Isabella of Valois

Isabella of Valois
Queen consort of England
Tenure	1 November 1396 – 30 September 1399
Coronation	8 January 1397
Born	(1389-11-09)9 November 1389 Paris, France
Died	13 September 1409(1409-09-13) (aged 19) Blois, Loir-et-Cher, France
Spouse	Richard II of England Charles, Duke of Orléans
Issue	Joan of Valois, Duchess of Alençon
House	Valois
Father	Charles VI of France
Mother	Isabella of Bavaria

Isabella of France (9 November 1389 – 13 September 1409) was Queen consort of England as the second spouse of King Richard II. Her parents were King Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. She married the king at the age of seven and was widowed three years later. She later married Charles, Duke of Orléans, dying in childbirth at the age of nineteen.

Isabella's younger sister, Catherine, was Queen of England from 1420 until 1422, wife of Henry V and mother of Henry VI.

Life

Richard and Isabella on their wedding day

Isabella lived during a period of political tension between France and England known as the Hundred Years War, the situation exacerbated by the mental instability of her father. On 31 October 1396, at the age of seven, Isabella married the widower King Richard II of England in a move for peace with France.^[1] Although the union was political, Richard II and the child Isabella developed a mutually respectful relationship. The Queen was moved to Portchester Castle for protection while Richard went on a military campaign in Ireland. When Richard II was imprisoned and died in custody on his return to England, Queen Isabella was ordered by the new King Henry IV to move out of Windsor Castle and to settle in the Bishop of Salisbury's Thamesside palace at Sonning.

King Henry IV then decided Queen Isabella should marry his son, the future Henry V of England, but she refused. Knowing her husband was dead, she went into mourning, ignoring Henry IV's demands. Eventually he let her go back to France.

On 29 June 1406, Queen Isabella married her cousin Charles, Duke of Orléans.^[2] She died in childbirth at the age of 19, leaving one daughter, Joan, who married John II of Alençon in 1424. Isabella was interred in Blois, in the abbey of St.Laumer, where her body was found entire in 1624, curiously wrapped in bands of linen plated over with quicksilver. It was then transferred to the church of the Celestines in Paris.

In literature

In Shakespeare's play Richard II Richard's queen appears in two significant scenes at the time of his deposition, but she is portrayed as an adult. She is forced by the new king Henry IV to leave for France after the deposition.

Two well-regarded novels about Isabella's life appeared in the late 1950s. Hilda Lewis' The Gentle Falcon is about Isabella's marriage to Richard II, while Gladys Malvern's My Lady, My Love is about Isabella's later years after Richard's death and her return to France.^[3]

Arms

Arms of Isabella of Valois

Notes Isabella's arms were those of her father, Charles VI of France, impaled with the royal coat of arms of the England. Rendered as per pale of three.[4] Escutcheon France Ancient; impaled by Richard II.

Ancestry

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Isabella of Valois.

House of Plantagenet
Henry II of England Wife: Eleanor of Aquitaine William IX, Count of Poitiers Henry the Young King Richard I of England Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile Joan of England, Queen of Sicily John, King of England Illegitimate: William de Longespée, Earl of Salisbury Geoffrey (archbishop of York)
Henry the Young King Wife: Margaret of France, Queen of England and Hungary William Plantagenet (died in infancy)
Richard I of England Wife: Berengaria of Navarre Illegitimate: Philip of Cognac
John, King of England Wife: Isabella of Angoulême Henry III of England Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall Joan of England, Queen of Scotland Isabella of England Eleanor of Leicester Illegitimate: Joan, Lady of Wales Richard FitzRoy Oliver FitzRoy Geoffrey FitzRoy John FitzRoy Henry FitzRoy Osbert Gifford Eudes FitzRoy Bartholomew FitzRoy Maud FitzRoy Isabel FitzRoy Philip FitzRoy William de Forz
Henry III of England Wife: Eleanor of Provence Edward I of England Margaret of England Beatrice of England Edmund Crouchback Katherine of England
Edward I of England Wives: Eleanor of Castile Margaret of France, Queen of England Eleanor of England, Countess of Bar Joan, Countess of Hertford and Gloucester Alphonso, Earl of Chester Margaret of England, Duchess of Brabant Mary of Woodstock Elizabeth of Rhuddlan Edward II of England Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent
Edward II of England Wife: Isabella of France Edward III of England John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall Eleanor of Woodstock Joan of the Tower
Edward III of England Wife: Philippa of Hainault Edward, the Black Prince Isabella de Coucy Joan of England (1335–1348) Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York Mary of Waltham Margaret, Countess of Pembroke Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester
Richard II of England Wives: Anne of Bohemia Isabella of Valois
Henry IV of England Wives: Mary de Bohun Joan of Navarre, Queen of England Henry V of England Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester Blanche of England Philippa of England
Henry V of England Wife: Catherine of Valois Henry VI of England
Henry VI of England Wife: Margaret of Anjou Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales
Edward IV of England Wife: Elizabeth Woodville Elizabeth of York Mary of York Cecily of York Edward V of England Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York Anne of York, Lady Howard Catherine of York Bridget of York Illegitimate: Elizabeth Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle Grace Mary John Tuchet, 6th Baron Audley unnamed
Edward V of England no consort or issue
Richard III of England Wife: Anne Neville Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales Illegitimate: John of Gloucester Katherine, Countess of Pembroke Richard of Eastwell
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