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Hispanic Americans in Congress 1822-2012 Free eBook
Hispanic Americans in Congress 1822-2012 was initially reviewed in Government Book Talk, when it was released as a print publication. It has just been made available as a free eBook through the GPO Online Bookstore, so we are revisiting our original blog.
The United States celebrates its history through monuments, parks, statues and more comprehensively through books. The latest book from the House of Representatives Office of the Historian Hispanic Americans in Congress 1822-2012 profiles Hispanic members of Congress, incorporating their government service with the history of United States expansion. This book joins existing publications Women in Congress and Black Americans in Congress in honoring minorities and their role in government. This hefty coffee table book does not make for light reading with more than 700 pages weighing seven pounds, but it is rich in content with history spanning nearly 200 years and three centuries.
Since 1899 at least one Hispanic American has served in each Congress. For much of the 19th century, Hispanic Americans served as Territorial Delegates whose native lands had been acquired by war or diplomacy from Spain or Mexico as a result of U.S. continental expansion. Territorial delegates had limited power and served more as lobbyists for their interests like infrastructure projects for roads and railways than as legislators. Following the Spanish-American War of 1898, the inclusion of Puerto Rico as a territory marked another increase in representation of Hispanic Americans in government. Since the first Territorial Delegate from Florida joined Congress in 1822, 91 Hispanic Americans have served in Congress and more than half, or 54, served after 1977.
The publication dedicates more pages to the past giving a detailed history of United States expansion and the inclusion of Hispanic Americans in Congress as Texas, New Mexico, California, Florida, Puerto Rico and other territories gained representation in government. Each member's profile includes a picture, full-page pictures for former members, and standard biographical information with a greater focus on what they did while in Congress – the committees they served on, legislation they fought for and select anecdotes. The early history is more interesting as representatives overcame language barriers and fought for statehood for their territories. The appendices at the end of the book are a great resource organizing members by every imaginable category like the number of Hispanic Americans in Congress from each state, the committees they served on, the committees they chaired, the representatives in each Congress, and so on.
This book is a great read or scan because it takes vaguely familiar history and expands on it from the Hispanic American perspective, a unique viewpoint that those not from the Southwest may not be as familiar with. Regardless of perspective, the publication honors Hispanic Americans and the impact they have had on history and the growth and development of Congress.
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STS072-725-034 - STS-072 - Earth observations taken from shuttle orbiter Endeavour during STS-72 mission
The original finding aid described this as: Description: Earth observations taken from shuttle orbiter Endeavour during STS-72 mission. Subject Terms: STS-72, ENDEAVOUR (ORBITER), EARTH OBSERVATIONS (FROM SPACE) Date Taken: 1/19/1996 Categories: Earth Observations Interior_Exterior: Exterior Ground_Orbit: On-orbit Original: Film - 70MM CT Preservation File Format: TIFF geon: AUSTRALIA feat: DRAINAGE PATTERNS tilt: Low Oblique cldp: 0 nlat: -19.9 nlon: 137.6 azi: 98 alt: 167 elev: 52
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. 2/17/1973. STS072-725-034 - STS-072 - Earth observations taken from shuttle orbiter Endeavour during STS-72 mission. 1981-04-12/2011-07-21. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America, http://catalog.archives.gov/id/22938352. (Accessed January 21, 2020.)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. 2/17/1973, (1981-04-12/2011-07-21) STS072-725-034 - STS-072 - Earth observations taken from shuttle orbiter Endeavour during STS-72 mission. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America, http://catalog.archives.gov/id/22938352

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Isabella of Angouleme
King John with his children Henry, Richard, Joan, Isabella and Eleanor
There was one daughter of King John for whom the legacy of Magna Carta and the struggle for political reform held particular significance. The life of Eleanor of England, and her husband Simon de Montfort, stands as the epilogue of the Magna Carta story. Although democratic government was still many centuries in the future, Magna Carta was the first step. The political movement led by Simon de Montfort was the second step …
However, had fate not stepped in, Eleanor may never have married Simon. From an early age, she had been the wife of another, until tragedy struck.
Eleanor of England was the youngest child of John and Isabelle d'Angoulême; she is said to have inherited her mother's beauty and feisty temperament.1 Eleanor was thought to have been born at the height of her father's troubles, in the midst of the Magna Carta crisis in 1215. However, historians are now inclined to the theory that she was born posthumously, sometime after the death of King John, either in late 1216 or early in 1217. She was named for her famous grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. As a baby, little Eleanor was placed in the household of the bishop of Winchester, where her eldest brother, Henry, had been living since 1212.2 Eleanor's father had died whilst the country was riven by war, on the night of 18/19 October 1216 at Newark. He was succeeded by Eleanor's eldest brother Henry – now King Henry III. Eleanor's mother, frozen out from any role in her son's regency or life, returned to her native Angoulême and in 1220 married Hugh X de Lusignan, Count of La Marche.
In 1224 Eleanor's future was decided when she was married to William (II) Marshal, Earl of Pembroke. The younger Marshal was the son of the first earl of Pembroke who had been regent in the early years of Henry III's reign, and who had driven the French out of England following his victory at the Battle of Lincoln in May 1217. The first earl had a reputation for integrity and loyalty, having remained unwavering in his loyalty to King John during the Magna Carta crisis. The second earl, Eleanor's husband, had been a hostage of the king between 1207 and 1213, as a guarantee of his father's good behaviour. He later joined the baronial rebellion and was appointed marshal of the forces of the invader, Prince Louis. However, he returned to the Royalist cause when Louis refused him possession of Marlborough Castle, which had previously belonged to the younger Marshal's grandfather.3
William (II) Marshal fought alongside his father at the Battle of Lincoln. On his father's death in 1219, Marshal had succeeded him as earl of Pembroke and marshal of England; when his mother died in 1220, he succeeded to her lordships of Leinster and Netherwent. His younger brother, Richard Marshal, succeeded to the Clare lands in Ireland. In 1214 Marshal married Alice, the daughter of Baldwin de Béthune, Count of Aumâle, to whom he had been betrothed in 1203. The marriage was short-lived, however, as poor Alice died in 1216.
On 23 April 1224, William (II) Marshal was married to Eleanor; born in the 1190s, he was some twenty-or-so years older than his bride, who was no more than 9 years old on her wedding day, and may have been as young as 7.4
Eleanor of England, Countess of Pembroke
The marriage was agreed at the behest of the justiciar, Hubert de Burgh, and the papal legate, Pandulf, as a way of guaranteeing Marshal remained firmly in the justiciar's camp, and to prevent the marshal making a foreign marriage. The match put an end to three years of indecision, as to whether Eleanor should marry a foreign prince or an English magnate. The king settled ten manors, confiscated from a French nobleman and already administered by Marshal, on his sister as her marriage portion.5
For the first five years of her marriage Eleanor continued to live at court, under the guardianship of Cecily of Sandford.6 In 1229, when she was 13 or 14, she went to live with her husband, and would spend her time travelling with him in England, France and Ireland. In May 1230, Marshal had taken twenty knights with him on Henry III's expedition to Poitou. He also took his wife, probably at the behest of the king. Eleanor became seasick during the voyage to France and Henry had his ship drop anchor at the nearest landfall to give her time to recover, ordering the fleet to continue without them.7
Henry was probably hoping that Eleanor's presence would help to secure the support of his mother and her second husband, Hugh de Lusignan, to his expedition against the French. Mother and daughter had not seen each other since Eleanor was a baby. Isabelle's maternal affection for the children of her first husband, however, was practically non-existent, or deeply hidden, and Eleanor's presence failed to persuade her mother and stepfather to remain loyal to Henry III. As we have seen in a previous article, Isabelle d'Angoulême's priorities as a French countess often clashed with those of her English family.
Marshal and Eleanor returned from France in the spring of 1231, with William handing over command of the English forces to Ranulf, Earl of Chester. Shortly after their return, the couple attended the wedding of Marshal's widowed sister, Isabel, to the king's brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall. Family happiness turned to grief, however, when William (II) Marshal died suddenly in London a week later, on 6 April. He was buried beside his father at the Temple Church on 15 April 1231.
At the still very tender age of between 14 and 16, Eleanor was a now childless widow.
The arms of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke
The earldom of Pembroke passed to William's younger brother, Richard, and Eleanor would spend many years fighting unsuccessfully to get the entirety of her dowry from the Marshal family, which amounted to one third of the Marshal estates, according to the guarantees established by Magna Carta. The Great Charter stipulated a widow should receive the allocation of a dower within forty days of her husband's death.
A year after William's death Richard Marshal offered Eleanor £400 a year as her settlement. Henry III persuaded his sister to take it, wanting to be done with the business and probably well aware that it was as much as Eleanor was likely to get, despite the Marshal holdings amounting to an income of £3,000 a year.8 Henry stood as guarantor for the settlement but the payments would always be sporadic and unreliable, not helped by the fact that the earldom passed through four successive Marshal brothers between 1231 and 1245, each with differing priorities and more Marshal widows to assign their dowers.
In the midst of her grief, and influenced by her former governess, Eleanor took a vow of chastity in the presence of Edmund of Abingdon, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1234. Although she did not become a nun, the archbishop put a ring on her finger, to signify that she was a bride of Christ; she was, therefore, expected to remain chaste and virtuous for the rest of her life. As a result, the king seized her estates and Richard Marshal, as her husband's heir, took many of her valuable chattels.
Knowing how teenagers see lost love as the end of the world, even today, one can understand Eleanor's decision to take a vow of chastity, even if we cannot comprehend anyone giving such advice to a grieving 16-year-old. Eleanor may also have seen taking such a vow as a way of staving off her brother, the king, forcing her to remarry in the interests of the crown. Moreover, it put Eleanor's life in her own hands and also served to appease the Marshal family, who would have seen their own lands, which made up Eleanor's dower, controlled by another magnate or foreign prince had she remarried.
