Paul Doherty: Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II USA
2003, 262 pp., cloth, € 26.95Kostenloser Versand innerhalb
Europas. The daughter of Philip IV of France, Queen Isabella of
England was married to Edward II in 1308, when she was just 12
years old. The marriage was intended to create lasting peace
between both countries. Isabella was a loyal wife at first,
though Edward soon became notorious for his rackety life, his
»favourites«, Piers Gaveston and the more sinister Hugh de
Spencer (an ancestor of the late Diana, Princess of Wales), and
for his lack of judgement, one result of which was the massacre
of the English army at Bannockburn. After 13 years of enduring
her husband's dissolute nature, together with vicious personal
harassment from Hugh de Spencer, Isabella fled abroad, where she
fell in love with the exiled Roger Mortimer. Together they
raised a mercenary army and invaded England, successfully
deposing Edward and inflicting a gruesome death on de Spencer.
Isabella then settled down to rule