Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 29.djvu/70

 tomb is still to be seen at Foutevraud; an engraving of it by Stothard has been partly reproduced for Miss Strickland's 'Queens of England.'

Isabella was a beautiful and mischievous woman. By John she had two sons and three daughters [see under John], and by Hugh le Brun five sons (Hugh of Lusignan who succeeded his father; Guy, lord of Cognac; William of Valence; Geoffrey of Lusignan, lord of Châteauneuf; and Aymer of Valence, bishop of Winchester [see ]; the four younger were of note in England) and probably three daughters, of whom Margaret married Raymond VII, count of Toulouse, and Alicia married John, earl of Warren.



ISABELLA (1292–1358), queen of Edward II, was the daughter of Philip the Fair, king of France, and of his wife, Joan of Champagne and Navarre. She is said to have been born in 1292 (, Histoire Généalogique de la Maison de France, i. 91; Ann. Wig. in Ann. Monastici, iv., 538). She is, however, described as about twelve years old in 1308 (Cont., i. 364, Soc. de l'Histoire de France). In June 1298 Boniface VIII, ae mediator, brought about a truce between her father and Edward I, by which her aunt Margaret became Edward's second wife and Isabella was promised to Edward. the king's son. The renewal of the truce in 1299 contained a similar provision, and after the conclusion of the permanent peace in May 1303 Isabella was formally betrothed to young Edward at Paris (Fœdera, i. 954). In January 1307 the Cardinal, Peter of Spain was sent to the Carlisle parliament to conclude the marriage arrangements (Chron. de Lanercost, p. 206, Maitland Club"), Edward soon after became king of England, and, crossing over to France, was married to Isabella at Boulogne on 25 Jan. 1308, Philip the Fair and a great gathering of French nobles attending the magnificent ceremonies. Charles of Valois and Louis of Evreux, Isabella's uncles, accompanied her to England. On 25 Feb, she was crowned at Westminster. Edward gave all her presents from her father to Piers Gaveston, and neglected her for the sake of his favourite. Her uncles left England, disgusted at her treatment (Ann. Paulini in, Chron. Edward I and II, i. 262, Rolls Ser.) Isabella complained to her father of the slights she underwent and the poverty to which she was reduced (, p. 68). In May 1312 she was with Edward and Gaveston at Tynemouth. She implored Edward with tears in her eyes not to abandon her, but Edward left her with Gaveston and went to Scarborough. She was comforted by secret messengers from Thomas of Lancaster, assuring her that he would not rest till he drove Gaveston from Edward's society ib. pp. 75-6). This is the first evidence of her dealings with the opposition.

Isabella's first child, afterwards Edward III, was born on 13 Nov. 1312 at Windsor. On 29 Jan. 1313 she removed from Windsor to Westminster. On 4 Feb. the Fishmongers' Company gave a great pageant in her honour, accompanying her to Eltham, where she now took up her abode (Ann. London. in, i. 221). In May she accompanied Edward on a visit to her father at Paris, where, on Whitsunday, her brothers were dubbed knights with great state. She returned to England on 16 July. In October she joined, tenth earl of Gloucester [q. v.] in mediating a peace between Edward and the barons (, p. 80).

On 15 July 1316 Isabella gave birth to her second son John, at Eltham. In July 1318 her daughter Isabella was born at Woodstock. In August of the same year she joined the Earl of Hereford in procuring for a second time a peace between Edward and the party of Lancaster ( in, ii. 236). In 1319 she went northwards with Edward. While Edward and Lancaster besieged Berwick, Isabella remained behind, in or near York. The Scots invaded Yorkshire,and James Douglas formed a plan for carrying off Isabella by surprise (ib. p. 243;, p. 103). The design was frustrated by the capture of a spy, and Isabella was sent off by water to Nottingham. The expedition which had sought to capture her defeated Archbishop Melton at Myton, Yorkshire. It was believed in France on another occasion that Robert Bruce purposely avoided capturing the queen on account of