Crown & Influence: Isabella of France - The She-Wolf Who Toppled a King

Edward II's queen transformed from neglected wife to revolutionary, orchestrating the only successful invasion of England since 1066 and deposing her own husband

She was called the She-Wolf of France, and the name was meant as an insult—a woman who had violated every principle of wifely obedience by raising an army against her husband and king. But Isabella of France accomplished what no one had managed in two and a half centuries: she successfully invaded England, overthrew a reigning monarch, and ruled the kingdom for four years. Her story is one of the most dramatic in English royal history—a tale of political neglect, possible romance, ruthless ambition, and ultimate tragedy. Isabella remains one of the most controversial figures in the medieval English monarchy, a woman whose actions were either justified rebellion against a terrible king or unforgivable treason, depending on one's perspective.

The French Princess

Isabella was born around 1295, the daughter of Philip IV of France—Philip the Fair, one of the most powerful and ruthless monarchs in European history. She grew up at the sophisticated French court, educated, cultured, and beautiful. Contemporary chronicles described her as one of the loveliest women of her age, earning her the epithet "Isabella the Fair."

In 1308, at age twelve or thirteen, Isabella married Edward II of England in a diplomatic alliance meant to end decades of conflict between England and France. The wedding at Boulogne was magnificent, and initially, the match seemed promising. Edward was twenty-four, tall and handsome, and Isabella was beautiful and accomplished. They would have four children together, including the future Edward III.

But the marriage was troubled from the start. Edward II was one of England's most disastrous kings—weak, indecisive, and dominated by male favorites to whom he showed excessive affection and granted extraordinary power. At the wedding festivities, Edward paid more attention to his favorite, Piers Gaveston, than to his new bride. He gave Gaveston jewelry that had been intended as wedding gifts for Isabella. It was a humiliation that set the tone for years to come.

The King's Favorites

For the first years of her marriage, Isabella was overshadowed by Gaveston, a Gascon knight who had been Edward's close companion since youth. The exact nature of Edward and Gaveston's relationship remains debated—whether it was romantic, sexual, or simply an intense friendship—but its political consequences were clear. Edward lavished titles, lands, and power on Gaveston, while neglecting both his wife and his kingdom.

The English nobility despised Gaveston for his arrogance and the king's favoritism. In 1312, they captured and executed him. Edward was devastated, but Isabella may have felt some relief. Perhaps now her husband would turn his attention to her and to governing effectively.

Instead, Edward found new favorites. The most significant were Hugh Despenser the Elder and his son, Hugh Despenser the Younger. The Despensers were English nobles who became even more powerful and rapacious than Gaveston had been. They used their influence with the king to accumulate vast estates, crush their rivals, and essentially run the kingdom for their own benefit.

The younger Despenser particularly earned Isabella's hatred. He interfered in her household, controlled her finances, and according to some accounts, treated her with open contempt. By the early 1320s, Isabella was effectively sidelined in her own court, her income restricted, her influence nullified, and her children kept from her at times.

The Mission to France

In 1325, a diplomatic crisis gave Isabella her opportunity. War threatened between England and France over English-held territories in Gascony. Isabella offered to travel to France to negotiate with her brother, King Charles IV. Edward agreed, seeing it as a way to resolve the crisis without the Despensers having to leave England.

Isabella arrived in Paris and successfully negotiated a peace treaty. But she also began planning something far more audacious. She refused to return to England, claiming that she feared for her life from the Despensers. In a carefully orchestrated public statement, she declared that "someone has come between my husband and myself trying to break this bond" and that she would not return until "this intruder is removed."

Edward demanded she come home. Isabella refused. It was an extraordinary act of defiance—a queen publicly refusing her husband's commands and remaining abroad against his will. Edward tried everything—threats, pleading, diplomatic pressure through the Pope—but Isabella would not return.

Then Isabella played her master stroke. She convinced Edward to send their teenage son, Prince Edward (the future Edward III), to France to perform homage for Gascony. Once the heir to the throne was in her hands, Isabella's position became immensely stronger.

The Invasion

In France, Isabella gathered supporters. Disaffected English nobles flocked to her, including Roger Mortimer, a powerful Marcher lord who had escaped from the Tower of London and fled to France. Mortimer became Isabella's closest advisor and, according to contemporary gossip, her lover. Whether the relationship was romantic or purely political alliance remains debated, but their partnership would reshape England.

Isabella and Mortimer began planning an invasion. They needed money and troops, which they obtained from Count William of Hainault in exchange for betrothing Prince Edward to William's daughter Philippa. In September 1326, Isabella landed in Suffolk with a small force of around 1,500 men.

She need not have brought an army at all. England rose to support her with stunning unanimity. The Despensers were so universally hated that virtually no one would fight for Edward II. Isabella's forces swelled as they marched across England. She carefully presented herself not as a rebel but as a reformer, come to rid England of evil counselors and restore good government.

Edward II's support collapsed completely. The king and the Despensers fled west, but there was nowhere to hide. The elder Despenser was captured and executed at Bristol. The younger Despenser was caught with Edward in Wales. His execution was savage—he was hanged, drawn, and quartered in a gruesome display meant to satisfy the public's hatred.