Eleanor's seal as Countess of Leicester
The widowed Eleanor retired to the castle of Inkberrow in Worcestershire. King Henry III continued to watch over his sister throughout the 1230s; he sent her gifts of venison and timber for her manors. Throughout her life, Eleanor was known for her extravagant spending, which led to substantial debts; Henry lent her money and made sporadic payments to reduce the debts. And in 1237 her brother granted her Odiham Castle in Hampshire, which would become her principal residence.9
Although Eleanor spent the 7 years after William Marshal's death as a young widow sworn to chastity, most people may have predicted that such a life would not last. And at some point after the mid-1230s, possibly at the wedding of Henry and Eleanor of Provence, Eleanor met Simon de Montfort, the man who would dominate English politics in the mid-thirteenth century.
The couple fell in love.
But that story is for another time…
Courtesy of Wikipedia
1. Carol, 'Eleanor of Leicester: A Broken Vow of Chastity', historyofroyalwomen.com, 28 February 2017; 2. Elizabeth Norton, She Wolves; 3. R.F. Walker, 'William Marshal, fifth earl of Pembroke (c. 1190–1231)', oxforddnb.com; 4. Ibid; 5. Darren Baker, With All For All; 6. Elizabeth Hallam, 'Eleanor, Countess of Pembroke and Leicester (1215?–1275)', Oxforddnb.com; 7. Darren Baker, With All For All; 8. Ibid; Elizabeth Hallam, 'Eleanor, Countess of Pembroke'.
13th century, English history, European History, Magna Carta, Medieval History, Medieval Women, Plantagenets, Uncategorized, Women's HistoryAlternate Endings, Countess of Leicester, Countess of Pembroke, Defenders of the Norman Crown, Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey, Eleanor, England, Henry III, Heroines of the Medieval World, History Heroines, Isabella of Angouleme, King John, King John's Right Hand Lady, King John's Right Hand Lady: the Story of Nicholaa de la Haye, Ladies of Magna Carta, Sharon Bennett Connolly, Silk and the Sword, Simon de Montfort, William Marshal, Women in History
10 Facts About Women and Magna Carta
Magna Carta is probably the most significant charter in English history and, today, its importance extends beyond England's shores, holding a special place in the constitutions of many countries around the world. Despite its age, Magna Carta's iconic status is a more modern phenomena, seen in the influence it has had on nations and organisations throughout the world, such as the United States of America and the United Nations, who have used it as the basis for their own 1791 Bill of Rights and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, respectively.
Originally called the Charter of Liberties, it was renamed Magna Carta, or Great Charter, in 1217, when the Charter of the Forest (see Appendix C) was issued. Sealed (not signed) in the meadow at Runnymede in June 1215, the legacy of Magna Carta, down through the centuries, has enjoyed a much greater impact on history and the people of the world than it did at the time of its creation. As a peace treaty between rebellious barons and the infamous King John, it was an utter failure, thrown out almost before the wax seals had hardened, not worth the parchment it was written on.
The Magna Carta of 1215 reflects the needs and events of the time in which it was issued; an England on the brink of civil war, disaffected barons demanding redress, the Church and cities such as London looking for protection. It was not a charter that was intended to form the protection and legal rights of every man, woman and child in the land; though it has come to be seen as just that in subsequent centuries. Indeed, the common man does not get a mention, and of the sixty-three clauses, only eight of them mention women as a gender. Only one clause uses the word femina – woman – and that is a clause which restricts the rights and powers of a woman, rather than upholding them.
1. As queen, Isabelle d'Angoulême is mentioned in Clause 61, the security clause of Magna Carta:
Seal of Isaballe d'Angoulême
'…And if we or our justiciar, should we be out of the kingdom, do not redress the offence within forty days from the time it was brought to the notice of us or our justiciar, should we be out of the kingdom, the aforesaid four barons shall refer the case to the rest of the twenty-five barons and those twenty-five barons with the commune of all the land shall distrain and distress us in every way they can, namely by seizing castles, lands and possessions, and in such other ways as they can, saving our person and those of our queen and our children, until, in their judgement, amends have been made; and when it has been redressed they are to obey us as they did before…'
2. Other than Isabelle d'Angoulême, only 2 women can be positively identified in the text of Magna Carta. Though they are not named, the Scottish princesses, Isabella and Margaret appear in clause 59 as the 'sisters' of Alexander II, King of Scots:
'We will treat Alexander, king of Scots, concerning the return of his sisters and hostages and his liberties and rights in the same manner in which we will act towards our other barons of England, unless it ought to be otherwise because of the charters which we have from William his father, formerly king of Scots; and this shall be determined by the judgement of his peers in our court.'
3. Magna Carta restricts the right of women to accuse others of murder. Clause 54 states:
'No one shall be taken or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman for the death of anyone except her husband.'
In a time when a man had the right to face his accuser in trial by combat to prove his innocence, this right would be automatically removed if his accuser was a woman; women were not allowed to use force of arms. A female accuser was seen as being able to circumvent the law, and therefore the law was open to abuse. It was merely that a woman may make a false accusation, rather that a woman may be manipulated by her menfolk to make an accusation, knowing that she would not be required to back it up by feat of arms. Whereas her husband, father or brother may have been challenged to do just that.
Clause 54 was used on 5 July 1215, when King John ordered the release of Everard de Mildeston, an alleged murderer. Everard had been accused of the murder of her son, Richard, by Seina Chevel. The charge was therefore forbidden under the terms of Magna Carta, and the accused released.
4. The experiences of Loretta de Braose are believed to have inspired Clauses 7 and 8, which sought to protect the rights of widows. Clause 7 established that:
'After her husband's death, a widow shall have her marriage portion and her inheritance at once and without any hindrance; nor shall she pay anything for her dower, her marriage portion, or her inheritance which she and her husband held on the day of her husband's death; and she may stay in her husband's house for 40 days after his death, within which period her dower shall be assigned to her.'
5. Clause 8 allowed that a widow was to be free to choose whether or not to remarry, so long as she paid for the privilege:
'No widow shall be compelled to marry so long as she wishes to live without a husband, provided that she gives security that she will not marry without our consent if she holds of us, or without the consent of the lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.'
The clauses protecting widows were intended to protect the inheritances of underage heirs, rather than the rights of the women themselves.
6. Clause 11 protects a wife from having to repay the debts of her dead husband from her dower:
'And if a man dies owing a debt to the Jews, his wife may have her dower and pay nothing of that debt; and if he leaves children under age, their needs shall be met in a manner in keeping with the holding of the deceased; and the debts shall be paid out of the residue, saving the service due to the lords. Debts owing to others than Jews shall be dealt with likewise.'
7. Clause 12 allows the king to raise a 'reasonable' aid or scutage (taxes) to pay towards the first marriage of his eldest daughter:
Joan of England, King John's oldest daughter
'No scutage or aid shall be levied in our realm except by the common counsel of our realm, unless it is for the ransom of our person, the knighting of our eldest son or the first marriage of our eldest daughter; and for these only a reasonable aid is to be levied. Aids from the city of London are to be treated likewise.'
8. Clause 15 allows that no lord could raise a tax from his free men except to ransom his person, knight his eldest son and marry his eldest daughter once:
'Henceforth we will not grant anyone that he may take an aid from his free men except to ransom his person, to make his eldest son a knight and to marry his eldest daughter once; and for these purposes only a reasonable aid is to be levied.'
9. The fate of Matilda de Braose, left to starve to death in John's dungeons, is thought to have influenced clauses 39 and 40 of Magna Carta. Clause 39 states;
'No man shall be taken, imprisoned, outlawed, banished or in any way destroyed, nor will we proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land.'
Clause 40 promised:
'To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.'
Clause 39 could not prevent the perpetual imprisonment of women of royal blood, such as Eleanor of Brittany and Gwenllian of Wales. Their royal blood made them a focus for rebellion and opposition and therefore a threat to the throne and the stability of the kingdom.
10. Ela of Salisbury used clause 8 of Magna Carta to support her rejection of an unwelcome offer of marriage:
'No widow is to be distrained to marry while she wishes to live without a husband.'
11. Clause 6 of Magna Carta dictated that
'Heirs shall be given in marriage without disparagement, yet so that before a marriage is contracted it shall be made known to the heir's next of kin.'
This clause should have effectively protected women from being forced to marry below their station.
12. Isabel d'Aubigny famously invoked Magna Carta when Henry III commandeered land and rights that were rightly hers, proclaiming;
'Where are the liberties of England, so often recorded, so often granted, and so often ransomed?'
13. The Rt. Hon. Fiona Woolf, C.B.E., called Magna Carta
'the single most important legal document in history. The foundation for global constitutions, commerce and communities. The anchor for the Rule of Law.'
You may have noticed that there were 13 facts, rather than the 10 as advertised – my apologies. I got carried away!
12th century, 13th century, English history, Magna Carta, Medieval History, Medieval Women, Plantagenets, Thirteenth Century, Uncategorized, Warennes, Women's History1215, Alternate Endings, Clause 39, Defenders of the Norman Crown, Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey, Ela of Salisbury, Eleanor of Brittany, England, Gwenllian, Henry III, Heroines of the Medieval World, History Heroines, Isabel 'Aubigny, Isabella of Angouleme, Isabella of Scotland, King John, King John's Right Hand Lady, King John's Right Hand Lady: the Story of Nicholaa de la Haye, Ladies of Magna Carta, Loretta de Braose, Margaret of Scotland, Matilda de Braose, Sharon Bennett Connolly, Silk and the Sword
Isabelle d'Angoulême: A Complicated Queen
Why Isabelle d'Angoulême is hard to love?
Seal of Isabelle d'Angoulême
At first sight, it is easy to have sympathy for Isabelle of Angoulême. When I started researching her for Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England, I was expecting to be able to go some way to redeeming her reputation. She was married at a very young age – she was no more than 12 and may have been as young as 10 – to 'Bad' King John, the man who would later be accused of murdering his own nephew and left a woman to starve in his dungeons.
