Gorgeous. Defiant. Looks great in a skirt.
But enough about Mel Gibson - let’s talk about Sophie’s Marceau’s character in Braveheart, the beautiful French princess who is also Edward Longshank’s daughter-in-law. In the film she has an affair with Mel and then gets pregnant to him, breaking the royal English line.
It is a tale of adventure, romance and terrible butchery - with English and Scottish history being mutilated beyond recognition.
But who was the REAL Isabella of France?
She was born in 1295, so she was ten years old and still living in France when Mel Gibson - William Wallace - was executed, so she certainly never met him, or have an adulterous affair with him.
The facts of her life are far more spectacular.
Isabella in fact succeeded where Wallace didn’t; she raised an army, invaded England and deposed Longshank’s son, Edward II, and ruled as regent for four years.
So why doesn’t history remember her as Braveheart?
Isabella’s father was Philip IV of France - Phillip the Fair.
Yes, she was beautiful, but she was royal, and raised to be more than Mel Gibson’s love interest. She was highly intelligent and had great diplomatic skill. At 12 she was married to Longshank’s son, Edward II, as part of a political alliance.
But Edward soon became notable for his lack of aptitude for kingship - as well as his lack of interest in women. That doesn’t make him the bad guy in the story either - but for a bright and politically astute woman, it was a terrible match.
Roll the clock forward fifteen years.
Isabella is starved of affection and has been sidelined in the political arena by her husband’s “favourites”. Were men like Piers Gaveston and Hugh Despenser the Younger just his advisers - or were they more than that?
Whatever the truth, by the time she was thirty, she faced a stark choice; retire to the country and spend the rest of her life with her needlework - or rebel.
She chose: Freedom!
When I went to school in England, I was told the last person to invade England was William the Conqueror in 1066. This was actually not true.
In 1326 Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer, raised a mercenary army in the Low Countries - by marrying her oldest son off to a the daughter of the Count of Hainaut.
As invasions go, it wasn’t quite D-Day. The fleet got lost and landed miles from where she and Mortimer had planned.
Not that it mattered; by then, her husband Edward was so deeply unpopular that the barons of England welcomed her and Mortimer with open arms and the invasion became more of a bloodless coup.
She named herself Queen Regent and she and Mortimer assumed the rule of England - and not once did she have to wear a kilt and paint herself blue.
But it didn’t last.
Four years later Mortimer was himself deposed by Isabella’s own son and she was retired to Castle Rising in Norfolk and lived on for many years in considerable style, until her death in 1358.
England, 1308
When Princess Isabella is offered as a bride to King Edward of England, for her it’s love at first sight. But her dashing husband has a secret, one that threatens to tear their marriage—and England—apart.
As Isabella navigates the deadly maelstrom of Edward’s court, her cleverness and grace allow her to subvert Edward’s ill-advised plans and gain influence. The young queen is soon faced with an impossible choice; being shut away for the rest of her life in a distant abbey – or taking a breathtaking gamble that will forever change the course of history.
Isabella is the story of a queen who took control of her destiny—and the throne.
She was taught to obey. Now she has learned to rebel.
Available as a Kindle eBook or paperback on AMAZON.
Not only was Edward II not weak and effeminate, he was actually criticised at the time for liking carousing with people of low degree and enjoying their entertainments. The ‘weak and effeminate’ comes from some unpleasant bias toward homosexuals. In fact, Edward II was more likely a bisexual by our way of thinking.
Totally agree with you about the bias - many of the historians that I read seem homophobic to me and it colours their portrayal of Edward II. My opinion though he wasn’t bisexual - he never sought the company of any woman except his wife and he HAD to marry heir and have heirs, that came with the job!
Is it true that Edward 11 was murdered by hot poker thru rectum not to show any markings on royal persons or did he escape and live as a monk ? What history is true?
Hi Micki, the hot poker story is almost certainly propaganda and probably derived from the allegations of homosexuality levelled against him - acceptance of LBQT lifestyle definitely wasn’t a thing back then. Such a method killing someone is not only horrific but actually does leave fairly obvious evidence of maltreatment. Did he escape from Berkeley castle and become a monk? There’s a lot of controversy around that theory. Nothing will ever be firmly proved or disproved, I’m afraid. One of history’s many intriguing mysteries!
Just wanted to thank you for this fascinating article. Such an interesting, TRUE account of history should be recognised truly. I hope someone buys the rights to your books and makes a series of films out of them…(as long as the projects don’t end up in the hands of someone like Mel Gibson again and we end up with another “Braveheart”). I hope to read all your works someday. Til then, please keep publishing interesting, FACTUAL accounts of fantastic, historical figures, occurrences and stories.