Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II
£7.85
Falls between two stools - The title of the book is Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II and this is its weakness. Either it is supposed to be a biography of Isabella or its a book exporing the death of Edward II, but it fails on both counts. The author covers the death of Edward II less clearly and with less supporting ideas and evidence than Ian Mortimer s two books. Various aspects of Isabella s life are given insufficient attention (for example, her life after Edward III assumed the throne) for this to be a complete biography of Isabella. Finally, her direct involvement in Edward II s death is as a minor part rather than as a participant. There are probably better books on this period of history and the relevant people.
Death & Dynastics in Medieval England - Queen Isabella is best known to history as the She-Wolf of France, while her husband, Edward II, is infamous for his homosexual leanings and the manner of his death - allegedly by a hot poker up the backside. Doherty takes a look at Isabella, Edward, and the events of his reign and puts forward an interesting and plausible theory.Isabella and Edward are both presented by Doherty as real people and deserving of our sympathy. They had four children together, and the marriage initially seems to have worked well. The relationship began to deteriorate with the elevation of Hugh de Spencer as the King s Favourite. Isabella was sent to France on a diplomatic mission, where she contrived to be joined by her eldest son. She refused to return to England with de Spencer still in power, and her affair with the exiled Marcher Lord, Roger Mortimer became public. Isabella and Mortimer eventually invaded England, deposed Edward II in favour of their son Edward III, decimated the de Spenser family and set themselves up as Regents.Doherty s analysis of the reasons for Isabella s actions are excellent. He presents the accepted story of Edward II s imprisonment and death, but also puts forward a convincing case for an escape having been affected. Overall a highly readable and interesting book.
Great history on Edward II...BUT... - The book is very accessible to the scholar and also the ordinary person with an interest in history, weaving the story of all events very clearly and in a flowing manner. All the participants in the main plots are easy to distinguish and don t need constant backturning of pages to keep up with the main events.However the book s title is somewhat misleading. In all truth Isabella(the title lady) doesn t really appear in the book other than as a background figure ordering various people around, or moving from one residence to another.The book is fascinating on the subject of the life of Edward II and his dubious death/burial/escape. So in all truth the book should just be titled The Strange Death Of Edward II, as there really is very poor amounts of information on Isabella or for that matter on Roger Mortimer, the other leading player from the time. Considering the Queen spent most of her exile at Castle Rising in Norfolk, that place is only mentioned once...where a look at the accounts and daily life from there would have been fascinating, as well as looking into the not widely known possible legend of Isabella having a heart burial at the village church in Castle Rising.Having just read a biographical book on Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine this book was a big disappointment in lacking so much information on another formidable Queen...ie:Isabella. If your interest is on the reign of Edward II then you ll love this book, if your interest is on delving into the life of Isabella then you ll be very disappointed.
Well written, but the characters never come to life - A perfectly good history of the period, events are easy to follow. There is nothing to complain about, but I couldn t give it the full five stars because while Edward II seemed real enough, Isabella seemed more like a cardboard cut out, and Roger Mortimer never made his presence felt. There just seemed to be something missing.
She-Wolf in the spotlight - Despite her quite unique and somewhat infamous position in British history, I ve often thought that Isabella is the forgotten queen of the medieval period, losing out to other, equally remarkable queens such as Eleanor of Aquitaine and Margaret of Anjou. So it s good to see a scholarly and very readable biography of the woman known as the She Wolf of France.Queen Isabella s major achievement is that she supervised the first ever deposition of a King of England, her husband Edward II, and then took over the government of the realm for three years until her son, Edward III, reached his majority - and even then, she didn t surrender it willingly!Although this is not the longest book, Paul Doherty has done a wonderful job in sketching the life and career of this remarkable Queen - it s a real historical page-turner.And, as a bonus, the book ends with two chapters which read like a medieval mystery, as Doherty unpicks the evidence in search of the truth behind the untimely death of Edward II.