Isabella of Valois
Isabella of Valois | |
---|---|
Queen consort of England | |
Tenure | 31 October 1396 – 29 September 1399 |
Coronation | 8 January 1397 |
Born | 9 November 1389 Paris, France |
Died | 13 September 1409 (aged 19) Blois, Loir-et-Cher, France |
Burial | |
Spouse | |
Issue | Joan, Duchess of Alençon |
House | Valois |
Father | Charles VI of France |
Mother | Isabeau of Bavaria |
Isabella of Valois (9 November 1389 – 13 September 1409) was
Life
Isabella was born on 9 November 1389 in
In 1396 negotiations started about marrying six-year-old Isabella to the widower Richard II, King of England (1367–1400), who was 22 years her senior, to ensure peace between their countries. The fact that she was a child was discussed, but King Richard said that each day would rectify that problem; that it was an advantage as he would then be able to shape her in accordance with his ideal; and that he was young enough to wait. Isabella told the English envoys (who described her as pretty) that she was happy to be
King Richard travelled to Paris for his bride, where great festivities were held. Afterwards, the court and the English guests went to Calais where the wedding ceremony was performed on 31 October 1396, but would not be consummated at least until the bride's twelfth birthday.[4][5]
A tearful Princess Isabelle, dressed in a blue velvet dress sewn with golden fleurs de lys and wearing a diadem of gold and pearls, was carried by the Dukes of Berry and Burgundy to Richard’s pavilion. She was taken away by a delegation of English ladies led by the Duchesses of Lancaster and Gloucester. Four days later, on 4 November 1396, she was brought to the church of St. Nicholas in Calais where Richard married her. She was five days short of her seventh birthday. Her dolls were included in her trousseau.[6]
Queen of England
After the wedding, Isabella went to England and was moved into
In spite of their age difference and the marriage being politically arranged, Isabella and Richard developed a mutually respectful relationship. Due to the age of Isabella (the Canonical law for sexual consummation being twelve), the marriage was never sexually consummated.[7][8][9] However, Isabella and Richard enjoyed a good platonic relationship, which has been compared to that between a father and his adopted daughter or between a niece and a doting uncle.[10] He was noted to have treated her not as a wife but rather as the daughter he and his first wife Anne never had.[11] The king regularly visited her in Windsor, where he treated her with respect, entertained her and her ladies-in-waiting with humorous conversation, and pampered her with gifts and toys.[12] Isabella reportedly enjoyed and looked forward to these visits.[citation needed]
By May 1399 the Queen had been moved to
Many of England's lords supported Henry, who started a military campaign and took the country without much resistance, taking advantage of Richard being in Ireland.
On or around 14 February 1400, Richard died under mysterious circumstances, possibly of starvation. The French court requested that his widow be returned to France, but Henry IV wanted her to marry his son and heir,
Duchess of Orléans
In 1406, when the marriage negotiations between the prince of Wales and Catherine of Pomerania had been terminated, Henry IV repeated his suggestion that Isabella should marry his son, but was refused by the French court. In 1420, Henry's son married Isabella's sister, Catherine of Valois.[15]
On 29 June 1406 Isabella, aged 16, married her paternal cousin, Charles (1394–1465), aged 11,[16] who became Duke of Orléans in 1407 following the assassination of his father. Isabella died in childbirth on 13 September 1409 at the age of 19. Her daughter, Joan of Valois (1409–1432) survived and married John II, Duke of Alençon (1409–1476) in 1424.[17]
Isabella was buried in Blois, in the Abbey of Saint Laumer of Blois,[18] where her body was discovered in 1624, wrapped in bands of linen plated with mercury. Her remains were then transferred to the Couvent des Célestins (Convent of the Celestines) in Paris, the second most important burial site for French royalty, which was desecrated during the French Revolution.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Isabella of Valois | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
References
- ^ Williams 2016, p. 28.
- ^ Adams, Tracy. (2010). The Life and Afterlife of Isabeau of Bavaria. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press p. 230-233
- ^ Williams 2016, pp. 32–33.
- ^ "Feminae: Details Page". Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index.
- ^ Hamilton 2010, p. 205.
- ^ Sumption 2011, p. 831.
- ^ Daily Life of Women in Chaucer's England
- ^ Lives of England's Monarchs: The Story of Our American English Heritage
- ^ Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Medieval Worldbooks. Pam J. Crabtree · 2008
- ^ H. Eugene Lehman Lives of England's Reigning and Consort Queens
- ^ Mary McGrigor The Sister Queens: Isabella and Catherine de Valois
- ^ Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Medieval World.Pam J. Crabtree. Facts On File, 2008
- ^ Stratford 2012, pp. 14, 118.
- ^ Flemberg, Marie-Louise, Filippa: engelsk prinsessa och nordisk unionsdrottning, Santérus, Stockholm, 2014
- ISBN 0413532801.
- ^ Knecht 2007, p. 51.
- ^ Goodrich 1967, p. 112.
- ^ Goodrich 1967, p. 107.
- ^ a b c d Anselm 1726, pp. 109–110.
- ^ a b Anselm 1726, pp. 111–114.
- ^ a b Anselm 1726, pp. 105–106.
- ^ a b Riezler, Sigmund Ritter von (1893), "Stephan III.", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 36, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 68–71
- ^ ISBN 9780394400266.
Sources
- Anselm de Gibours (1726). Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France [Genealogical and chronological history of the royal house of France] (in French). Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). Paris: La compagnie des libraires.
- Boutell, Charles (1863), A Manual of Heraldry, Historical and Popular, London: Winsor & Newton
- Goodrich, Norma Lorre (1967). Charles of Orléans: A Study of Themes in his French and in his English Poetry. Librairie Droz.
- Hamilton, Jeffrey (2010). The Plantagenets: History of a Dynasty. Continuum.
- Knecht, Robert (2007). The Valois: Kings of France 1328–1589. Hambledon Continuum.
- Stratford, Jenny (2012). Richard II and the English Royal Treasure. The Boydell Press.
- Sumption, Jonathan (2011). The Hundred Years War, Volume 3: Divided Houses. Faber & Faber.
- Williams, Deanne (2016). "Isabelle de France, Child Bride". In Martin, Catherine Gimelli; Melehy, Hassan (eds.). French Connections in the English Renaissance. Routledge.