Tea at Trianon: Princess Isabella: A Royal Exception

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Princess Isabella: A Royal Exception

From History...the Interesting Bits:

Isabella of Woodstock is, to some extent, an exception. She appears to have been very close to her parents, and spent most of her life at the English court. The eldest daughter and second child of Edward III and his queen, Philippa of Hainault, Isabella was born on 16 June 1332 at the royal Palace of Woodstock. As a child, Isabella shared a household with her older brother, Edward, later to be known as the Black Prince, and sister Joan, who was a year younger than her. The royal children’s household was governed by William of St Omer and his wife, Elizabeth.

Edward and Philippa had a large family, with at least 12 children (possibly more) of whom 9 survived infancy. They maintained a close relationship with their children often travelling with them; the older children, including Isabella, were with Philippa, in Antwerp, when their baby brother, Lionel, was born in 1338.
From her infancy, Edward was making plans for Isabella’s marriage: in 1335 negotiations were opened for her to marry Pedro the Cruel, the eldest son of the king of Castile, but Joan was sent in her place. Two of Pedro’s daughters, Constance and Isabella, would later marry Isabella’s brothers, John of Gaunt and Edmund of Langley, respectively. In 1338, plans were in motion for Isabella to marry the son of the Count of Flanders, in place of her sister Joan, now promised to Pedro; however, the count’s allegiance to the French Valois dynasty, added to English support for Flemish rebels, meant the proposals came to nought. In 1344 the proposed groom was a son of the Duke of Brabant, though as he was a descendant of Edward I, a papal dispensation was required. Whilst awaiting the dispensation, however, the proposed marriage with the count of Flanders’ son, Louis de Male, was revived. The count’s death at Crecy in 1346 meant Louis was even less inclined to the match than his father, but he was facing increasing pressure from his subjects, who saw great advantage in an English alliance. The couple met in March 1347, where Louis promised to marry Isabella within a fortnight of Easter. Louis fled before the marriage could take place and instead married Marguerite de Brabant. In 1349 Isabell was offered in marriage to Charles IV of Bohemia, King of the Romans. But these plans came to nought.

In 1351, aged 19, Edward III gave his consent for Isabella to marry Bernard, heir to the Lord Albret. Five ships were prepared to escort Isabella to Gascony and her new husband, but the English princess pointedly refused to embark and the marriage plans were abandoned. Edward III does not seem to have been too ‘put out’ by this. He continued to support Isabella and described her as ‘our very dear eldest daughter, whom we have loved with special affection.’ Edward indulged Isabella, she was with him almost constantly – more than any of his other children. In 1348, during a tournament in Lichfield, she was one of the ladies given blue and white robes – to match those of the knights – by the King. In 1354 Edward paid for a new balcony to be built outside Isabella’s suite of rooms at Woodstock, so that she would have a better view of the park. In 1358 King Edward gave her an annuity of 1,000 marks and in 1364 she was give the valuable wardship of Edmund (III) Mortimer, Earl of March and Ulster. (Read more.)