Queen Isabella

by Alison Weir

  Fair son, if thus you have done, you have acted wisely and well and according to your duty, so as to have grace of God, of us and all men; and if not, then you cannot avoid the wrath of God, the reproach of men and our great indignation, for we charged you so lately and so strictly that you should remember well these things, and that you should by no means marry, nor suffer yourself to be married, without our previous consent and advice; for no other thing that you could do would occasion greater injury and pain of heart to us.

  And inasmuch it seems, as you say, you cannot return to us because of your mother, it causes us great uneasiness of heart that you cannot be allowed by her to do that which is your natural duty, the neglect of which will lead to much mischief. Fair son, you know how dearly she would have been loved and cherished if she had timely come, according to her duty, to her lord. We have knowledge of much of her evil doings, to our sorrow; how that she devises pretences for absenting herself from us on account of our dear and faithful nephew, Hugh le Despenser, who has always so well and loyally served us, while you and all the world have seen that she openly and notoriously, and knowing it to be contrary to her duty, and against the welfare of our crown, has attached to herself and retains in her company the Mortimer, our traitor and mortal foe, proved, attainted and adjudged; and him she accompanies in the house and abroad, despite of us and our crown and of the right ordering of the realm—him, the malefactor whom our beloved brother, the King of France, at our request, banished from his dominions as our enemy. And worse than this, if worse than this can be, she has done in allowing you to consort with our said enemy, making him your counsellor, and you openly to associate and herd with him, in the sight of all the world, doing so great a villainy and dishonour, both to yourself and to us, to the prejudice of our crown and of the laws and customs of our realm, which you are supremely bound to hold, preserve and maintain. Wherefore, fair son, desist you from a part which is so shameful, and may be to you perilous and injurious in too many ways.

  We are not pleased with you, and neither for your mother nor for any other ought you to displease us. We charge you, by the faith, love and allegiance which you owe to us, and on our blessing, that you come to us without opposition, delay or further excuse. For your mother has written to us that, if you wish to return to us, she will not prevent it, and we do not understand that your uncle the King detains you against the form of your safe-conduct. In no manner, then, either for your mother, or to go to the duchy, nor for any other cause, delay to come to us. Our commands are for your good and for your honour, by the help of God. Come quickly, then, without further excuses, if you would have our blessing, and avoid our reproach and indignation.

  Fair son, trespass not against our commands, for we hear much that you have done of things you ought not.

  Given at Lichfield, the 18th day of March.142

  The King also wrote again to Charles IV, reiterating much of what he had said in the past: he evidently believed that constant repetition would make it the truer, but in fact, he was protesting rather too much to be convincing. The knowledge of his wife’s adultery gave him all the more reason to occupy the high moral ground and take the stance of a wounded and wronged husband; Charles, however, would have known that this was a gross perversion of the truth. He would not, however, have been pleased to read the final passages of the letter, in which Edward implies that Charles has been remiss in not chastising his sister and that this matter reflects on his honor. The King wrote:

  Dearest brother, we have considered well your letter wherein you signify that you have spoken with good diligence to your sister touching the things of which we have replied to you, and that she has told you that it is her desire to be with us and in our company, as a good wife ought to be in that of her lord, and that the friendship between her and our dear and faithful nephew, Hugh le Despenser, was but feigned on her part because she saw it was expedient for her support in past time, and to secure herself from worse treatment. Certes, dearest brother, if she loved us, she would desire to be in our company, as she has said. She who ought to be the mediatrix between you and us of entire and lasting peace should not be the cause of stirring up fresh strife, as she has done, when she was sent to nourish peace and love between you and us, which we intended in all good faith when we sent her to you. But the thought of her heart was to devise that pretence for withdrawing from us. We have already shown you that what she has told you is, saving your reverence, not the truth, for never (so much as she has done against us) has she received either villainy or evil from us or from any other. Neither has she had any occasion for feints to support herself in times past, nor to escape from worse; for never, in the slightest instance, has evil been done to her by him. And since she has departed from us and come to you, what has compelled her to send to Hugh letters of such great and especial amity as she has been pleased to do from time to time?