Isabelle d'Angoulême was the only child of Audemar, Count of Angoulême and Alice de Courtenay. Her mother was the daughter Peter de Courtenay, lord of Montargis and Chateaurenard, and a cousin of king Philip II Augustus of France. Through her Courtenay family connections, Isabelle was related to the royal houses of Jerusalem, Hungary, Aragon and Castile. When John set his sights on her, Isabelle was betrothed to Hugh IX de Lusignan: the chronicler Roger of Howden maintained that Isabelle had not yet reached the age of consent, which was why she was still only betrothed to Hugh, rather than married to him. The marriage between Isabelle and Hugh was intended to put to bed, literally, a long-running, bitter rivalry between the Lusignans and the counts of Angoulême. It would also unite neighbouring regions in Aquitaine, posing a threat to Angevin power in the region. This could have effectively cut Aquitaine in two, jeopardising the stability of the borders of Poitou and Gascony. John could not help but see the threat posed by the impending marriage and sought to put a stop to it. Count Audemar, it seems, was quite receptive to the suggestion that he abandon the Lusignan match if it meant that his daughter would become a queen.
In the early years of their marriage, John appears to have treated Isabelle more like a child than a wife, which she still was, and she was financially dependent on him. When she was not at court with the king, Isabelle spent time at Marlborough Castle or in the household of John's first wife, Isabella of Gloucester, at Winchester. Isabella's allowance was raised from £50 to £80 a year, to pay for the extra expenses incurred by housing the queen.
It appears that Isabelle was an unpopular queen, guilty by her association with the excesses and abuses of John's regime. It was in this light that John's marriage to Isabelle was seen as the start of England's woes, with some of the blame falling unfairly on the young queen. Contemporary sources reported that John spent his mornings in bed with the queen, when he should have been attending to the business of the country, casting Isabelle as some kind of temptress, irresistible to the king. The fact that Isabelle did not give birth to her first child until 1207, when she was in her late teens, puts the lie to these sources, suggesting that she and John did not consummate the marriage in the first few years. After 16 years together, the couple had 5 children; Henry III, Richard of Cornwall, Isabella, Joan and the youngest, Eleanor, who was born in 1215 or 1216.
While her movements were restricted and closely controlled during her marriage to John, the situation did not improve for Isabelle following John's death in 1216. Their 9-year-old son Henry was now king, but Isabelle was excluded from playing a role in the regency government; her unpopularity in England and lack of political experience were major factors. Moreover, she had had limited contact with her children: they lived in separate households and Isabelle was not responsible for their supervision or education, which added to her isolation. Almost as soon as Henrys crowned, Isabelle started making arrangements to go home, to Angoulême, of which she was countess in her own right. In 1217 she left England.
Isabelle's son, Henry III of England
Once in her own domains, Isabelle was to arrange the wedding of her daughter, Joan. Joan had been betrothed, at the age of 4, to Hugh X de Lusignan, Count of La Marche and the son of Hugh IX, the man who had been betrothed to Isabelle before John married her. In 1220 Isabelle shocked England, and probably the whole continent, when she scandalously married her daughter's betrothed herself. Poor 9-year-old Joan's erstwhile fiancé was now her stepfather! Worse was to come, however, when the little princess was not returned to her homeland, as might have been expected, but held hostage, by Isabelle and Hugh, to ensure Hugh's continued control of her dower lands, and as a guarantee to the transfer of her mother's dower, which the English government was withholding against the return of Joan.
Stalemate.
Isabelle wrote to her son, Henry III, to explain and justify why she had supplanted her own daughter as Hugh's bride, claiming '…lord Hugh of Lusignan remained alone and without heir in the region of Poitou, and his friends did not permit our daughter to be married to him, because she is so young; but they counselled him to take a wife from whom he might quickly have heirs, and it was suggested that he take a wife in France. If he had done so, all your land in Poitou and Gascony and ours would have been lost. But we, seeing the great danger that might emerge from such a marriage – and your counsellors would give us no counsel in this – took said H[ugh], count of La Marche, as our lord; and God knows that we did this more for your advantage than ours…'
Ironically, Isabelle had now achieved that which King John had hoped to avoid; the union of La Marche and Angoulême, splitting Angevin Aquitaine down the Little Joan was finally returned to England towards the end of 1220, but the arguments over Isabelle's English lands continued throughout the 1220s and beyond. Isabelle would not retire in peace and in 1224 she and Hugh betrayed Henry by allying themselves with the King of France. In exchange for a substantial pension, they supported a French invasion of Poitou (the lands in France belonging to the King of England, her son).
Seal of Hugh X de Lusignan
Hugh and Isabelle were reconciled with Henry in 1226 and Isabelle met her first-born son for the first time in more than twelve years in 1230, when Henry mounted a futile expedition to Brittany and Poitou. Isabelle and Hugh, however, continued to play the kings of France and England against each other, always looking for the advantage, though this was probably as much by necessity as self-interest. They did, after all, live in France and their relationship with England complicated things. In 1242, for example, when Henry III invaded Poitou, Hugh X initially gave support to his English stepson, only to change sides once more, precipitating the collapse of Henry's campaign. Isabelle herself was implicated in a plot to poison King Louis IX of France and his brother, only to be foiled at the last minute; the poisoners claimed to have been sent by Isabelle. There is no evidence of Isabelle denying the accusation, but she never admitted her guilt, either.
Isabelle's second marriage proved even more unstable than her first, shaken by Hugh's frequent infidelities and threats of divorce. Isabelle enjoyed greater personal authority within her second marriage; where she had issued no charters whilst married to King John, as Hugh de Lusignan's wife, the couple issued numerous joint charters. Her difficult relationship with France added to Isabelle's marital problems. In one instance, Isabelle was offended by the queen of France when she was not offered a chair to sit, in the queen's presence, regardless of the fact she herself was a crowned and anointed queen. Following this insult, in 1241, Isabelle castigated Hugh de Lusignan for supporting a French candidate to the county of Poitou, ahead of her son, Henry III. In retaliation, Isabelle stripped Lusignan Castle of its furnishings and refused to allow her husband into her castle at Angoulême for three days.
Despite the rocky relationship, Isabelle and Hugh had nine children together, including Aymer de Lusignan and William de Valence. Many of his Lusignan half-siblings would later cause problems for Henry III, having come to England to seek patronage and advancement from their royal half-brother.
Tomb effigy of Isabelle d'Angoulême, Fontevraud Abbey
In 1244 the two royal cooks admitted the attempted poisoning of the French king, and that they had been paid by Isabelle. Before she could be arrested, Isabelle retired to Fontevraud Abbey, where she died on 4 June, 1246. The dowager queen of England was buried in the abbey's churchyard. However, when Henry III visited his mother's final resting place, he was shocked that she was buried outside the abbey and ordered that she be moved inside. She was finally laid to rest in the abbey church, beside Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
As contemporaries described her as 'more Jezebel than Isabel', accused her of 'sorcery and witchcraft', Isabelle of Angouleme's reputation as a heartless mother and habitual schemer seems set to remain. Married to King John whilst still a child, she was castigated as the cause for the loss of the majority of John's continental possessions and the subsequent strife and civil war; one could easily sympathise with her lack of love for England. That Isabelle apparently abandoned the children of her first husband within months of his death, and her supposed willingness to betray her son for her own ends would go some way to destroy the compassion one may have felt for her. However, we have to remember that nothing is ever black and white and we have to consider that Isabelle was balancing the interests of her two families – one French and one English – which were, unfortunately for Isabelle, irreconcilable due to the politics of the time.
One thing is for sure, Isabelle d'Angoulême is a fascinating character!
13th century, English history, European History, Medieval History, Medieval Women, Plantagenets, Thirteenth Century, Uncategorized, Women's HistoryAlternate Endings, Defenders of the Norman Crown, Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey, Henry III, Heroines of the Medieval World, History Heroines, hugh de Lusignan, Isabella of Angouleme, Isabelle d'Angouleme, King John, King John's Right Hand Lady, King John's Right Hand Lady: the Story of Nicholaa de la Haye, Ladies of Magna Carta, Sharon Bennett Connolly, Silk and the Sword
Chatting to The Tudor Tracker
24/08/2020 Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment
As part of The Tudor Tracker's Alternative August programme of talks, I had a nice long chat with Catherine Brooks about the history behind Magna Carta, King John and some of the remarkable women I wrote of in Ladies of Magna Carta.
We talk about the awesomeness of Nicholaa de la Haye, the tragedy of Matilda de Braose and how two Scottish princesses got into a clause of the Great Charter. And much more….
You can find the whole conversation on YouTube or by clicking the link below.
Huge thanks to Catherine for such an enjoyable and interesting chat.
12th century, 13th century, English history, Magna Carta, Medieval History, Medieval Women, Plantagenets, Thirteenth Century, Warennes, Women's HistoryAlternative August, Ela of Salisbury, Hamelin de Warenne, Heroines of the Medieval World, History Heroines, Isabel de Warenne, Isabel of Gloucester, Isabella of Angouleme, Isabella of Gloucester, Isabella of Scotland, Isabelle of Angouleme, King John, Ladies of Magna Carta, Ladies of the Magna Carta, Margaret of Scotland, Matilda de Braose, Matilda Marshal, Maud de Braose, Nichola de la Haye, Nicholaa de la Haye, Sharon Bennett Connolly, Silk and the Sword, The Tudor TRacker, Warenne: The Earls of Surrey from the Conquest to 1347, Warennes
The Two Wives of King John
One of the most intriguing relationships of the Magna Carta story is that between Isabella of Gloucester and Isabelle d'Angoulême, the two wives of King John.
