December 1, 1241: Death of Isabella of England, Holy Roman Empress

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Emperor Friedrich II, Gloucester Castle, Holy Roman Empire, Holy Roman Empress, Isabella of Angouleme, Isabella of England, King Alexander II of Scotland, King Henry III of England, King John of England, Pierre II of Courtenay

Isabella of England (1214 – December 1, 1241) was an English princess of the House of Plantagenet. She became Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Sicily, Italy and Germany from 1235 until her death as the third wife of Emperor Friedrich II.

Birth and early years

Isabella was born around 1214 as the fourth child and second daughter of John, King of England and his second wife Isabella of Angoulême. Isabella of Angoulême was the only daughter and heir of Aymer Taillefer, Count of Angoulême, by Alice of Courtenay, who was a sister of Pierre II of Courtenay, Latin Emperor of Constantinople.

Alice and Pierre II were grandchildren of King Louis VI of France through their father Pierre I of Courtenay.

Isabella’s exact date of birth is unknown, and the year is calculated based on the fact that Matthew Paris reported that the princess got married at the age of 21. By the time Isabella was born, her parents’ marriage had already started to unravel, and the princess spent most of the time with her mother.

After the death of King John in 1216, Isabella remained in the full care of her mother and was with her until 1220, when Isabella of Angouleme remarried Count Hugh X of Lusignan and left the English court.

The princess was raised from an early age by the “nurse and governess” Margaret Biset, who received for her services from 1219, by order of her brother King Henry III, one penny a day “from the hands of the Viscount Hereford”; she remained within Isabella’s household and accompanied her to Germany sixteen years later, when the princess married.

The services of the rest of the princess’s servants (cook, stableman and others) were also paid by her brother, and by his order, when some of Isabella’s servants retired from her service, they were assigned a generous pension.

The first years of Isabella’s life were spent in Gloucester Castle. Later, when the problems that accompanied the early years of the her brother’s reign ended, she was transported to the court, at first located in Woodstock and then in Westminster. From time to time, the princess with her family visited other royal residences: Winchester, Marlborough, Northampton, York and others.

Youth

In June 1220 or 1221 Isabella’s older sister, Joan, was betrothed to King Alexander II of Scotland, and according to the marriage contract, if Joan did not have time to return to England by Michael’s Day (September 29), within two weeks after that, the Scottish King was to marry Isabella.

Twice over the next ten years, King Henry III tried to marry off his sister (probably Isabella): first, in 1225, were negotiations for a marriage with King Heinrich (VII) of Germany (who ten years later became Isabella’s stepson) and then to King Louis IX of France.

Once the princess got older, the more she loved privacy. In November 1229, with the permission of her brother, she departed for Marlborough Castle, which became her residence; at this time, reconstruction was being completed in the castle, and King Henry III ordered the constable of the castle to allow his sister to choose any quarters she wanted.

The relationship between brother and sister was very warm, and the King visited Isabella several times: he visited Marlborough during the celebration of the wedding of “the maiden Catherine” who served Isabella, and also visited his sister in 1231 and 1232 at Gloucester Castle.

On November 13, 1232, King Henry III sent his personal tailor to his sister to make her a new full wardrobe. The King also celebrated Christmas with Isabella that year; he sent her three of the best dishes from his table and presented many gifts, and then for several months he sent her the items needed to equip the princess’s own chapel.

Provisions for Isabella and her guests were provided by “two or three worthy men” from Gloucester, while wine and venison were regularly sent to his sister by the King, who also provided one of his fish suppliers for use by Isabella. The royal chaplain, Warin, who served Isabella, was also granted to his sister by the King. In the summer of 1232, Isabella returned to Marlborough Castle.

In 1234, Isabella left seclusion and settled in the Tower of London. In November, the twice-widowed Friedrich II, Holy Roman Emperor at a friendly meeting at Rieti, received the advice of Pope Gregory IX to ask Isabella’s hand, and in February 1235 he sent an embassy to King Henry III headed by his chancellor Pietro della Vigna.

The marriage of Isabella and Emperor Friedrich II was designed to strengthen the political alliance of England and the Holy Roman Empire against France. After three days of discussion, King Henry III agreed to the marriage; Isabella was brought from her quarters in the Tower to the Palace of Westminster, where she met with the ambassadors, who “declared her the most worthy of the imperial brides”, put a wedding ring on her finger and greeted her as their Empress.

On February 23, 1235, an agreement was signed, according to which King Henry III provided his sister with a dowry of 30,000 marks (an amount sought by the Emperor in order to fund his wars in northern Italy), which was to be paid within two years, and as a wedding gift he gave her all the necessary utensils, jewelry, horses and rich clothes, all made according to the latest German fashion; also, the princess received patent letters from the Emperor, giving Isabella, as Queen of Sicily and Holy Roman Empress the possession of the lands due to her.

