.65

  Isabella entertained regularly. Edward III visited her two or three times a year,66 sometimes accompanied by Queen Philippa and Prince Edward. When the King came to stay, his household lodged nearby at a place called Thorndenes, which cannot now be identified, and he or his nobles brought with them troupes of minstrels to entertain the company. At other times, Edward kept in touch with Isabella by letter and sent her choice delicacies, such as fresh game, wild boar, a falcon, a pair of lovebirds, pipe after pipe of Gascon wine, and barrels of sturgeon.

  The burghers of nearby Bishop’s (now King’s) Lynn were often called upon to supply the Queen Mother with delicacies, at their own cost, which suggests that Isabella’s rapacious instincts were still lively. These gifts included wine, meat, swans, barrels of sturgeon, turbot, herrings, lampreys, bread, barley, and candle wax, some of which were transported by her servant, Pierrot. In 1334, the Queen sent to Lynn for eight carpenters to make preparations for the coming visit of the King and Prince Edward. She also received a quarter of the customs dues at the port of Lynn. Relations between Castle Rising and Lynn were not always cordial, and quarrels frequently broke out between the townsfolk and the Queen’s numerous retainers.67 One can sense that the good burghers were sometimes relieved to learn that the Queen Mother had gone to stay elsewhere.

  In retirement, Isabella spent much of her time hunting; hawking; reading the romances of which she was so fond; listening to the music of her minstrels; collecting religious relics, such as a ring made by Saint Dunstan; and looking to the salvation of her soul.68 She owned casket-loads of jewels, singing birds, and many precious falcons.69 After a time, her movements were not restricted, and starting in 1332, she made several pilgrimages to the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk.70 She also went to stay at other houses, such as Eltham Palace and Havering-atte-Bower, although she was rarely seen in London. Never again did she give any cause for scandal. Her rehabilitation was complete when orders were given that she was to be regularly prayed for after the King and Queen in church services throughout the kingdom.

  To begin with, at Castle Rising, Isabella still had a physician in regular attendance. Master Pontio de Courtrone had formerly been on Edward II’s medical staff, and the King had assigned him to look after Isabella. But in 1333, he was pensioned off with £100 a year, which the bailiffs of Norwich were ordered to deliver at Easter and Michaelmas, “for as long as he lives, for his great services to the Queen Mother.”71 We may perhaps conclude that Isabella had now recovered from whatever ailment had troubled her.

  Clearly, she was more than able to look after her affairs. When the lieges of her forest of Macclesfield notified the King that the local bailiffs were killing her venison and destroying her wood, Edward replied, “Let this petition be shown to the Queen, that her advice may be learned thereon.”72 And when it came to recovering money owed to her administration, he referred his council to her for advice. Her name appears frequently as a witness to state documents, and in 1337, the King gave her permission to dispose of her goods by will and leave them to whomever she chose. In 1348, she was quick to defend her interests by urging that her stewards should sit on judicial commissions “to save and maintain our right and that which pertains to us.”73 None of these are the actions of a woman who was in the relentless throes of a mental illness.

  Edward had not ceased to hunt for his father’s assassins. In December 1332, Gurney was again tracked down and arrested by a royal agent, this time in Naples, and a Yorkshire baron, William, Lord Thweng, was sent to escort him back to England. On 13 February, Edward III sent Bernard de Pynsole with a ship to Bayonne to bring Thweng and Gurney back to England.74 But Gurney fell ill on the long trek north through Italy. Thweng did everything he could for him, purchased clothes, shoes, and a comfortable bed, and paid two physicians to save him, but he died in prison in Bayonne, taking his secrets with him.75 Murimuth, Baker, and Walsingham all claim, incorrectly, that he was beheaded at sea to prevent him from incriminating “the magnates, priests and other nobles.”

  The King had offered a reward for Gurney alive or dead, so Thweng had the body embalmed and sailed back to Tynemouth with it, landing early in July. Its place of burial is unknown, but Thweng rode north to report to Edward at Berwick, taking with him his escort of thirty men and some of the sailors who had manned the ship, presumably so that they could corroborate his story. He met with the King on 6 July and stayed for thirteen days.76

  Why did Edward III go to such lengths to track down his father’s reputed assassin? It was probably because Edward believed that Gurney was one of the men who had actually carried out the murder and could reveal to him the names, and perhaps the whereabouts, of the others involved and the circumstances in which the murder had taken place. He could also corroborate or dispute Berkeley’s story. For this reason, Edward wanted to question him before ensuring that he received his just punishment.

  During 1333, the King paid Simon de Bury, Master of the King’s Scholars at Cambridge, £10 in compensation for the books that Edward II had given them, which had been confiscated by Isabella.77

  In October that year, Edward led an English army to victory over the Scots at the Battle of Halidon Hill. Isabella’s younger son, John of Eltham, now seventeen, commanded the first division. After the battle, David II and Queen Joan were sent by the anxious Scottish lords to France, where Philip VI gave them a safe refuge at Château Gaillard in Normandy. It was here, in 1315, that Marguerite of Burgundy had been murdered. David and Joan were to remain there for the next seven years, while Scotland was governed by regents.78

  On 1 December, after bringing pressure to bear on the Pope, Adam Orleton was translated from Worcester to Winchester, the wealthiest see in England. Edward III was furious and had Orleton charged with complicity in the murder of Edward II. The Bishop protested his innocence, and as there was no evidence to convict him, he was acquitted79 and later received back into favor. After distinguishing himself as a diplomat, he went blind
and died in 1345.

  In March 1334, Sir John Maltravers wrote to Edward III from exile in Flanders, informing him that he was in possession of sensitive information about the “honour, estate and well-being of the realm.” Edward sent William de Montagu to see Maltravers and hear what he had to say, and it is likely that Maltravers confessed to him what had really happened at Berkeley in 1327.80 This tied in with what Berkeley had told Parliament, but there was no proof of its being true, and if Edward II had escaped, where was he now? No one knew, so the matter was left well alone.

  In June 1334, Isabella traveled north with King Edward, Queen Philippa, and the rest of the court to Durham Castle to attend a feast to celebrate Richard de Bury’s enthronement as Bishop of Durham. Among the huge concourse of guests were Archbishops Stratford and Melton, five bishops, seven earls, numerous northern barons, and the commons of Durham. Among the mountains of food consumed were 2,300 herring, 1,100 eggs, fifteen piglets, and a porpoise.

  In October, John of Eltham was granted a dispensation to marry the Infanta Maria, daughter of Ferdinand IV, King of Castile; the marriage never took place because Maria died soon afterward.

  On 2 May 1336, Edward III granted a petition made by Mortimer’s widow for restitution of her lands in Ireland. On 4 July, he paid compensation to the Genoese for the ship and goods seized by Despenser during his pirating days. This may have been prompted by his having received the first information about his father’s survival from Nicolinus de Fieschi, who brought Edward letters in July 1336 and was rewarded with the hefty sum of 8,000 marks. This probably marks the beginning of Edward’s dealings with the Fieschis that were to lead to Edward II’s being confirmed the following spring. The theory supports the contention that the earliest date on which the Fieschi letter could have been written was early in 1336. It is more likely to have been the final letter connected with this matter and to have been written early in 1337.