Isabella of Valois

For other people named Isabella of Valois, see Isabella of Valois (disambiguation).

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	House of 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 six 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, Catherne, 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. 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. 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.

Arms

Coat of 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. Escutcheon France Ancient; impaled by Richard II.

Ancestry

Family of Isabella of Valois

16. Philip VI of France 8. John II of France 17. Joan of Burgundy 4. Charles V of France 18. John of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia 9. Bonne of Luxembourg and Bohemia 19. Elisabeth of Bohemia 2. Charles VI of France 20. Louis I, Duke of Bourbon 10. Peter I, Duke of Bourbon 21. Mary of Avesnes 5. Jeanne of Bourbon 22. Charles of Valois 11. Isabelle of Valois 23. Mahaut of Châtillon 1. Isabella de Valois of France 24. Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor 12. Stephen II, Duke of Bavaria 25. Beatrix of Silesia-Glogau 6. Stephen III, Duke of Bavaria 26. Frederick III of Sicily 13. Elisabeth of Sicily 27. Eleanor of Anjou 3. Isabeau of Bavaria 28. Stefano Visconti 14. Bernabò Visconti 29. Valentina Doria 7. Taddea Visconti 30. Mastino II della Scala 15. Beatrice Regina della Scala 31. Taddea da Carrara