On 27 February both parties signed the marriage contract: the marriage of the English princess with the Holy Roman Emperor was greeted with enthusiasm by both King Henry III and by the common people, although the latter was greatly disappointed by the enormous “help” required of him on this occasion: the King had to levy an unpopular tax of two marks of silver per hide in order to afford Isabella’s dowry.

In early May 1235, Archbishop Heinrich I of Cologne and Duke Heinrch I of Brabant arrived in England to fetch the bride to her new homeland; Isabella departed from London on May 7 under the care and tutelage of the Bishop of Exeter, William Briwere.

The princess’s brothers accompanied her from Canterbury to Sandwich, from where Isabella sailed on May 11; four days later they landed at Antwerp. Before Isabella’s departure from England, the Emperor’s ambassadors swore to King Henry III that if the Emperor died before marriage to the princess could be completed, she would return home without hindrance and in complete safety.

It was rumored that on the way, the Emperor’s enemies, allied with the French king, tried to kidnap Isabella, but the escort provided by Emperor Friedrich II was able to protect the princess. On May 22 or 24, Isabella arrived in Cologne and stayed at the house of provost of St. Gereon, where the princess had to spend six weeks, while the Emperor was at war with his own son.

Empress

After a six-week wait, Emperor Friedrich II summoned his bride to Worms, where their official wedding took place and Isabella was crowned at Worms Cathedral by Archbishop Siegfried III of Mainz. Researchers disagree on the date of this double event: Alison Weir and Mary Anne Everett Green date it July 20, 1235; Kate Norgate, author of the article on Isabella in the Dictionary of National Biography, writes about Sunday 15 July, while James Panton lists both dates as possible.

Wedding celebrations lasted for four days, and, as they say, they attended “four kings, eleven dukes, counts and margraves, thirty or fewer prelates and minor nobles”. On 14 August, Emperor Friedrich II called an assembly to which representatives from all over the Empire were invited; they met the new empress and brought her their congratulations.

Isabella (or Elizabeth, as some of her husband’s subjects called her) seems to have been a very dignified and beautiful woman. Emperor Friedrich II was delighted with his new wife, but immediately after the wedding he got rid of the Isabella’s English entourage “of both sexes”, leaving only her nurse Margaret Biset and one maid with her, and transferred her to seclusion in Hagenau, where the couple spent most of the winter.

Earlier, the English embassy, which arrived with Isabella, left for their homeland; they brought gifts to their king from the emperor, among whom were three living leopards —animals depicted on the coat of arms of the English king.

Soon after the wedding, Emperor Friedrich II was forced to leave and leave his wife in the care of his son Conrad. In early 1236, Isabella and her husband visited Ravenna; part of the year the imperial couple spent in Italy, after which they returned to Germany.

Already being married, Isabella continued to maintain a relationship with her brother King Henry III: they maintained a regular correspondence, in which they communicated as warmly as strict etiquette allowed. Warm correspondence with the English king was conducted by the Emperor himself, but the name of his wife was mentioned in these letters occasionally and only regarding political issues.

In July, Emperor Friedrich II was preparing for a military campaign and was forced to leave his wife in Germany for almost a year.

By Michael’s Day, Emperor Friedrich II returned to Lombardy, where he summoned his wife and where he spent the winter with her. In September 1238, the emperor sent his wife to Andria, where Isabella remained until December, when the archbishop of Palermo escorted her back to Lombardy.

In early 1239, Isabella spent some time in Noventa Padovana while her husband was in Padua; in February 1240 she returned to southern Italy, where the emperor soon arrived. Emperor Friedrich II, it seems, respected and loved his wife, but in a quite strange manner: taking care of her safety and surrounding her with luxury and splendor, but keeping at a distance from himself and in company of his “harem”, which included women from Arabia; in addition, James Panton writes that the empress was forbidden to communicate with all men, except for the black eunuchs around her.

Isabella’s brother King Henry III complained that his sister was never allowed to “wear her crown” publicly or appear as empress at public meetings. In 1241, when her second brother, Richard of Cornwall, went to visit Friedrich on his way back from the Holy Land, only “after a few days” he was able “with the permission of the emperor and of his own free will” to visit his sister’s chambers. Friedrich did not allow Isabella to meet her brother at court.

Isabella died in childbirth at Foggia near Naples in 1241. Alison Weir dated Isabella’s death between December 1–6. While Kate Norgate and Mary Anne Everett Green believe that she died on December 1.

Friedrich II at the time of his wife’s death was in Faenza, and Isabella’s dying words were a request to her husband to continue to maintain friendly relations with her brother King Henry III. Isabella was buried with full honors at Andria Cathedral near Bari beside Friedrich II’s previous wife, Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem.

King Henry III was deeply saddened and shocked by his sister’s death. He ordered his almoner to distribute, “for the soul of the empress, our late sister,” over £200 in alms at Oxford and Ospringe; the same amount was distributed in London and Windsor. Matthew Paris lamented the death of Isabella, calling her “the glory and hope of England”.

The Tour de Nesle Affair: Part I.