Edward II was captured and forced to abdicate in January 1327 in favor of his fourteen-year-old son, who became Edward III. It was the first time an English king had been forced to abdicate, and it required careful legal maneuvering to make it appear constitutional. Isabella had achieved a bloodless revolution.

The Regency

With her son on the throne but still a minor, Isabella and Mortimer effectively ruled England for the next four years. They styled themselves as restoring proper governance after the chaos of Edward II's reign, and initially, they had widespread support.

But power corrupted quickly. Mortimer became increasingly arrogant and grasping, accumulating titles and estates with the same rapacity the Despensers had shown. He had himself made Earl of March and behaved more like a king than a councilor. Isabella, meanwhile, accumulated a vast fortune, becoming one of the wealthiest women in Europe.

The regency government's greatest problem was what to do with Edward II. The deposed king was imprisoned at Berkeley Castle, but he remained alive—and while he lived, he was a potential focus for rebellion. In September 1327, Edward II died at Berkeley. The official story was natural causes. But rumors immediately spread that he had been murdered, possibly in a particularly gruesome way designed to leave no marks. Whether Isabella ordered or approved her husband's death remains one of history's mysteries, but she certainly benefited from it.

The Fall

Isabella and Mortimer's government grew increasingly unpopular. They were seen as ruling through the young king rather than for him, and Mortimer's arrogance alienated nobles who had initially supported Isabella. The regency's military failures—particularly a humiliating campaign against Scotland—further damaged their reputation.

In 1330, the eighteen-year-old Edward III decided to take power into his own hands. In a carefully planned coup, Edward and a group of trusted supporters entered Nottingham Castle through a secret tunnel and arrested Mortimer in Isabella's chambers. Mortimer was tried for treason and executed. Isabella was spared—she was Edward's mother, and executing her would have been too shocking—but her political career was over.

The Dowager's Long Twilight

Isabella was placed under house arrest at Castle Rising in Norfolk, though it was a comfortable captivity. She lived there for twenty-eight years, maintaining a sizeable household and receiving regular visits from her son and grandchildren. Edward III ensured she lived in comfort and dignity, even as he systematically undid many of the policies of her regency.

In her retirement, Isabella became conventionally pious, making charitable donations and supporting religious houses. When she died in 1358 at age sixty-three, she was buried at the Franciscan church in London, wearing her wedding dress and reportedly holding Edward II's heart in a silver casket—a final, ambiguous gesture toward the husband she had overthrown.

The Enigma of Isabella

Isabella of France remains one of the most controversial figures in English history, and interpretations of her life reveal as much about the interpreter as about Isabella herself.

Medieval chroniclers, writing after her fall, portrayed her as a wicked adulteress who betrayed her husband with Mortimer and possibly murdered the king. This is the Isabella who appears in Marlowe's play "Edward II"—a scheming villainess driven by lust and ambition.

Later historians took a more sympathetic view, seeing Isabella as a woman driven to desperate measures by an impossible situation. Edward II was genuinely a terrible king whose favoritism and weakness brought England to the brink of catastrophe. The Despensers were rapacious and cruel. Isabella tried for years to work within the system before finally taking revolutionary action. From this perspective, she was a heroic figure who saved England from tyranny.

The truth likely lies somewhere between. Isabella was clearly a capable, intelligent woman who found herself trapped in a miserable marriage to an incompetent king. She endured years of neglect and humiliation before finally acting. Her invasion of England had widespread support precisely because Edward II's government was so dysfunctional.

But Isabella also showed remarkable ruthlessness once in power. Whether she ordered Edward II's murder or merely accepted it, she certainly benefited from his death. Her rule with Mortimer increasingly resembled the tyranny of the Despensers they had replaced. She accumulated vast wealth while the kingdom suffered.

Isabella's relationship with Mortimer remains enigmatic. Were they lovers, as contemporary gossip claimed? Or was their relationship purely political—a partnership of convenience between two people who needed each other to achieve their goals? The fact that they were arrested together in her chambers at Nottingham certainly suggests intimacy, but how we interpret that intimacy depends on our assumptions about medieval women's sexuality and agency.

What's undeniable is Isabella's historical significance. She successfully invaded England and overthrew a reigning king—something no one else managed between 1066 and 1688. She demonstrated that queens could wield real military and political power, even against their own husbands. She navigated the complex politics of medieval Europe with skill, building the coalition that made her invasion possible.

Isabella also exposed the fundamental instability of medieval monarchy. Edward II was a bad king, but he was the anointed king, crowned and consecrated. Isabella's deposition of him raised troubling questions about the nature of royal authority. If a king could be overthrown for governing badly, what did that mean for the divine right of kings? These questions would echo through English history for centuries.

The She-Wolf of France earned her nickname through actions that shocked medieval society—a wife who refused obedience, a queen who raised an army, a woman who toppled a king. Whether hero or villain, Isabella of France demonstrated that even in the male-dominated world of medieval politics, a determined woman could change the course of history. Her legacy is complex and controversial, but it is undeniably significant. She remains one of the most formidable and fascinating figures in English royal history—a woman who refused to accept the role society assigned her and rewrote the rules through force of will and strategic brilliance.