Isabella was the daughter of King Philip IV 'le Bel' of France who was married to Edward, the first Prince of Wales, the son of King Edward I of England, as a way of ensuring peace between the two countries. They were wed in Boulogne. But Edward became Edward II and he was a weak King. He had favourites. His first was Piers Gaveston. This was probably a homosexual relationship, though of course that can't be proved, and Isabella seems to have tolerated it; Edward was providing her with children. But the Barons hated Gaveston as a Gascon upstart and rebelled against Edward until he agreed to exile Piers and when Piers returned they rebelled again and assassinated Piers. Edward then took another favourite, Hugh Le Spencer, who acted as a gangland boss, greedily laying his hands on all the property he could and flouting the rule of law, both terrorising and alienating the barons. Isabella hated him; Doherty suggests this was because Edward and Hugh insisted on a wife-swap. Eventually Isabella went away to France, where she met rebel baron and exile Roger Mortimer, and soon persuaded Edward to send to her their son Edward, the crown prince. Armed thus, and having hot the useful county of Hainault on side by promising that Philippa, the daughter of the count, would marry her son Edward, she and Mortimer landed an invasion force and defeated and captured Edward II and Hugh. The latter was horribly executed and Edward was deposed and jailed in Berkeley. The story is that he there met his end when a red-hot poker was thrust into his anus, as played on stage in Edward II by Christopher Marlowe. Isabella and Mortimer were, is anyhting, greedier than Hugh Le Spenser, and almost as ruthless, but three years later the now 18 year old Edward III staged a coup and won his own kingdom back; Mortimer was executed and Isabella sent into retirement.
And then rumours started that Edward II was not dead but had escaped Berkeley Castle and was not living abroad. These are the rumours that Doherty, working sometimes from previously unpublished chronicles, dissects, deciding, in the end, that there is some evidence that the body buried in Gloucester Cathedral is not actually Edward II.
The author has written six non-fiction history books and over one hundred (100) (!!!!!) historical novels. He has also been a headteacher for thirty years. How?
Selected quotes:
- “Once Edward II had been transferred to Berkeley, both before and after his death, no one was allowed to see him.” (225)
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