Random Things About Isabella, " The She Wolf" Was A Force To Be Reckoned With, But Braveheart Erased Her From History (12 items)

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  (#1) She Overthrew Her Husband With The Help Of Her Lover

  Isabella hooked up with Roger Mortimer - a powerful Welsh lord - in more ways than one. They both despised the influence that the Despenser family had over Isabella's husband, Edward II. Indeed, Edward's unpopularity grew with the Despensers' influence.

   So, united in their desire to see an end to the hated Despensers, the queen and the lord joined forces and successfully deposed Edward II in late 1326. Mortimer remained at Isabella's side for the next few years while she ruled as regent on behalf of her son, Edward III.

  But their relationship was apparently deeper than a political alliance. Isabella and Mortimer were more than likely lovers, too, though she never publicly acknowledged their romantic relationship. When Edward III exerted his own royal authority and ousted Mortimer from power, he actually showed respect for the man who had meant so much to his mother by only hanging him and not giving him the full, gruesome traitor's death. 
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  (#2) Reports Of Isabella Killing Her Husband By Sticking A Red-Hot Poker Up His Butt Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

  After forcing her husband's abdication in early 1327, Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer imprisoned Edward in a series of castles until his death in September 1327. No one really knows how King Edward II died - or if he even really died in 1327 at all. 

  One story says that under Isabella and Roger Mortimer's orders, Edward got a ridiculous brutal death that seemed to mirror allegations of his gay liaisons: he was supposedly assassinated by having a red-hot poker shoved up his rear to scorch his insides.

  Historians typically dismiss this as simply an urban legend, and other rumors abound. There is still no consensus over what exactly happened to Edward II or even if Isabella had anything to do with it. 
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  (#3) She Led A Successful Invasion Of England

  In the 1320s, Isabella was becoming increasingly frustrated with her husband's behavior and dependence on his favorite, Hugh Despenser. The problem was that he wasn't just alienating her - he was also alienating plenty of nobles and commoners who loathed Hugh Depenser's influence and family. So, with the help of her lover Roger Mortimer, Queen Isabella took matters into her own hands.

  In September 1326, Isabella and Roger launched an invasion of England from France. As they proceeded across England, it was clear that theirs was the popular cause, as they attracted tons of supporters who joined them in an effort to end Edward II's reign. By the end of the year, Edward was deposed. 
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  (#4) She Was Such A Powerhouse That Her Own Son Had To Keep Her Under House Arrest

  After deposing her husband, Isabella ruled as regent for four years on behalf of her son, Edward III. By 1330, her son was an ambitious 17-year-old who was chomping at the bit to get full rein of his kingdom. He decided to launch his own coup against his mother and Roger Mortimer. Though he quickly disposed of Mortimer, he had to keep Isabella under house arrest for two years at Windsor Castle.

  Mother and son apparently let bygones be bygones and quickly made up - the two even spent Christmas together less than a month after Roger Mortimer's execution. Isabella remained a popular, colorful member of Edward's family and kingdom until her death in 1358. 
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  (#5) She Definitely Did Not Have An Affair Or A Love Child With William Wallace

  Braveheart tells many historical falsehoods, but probably the most egregious, laughable lie is that Queen Isabella had an affair with William Wallace and bore him a child. The two historical figures never met - she didn't arrive on the island of Great Britain until 1308, three long years after Wallace received a sickening traitor's death.

  Moreover, she was 12 at the time of his death. The film unfairly refashions Queen Isabella's story and reduces her - a woman of immense courage, complexity, and charisma - to William Wallace's love interest, a neglected wife who blossoms under the romantic attention of a rugged Scottish warrior. 

  Moreover, the film suggests that King Edward III was actually the love child between Queen Isabella and William Wallace. Since Wallace was long dead when Isabella conceived the future king in the late winter of 1312, this is simply impossible.
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  (#6) She Dramatically Wore Widow's Clothes To Denounce Her Husband's Relationship With His "Favorite"

  When Isabella and Edward married in January 1308, he was already close with Piers Gaveston. Historians still debate whether or not the relationship was sexual; at the very least it was personally and politically close. Many felt that Gaveston had undue influence over the king, and the relationship alienated many in court, including Queen Isabella.

