In chess, from the time of Queen Isabella of England, the queen has been considered the most powerful and feared piece on the board.
Marriage
“…a lasting peace would be signed between England and France, sealed by the marriage of the widowed Edward I to Philip IV’s sister Margaret, whilst the French king’s two-year-old daughter, Isabella, would be betrothed to the Prince of Wales."
“The personal bonds between Edward and [King] Phillip [of France] created by the marriage [of Edward and Isabella] placed severe strains on their relationship, chiefly because of Edward’s Devotion to Piers Gaveston, on whom the English king was said to have bestowed the magnificent wedding gifts presented by his father-in-law. The French king and his daughter inevitable became enmeshed in the conflict between Edward and his barons which centered on the favorite. Philip may not have been involved in (or even known of) the agreement ‘to guard the king’s honor and the rights of his crown’ which the English magnates who attended the wedding in Boulogne drew up on 31 January 1308, but he surely learned of the opposition to Gaveson manifested at the coronation on 25 February. There Piers appeared ‘ur potties diceretur deus Martis quad homo terrenus.’ Piers’s pretensions and Edward’s devotion to him were witnessed by Isabelle’s uncles, Charles of Valois and Louis of Evreux, as well as a number of other high-ranking French nobles and Philip the Fair’s chamberlain, Enguerran de Marigny. The French magnates may well have joined leading English nobles in demanding Piers’s removal from court. According to the Annales Paulini ,Isabelle’s uncles, ‘seeing that the king frequented Piers’s couch more than the queen’s.” returned indignant to the French court. Isabelle was at most twelve years old when she was marries, but, young as she was by our standards, she may have anticipated receiving Edward immediately as her husband. The comment in the Annales Paulini concerning her uncles’ reaction to Edward’s infatuation with Gaveston suggests that this was their expectation.”
Edward's death
"Isabella had murder in her heart... intent on keeping government in her hands"
Suggested further reading:
- Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II by Paul Doherty
Available on Amazon and Kindle here - "The Political Repercussions of Family Ties in the Early Fourteenth Century: The Marriage of Edward II of England and Isabelle of France"
link to full text or download below
The Political Repercussions of Family Ties in the Early Fourteenth Century: The Marriage of Edward II of England and Isabelle of France (17 pgs) | |
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