Isabella of France | The Queen Who Overthrew Her Husband

Welcome to the very first episode of History for the Girlies 🏰🍺✨ Grab your ale, pull up a chair, and settle in, because we're heading back to fourteenth-century England for royal marriages, political favourites, rebellion, scandal and one seriously complicated queen. Our first girlie is Isabella of France. You might know her as the “She-Wolf of France” - the beautiful French princess who supposedly turned against her husband, invaded his kingdom, helped overthrow him and then ruled England alongside her lover, Roger Mortimer. But Isabella's actual story is a lot more complicated than the nickname she was given centuries after her death. Born a French princess and married to Edward II of England when she was only twelve years old, Isabella spent much of her life navigating a court dominated by powerful favourites, political feuds and a husband whose relationships with men like Piers Gaveston and Hugh Despenser had enormous consequences for both their marriage and the kingdom. And eventually? Isabella stopped playing nice. In this episode, we're going all the way back to her childhood in France and following her through her marriage to Edward II, the rise of the Despensers, her relationship with Roger Mortimer, her extraordinary invasion of England, Edward's downfall and the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death. We'll also be asking where the image of Isabella as a murderous, power-hungry “She-Wolf” actually came from - and whether the woman behind the legend deserves a slightly more complicated legacy. Basically: medieval politics, terrible husbands, questionable decisions, royal drama and several centuries of historical gossip. What more could we possibly want? Welcome to History for the Girlies, where women's history gets the gossip session it deserves. ✨ 🏰 This episode: Isabella of France 👑 Also known as: Queen of England, daughter of Philip IV of France, wife of Edward II and mother of Edward III 🍺 Best enjoyed with: your beverage of choice and an unreasonable amount of interest in medieval royal drama If you enjoyed the first episode, please subscribe, like and leave a comment, especially if there's a woman from history you'd love us to gossip about next! See you next time, girlies. ✨ Music by Watermelon Beats from Pixabay #HistoryForTheGirlies #IsabellaOfFrance #MedievalHistory #WomensHistory #HistoryPodcast #EdwardII #RogerMortimer #MedievalEngland