Mortimer and Isabella: The Lovers Who Brought Down a King

Leading this small army was the queen herself, the 31-year-old Isabella of France. She was helped ashore by her knights and attendants, who made for her “a house with four carpets, open in the front, where they kindled her a great fire” (quoted in Weir, 229). Initially, the queen did not know what part of England she was in and immediately sent riders out to inquire. Upon learning that she was in the territory of a friend, the Earl of Norfolk, she breathed a sigh of relief and got right to work. Setting pen to paper while her men were still unloading the ships, she wrote letters to the citizens of London and other major towns, explaining that she had come not as a conqueror but a liberator. She had come to avenge the recent murder of the Earl of Lancaster and to expel the hated Despensers – those enemies of the realm – from power once and for all. Finally, she entreated all good and loyal Englishmen to join her in this most noble and righteous cause.

The next morning, Queen Isabella was greeted by the Earl of Norfolk, who escorted her to his castle at Walton-on-the-Naze. Here, scores of earls, barons, and knights flocked to her banner and pledged their swords to her cause. Dressed in widow’s clothes, the queen then led her army from the castle “as if on a pilgrimage” and began to march inland. At her side rode a tall, handsome man who had come to share not only her battles but also her bed. Roger Mortimer had spent the last three years in exile due to his opposition to the Despensers and wanted nothing less than complete and total vengeance. Behind the two lovers rode Prince Edward, Isabella’s 14-year-old son and the heir to the English throne. Little more than a pawn in his mother’s schemes, the prince had no choice but to accompany the army as it tramped through the countryside. News of the invasion quickly spread throughout the kingdom, and every man, highborn and low, felt compelled to choose a side. The die had been cast, and the fate of England would be changed forever.

The Path to Rebellion

The first time that Isabella had set foot on English soil, she had been 12 years old and already a bride. It was February 1308, and she had just been married to King Edward II of England. Eleven years her senior, Edward looked every bit the part of a fairytale king; over six feet tall, he was handsome, muscular, and well-proportioned, with curly, shoulder-length hair. Yet in this instance, looks could be deceiving, for Edward II had little desire to rule. Isabella must have already heard the rumors that her new husband cared more for spending time with vulgar acquaintances, like actors and fishermen, rather than knights and earls, that he cared more for the rustic pursuits of thatching and swimming than noble ones like jousting and hunting. In fact, she would get her first glimpse of this behavior at her and Edward’s coronation, where the king spent all night chatting and laughing with his favorite, Piers Gaveston, while impolitely ignoring his new bride. This snub did not sit well with Isabella, nor with her father, King Philip IV of France, and led to a minor scandal between the English and French royal houses.

Edward spent nearly all his time with his favorite, even presenting him with some of Isabella’s jewelry, which Gaveston wore publicly.

As time went on, Isabella felt increasingly isolated at court. Her husband spent nearly all his time with his favorite, even presenting him with some of Isabella’s jewelry, which Gaveston wore publicly. As historian Allison Weir comments, Edward II can hardly be blamed for preferring the company of a man his own age over that of a child. However, Isabella felt insulted all the same. She wrote to her father that Gaveston had caused “all her troubles” by alienating the king from her and that the king had become “an entire stranger to my bed” (quoted in Weir, 39). But while Isabella never openly quarreled with Gaveston, the same could not be said for the earls and barons of England. The old nobility felt threatened by the undue influence that Gaveston – a relatively lowborn Gascon knight – wielded over the king, and matters were not helped by Gaveston’s haughty attitude towards them. Tensions escalated until 1312, when the powerful Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, captured and executed Gaveston. Edward raged and swore revenge, but, at least for the moment, there was little he could do. He and Isabella grew closer in the months following Gaveston’s death. Isabella’s first child, Prince Edward, was born in 1312, and she would bear three more children in the years that followed.