  But truly, dearest brother, it must be as apparent to you as to us and to all men, that she does not love us as she ought to love her lord, and the cause why she had spoken falsehoods of our nephew and withdrawn herself from us proceeds, according to my thoughts, from a disordered will, when she so openly, notoriously and knowingly against her duty keeps in her company the Mortimer. If you wished her well, dearest brother, you would chastise her for this misconduct and make her demean herself as she ought, for the honour of all those to whom she belongs.

  Then our son, dearest brother, is made also by his mother, your sister, the companion of our said traitor and foe, who is his counsellor in delaying his return in our despite. We entreat you to restore our son, who is of too tender an age to guide and govern himself, and therefore ought to be under our paternal care, to the duchy. And that you will be pleased to do these things, dearest brother, for the sake of God, reason, good faith and natural fraternity, without paying regard to the wilful pleasure of a woman, is our desire.

  Given at Lichfield, the 18th of March.143

  Prince Edward was surely disturbed when he read his father’s letter, which must have left him in little doubt—if he were not already aware—of the nature of his mother’s relationship with Mortimer. He wrote back protesting that he was indeed bearing in mind the things with which the King had charged him at Dover and that he had not transgressed his commands in any point that was in his power to avoid.144 But clearly, there was much that he could not avoid, such as the company and advice of Mortimer, the whispers about that man and his mother, and the fact that both were using him as a bargaining counter and making him set his signature to documents concerning Gascony without reference to his father. Yet his father apparently expected him to surmount these obstacles, defy his mother, take the initiative, and return on his own to England.

  Persisting in his efforts to gain the support of the French nobility, Edward wrote to Philip, Count of Valois, heir of the late Charles of Valois, asserting that Isabella’s complaints about Despenser were but a pretense:

  When the King sent to seek her, she then showed the feigned matter for the first time, which was never heard or suspected by anyone, unless by her: wherefore, the matters being considered, one ought not to give faith to such feigned invention against the truth. But indeed, the King fully perceives, as the King of France and everybody may, that she does not love the King as she ought to love her lord, and that the matter that she speaks of the King’s said nephew [Despenser], for which she withdraws herself from the King, is feigned and is not certain, but the King thinks it must be of inordinate will when she, so openly and notoriously, knowingly, against her duty and the estate of the King’s crown, which she is bound to love, has drawn to her and retains in her company of her council the King’s traitor and mortal enemy, the Mortimer, and others of his conspiracy, and keeps his company in and out of the house, which evil-doer the King of France banished from his power at another time as the King’s enemy, by virtue of the alliance between his and the King’s ancestors.145

  Edward is here obviously implying that Charles should banish Mor
timer again!

  On 24 March, the King confiscated Richmond’s lands and also those of John, Lord Cromwell, who, he had heard, had offered his sword to Mortimer. Another who refused to obey Edward’s commands to return was Thomas, Lord Wake, Kent’s brother-in-law and Isabella’s former ward.146

  In April, Edward was forced to admit to the King of Portugal that he could not at present continue with negotiations for his son’s marriage.147 On 15 April, he wrote to the Pope, defending his own conduct in respect of Isabella and the nuncios and appealing for support; he had, he protested, done everything in his power to bring the Queen home and had not intended any ill toward her.

  And as for our said son, indeed, he has not offended us, nor does his youth allow either that he could do any harm, or that it should be imputed to him. Wherefore it would be inhuman and unnatural to treat them with so much rage and cruelty.148

  He may well have enclosed a bribe, because on 1 May, John XXII replied to Edward, thanking him for his gift of 5,000 florins. (On 21 June, the Pope would thank Stapledon for another monetary gift, which was probably another bribe149.) But John XXII proved impervious to bribes. He sent again to Despenser, reminding him to continue his good offices to promote agreement between the King and Queen,150 an injunction that Despenser ignored. Meanwhile, on 18 April, Edward had publicly condemned those who were spreading malicious gossip and thus prejudicing the success of the nuncios’ mission.151 He had the Archbishop of Canterbury offer up prayers for the Queen’s safe return and the clergy deliver sermons emphasizing that the King had not banished his wife and son and was not threatening the nuncios.152 On 2 May, Bishop Stapledon was commanded to strengthen the defenses of the realm against the expected invasion.

