Devizes Melting Pot

“Protection. Conservation. Restriction. Deep ecology. Give me deep technology any day. They don't scare me. "I'm damned if I'll crawl, my children's children crawl on the earth in some kind a fuckin' harmony with the environment. Yeah, till the next ice age or the next asteroid impact." (Moh Kohn, The Star Fraction)/ "This is the fight between God and the Devil. If His Grace is with God, he must join me, if he is for the Devil he must fight me. There is no third way" King Gustavus Adolphus

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Location: Devizes, Wiltshire, United Kingdom

University graduate, currently working as an Information Assistant for the NHS. Interested in politics, history, sci fi etc.

Monday, November 21, 2005

Book Review - Isabella: The She-wolf of France, Queen of England by Alison Weir

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This is an extremly well written and interesting book about one of the most misunderstood Queens of England, Isabella of France daughter of King Philip IV of France and wife of King Edward II of England.

It shows how a marriage can break down and its consquences.

King Edward II proved a weak ruler, not interested in governing and content to spend his time diggin ditches or watching plays. He ignored his wife and spent an unhealthy amount of time with his favouries, first Piers Gaveston and later on Hugh the younger Despenser who treated Isabella with direspect and undermined her position at court.

This proved too much for Isabella so she fled to France and became a focus point for nobles who had been treated badly by Edward II and his grasping vicious favourite Hugh the younger Despenser. It was at a funeral that Isabella met the love of her life Roger de Mortimer a powerful Marcher lord. When she had worn the good will in France out she moved to the lands of William III, Count of Hainaut where she and Robert planned their invasion and liberation of England from a weak tyranical regime.

To cut a long story short Edward II was deposed, presumed murdered and his son was made King instead. Isabella and Robert acted as unoffical regents, their popularity evapourated overnight after a peace treaty with Scotland and King Edward III tired of his mothers tutelage , so he had her retired and Robert Mortimer executed for treason.

The book successfully argues that Isabella has had her character assasinated because she was a woman who stood up to the social norms of the time and her adulterous relationship with Robert Mortimer has meant she has suffered negative press.

She was a liberator and stood up for herself, escaped from a broken marriage, was skilled in statecraft, these qualities really shine in Alison Weir's book.

If you want to read a different perspective on Isabella then I recommend this biography.

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