Isabella of Gloucester is a unique individual in the story of Magna Carta. She is, in many ways, a shadow in the pages of history, and yet she held one of the greatest earldoms in England. There are no pictures of her, not even a description of her personality or appearance. At one time, no one even seemed certain of her name; she has been called Isabel, Isabella, Hawise, Avice – but Isabella is how she appears in the Close Rolls.1
Isabella was the youngest daughter and co-heiress of William, second Earl of Gloucester, who was himself the son of Robert of Gloucester, an illegitimate son of King Henry I and Empress Matilda's half-brother and stalwart supporter during her war against King Stephen. Earl William's wife was Hawise, the daughter of Robert de Beaumont, third Earl of Leicester. Isabella's only brother Robert had died in 1166, making Isabella and her two sisters co-heiresses to the earldom of Gloucester. Although her date of birth has been lost to history, it seems likely she was born in the early 1160s.
We know very little of Isabella's childhood, although, considering her social status, as the daughter of one of England's wealthiest earls, it is likely that she was given the education expected of a high-ranking noblewoman and taught to run a large household, as well as the social graces of singing, dancing and needlework. Her parents' marriage appears to have been a successful one. Isabella's mother, Countess Hawise, was a regular witness to her husband's charters and was mentioned in several of them, especially in the pro amina clauses of grants made to religious houses that sought spiritual benefits for those named.
Arms of Geoffrey de Mandeville, Isabella of Gloucester's second husband
Isabella's father, although a first cousin of Henry II, had a complicated relationship with the king, especially after Henry had taken Bristol Castle from the earl; the castle had been held by William's father before him. Despite remaining loyal to Henry II during the rebellion of the king's sons in 1173–74 and agreeing to the marriage of his youngest daughter to Prince John, Earl William's loyalty remained suspect and he was arrested and imprisoned in 1183. The unfortunate earl died whilst still a captive, on 23 November 1183.
Isabella was betrothed, in 1176, to Prince John, the youngest son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. John was 9 years old at the time of the betrothal, while Isabella was probably a few years older. Under the terms of the marriage agreement, Earl William recognised John as heir to the earldom of Gloucester, effectively disinheriting Isabella's two elder sisters. The marriage was to be a way for Henry II to provide for his youngest son. After the Earl of Gloucester's death in 1183, his entire estate was passed to Isabella, who had been made a ward of the king.
Isabella's older sisters were both already married; Mabel was the wife of Amaury of Évreux and Amicia was married to the earl of Hertford. On their father's death they had both been explicitly excluded from the estate to prevent the division of the comital inheritance and they received annuities of £100 each in compensation. Taking Isabella into wardship, Henry II therefore seized all the Gloucester lands and made the income from them available for John's use, as Isabella's future husband. The king, however, appears to have kept his options open and had not finalised John's marriage to Isabella by the time of his death; in case a more suitable alliance came along.
Winchester Cathedral, Isabella and Isabelle shared a household in Winchester
King Richard I, on the other hand, thought it expedient to get his brother safely married, on his own accession to the throne in 1189. The wedding took place at Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire on 29 August 1189; John was 21 and Isabella may have been approaching 30. Baldwin, the archbishop of Canterbury at the time, opposed the marriage as the couple were related within the third degree of consanguinity; they were second cousins, both being great-grandchildren of Henry I. John had to promise to seek a papal dispensation and, even then, the couple were ordered, by the archbishop, not to sleep together.
Although Isabella and John were married for ten years, their marriage was neither happy nor successful. They spent some time together in the first years of their marriage as they issued charters together during a visit to Normandy around 1190–91.2 However, they appear to have spent less and less time together as the years went on. They never had any children and it is during this time in his life that John's illegitimate children, including Richard of Chilham and Joan Lady of Wales, were born; a further suggestion that the couple were not close. In 1193, as part of his plotting with Philip Augustus, John promised to marry the French king's half-sister, Alice, who had previously been betrothed to John's own brother, Richard. Nothing eventually came of the marriage proposal, but it was an implicit rejection of Isabella as his wife.
John succeeded to the throne on the death of his older brother, Richard the Lionheart, on 6 April 1199. He was crowned, alone, on 27 May 1199; the fact that Isabella was not crowned with him suggests that John was already looking for a way out of the marriage. Poor Isabella would never be styled 'queen' and it was possibly as early as August 1199, but certainly by early 1200, that John obtained a divorce on the grounds of consanguinity, the very objection for which he was supposed to have obtained a dispensation when he married Isabella in 1189. The bishops of Lisieux, Bayeux and Avranches, sitting in Normandy, provided the required judgement. One chronicler said of John that 'seized by hope of a more elevated marriage, he acted on wicked counsel and rejected his wife.'3
Keen to keep his hold on the substantial Gloucester lands, John took Isabella into wardship, again, holding her in 'honourable confinement' for the next fourteen years. Little is known of her day-to-day life, although she does appear to have remained on civil terms with King John. John met the expenses of Isabella's household and staff and sent her numerous gifts, including wine and cloth. Things may well have been a little awkward at times, especially after John found himself another wife.
Westminster Abbey, where Isabelle d'Angoulême was crowned Queen of England
Having discarded Isabella, John began to look elsewhere for a new wife; he sent ambassadors to the Iberian peninsula to investigate the possibilities of a match with the daughter of the king of Portugal. However, any such plans were hastily abandoned when John set his sights on Isabelle d'Angoulême.
Isabelle was the only child of Audemar (or Aymer), Count of Angoulême and Alice de Courtenay. Alice was the daughter Peter de Courtenay, lord of Montargis and Chateaurenard, and a cousin of king Philip II Augustus of France. Through her Courtenay family connections, Isabelle was also related to the royal houses of Jerusalem, Hungary, Aragon and Castile. There was one tiny problem, however, Isabelle was already betrothed to Hugh IX de Lusignan. The marriage was intended to end the bitter rivalry of the two families but would also be a threat to Angevin power in the region, effectively splitting Aquitaine in two, with the Lusignans controlling the centre.
John therefore suggested to Count Audemar that he marry Isabelle himself. The count jumped at the chance of seeing his daughter become queen of England. Isabelle and John were married on 24 August 1200; Isabelle was no more than 12 and may have been as young as 10, John was 33 or 34.
When John remarried in 1200 to Isabelle d'Angoulême, he housed his new wife with his ex-wife, which could have been rather awkward for both women. Queen Isabelle was still very young, probably no more than 12 years old on her marriage. Despite the chroniclers claiming Isabelle was a temptress and kept John in bed when he should have been ruling the kingdom, in the early years of their marriage, the king appears to have treated her more like a child than a wife; which she, of course, was. Her independence was severely limited by John keeping personal control of her finances.
When she was not at court with the king, Isabelle spent time at Marlborough or in the household of John's first wife, Isabella of Gloucester, at Winchester. Isabella's allowance was raised from £50 to £80 a year, to pay for the extra expenses incurred by housing the queen.4 The young queen remained in Isabella of Gloucester's household until the birth of her first child, Henry, in 1207; in that year Isabella of Gloucester was moved to Sherborne before the queen gave birth. And now that she no longer had the care of the queen, Isabella's allowance was reduced back down to £50 a year.
One may imagine this was quite awkward for Isabella of Gloucester, the discarded wife being forced to host her former husband's young bride. On closer reflection, however, it may also have been a comfort to her. The teenage queen would probably have been lively company for the 40-something countess who had never been blessed with children. She may have felt protective and motherly to the girl, especially knowing John as well as she must have done.
Following the birth of her first son, Henry, Isabelle gave John four more children; another son, Richard, born in 1209 and daughters, Joan, born in 1210, Isabella, born in 1214 and Eleanor, who was born in either 1215 or 1216, and married the famed Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, as her second husband. Following John's death in 1216, Isabelle returned to France, to her county of Angoulême, where, in 1220, she married Hugh X de Lusignan, the son of her former betrothed.
The gatehouse to Canterbury Cathedral, where Isabella of Gloucester is buried
Isabella of Gloucester was finally allowed to remarry in 1214; a letters patent issued by John on 28 January 1214 informed all the knights and tenants of the honour of Gloucester that 'we have given Isabella, countess of Gloucester, our kinswoman' in marriage to Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex.5 Mandeville had to pay the massive sum of 20,000 marks for the privilege of marrying the king's first wife; an amount he could never hope to repay. He was one of the barons who rose in rebellion during the Magna Carta crisis of 1215.
1 Rich Price, King John's Letters Facebook group; 2 Louise Wilkinson, Isabel of Gloucester, wife of King John, magnacarta800th.com; 3 Ralph of Diceto, Images of History; 4 Lisa Hilton, Queen's Consort: England's Medieval Queens; 5 Louise Wilkinson, Isabel of Gloucester, wife of King John, magnacarta800th.com
Rich Price, King John's Letters Facebook group; Louise Wilkinson, Isabel of Gloucester, wife of King John, magnacarta800th.com; Robert Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075-1225; Dan Jones The Plantagenets; the Kings who Made England; The Plantagenet Chronicle Edited by Elizabeth Hallam; Maurice Ashley The Life and Times of King John; Roy Strong The Story of Britain; Oxford Companion to British History; Mike Ashley British Kings & Queens; David Williamson Brewer's British Royalty; Robert B. Patterson, Isabella, suo jure Countess of Gloucester (c. 1160-1217), Oxforddnb.com; Ralph of Diceto, Images of History; Lisa Hilton, Queen's Consort: England's Medieval Queens; Marc Morris, King John; Elizabeth Norton, She-Wolves: The Notorious Queens of England; Louise Wilkinson, Isabella of Angoulême, wife of King John, magnacarta800th.com
Courtesy of Wikipedia, except Winchester Cathedral is ©2020 courtesy of Anne Marie Bouchard, Westminster Abbey, ©2020 courtesy of Daniel Gleave and Canterbury Cathedral which is ©2020 Sharon Bennett Connolly.
