Loree Alderisio
on December 24, 2025
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In 1324, the King of England made a fatal calculation. He believed he could confiscate his wife's lands, arrest her household, and treat her like a prisoner without consequence. He thought she was broken.
But by 1326, she would prove him dead wrong.
Queen Isabella of France was married to King Edward II, a man whose reign was defined by chaos and favoritism. Edward was infatuated with the Despenser family, particularly Hugh Despenser the Younger. These favorites controlled the King completely, using their power to enrich themselves and crush their enemies.
Isabella was the primary target of their malice.
The King stripped her of her estates. He cut off her income. In a final act of cruelty, he removed her children from her care, placing them in the custody of the very men who hated her. She was a Queen in title, but a pauper in reality. She lived in fear for her life.
But Isabella was not just a wife; she was a diplomat and the daughter of a King.
When a dispute arose between England and France, Isabella saw a glimmer of hope. She volunteered to travel to France to negotiate a peace treaty with her brother. Edward II, eager to be rid of her complaining, agreed to let her go.
It was a strategic masterstroke.
Once safely on French soil, Isabella refused to return. She famously declared that a marriage was a union between a man and a woman, and since someone else stood between her and her husband, she would not go back until the intruder was removed.
She then played her ace. She convinced Edward to send their son, the future Edward III, to France to pay homage for royal lands. Once the boy was safe in her custody, the trap snapped shut.
She had the heir. She had her freedom. Now, she needed an army.
Isabella formed a scandalous alliance with Roger Mortimer, an exiled English lord who had escaped the Tower of London. United by a shared hatred of the Despensers, they raised a force of mercenaries.
In September 1326, they did the unthinkable. They sailed back to England.
History is filled with failed invasions, but this was different. As Isabella marched inland, she wasn't met with arrows. She was met with cheers. The English nobility, tired of the King's tyranny, flocked to her banner. The King’s support evaporated overnight.
Edward II and the Despensers fled to Wales, hunted like criminals in their own kingdom. Isabella’s forces captured them. The Despensers were executed, and the King was forced to abdicate in favor of his son.
She saw their tyranny. She saw their weakness. She saw her moment.
Isabella became the only woman in history to successfully lead an invasion of England and depose its King. While history often remembers her as the "She-Wolf of France," her actions were those of a desperate mother protecting her child and reclaiming her dignity.
She proved that a Queen is never just a pawn on the board.
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