She Wolves (18 page)
The children were, however, a source of common interest between Eleanor of Provence and Eleanor of Castile in a relationship that might otherwise have been tense. After Henry III’s death, Eleanor of Provence still retained a keen interest in politics and it is possible that her influence over Edward irked Eleanor of Castile. Certainly, Eleanor of Provence was unable to let go of her children, even when they were well and truly grown up, as one letter that she wrote to Edward shows:
Know, dear sire, that we are most desirous to have good news of your health and how things have been with you since you left us. We are letting you know that we are in good health, thanks be to God. We have left Gillingham sooner than we expected, because of the noisomeness of the air, and the thick clouds of smoke which rise in the evenings and have come to Marlborough, arriving on the Friday after Michaelmas. Thanks be to God we are in good health, and we greatly desire to know the same of you.
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After the loss of her two daughters in 1275, Eleanor of Provence was probably extremely anxious to know of the health of her surviving children. Her letter, however, shows a single-mindedness and forcefulness that Eleanor of Provence exhibited throughout her life and one that never made her popular. This possessiveness was also exhibited in her relationships with her grandchildren and, in 1285, the two women certainly came into conflict when Eleanor of Provence insisted that her granddaughter, Mary, become a nun at Amesbury, in spite of the protestations of Mary’s mother to the contrary.
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Eleanor of Provence lived at the nunnery of Amesbury for most of the time after 1276 and, in 1287, became a nun herself.
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She probably wanted Mary to keep her company but such a move certainly did not make her popular with her daughter-in-law.
Although Eleanor of Castile’s main activity during her marriage was childbearing, she is also chiefly remembered for her acquisition of land. This began early in her marriage and she was apparently determined to carve out a large landholding in England at whatever cost. Even before she was queen, Eleanor had an excellent grasp of the landholdings in the country and was relentless in pursuing what she believed belonged to her. A letter by Eleanor in 1265 to John of London shows something of this aspect of her character:
Know that our lord the king gave us the other day the manor of Berewic with its appurtenances, at the solicitation of Sir Roger de Leyburn, and because it is appurtenant to the guardianship of Cantilupe, my lord has given it to another, so that nothing of it is remitted to us, but there is another manor close by in the county of Somerset, which is at the town of Heselbere, which belonged to Sir William the Marshal, who is dead and held it of the king in chief. Wherefore we would desire that you should ask of Sir John de Kyrkbi if the guardianship of that manor is granted, and if it is not, them that you should pray Sir Roger de Leyburn and the Bishop of Bath on our behalf that they should procure from our lord the king that he grant us the manor until the coming of age of the heir of Sir William. And, if it is given, there is another manor in the county of Dorset, which is called Gerente, which belonged to Sir William de Keenes, who is dead, and he held it in chief of the king, wherefore we would that if we cannot have the other, you should pray them on our behalf that these should apply to the king to allow us this one; the manor of Heselbere is worth less. And if neither, pray Sir Roger in this way. Tell him that the manor of Berewic that the king gave us at his suggestion has been taken from us, for this will tend to make us seem less covetous; and say the same to the bishop of Bath.
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If Eleanor hoped that she would not be seen as covetous in her acquisition of land, then she did not succeed but quickly gained a reputation across England for greed. One popular rhyme of the period sums up the mood in England at the time, saying ‘the king he wants to get our gold, the queen would like our land to hold’.
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Eleanor disregarded the popular perception of her, neither did she heed Archbishop Pechan of Canterbury when he admonished her for the sin of usury and warned her that Edward’s harsh rule was being blamed by the people squarely on her influence.
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The second charge was not reasonable since Eleanor of Castile never managed to achieve political influence over her husband. However, she was certainly guilty of usury and greed and the details of her land acquisitions do not make easy reading.
Eleanor appears to have been happy to use any methods possible in her quest for land and she was not averse to bending and even breaking the law in order to increase her own wealth. In 1278, for example, she was able to acquire Leeds Castle in Kent from William Leyburn by taking over a debt which he owed to a Jewish moneylender.
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Once she had acquired the debt, Eleanor immediately repossessed the castle, which had been used as security, giving the owner only minimum compensation for his loss. Eleanor’s land acquisition was very tied up with Jewish moneylenders and, in 1283, Edward granted her the goods and chattels of condemned Jews.
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This certainly helped Eleanor increase her wealth but it did not increase her popularity and her name came to be associated with the hated Jewish moneylenders.
Eleanor’s agents also committed a number of harsh acts in her name and Eleanor, although not personally involved, would have known what was happening and her silence suggests that she approved of her officials’ actions. At Havering, for example, Eleanor’s agents limited local hunting rights by extending her rabbit warrens. When twelve tenants protested, they were imprisoned.
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Eleanor’s agents also seized a house on another estate and had the owners imprisoned on trumped up charges. Their baby was then dumped in its cradle in the middle of the road.
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Eleanor was apparently unconcerned by these actions and on the only recorded occasion that she dismissed an official it was for his failure to generate sufficient revenue.
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Eleanor of Castile also had a reputation for having a fierce and implacable temper. In 1279 Archbishop Pechan wrote to the nuns at Headingham who were refusing to admit a friend of Eleanor’s to their nunnery.