  On Whitsunday, 11 May, Jeanne of Evreux was crowned Queen of France at the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. Isabella and her son were present as guests of honor, while Mortimer was given the honor of carrying the Prince’s robes.153

  On 19 May, Edward ordered that elaborate preparations be made for the reception of the papal envoys,154 who arrived at Dover soon afterward and rode to Saltwood Castle in Kent to meet with the King and Despenser. No one else was permitted to be present, and the Archbishop and his entire episcopate were banned from even entering Kent and making contact with the nuncios.155 In this atmosphere of paranoid secrecy, the nuncios laid before Edward the Queen’s proposals for a reconciliation and asked him to pardon Richmond and Cromwell and permit their return.

  Edward was in frequent communication with the Pope at this time, and in May, he sent to Avignon a messenger called William Weston, whose mission was probably connected with the reconciliation process. After speaking with Weston, the Pope made a point of speedily informing Isabella that Weston had said nothing derogatory concerning her,156 which suggests she had rather feared he would.

  In June, the King ordered an investigation into illicit meetings in East Anglia. These may have had some connection with the projected invasion, for Mortimer’s plan had all along been to land in East Anglia.

  On 6 June, at the intercession of the Bishop of Orange, Edward agreed to pardon Cromwell on condition that he return within two weeks.157 Richmond, however, was another matter: he had consistently refused to obey Edward’s summonses and, as Edward informed the Pope on 18 June, was still in France conspiring with his enemies.158

  By 10 June, it was clear that the nuncios’ mission had failed; as Isabella had no doubt anticipated, neither Edward nor Despenser would agree to the latter’s withdrawing permanently from court. This meant that, effectively, her marriage had irretrievably broken down and that, if she wished to get rid of the Despensers, she would now have to use force. On the tenth, Edward wrote to the Pope, but his letter contained nothing about the reconciliation proposals. It was left to the envoys, who departed from England the next day, to explain the disappointing outcome of the talks to the Pope.159

  Isabella was still in Paris on 10 June, when she commissioned her proctors to meet with a delegation from Ponthieu, who had been summoned to discuss raising money so that the Queen could hire ships in Hainault and buy provisions.160 Negotiations with Hainault must therefore have been resumed; clearly, Isabella was not prepared to wait until the outcome of the nuncios’ visit to England was known but was pressing on with her plans for the invasion.

  On 15 June, Edward and Despenser visited Rochester,161 where, in a long discussion with the Bishop, Hamo de Hethe (which was reported verbatim by an eyewitness, William Dene), they revealed something of what had gone on at Saltwood. The Bishop inquired as to how the talks had progressed, whereat Despenser angrily remarked that the Queen should return home forthwith and that she had no right to demand his withdrawal from court or to ask for sworn guarantees regarding her status. He added that she would have returned a long time ago but had been prevented from doing so, not by himself but by Mortimer, who had threatened to kill her if she returned to England.162 This information almost certainly came from the nuncios, who would probably have witnessed Mortimer’s outburst in March.

  Edward reminded Hethe of the example of a notorious Saxon Queen, Eadburh, the wife of Beorhtric, King of Wessex; she had been a cruel, domineering woman who undermined her husband’s regal standing and, legend claimed, tried to poison him, for which she was ultimately set aside, stripped of her title, and exiled. “Is it not true that a queen who once upon a time wilfully disobeyed her lord was set aside and deprived of her royal dignity?” Edward asked, revealing plainly what was in his mind.