12th century, 13th century, English history, Magna Carta, Medieval History, Medieval Women, Plantagenets, Women's HistoryAlternate Endings, Defenders of the Norman Crown, Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey, Geoffrey de Mandeville, Henry III, Heroines of the Medieval World, History Heroines, hugh de Lusignan, Isabella of Angouleme, Isabella of Gloucester, Isabelle of Angouleme, King John, King John's Right Hand Lady, King John's Right Hand Lady: the Story of Nicholaa de la Haye, Ladies of Magna Carta, Magna Carta, Sharon Bennett Connolly, Silk and the Sword, Simon de Montfort
Ladies of Magna Carta Blog Tour
Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century Europe is going on tour – virtually at least. With articles, book reviews and interviews coming over the next 2 weeks, we will be visiting such exotic places as Barnsley, Tennessee, the Yorkshire Dales, Sussex and Michigan – all from the desktop!
Here's the itinerary!
First stop is 1st July at my amazing publishers, Pen and Sword, who have done a wonderful job of organising the tour. Here's an article on the inspiration behind the book.
5th July, Joanna Arman, The History Lady, will publishing her thoughts on Ladies of Magna Carta. I'm not nervous – much!
6th July, I will be stopping by for a cuppa with Samantha Wilcoxson to talk about The Marshal Sisters.
7th July, I will be chatting with Susan Higginbotham on History Refreshed about why it is so hard to love Isabelle d'Angoulême.
I will be making 2 stops on 8th July, visiting Simon Turney's S.J.A. Turney's Books and More, with an article on the many Family Ties of the women of the Magna Carta a story, plus Simon has written a wonderful review of Ladies of Magna Carta. And then it's a quick hop over to visit Carol McGrath for her review of Ladies of Magna Carta and a chat about history, research and writing in general.
9th July I'll be visiting the inimitable author, Tony Riches, with an article on Matilda de Braose.
10th July its down to Surrey for a review from the wonderful Paula Lofting over at The Road to Hastings and Other Stories.
13th July its back over to the US to Adventures of a Tudor Nerd for ace reviewer Heidi Malagasi's thoughts on Ladies of Magna carta.
14th July, its over to nursing historian Louise Wyatt for coffee and a Q &A – and a little taster from the book.
15th July its back over the pond to Tennessee, to visit Kristie Dean and give you 16 Facts About Woman and Magna Carta – it was supposed to be 10 but I got carried away!
16th July Last – but by no means least – stop on the tour is the amazing Derek Birks and one final – hopefully glowing – review.
Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England is now available from Pen & Sword, Amazon and from Book Depository worldwide.
I would like to thank Rosie and Rebecca at Pen & Sword and all the authors and bloggers involved for taking part in this amazing tour. I am truly humbled and grateful that you have all taken the time to read Ladies of Magna Carta and shared your thoughts and blog space with me.
Signed book plates
If you have a copy of Ladies of Magna Carta and would like a signed book plate to pop in the front, for you or someone else, just drop me a line via the 'Contact Me' page with your address and who you would like the dedication made out to, and I will get one out to you.
Sharon Bennett Connolly has been fascinated by history her whole life. She has studied history academically and just for fun – and even worked as a tour guide at historical sites. For Christmas 2014, her husband gave her a blog as a gift – http://www.historytheinterestingbits.com – and Sharon started researching and writing about the stories that have always fascinated, concentrating on medieval women. Her latest book, Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England, released in May 2020, is her third non-fiction book. She is also the author of Heroines of the Medieval World and Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest. Sharon regularly gives talks on women's history; she is a feature writer for All About History magazine and her TV work includes Australian Television's 'Who Do You Think You Are?'
12th century, 13th century, Book review, English history, European History, Magna Carta, Medieval History, Medieval Women, Plantagenets, Thirteenth Century, Warennes, Women's HistoryEla of Salisbury, Eleanor de Montfort, Eleanor of Brittany, Gwenllilan, Hamelin de Warenne, Hamelin Plantagenet, Heroines of the Medieval World, History Heroines, Isabel de Warenne, Isabella of Angouleme, Isabella of England, Isabella of Gloucester, Isabella of Scotland, Joan of England, King John, Ladies of Magna Carta, Lady of Wales, Magna Carta, Margaret of Scotland, Matilda de Braose, Nicholaa de la Haye, Sharon Bennett Connolly, Warennes, William de Warenne, William Marshal
Medieval She-Wolves: Part Two
As promised, here's Part Two of Medieval She-Wolves. Charting the stories of 3 more remarkable women who have been labelled 'she-wolves' due to their strength and determination – and a ruthlessness born out of an impressive survival instinct.
Zoe, Empress of Constantinople
Mosaic of Empress Zoe, Hagia Sophia
Zoe Porphyrogenita lived much of her life in relative obscurity. At the age of 50, in 1028, she was married to her father's designated successor, Emperor Romanos III, and became empress consort when he succeeded to the throne in the same year. Zoe was described by a palace courtier, Michael Psellos, as 'a woman of great beauty, most imposing in her manner and commanding respect … a woman of passionate interests.'
As empress consort, Zoe asserted herself. Her younger sister, Theordora, was sent to a monastery. Neglected by her husband, who had taken a mistress and refused his wife access to the treasury, Zoe took a much younger, teenage lover, Michael. Together the lovers conspired to dispose of Romanos and he was drowned in his bath in 1034.
Zoe promptly married her lover and made him Emperor Michael IV. Their marriage, however, was full of distrust and Zoe was allowed no power or say in government. Michael IV then banished Zoe to a monastery. Not to be forgotten, Zoe began scheming to reclaim her throne. After she was allowed back to court, and unable to bare her own children, Zoe adopted Michael IV's nephew, another Michael, and made him her heir. Michael IV's life would have probably ended in the same way as his predecessor, Romanos III, drowned in the bath or with a knife in his back, had he not died of natural causes in 1041.
Michael's nephew, Zoe's adopted son, ascended the throne as Michael V. When Michael V was crowned, Zoe was again banished to a monastery, an act which caused an uprising in Constantinople. Michael V was deposed after only four months of disastrous rule. He was exiled to a monastery, but complaints about such lenient treatment meant that Zoe issued orders for his mutilation and he was blinded, an act symbolically rendering him incapable of ruling.
Zoe and Theodora
Now 64-years-old, Zoe was empress, once again. Her sister, Theordora, was retrieved from her monastery to rule beside her, though Zoe's throne being placed slightly further forward, at the joint coronation ceremony, was an obvious indication of which of the sisters was in charge. In the same year, 1042, Zoe took a third husband, Emperor Constantine IX, who co-ruled the empire, with the two sisters. Constantine outlived his wife; Zoe died in 1050, aged about 72. A ruthless empress who knew what she wanted, Zoe was not afraid to dispose of her rivals – whether they be a husband or an adopted son.
Isabella of Angouleme, Queen of England
At first sight, it is easy to have sympathy for Isabella of Angouleme. When I started researching her for my forthcoming book, Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England, I was expecting to be able to go some way to redeeming her reputation. She was married at a very young age – she was no more than 12 and may have been as young as 10 – to 'Bad' King John, the man who left women to starve in his dungeons and murdered his own nephew. Isabella and John were married in 1200 and, after 16 years together, they had 5 children; the youngest, Eleanor, was born in 1215.
Seal of Isabella of Angouleme
When John died in October 1216, however, Isabella didn't spend much time seeking to comfort and protect her children. As soon as her oldest son, Henry III, was crowned with her own 'chaplet', Isabella started making arrangements to go home, to her own lands in Angouleme, France. In 1217 she left England, supposedly to arrange the wedding of her daughter, Joan, but she never returned. Joan had been betrothed, at the age of 4, to Hugh X de Lusignan, Count of La Marche and the son of Hugh IX de Lusignan (the man who had been betrothed to Isabella before John married her).
In 1220, however, in a scandalous about-face Hugh IX repudiated Joan and married her mother, his father's former betrothed. And poor 9-year-old Joan's erstwhile betrothed was now her step-father!
But worse was to come…
Instead of being sent back to England, as you would expect, Joan went from being Hugh's betrothed – to being his prisoner. She was held hostage to ensure Hugh's continued control of her dower lands, and as a guarantee to the transfer of his new wife's dower. England, on the other hand, was withholding Queen Isabella's dower against the return of Joan's dower lands.
Isabella wrote to her son, Henry III, to explain and justify why she had supplanted her own daughter as Hugh's bride, claiming that his 'friends' were worried about Joan's youth and forcing Hugh to repudiate the English princess in favour of a French bride who was old enough to bear him a son. Isabella had married Hugh to stop him going over to the French and to guarantee his allegiance to her son.
Ironically, the proposed union of Hugh IX and Isabella, and of their lands, was the reason John had married Isabella in the first place – to prevent the lands of La Marche and Angouleme combining and challenging Plantagenet superiority in the region. Little Joan was returned to England towards the end of 1220, but the arguments over Isabella's English lands continued and they were confiscated, for a short time, in 1221.
Isabella would not retire in peace, however, and in 1224 she and Hugh betrayed Henry by allying themselves with the King of France. In exchange for a substantial pension, they supported a French invasion of Poitou (the lands in France belonging to the King of England, her son). Although she reconciled with Henry in 1230, Isabella and Hugh continued to play the kings of France and England against each other, always looking for the advantage. In 1242, for example, when Henry III invaded Poitou, Hugh X initially gave support to his English stepson, only to change sides once more. Isabella herself was implicated in a plot to poison King Louis IX of France and his brother, only to be foiled at the last minute.
As contemporaries described her as 'more Jezebel than Isabel', accused her of 'sorcery and witchcraft', Isabella of Angouleme's reputation as a heartless mother and habitual schemer seems set to remain. With little to recommend her, she stands out as a She-wolf with an impressive ruthless streak, even against her own son.