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Blanche of Burgundy, Charles V of France, Isabella of England, Jeanne of Burgundy, Louis X of France, Margaret of Burgundy, Philip IV of France, Philip of Aunay, Philip V of France, The Tour de Nesle, The Tour de Nesle affair, Walter of Aunay

From the Emperor’s Desk: When posting on the life of King Philippe V of France and Navarre I briefly mentioned The Tour de Nesle affair. Today I am starting a short series on that scandal.

The Tour de Nesle affair was a scandal amongst the French royal family in 1314, during which Margaret, Blanche, and Jeanne the daughters-in-law of King Philippe IV, were accused of adultery. The accusations were apparently started by Philippe ‘s daughter, Isabella. The Tour de Nesle was a tower in Paris where much of the adultery was said to have occurred. The scandal led to torture, executions and imprisonments for the princesses’ lovers and the imprisonment of the princesses, with lasting consequences for the final years of the House of Capet.

The royal scandal occurred at the end of the difficult reign of Philippe IV, known as “le Bel” (the Fair) because of his good looks. Philippe IV was a strangely unemotional man. The contemporary bishop of Pamiers described him as “neither a man nor a beast, but a statue”; modern historians have noted that he “cultivated a reputation for Christian kingship and showed few weaknesses of the flesh.”

Throughout his reign, Philippe had attempted to build up the authority and prestige of the French crown, raising fresh revenues, creating new institutions of government, engaging in wars against his rivals, and on occasion challenging the authority of the Church. Just before the crisis broke, Philippe had been engaged in the liquidation of the order of the Knights Templar in France. By 1314, however, he was financially overstretched and in an increasingly difficult domestic political situation, and some have suggested that his weakened position contributed to the subsequent royal crisis.

Philippe IV had three sons, Louis, Philippe and Charles. As was customary for the period, all three were married with an eye for political gain. Initially Philippe had intended for Louis to marry Jeanne, the eldest daughter of Otto IV, Count of Burgundy, but in the end chose Margaret, the daughter of Robert II, Duke of Burgundy, in 1305, and arranged for his middle son Philippe to marry Jeanne of Burgundy in 1307. His youngest son Charles married Blanche of Burgundy another of Otto’s daughters, in 1308.

The three marriages had fared differently. The union of Louis and Margaret of Burgundy is considered to have been an unhappy match; Louis, known as “the Quarreler” and “the Headstrong”, is said to have preferred playing real tennis to spending time with the “feisty and shapely” Margaret. Charles, a relatively conservative, “strait-laced” and “stiff-necked” individual, had an unexceptional marriage. Philippe, the future King Philippe V, in contrast, became noted for his unusual generosity to his wife Jeanne; the pair had a considerable number of children in a short space of time and Philip wrote numerous, if formulaic, love letters to his wife over the years.

French Royal Family, depicted in 1315: l-r: Charles and Philippe , Isabella, Philippe IV, Louis, and Charles of Valois. Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Meanwhile, Philippe IV the Fair married his daughter, Isabella, to Edward II of England in 1308 in an attempt to resolve the tensions of his twin problems of conflict over the contested territories of Gascony and Flanders. Isabella’s marriage proved difficult, largely due to Edward’s intimate relationship with his close friend and possible lover, Piers Gaveston. Isabella looked frequently to her father for help addressing the problems in her English marriage.

Most accounts of the scandal begin with the visit of King Edward II and Queen Isabella of England to the queen’s father in France during 1313. During the visit, Louis and Charles had a satirical puppet show put on for their guests, and after this Isabella had given new embroidered purses both to her brothers and to their wives. Later in the year, Isabella and Edward held a large dinner in London to celebrate their return and Isabella apparently noticed that the purses she had given to her sisters-in-law were now being carried by two Norman knights, Walter of Aunay (also known as Gautier of Aunay) and Philip of Aunay. Isabella reached the conclusion that the pair must have been carrying on an illicit affair with the wives of her brothers Louis and Charles and appears to have informed her father of this during her next visit to France in 1314.

Philippe IV placed the knights under surveillance for a period, and the scandal began to take shape. The accusations centred on suggestions that Blanche and Margaret had been drinking, eating and engaging in adultery with Gautier and Philip of Aunay in the Tour de Nesle over a period time.

The Tour de Nesle was an old guard tower in Paris next to the river Seine and had been bought by Philip IV in 1308. The third sister-in-law, Joan, was initially said to have been present on some of these occasions and to have known of the affair; later accusations were extended to have included suggestions that she had also been involved in adultery herself.

Most historians have tended to conclude that the accusations against Blanche and Margaret were probably true, although some are more skeptical. Some accounts have suggested that Isabella’s accusations were politically motivated; she had just given birth to her son, Edward, and in theory the removal of all three of her sisters-in-law might have made his accession to the French throne more likely.

Others have argued that this seems an unlikely plan, given the normal probability that at least one of the three brothers would have successfully remarried and enjoyed a male heir in the coming years. Some contemporary chroniclers suggested that Philippe IV’s unpopular chamberlain Enguerrand de Marigny might have been responsible for framing the knights and women involved.