  Hethe, who owed his bishopric to Isabella but was by no means her creature, immediately caught the King’s meaning, but he did not approve and replied tartly, “Whoever has told you that has given you bad advice!” He emphasized his point with a quote from Scripture about Haman, the evil counselor who tried to drive a wedge between Ahasuerus, King of Persia, and his Jewish wife, Esther, but was hanged for his pains. The allusion to the favorite was blatant, but the King and Despenser refused to rise to the bait.163 The conversation proves that Despenser was leaving no stone unturned in pursuing his vendetta against the Queen.164

  Edward’s allusion to the fate of Queen Eadburh suggests that he was again contemplating seeking an annulment of his marriage. The chances are that he had learned much about the affair between Isabella and Mortimer from the nuncios. It was almost certainly they who had revealed to the King, to his outrage and disgust, that Mortimer had publicly appeared in company with the Queen and her son at the coronation. This prompted Edward, on 19 June, to make one final and futile attempt to persuade Prince Edward to return to England. He wrote:

  Edward, fair son, we have seen by your letters lately written to us that you well remember the charges enjoined you on your departure from Dover, and that you have not transgressed our commands in any point that was in your power to avoid. But to us it appears that you have not humbly obeyed our commands as a good son ought his father, since you have not returned to us to be under government, as we have enjoined you by our other letters, on our blessing, but have notoriously held companionship, and your mother also, with Mortimer, our traitor and mortal enemy, who, in company with your mother and others, was publicly carried to Paris in your train to the solemnity of the coronation at Pentecost just past, in signal despite of us, and to the great dishonour both of us and you. For truly, he is neither a meet companion for your mother, nor for you, and we hold that much evil to the country will come of it.

  Also we understand that you, through counsel which is contrary both to our interest and yours, have proceeded to make divers alterations, injunctions and ordinances without our advice and contrary to our orders, in the duchy of [Gascony], which we have given you. But you ought to remember the conditions of the gift and your reply when it was conferred upon you at Dover. These things are inconvenient and must be most injurious.

  Therefore we command and charge you, on the faith and love you ought to bear us, and on our blessing, that you show yourself our dear and well-beloved son, as you have aforetime done, and, ceasing from all
excuses of your mother, or any like those that you have just written, you come to us here with all haste, that we may ordain for you and your estate as honourably as you can desire. By right and reason, you ought to have no other governor than us, neither should you wish to have.

  Also, fair son, we charge you by no means to marry till you return to us, or without our advice and consent; nor for any cause, either go to the duchy or elsewhere, against our will and command.

  The King then added a postscript with some stern fatherly advice:

  Edward, fair son, you are of tender age. Take our commandments tenderly to heart, and so rule your conduct with humility, as you would escape our reproach, our grief and indignation, and advance your own interest and honour. Believe no counsel that is contrary to the will of your father, as the wise King Solomon instructs you. Understand certainly that, if you now act contrary to our counsel, and continue in wilful disobedience, you will feel it all the days of your life, and all other sons will take example to be disobedient to their lords and fathers.165

  There is an implicit threat in the final sentence of this letter; perhaps Edward is hinting that he might have his marriage annulled and disinherit his son. This is the second indication that he was considering divorce at this time, but if so, we hear no more of it. Possibly the King feared, given the Pope’s censorious letters to Despenser, that John XXII would again prove uncooperative.

  There is no evidence that the Prince replied to this letter. Later evidence, which will be examined in due course, strongly suggests that the young Edward did indeed suffer from a guilty conscience concerning his father “all the days of [his] life.” Yet it is clear that he also felt chivalrously protective toward his mother. He hated the Despensers as much as she did,166 doubtless on her account, and probably also because of the shameful hold they had over the King. The poor boy was at an impressionable age and must have felt outraged at the disruption the Despensers had caused in his own life and in the world he inhabited. Yet he did not like Mortimer either and perhaps felt that, in keeping company with him, he was betraying his father. All in all, it was an impossible situation for a boy of thirteen to cope with.