Isabella of France, Queen of England
Isabella of France was the wife and queen of Edward II of England. In 1325, Isabella went on a diplomatic mission to France to negotiate terms with her brother, the French king Charles IV, who had seized Edward's lands in France. Isabella saw an opportunity to take a stand against the unfairness of her situation. Ignored, spied on and persecuted by her husband's favourite, the hated Hugh Despencer, and after 17 years of marriage, Isabella refused to return home. Isabella took to wearing widow's weeds and claimed:
'I feel that marriage is a joining together of man and woman, maintaining the undivided habit of life. Someone has come between my husband and myself, trying to break this bond. I protest that I will not return until this intruder has been removed but, discarding my marriage garment, I shall assume the robes of widowhood and mourning until I am avenged of this Pharisee.'
Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II by Paul Doherty
With her son Edward, the heir to the throne, in her in France, and with the help of her close friend and adviser – and, quite possibly, her lover – Roger Mortimer, Isabella started attracting support from the disappointed and disillusioned of Edward's subjects. In 1326, she launched the invasion of England that would see her husband fleeing for his life in the face of her advancing army. Edward and Hugh were captured near Llantrisant in Wales. Edward was sent to imprisonment in Berkeley Castle.
Hugh Despencer was taken before a military tribunal in Hereford, blamed for the collapse of the queen's marriage and humiliating Isabella, and seizing her wealth and estates, he was given no right to reply. His guilt was a foregone conclusion. Paraded through the city of Hereford, with a crown of nettles on his head and all manner of things thrown at him, before being dragged on a sled to the town square, where Despencer suffered the full horror of a traitor's death. He was hanged from a specially-erected gallows, fifty feet high; cut down whilst still alive, his intestines were cut out and burned before his eyes, before his head was cut off to end his agony.
Despencer's death demonstrated the anger Isabella felt towards her husband and his favourite. Edward's death may well have been just as gruesome – or not at all. Historians are divided about what happened to Edward II. Some claim he escaped to the continent, dying years later in Italy, while others are convinced that he was killed in Berkeley Castle, although probably not by a red-hot poker up his bum. Whatever happened to Edward, Isabella's revenge was complete; Despencer had been utterly destroyed and Edward was deposed and replaced with his son, the 14-year-old Edward III.
Isabella (3rd from the left), with her father King Philip IV, brothers and uncle
For 3 years Isabella and Mortimer ruled England, only to be themselves deposed by Edward III when he turned eighteen; their own arrogance and mismanagement of England causing their downfall. Mortimer was hanged at Tyburn and Isabella spent her remaining years in comfortable house arrest, the She-Wolf who had launched an invasion of England and deposed – and possibly murdered – her husband, only to be deposed herself.
Zoe, Isabella of Angouleme and Isabella of France have been much maligned throughout history. Their stories have concentrated on the ruthlessness of their actions, rather than how they themselves had been treated by the men around them. If we turn it around, it is far easier to sympathise with women who were used as pawns in an Empire, or child brides or endured troubled marriages. Just as with Æthelflæd, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Isabeau of Bavaria (see Medieval She-Wolves from Part One), they fought for what they wanted, often against impossible odds, and achieved much. At a time when the perceived main purpose of a wife was to produce and raise children, these women made a remarkable imprint on history that has ensured their stories are still being told today.
Selected Sources:
The Oxford Companion to British History Edited by John Cannon; The Plantagenets, the Kings who Made England by Dan Jones; History Today Companion to British History Edited by Juliet Gardiner and Neil Wenborn; Brewer's British Royalty by David Williamson; Britain's Royal Families, the Complete Genealogy by Alison Weir; The Plantagenet Chronicles Edited by Elizabeth Hallam; The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley; The Plantagenets, the Kings that made Britain by Derek Wilson; England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings by Robert Bartlett; http://www.britannica.com; oxforddnb.com; finerollshenry3.org.uk; The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles by Michael Swanton; The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle by James Ingram; Chronicles of the Kings of England, From the Earliest Period to the Reign of King Stephen, c. 1090–1143 by William of Malmesbury; The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon by Thomas Forester; Alfred the Great by David Sturdy; Britain's Royal Families, the Complete Genealogy by Alison Weir; The Wordsworth Dictionary of British History by JP Kenyon; The Anglo-Saxons in 100 Facts by Martin Wall; Kings, Queens, Bones and Bastards by David Hilliam; Mercia; the Rise and Fall of a Kingdom by Annie Whitehead.
A version of both parts of Medieval She-Wolves first appeared in the 2019 edition of All About History magazine. Isabella of Angouleme's story is discussed in greater detail in my forthcoming book, Ladies of Magna Carta.
Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England will be released in the UK on 30 May 2020 and is now available for pre-order from Pen & Sword, Amazon UK and from Book Depository worldwide. It will be released in the US on 2 September and is available for pre-order from Amazon US.
Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play in the momentous events of 1066. Available now from Amazon UK, Amberley Publishing, Book Depository and Amazon US.
Heroines of the Medieval World tells the stories of some of the most remarkable women from Medieval history, from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Julian of Norwich. Available now from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK, Amazon US and Book Depository.
English history, European History, French history, Medieval History, Medieval Women, Plantagenets, Thirteenth Century, Vikings, Women's HistoryAethelflaed, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Empress Zoe, Heroines of the Medieval World, History Heroines, Isabeau of Bavaria, Isabella of Angouleme, Isabella of France, King John, Ladies of Magna Carta, Sharon Bennett Connolly, She-Wolves, Silk and the Sword
Medieval She-Wolves: Part One
Throughout history – and particularly in medieval times – strong, determined women have been labelled 'she-wolves'. It is a term that has been used as a criticism or insult. It has often been applied to suggest a woman of serious character flaws who would invariably put her own interests ahead of others, who fought for what they wanted, be it a crown, their children or independence. Men who performed similar actions and had similar aims tended to be called strong and determined rulers. However, the term can also be used to show women in a positive light, women who didn't give up, fought for themselves and their families. So I have chosen 6 women who could have been termed 'she-wolves' to show women from both viewpoints, and to demonstrate the strength of the characters and the challenges they faced. And while their actions were not always exemplary, their stories were always remarkable.
Æthelflæd, Lady of Mercia
The daughter of King Alfred the Great, Æthelflæd was married to Æthelred, ealdorman of Mercia. Æthelflæd was a strong, brave woman and is often regarded more as a partner to Æthelred than a meek, obedient wife. Although she exercised regal rights in Mercia even before her husband's death, after Æthelred died in 911, it was left to Æthelflæd to lead the Mercians in the fight against the Danes. Alongside her brother, King Edward of Wessex. It is universally acknowledged that Æthelflæd helped to push back the Viking incursions. Losing four of her greatest captains in the battle to capture Derby in 917, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reported:
'With God's help Ethelfleda, lady of Mercia, captured the fortress known as Derby with all its assets. Four of her favoured ministers were slain inside the gates.'
Anglo-Saxon Chronicles edited by Michael Swanton
In 918, Æthelflæd captured Leicester, ravaging the countryside around the town until the Danes surrendered. The combination of her indefatigable forces and compassion in victory saw the Danes soon suing for peace; in the summer of 918, the noblemen and magnates of York sent emissaries to Æthelflæd, promising that they would surrender to her. She personally led campaigns against the Welsh, the Norse and the Danes – though whether she actually wielded a sword in battle is unknown.
While often magnanimous in victory, Æthelflæd could be ruthless when it was her friends who were attacked; even she was not immune from the desire for revenge. In June 916, on the feast of St Cyriac, Æthelflæd's good friend, Abbot Egbert, was murdered for no known reason. The Mercian abbot and his retainers were ambushed and killed while travelling in the Welsh mountain kingdom of Brycheiniog. The abbot had been under Æthelflæd's protection and within three days she was leading an army into the Wales to exact revenge.
Statue of Aethelflaed and Athelstan
Æthelflæd's army ravaged Brycheiniog, burning the little kingdom and taking many hostages. Although King Tewdr escaped Æthelflæd, his wife did not; Queen Angharad and thirty-three others, many of them relatives of the Welsh king, were taken back to Mercia as hostages. Æthelflæd's strength and determination was complemented by her quick actions and an impressive ruthless streak. When the Welsh king eventually submitted to Æthelflæd, he promised to serve her faithfully, and to pay compensation for the murder of the abbot and his people.
Æthelflæd died suddenly in June 918. She did not live to see the successful conclusion to the work she and her brother had worked tirelessly to achieve; between 910 and 920 all Danish territories south of Yorkshire had been conquered.
Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France, Queen of England (died 1204)
Tomb effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Fontevraud Abbey, France
Eleanor of Aquitaine is iconic. Probably the most famous woman of the middle ages, she is the only woman to have ever worn the crowns of both England and France. She has even been promoted as the first feminist.
Eleanor's long life saw her weather the dangers of crusade, scandal, siege, imprisonment and betrayal to emerge as the great matriarch of Europe.
When her first husband, Louis VII, led the Second Crusade, Eleanor went with him, only to find herself mired in scandal. Eleanor's uncle Raymond of Toulouse, Prince of Antioch, welcomed Eleanor warmly and lavished such attention on her that rumours soon arose of an affair. Despite a lack of concrete evidence, but accused of adultery and incest, Eleanor spent most of the crusade under close guard on her husband's orders.
Louis and Eleanor's marriage had been dealt a fatal blow; they left the Holy Land in 1149 and their divorce was finally proclaimed 21 March 1152. By May 1152 Eleanor was married again, to the man who would become her first husband's greatest rival. Henry of Anjou would become King of England in 1154 and eventually built an empire that extended 1,000 miles, from the Scottish border in the north to the Pyrenees in the south and incorporating most of western France.
Later rumours again mired Eleanor in scandal, accusing her of murdering Henry's lover Rosamund Clifford. In one extravagant version, Rosamund was hidden in her secret bower within a maze but, with the help of a silken thread, a jealous Eleanor still found her and stabbed her while she bathed. In another the discarded queen forced Rosamund to drink from a poison cup. Of course, a closely guarded prisoner in Old Sarum or at Winchester as Eleanor was at the time of Rosamund's death, it was impossible for her to do any such thing. But who are we to let facts get in the way of a good story?