The rift between the Crown and the barons was not sealed with Gaveston’s murder. Indeed, by the late 1310s, Edward had begun showering his affections upon yet another favorite, who would prove even more dangerous to the barons than Gaveston had been. This was Hugh Despenser the Younger, a grasping and ambitious man who had won the king’s friendship after becoming royal chamberlain in 1318. Since then, Despenser and his father – Hugh the Elder – were bestowed with numerous lands and titles and quickly became two of the most powerful men in the realm. Most of their new estates were situated in the Welsh Marches, the volatile border lands between England and Wales, earning them the ire of the powerful local Marcher lords. The Marcher lords were a fiercely independent group of noblemen who hated to see the Despensers encroaching on their lands. Among the most significant of these Marcher lords was the young Baron of Wigmore, Roger Mortimer. Mortimer had spent most of his youth in loyal service to the king and had recently defeated a Scottish incursion into Ireland. Yet like many of his peers, he was soon disillusioned by the king’s favoritism toward the Despensers. In fact, Mortimer’s grandfather had killed Despenser’s grandfather in battle, leading Mortimer to fear that, unless he acted, the Despensers would come for vengeance.

In 1321, the Marcher lords decided to strike first. They led a band of men-at-arms onto the Despensers’ lands, killing, burning, and pillaging as they went. Mortimer led a force to the gates of London, where he was soon joined by the Earl of Lancaster. Together, they demanded that Edward II send the hated Despensers into exile. The king had no choice but to agree. However, no sooner had Mortimer and Lancaster disbanded their forces than Edward changed his mind. He recalled the Despensers to England and immediately laid siege to the rebellious Leeds Castle. This struck fear into the hearts of many of the rebels, who switched sides; caught off-guard, Mortimer was forced to surrender to the king at Shrewsbury in January 1322 and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Lancaster was not so lucky – he was captured after the Battle of Boroughbridge and executed, treated in much the same manner that he had shown to Gaveston a decade earlier. After crushing the rebellion, Edward II was in no mood for leniency. Scores of rebellious barons were executed, their mangled bodies displayed in gibbets before every major town. For a time, it seemed as though baronial power in England had been snuffed out forever. Then, in August 1323, the unthinkable happened: Mortimer escaped from the Tower of London and fled to France.

Two Lovers

The Despensers convinced Edward to give them estates that rightfully belonged to Isabella, cutting off much of her income.

Mortimer made his way to Paris, where he was welcomed into the court of King Charles IV, Isabella’s brother. For the next few years, he lived there in exile, eyes straining across the Channel, waiting for the opportunity to come home and break the power of the Despensers. Back in England, Isabella too was preying on the Despensers’ downfall. Though she had been willing to tolerate Gaveston, the Despensers represented an influence over her husband that was much more total and more sinister. They convinced Edward to give them estates that rightfully belonged to Isabella, cutting off much of her income. They took custody of her younger children and even put her in physical danger. In 1322, Edward and the Despensers fled Tynemouth in the wake of an invading Scottish army, abandoning Isabella there to fend for herself. Though she escaped unharmed, she never forgave the Despensers for convincing the king to desert her. Eventually, Isabella came to suspect that the Despensers wanted her out of the way for good and were planning to kill her. In 1325, she travelled to France on a diplomatic mission, taking her eldest son, Prince Edward, with her. Once safely under her brother’s protection, she refused to return to England while the Despensers still enjoyed power.

During her stay in Paris, Isabella surrounded herself with other disgruntled English exiles and probably corresponded with powerful contacts back home. She won the support of the Earl of Norfolk as well as the new Earl of Lancaster, who wanted vengeance for his murdered brother. But among the many exiles she encountered in France was Roger Mortimer. She and Mortimer likely knew one another from the time before Mortimer’s imprisonment. They formed a political alliance that soon blossomed into something more. By December 1325, rumors of their passionate love affair had spread across Europe. Indeed, the couple even started to live with one another and appear in public together, as if they were flaunting their adultery before the world. Within months, they had formulated a plan to invade England and oust the Despensers once and for all. They secured the backing of the Count of Hainault by securing a betrothal between his daughter Philippa and Prince Edward. This supplied them with a base of operations in Flanders, in which they could gather and supply their army, made up of mercenaries and English exiles. It was not until September 1326 that all was ready, and the rebels raised their sails and made for England.

Overthrowing the King

After leaving Norfolk’s castle, Isabella’s army moved westward, marching towards London. Edward II was dining with the young Despenser in the Tower of London when he learned of the invasion. “Alas, alas,” the king cried, “We are all betrayed!” (quoted in Jones, 413). On 2 October, he and Despenser fled the city, abandoning it to the whims of the mobs. A short while later, the citizens of London rose in revolt. They seized John Marshal, a close Despenser ally, and killed him. When the bishop of Exeter tried to restore order, the rioters pulled him from his horse and decapitated him with a bread knife, sending the head to Isabella as a grisly show of support. With the mobs of London on her side, Isabella rode to Bristol Castle, where the elder Despenser was hiding out. The castle fell to Isabella’s forces after a brief siege, and Despenser was taken prisoner. The queen handed her prisoner over to the Earl of Lancaster, who had him chopped up into pieces and fed to the hounds.