  In 1308, at Edward's coronation banquet, Isabella's family actually left the festivities because they were so insulted that the king lavished more attention on Gaveston than his young bride. Though Edward was bereft when Gaveston was executed 1312, it is easy to imagine that Isabella didn't shed many tears.

  But yet another so-called "favorite" began to enter Edward's orbit several years later. Hugh Despenser was even worse than Piers Gaveston. Despenser had become so influential and alienated Queen Isabella so much, that she blamed him for creating an irreparable rift in her marriage. She even went so far as to wear widow's clothes that, according to historian Kathryn Warner, "publicly portrayed [her] as a woman in mourning for the loss of her husband and the death of her marriage."
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  (#7) Her Marriage Wasn't Always The Disaster That Braveheart Makes It Out To Be

  At the tender age of 12, Isabella, a French princess, married King Edward II in 1308. The marriage admittedly wasn't always a happy one, and by the 1320s it had completely collapsed. Edward's relationships with male favorites - and probable lovers - certainly didn't help their marriage and contributed to a rupture between the couple. Indeed, Braveheart uses this information to paint Edward II as a weak leader who has no interest in his wife.

  Their actual relationship was more complex. The two appeared to have genuine, affectionate feelings for one another for at least part of their marriage. Had Braveheart been a different film, Isabella and Edward's marriage may have been portrayed for what it actually was: an initially loving relationship that became more complicated and contentious over time.

  There are even suggestions that they had a functional sex life. After all, they had four children over the course of their marriage.
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  (#8) She Didn't Roll Over When Her Husband's Favorites Amassed Influence And Threatened Her Position

  Edward II's reign was marked by the fact that he was easily manipulated by his confidantes. The most formidable of them was Despenser, a young nobleman who had the king's complete attention. Worse, Despenser was actively trying to get Isabella out of the picture. He limited Isabella's access to her own husband and insulted her by arranging for the confiscation of her estates and dismissal of her servants. Worst of all, he even had the four royal children removed from Isabella's custody and placed into his own, further isolating her from her family. Despenser may have been trying to obtain an annulment for Edward, getting Isabella out of the picture completely. 

  To Isabella, these moves were akin to acts of war. In a few more years, she would have her revenge by overthrowing her husband's regime and gave Hugh Despenser a gruesome traitor's death. 
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  (#9) She Ruled England In All But Name For A Few Years

  After ousting her husband, Isabella's son became king in in 1327. But Edward III was only 14, and his young age made it impossible for him to govern alone. So Isabella was named regent, with her lover Roger Mortimer at her side. Though Isabella seemed to have taken her role as regent very seriously, she was not a popular ruler.

  Sensing opportunity, Edward III pushed his mother and her lover out of power in 1330.
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  (#10) She Made Peace, Not War, With Scotland

  Braveheart got one thing right about Isabella: she didn't share her father-in-law's obsession with beating Scotland into submission. After all, Edward I wasn't known as the "Hammer of the Scots" for nothing. Her approach, in contrast, was far more diplomatic.

  Though her brief reign as regent was not as successful as she would have hoped, one key piece of diplomacy stands out. The Treaty of Northampton secured peace - albeit a temporary one - with Scotland. 
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  (#11) She Was A Brainy Bookworm

  Isabella was heralded throughout France for her unmatched beauty, but her intelligence was just as significant. Isabella was noted for her love of literature and learning. Edward II's wedding gift to her, after all, was an illustrated manuscript book. Her interests weren't strictly with religious texts, however.

  She also had a soft spot for courtly romances, like the tales of King Arthur. 
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  (#12) She Didn't Have A Fraught Relationship With Her Father-In-Law Because She Never Met Him

  The chief villain in Braveheart is the cruel Edward I, a king who is obsessed with the idea of claiming Scotland as his own. He also has a strange interest in Isabella, too. Creepily, he even gets the idea for the heinous "prima nocta" - a myth that historically didn't actually happen - in which English lords would have the right to rape Scottish brides on their wedding night while looking at his new daughter-in-law. In the film, Isabella loathes him.

  Historically, Isabella probably didn't feel all that much about Edward I, since she never met him. Edward I died in July 1307, and Isabella married his son six months later in France. She never even set foot in England until February 1308, long after Edward I had been dead and entombed. 

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