Eleanor did, however, commit one of the most heinous crimes a woman could in the medieval world. As a she-wolf, protecting her cubs, she rebelled against her husband. In 1173 her eldest son by Henry, also called Henry, rebelled against his father and fled to the French court for support. His father-in-law, King Louis VII welcomed the disgruntled Angevin prince and Eleanor of Aquitaine, having sided with her sons against her husband, sent two of her other sons, fifteen-year-old Richard and fourteen-year-old Geoffrey, to join their older brother at the French court, while she rallied her barons in Poitou to their cause. In 1174, when the rebellion failed, Henry accepted the submission of his sons.
Eleanor, who was captured as she rode towards safety in France, wearing men's clothing – an act itself highly frowned upon – was not so fortunate. While it was not encouraged for sons to rebel against their father, it could be seen as boys flexing their muscles. For a wife to rebel against her husband was practically unheard of, and went against the natural order of society, and therefore deserved harsher punishment – where would the world be if women refused to behave?
Unforgiven and defeated, Eleanor was sent to perpetual imprisonment in various castles throughout southern England. She was only released after Henry II's death in 1189, when her favourite son, Richard I, the Lionheart, ascended England's throne. If she had done everything of which she was accused – murder, incest, adultery and rebellion – Eleanor would be the ultimate she-wolf. As it was, her rebellion, an act unprecedented for a queen, meant she paid the price with her freedom for the next fifteen years.
Isabeau of Bavaria, Queen of France
Isabeau of Bavaria
If all the stories of Isabeau of Bavaria were to be believed, she would be the most ruthless and wicked queen to have ever lived. For centuries Isabeau has been accused of almost every crime imaginable, from adultery and incest to treason and avarice. Variously described as being beautiful and hypnotic or so obese that she was crippled, the chroniclers have not been kind to Isabeau. According to them, her moral corruption led to the neglect of her children and betrayal of her husband and country.
However, they ignored the challenges faced by a queen whose husband was sinking deeper and deeper into the realms of insanity, going so far as killing four of his own knights during one mental breakdown and thinking he was made of glass in another. Married to King Charles VI of France, also known as Charles 'the Mad', Isabeau was left to raise her children and navigate the dangers and intrigues of court politics with little assistance from her mentally disturbed husband. Her political alliance with Louis of Orléans, her husband's brother, led to her imprisonment amid slanderous rumours of adultery and incest – from the opposing political party.
To add to this, France was – not that they knew it at the time – halfway through the conflict with England that would become known as the Hundred Years' War. The war was going badly for France – Henry V defeated them decisively at Agincourt – and Isabeau was forced to put her signature to the Treaty of Troyes in 1420. In that instant she disinherited her own son, the Dauphin, making Henry V heir to King Charles and handing France over to England. Much of Isabeau's life and career has been re-examined in the twentieth century and she has been exonerated of many of the accusations against her, but, despite the fact Isabeau was backed into a corner, she still signed away her son's inheritance in favour of a foreign power…
Although not all their actions were womanly, and some of what they did could be seen as dishonourable and ruthless, what is certain is that these women – and many others from their time – left their mark on history. With each of them, applying the term 'she-wolf' highlights their strengths, their determination, and the challenges they faced and overcame. They fought for what they wanted, often against impossible odds, and achieved much. At a time when the perceived main purpose of a wife was to produce and raise children, these women made a remarkable imprint on history that has ensured their stories are still being told today.
Look out for Part Two of Medieval She-Wolves, next week.
A version of this article first appeared in the 2019 edition of All About History magazine.
Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England will be released in the UK on 30 May 2020 and is now available for pre-order from Amazon UK and from Book Depository worldwide. It will be released in the US on 2 September and is available for pre-order from Amazon US.
Anglo-Saxons, English history, European History, French history, Medieval History, Medieval Women, Plantagenets, Thirteenth Century, Wars of the Roses, Women's HistoryAethelflaed, Alfred the Great, Athelstan, Byzantium, Edward II Edward the Black Prince, Edward the Elder, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Empress Zoe, Henry II, Heroines of the Medieval World, History Heroines, hugh de Lusignan, Hugh Despenser, Isabeau of Bavaria, Isabella of Angouleme, Isabella of France, King John, Ladies of Magna Carta, Mercia, Michael V, Richard the Lionheart, Roger Mortimer, Rosamund Clifford, Sharon Bennett Connolly, Silk and the Sword
The Jilted Princess
Joan of England, Queen of Scotland
Joan of England was the oldest of daughter of King John and his 2nd wife, Isabella of Angoulême. Born on 22 July 1210 she was the 3rd of 5 children; she had 2 older brothers and 2 younger sisters would join the family by 1215.
Even before her birth, she was mooted as a possible bride for Alexander of Scotland, son of King William I of Scotland. A verbal agreement between the two kings, after the Treaty of Norham, in 1209 provided for John to arrange the marriages of William's two daughters, with one marrying a son of John's, and Alexander marrying one of John's daughters.
Following the death of William I a further treaty in 1212 agreed to the marriage of 14-year-old Alexander II to 2-year-old Joan. However, the agreement seems to have been made as a way of preventing Alexander from looking to the continent – and especially France – for a potential bride, and by extension allies.
It did not stop John from looking further afield, nevertheless, for a more favourable marriage alliance. Nor did it stop Alexander from siding with the Barons against King John; Alexander was one of the Magna Carta signatories. John refused a proposal from King Philip II of France, for his son John, and settled in 1214 for a marriage with his old enemies the de Lusignan's.
In 1214 Joan was betrothed to Hugh X de Lusignan. Hugh was the son of John's rival for the hand of Isabella in 1200; Isabella's engagement to Hugh IX was broken off in order for her to marry John. Following the betrothal Hugh, Lord of Lusignan and Count of La Marche, was given custody of Joan and of Saintes, Saintonge and the Isle of Oléron as pledges for her dowry. Joan was just 4 years old when she travelled to the south of France to live with her future husband's family. She was away from England at the height of the Baron's War, and at her father's death in October 1216.
It's possible she was reunited with her mother in 1217 when Isabella of Angoulême left England, abandoning her four other children, in order to govern her own lands in Angoulême.
In 1220 in a scandalous about-face Hugh repudiated Joan and married her mother, his father's former betrothed. And poor 9-year-old Joan's erstwhile future husband was now her step-father!
Hugh X de Lusignan, Joan's betrothed and step-father
And worse was to come…
Instead of being sent back to England, as you would expect, Joan went from being Hugh's betrothed – to being his prisoner. She was held hostage to ensure Hugh's continued control of her dower lands, and to guarantee the transfer of his new wife's dower, while England was withholding Queen Isabella's dower against the return of Joan's dower lands.
Negotiations to resolve the situation were ongoing. In the mean time, Henry III was already looking to arrange a new marriage for Joan. On 15th June 1220, in York, a conference between Alexander II and Henry III saw the Scots king agree to marry Joan, with a provision that he would marry Joan's younger sister, Isabella, if Joan was not returned to England in time.
Negotiations for Joan's return were long and difficult and not helped by the fact Hugh was threatening war in Poitou. Eventually, after Papal intervention, agreement was reached in October 1220 and Joan was surrendered to the English.
Joan and Alexander II were married on the 19th June 1221, at York Minster. Joan was just a month from her 11th birthday, while Alexander was 22. The archbishop of York performed the ceremony, which was witnessed Henry III and the great magnates of both realms. Henry III's Pipe Rolls suggest the wedding was followed by 3 days of celebrations, costing £100. According to the Chronicle of Melrose 'having celebrated the nuptials most splendidly, as was befitting, with all the natives of either realm rejoicing, [Alexander] conducted [Joan] to Scotland.'
York Minster
The day before the wedding Alexander had assigned dower estates to Joan, worth an annual income of £1,000, including Jedburgh, Crail and Kinghorn. However, part of the dower was still held by Alexander's mother, the dowager Queen Ermengarde, and Joan was not entitled to the income until after her mother-in-law's death. This left Joan financially dependent on Alexander from the beginning.
There is a suggestion that Joan was not enamoured with Scotland and its society. She was hampered by her youth, her domineering mother-in-law and, eventually, by the fact she failed to produce the desired heir. Her position was further hindered by tensions between her husband and brother from time to time.
In this, though, she seems to have found her purpose. Joan regularly acted as intermediary between the 2 kings. Alexander often used Joan's personal letters to her brother as a way of communicating with Henry, while bypassing the formality of official correspondence between kings.
One such letter is a warning, possibly on behalf of Alexander's constable, Alan of Galloway, of intelligence that Haakon IV of Norway was intending to aid Hugh de Lacy in Ireland. In the same letter she assured Henry that no one from Scotland would be going to Ireland to fight against Henry's interests. Another letter, this time from Henry, was of a more personal nature, written in February 1235 it informed Joan of the marriage of their "beloved sister" Isabella to the holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, news at which he knew Joan "would greatly rejoice".
In December 1235 Alexander and Joan were summoned to London, possibly for the coronation of Henry's new queen, Eleanor of Provence. This would have been a long and arduous journey for the Scots monarchs, especially in the deepest part of winter.
Henry's use of Joan as an intermediary suggests she did have some influence over her husband, this theory is supported by the fact that Joan accompanied Alexander to negotiations with the English king, at Newcastle in September 1236 and again at York in September 1237.
In 1234 Henry had granted Joan the manor of Fenstanton in Huntingdonshire and during the 1236 negotiations she was granted Driffield in Yorkshire, giving Joan an income independent of Scotland. Many have seen this as an indication that Joan was intending to spend more time in England, especially seeing as the chronicler Matthew Paris hints at an estrangement, although we cannot be certain.