While Bristol was under siege, Edward II and the younger Despenser tried to take ship for Ireland. However, bad winds prevented them from setting sail, and they were forced to take refuge in Wales instead. Isabella and Mortimer seized the opportunity, issuing a statement arguing that since Edward II had tried to abandon the realm, then young Prince Edward should take control of the government. The statement was signed by Norfolk, Lancaster, and some of the most powerful earls of the kingdom, showing that the rebellion was no longer just about removing the Despensers from power, but a referendum on Edward II’s fitness to rule. On 26 October, Edward II was stripped of his authority, and his powers were officially handed off to his 14-year-old son. In November, Isabella and Mortimer reached Hereford on the Welsh border. From there, they dispatched Lancaster to track down the king. He did so, capturing both Edward II and Despenser near the Welsh town of Llantrisant on 16 November. Lancaster kept Edward in custody, while Despenser was hauled off to Hereford, where he was hanged, drawn, and quartered. The rebellion was over, and a new day was about to dawn in England.

Rule & Downfall

With the rebellion won and the Despensers dead, Isabella and Mortimer were faced with an uncomfortable question: what was to be done with the king? Although he was kept in confinement and although he had ceded much of his authority to his son, Edward II was still the reigning monarch. Yet two decades of unpopular and tumultuous rule had turned most of his barons against him. On 24 January 1327, Edward II was pressured into abdicating, and the crown passed to the prince, who became King Edward III of England. But since Edward III was underage, true power passed into the hands of Isabella and Mortimer, who began to rule as regents. They used their first months in power to enrich themselves and their allies. Mortimer accumulated lands and titles in the Welsh Marches and generously rewarded his fellow Marcher lords. Isabella, too, took control of more land and even helped herself to the royal treasury; once, she took £20,000 from the treasury on the pretext that she was paying foreign debts. This blatant corruption sickened many of their former supporters, who had been hoping for a just royal government.

In September 1327, Edward II died while under house arrest at Berkeley Castle. At the time, he was reported to have died of natural causes, with some postulating that he had died of a broken heart after losing his throne. However, rumors began to spread that Isabella and Mortimer had something to do with the former king’s timely demise; while there is no concrete evidence that they had Edward murdered, they certainly had much to gain from his death, and their involvement continues to be debated by scholars today. After Edward II’s death, Mortimer’s ambitions became even more apparent. During banquets and tournaments, he would always preside over Edward III, as if signaling to the realm that he was the one who was really in charge. Additionally, in 1328, he appointed himself Earl of March, leading to more consternation throughout the kingdom. Henry, Earl of Lancaster, became the first prominent lord to break with Mortimer and Isabella. Finding himself sidelined from power, he accused the king of having breached both the Magna Carta and his coronation oath by adhering to Mortimer’s sinister counsel. Throughout 1329, a new round of civil wars loomed on the horizon.

The feud with Lancaster caused Mortimer to become increasingly paranoid. In particular, he suspected the loyalties of Edmund, Earl of Kent, who had sided with him and Isabella during the rebellion but had also been Edward II’s half-brother. In March 1330, Mortimer heard whispers that Kent was involved in a conspiracy against him. Rather than launch an investigation into the matter, Mortimer simply had Kent arrested for treason and beheaded. This final act of tyranny was too much for many in the realm, including the young Edward III himself. Now 17 years old, the new king was ready to cast off the shackles of his regency. On 19 October 1330, he and 22 companions entered Nottingham Castle, where Mortimer and Isabella were staying, through a secret tunnel. They seized Mortimer and hauled him off, as Isabella looked on and reportedly begged her son to “have pity on the good Mortimer!” (quoted in Weir, 353). But the only pity Edward III was willing to show was not having Mortimer drawn and quartered as a traitor. On 29 November 1330, Mortimer was hanged at Tyburn. Edward III began to rule in his own right as Isabella went off to live the rest of her days in retirement, dying at Hertford Castle in August 1358. With her ended one of the most dramatic stories of medieval England – a betrayal for love and power.