This is the second of Kathryn Warner’s books about Edward II, focussing on the life of his wife, who came across from France as the daughter, sister and aunt of the last five Capetian kings at the outset of the Hundred Years’ War, her niece being passed over as a Salic Law led to a Valois accession within a dozen years. The most salient point is that, whatever one believes about Edward II’s lifestyle, there was no IVF in the fourteenth century and Edward III was conceived in January or February 1312 thus his biological father must have been present on the occasion, not executed years earlier or only met by Isabelle at a later date.
As part of Warner’s series that explores the many facets of Edward II’s life, times and family, like the blind men describing the elephant, it also emphasises that we cannot reliably discern the nature of the connection between Isabelle and Roger Mortimer, who was also married at the time of their rebellion before Edward III ordered the latter’s execution in 1330. This volume describes her marriage before and after it broke down, the regency she took part in and her subsequent life during her son’s reign.
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