Alexander II
The 1236 and 1237 councils were attempts at resolving the ongoing claims of Alexander that King John had agreed to gift Northumberland to Alexander as part of the marriage contract between Alexander and Joan. Henry, of course, denied this. With the mediation of a papal legate, agreement was eventually reached in York at the 1237 council, with both queens present, when Alexander gave up the claim to Northumberland in return for lands in the northern counties with an annual income of £200.
Following the 1237 council Joan and her sister-in-law Eleanor of Provence departed on pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury. Given that Joan was now 27 and Eleanor already married for two years, it is possible both women were praying for children, and an heir.
Joan stayed in England for the rest of the year; much of the stay seems to have been informal and pleasurable. She spent Christmas at Henry's court and was given new robes for herself, her clerks and servants, in addition to gifts of does and wine. Her widowed sister Eleanor, Countess of Pembroke, was present, along with the Countess of Chester and Joan's cousin, the captive Eleanor of Brittany.
In late January arrangements were being made for Joan's return to Scotland, but she fell ill before she could travel north. Still only 27 years of age Joan died on 4th March 1238 at Havering-atte-Bower in Essex, her brothers, King Henry III and Richard, Earl of Cornwall, were at her side.
According to Matthew Paris 'her death was grievous, however she merited less mourning, because she refused to return [to Scotland] although often summoned back by her husband'. And even in death Joan elected to stay in England. her will requested that she be buried at the Cistercian nunnery of Tarrant in Dorset.
The convent benefited greatly from Henry III's almsgiving for the soul of his sister; in 1252, over 13 years after her death, the king ordered a marble effigy to be made for her tomb (which unfortunately has not survived).
Talking of her wedding day, the Chronicle of Lanercost had described Joan as 'a girl still of a young age, but when she was an adult of comely beauty.'
Alexander II married again just over a year after Joan's death, to Marie de Coucy and their son, Alexander III, the longed-for heir, was born in 1241. Alexander II died of a fever in 1249.
Sources: The Oxford Companion to British History Edited by John Cannon; The Plantagenets, the Kings who Made England by Dan Jones; History Today Companion to British History Edited by Juliet Gardiner and Neil Wenborn; Brewer's British Royalty by David Williamson; Britain's Royal Families, the Complete Genealogy by Alison Weir; The Plantagenet Chronicles Edited by Elizabeth Hallam; The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley; The Plantagenets, the Kings that made Britain by Derek Wilson; England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings by Robert Bartlett; http://www.britannica.com; oxforddnb.com; finerollshenry3.org.uk.
13th century, English history, European History, Medieval History, Medieval Women, Plantagenets, Scottish history, Thirteenth Century, Uncategorized, Warennes, Women's HistoryAlexander II, Defenders of the Norman Crown, Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey, Henry III, Heroines of the Medieval World, History Heroines, hugh de Lusignan, Isabella of Angouleme, Isabella of England, Isabelle d'Angouleme, Joan of England, King John, Ladies of Magna Carta, Queen of Scots, Sharon Bennett Connolly, Silk and the Sword, Warenne: The Earls of Surrey from the Conquest to 1347, William I, William the Lion, York Minster


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text:
Phoenicolacerta troodica est une espèce de sauriens de la famille des Lacertidae.

Répartition
Cette espèce est endémique de Chypre.

Étymologie
Cette espèce est nommée en référence au lieu de sa découverte, le massif du Troodos.

Publication originale
 Werner, 1936 : Reptiles from Mount Troodos, Cyprus. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, , .

Liens externes

Notes et références

Saurien (nom scientifique)
Lacertidae
Faune endémique de Chypre

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Will Sidney and the Queen's own Yorkshire Dragoons
As you'll know from my last post Will was mobilised at Doncaster on 4 August 1914 and embodied as a member of the Queen's own Yorkshire Dragoons, being required to attend at Doncaster, by 11.00am on 5 August 1914.
Before I tell you about Will's time in the Dragoons I want to share with you what I've been able to find out about the history of the Regiment, which was formed on the creation of the Territorial Force in April 1908. It was headquartered in Doncaster, and under the command of the Yorkshire Mounted Brigade, with the squadrons being headquartered as shown below:
'A' Sqn: Sheffield (with a drill station at Rotherham)
'B' Sqn: Wakefield (Dewbury and Pontefract)
'C' Sqn: Doncaster (Barnsley and Goole)
'D' Sqn: Huddersfield (Halifax).
When initially set up, the Territorial Force was intended to be a home defence force for service during wartime and members could not be compelled to serve outside the country. However, on the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, many members volunteered for service abroad. As a result, Territorial Force units, of which The Dragoons were one, were split, in August and September 1914, into 1st Line (liable for overseas service) and 2nd Line (home service for those unable or unwilling to serve overseas) units. Later, a 3rd Line was formed to act as a reserve, providing trained replacements for the 1st and 2nd Line Regiments.
1/1st Yorkshire Dragoons
In June 1915 the Regiment was split up and then deployed to France in July, as Divisional Cavalry:
'HQ' and 'B' Squadron joined 37th Division on Salisbury Plain. Landed at Le Havre on 1 August 1915
'A' Squadron joined 17th (Northern) Division at Winchester. Landed at Le Havre on 16 July 1915
'C' Squadron joined 19th (Western) Division at Bulford. Landed at Le Havre on 20 July 1915. Was attached to 3rd Cavalry Division between 21 April and 9 May 1916
'D' Squadron was dissolved and men dispersed to other squadrons.
In May 1916 the Regiment reassembled at Hazebrouck and became II Corps Cavalry Regiment, with whom they remained until November 1917, when they were transferred to the Cavalry Corps. Up to this time their only chance of mounted action had been during the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line in April 1917. They were present at the battles of the Somme (1916), the Ancre, the Somme (1917) and Ypres (1917). Although in these battles there was no mounted fighting, they were often called upon to support infantry attacks with their Hotchkiss machine guns.
Whilst Will's personal diaries don't begin until 1917, we have found a page at the back of his 1917 diary that details his specific whereabouts for the early parts of the war, you can see the full detail on this a later post. For the later parts Will just lets us know whether he was in England or in France.
From looking at the dates and locations in Will's diary we have come to the conclusion that, at the beginning of the war, Will served with 'C' Company of the Queens own Yorkshire Dragoons and, as such, set out on his first of three visits to France on 19 July 1915
This picture shows some of Will's badges that he would have worn whilst serving with The Dragoons.
The horseshoe at the bottom right can be seen on his left arm as you look at the picture above, of Will in his uniform.
The brass badge in the middle is one of a matching pair of collar badges.
You can also see Will's original dog tags in the picture. The silver one showing to the back is his Yorkshire Dragoons one, the orange coloured one is his York & Lancaster Regiment one.
From Will's official war records we can see that, in January 1917, he left The Dragoons and was transferred to the York & Lancaster Regiment.
In December 1917, after Will had transferred to the York & Lancaster Regiment, the Yorkshire Dragoons went on to be posted to the 8th (Lucknow) Cavalry Brigade, 4th Cavalry Division, where they relieved the King's Dragoon Guards and took part in the Battle of Cambrai 1917. As such they were one of only six Yeomanry Regiments posted to a Regular Cavalry Division.
The Yorkshire Dragoons were dismounted in February 1918, and returned to II Corps as Corps Cyclists.
From September to November 1918, the Regiment fought with the 9th Division in the offensive east of Ypres. In action on 15 and 20 October they captured over 100 prisoners with 7 field guns, 5 heavy guns, many machine guns and much transport.
After hostilities came to an end on 11 November 1918 the Dragoons were selected as the army of occupation and acted as advance guard to the 9th and 29th Divisions during the advance into Germany. The Regiment was stationed in the Cologne area until demobilization in July 1919, when Lord Scarborough received a letter of appreciation from the Corps Commander. "They have earned the gratitude of their country and county, in the way they have worked and fought all through the war, and have made a name for themselves which will never be forgotten".
My next post will tell you more about how Will spent his time from the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, up until the end of his first trip to France with the Queen's own Yorkshire Dragoons.
Labels: QOYD, Queen's own Yorkshire Dragoons, Will Sidney's War, WW1
In the Garden - May
The Hanging Baskets
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Buzzards View to Eglwysbach on Film
Eglwysbach - North Wales - Bodnant Gardens
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Will Sidney's War - Aug 1914-Jul 1915 - Waiting to...
Buzzard's View - Eglwysbach - North Wales
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Will Sidney and the Queen's own Yorkshire Dragoons...
Good bye April, Hello May


I loved receiving the brand new paper in such beautiful colours. I do a lot of masculine/boy layouts because males are in the majority in our family. I decided that I wanted to use both sides of the Good Times & Tan Lines – Lime Times and make a layout with teal and green as the main colours.
My design is relatively simple and allows the paper to take centre stage. I used the lovely ombre Basic Essentials – Mermaid Tails – Intense Teal because I found that it calmed down the other two busier papers and was the perfect setting to place my title and embellishments. I pierced holes around the entire paper so that I can do hand stitching for added texture.
The two photographs were printed with a white border and then matted on the hello CARDS paper (which I cut into 6×6 blocks to use for matting and layering) Intense Teal dots.
I wanted to add an additional colour that would be neutral and decided on the Basic Essentials – Moroccan Trellis – So Buff. I used the tiny dots side and cut a doily to layer behind the one photo. I also punched a scalloped border and added it below the Intense Teal, Mermaid Tails.
I love how my title and chipboard elements perfectly picks up on the So Buff colour. I added some matt gel medium below the little "to the beach" signpost and added some tiny art stones to mimic sand and also pick up on the So Buff paper.
This layout tells a story of exploration and good times at the beach. I am thrilled with the end result.
Stunning layout with a stunning collection!
I bought a beach kit on Saturday from the craft shop in Parrow It only use mine for carding.
Will need this paper & lovely layout once we are back from our beach holiday!
Lovely Carol! These papers are perfect for beach pictures ?