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The Archbishop, who apparently knew Eleanor well, warned them that they would do well not to cross the queen. In 1283, Eleanor also threatened to prosecute the Bishop of Worcester for a debt she claimed he owed her.
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The bishop was equally adamant that there was no debt but Edward’s chancellor advised him to pay her anyway if he knew what was good for him. Clearly, Eleanor of Castile was known as a domineering woman. Sometimes even Edward felt she had gone too far, forcing her to relax a fine she had imposed in 1283.
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Even Eleanor herself later came to realise that she had been unjust and, on her deathbed, begged Edward to make amends for her actions for the good of her immortal soul. Eleanor’s acquisitiveness went beyond that of most other medieval queens. It must also be pointed out that Edward benefited from his wife’s acquisitions and he did not work very hard to encourage moderation in her behaviour. Her policies suited him, but it is Eleanor who bears the full blame. Similarly with Edward’s harsh rule. It seems that to the people of England, Edward as a popular and English king was incapable of doing wrong except at the instigation of his unpopular foreign queen.
Eleanor continued to acquire land right up until the end of her life and it was an abiding interest for her. During 1290, it became clear that Eleanor’s health was deteriorating. In November 1290, the court set out north on a progress and Eleanor insisted on accompanying Edward, as she had always done, not wanting to be parted from him. The court made slow progress, however, and, it seems likely that this was due to Eleanor’s poor state of health. They tried to reach Lincoln but, due to Eleanor’s illness, were forced to stop at the manor of Harby and it was there, on 28 November 1290, that Eleanor of Castile died.
Edward I was devastated by the death of his wife and resolved to give her the grandest memorial of any English queen. He had her body transported slowly to Westminster and, at every place her body stayed for the night, he erected a cross in memorial to her, constructing twelve in all.
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According to Camden, the crosses were ‘a monument which King Edward I erected in memory to Queen Eleanor, the dearest husband to the most loving wife’.
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These twelve crosses, the most famous of which was erected at Charing Cross, in London, served as a testament to Edward’s devotion and caught the imagination of people for several centuries afterwards. It was on the basis of these crosses that Eleanor achieved a posthumous reputation completely remote from that which she had enjoyed in life and, after her death, she was portrayed as a pious queen.
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This is not how she was viewed in her own time, however, and her reputation, during her lifetime, was of one of the most notorious and unpopular queens that England had ever had, just as her mother-in-law, Eleanor of Provence, was also perceived.
Eleanor of Provence survived her daughter-in-law by just over six months, dying at Amesbury on 24 June 1291.
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She had also been unpopular during her lifetime but, unlike her daughter-in-law, was survived by no husband to provide an extravagant memorial to her. In her day she was seen in a negative light by the people of England and through her association with the troubles of Henry III’s reign they would never have judged her to be a successful monarch. To modern eyes, at least, she appears as one of the most personally likeable of all medieval queens. For both women it is clear that their real crimes were their foreign births. There is no doubt that at points they acted unwisely and even harshly, but similarly did their husbands and many other contemporaries. The difference is that, by the thirteenth century, kings were beginning to be considered as Englishmen. Queens on the other hand, who were generally brought from the continent, were not. They were therefore alien to the increasingly insular country and, as such, useful scapegoats and easy targets.
Eleanor of Provence and Eleanor of Castile were deeply unpopular during their lifetimes and were scorned as poor queens by their contemporaries. Over the years Eleanor of Castile’s reputation completely altered, such that by the later medieval period she was used as a model of queenly virtue for other women to follow. It was only much later that a more accurate picture of her life and reputation was able to emerge, providing a much less likeable, but much more human, picture of the queen. Eleanor of Provence, on the other hand, received no such attestation of her husband’s devotion and retained an image of an unloved and unsuccessful queen until recently. Her reputation has improved in recent years and she shows a likeable quality in her devotion to her family. Neither queen, however, was a success in their time and this was largely due to their foreign birth and their apparent avariciousness. Eleanor of Provence was certainly acquisitive for her family, procuring honours and wealth for them at the expense of others, and Eleanor of Castile was acquisitive for herself. It amounted to the same thing in their contemporaries’ eyes, however, and both queens were always ill-famed for their greed. However in comparison with Eleanor of Castile’s own daughter-in-law, Isabella of France, this was a small matter and the two Eleanors’ notoriety pale in comparison to that of the She-Wolf of France.
The She-Wolf of France
Isabella of France
With the exception, perhaps, of Aelfthryth, Isabella of France has the worst reputation of any queen of England. However, until 1325, Isabella’s career was that of a traditional queen consort and her career after 1330 was mostly that of a traditional queen dowager. Isabella’s sullied reputation rests on the years between 1325 and 1330 and the extraordinary course that she took during that period, leading to Isabella and her lover establishing themselves as rulers of England behind a puppet king. There is no doubt that Isabella went much farther than any other medieval queen and she rightly attracted a great deal of attention. However it is also necessary to look at the circumstances that caused Isabella to take the action she did in 1326 and it is clear that Isabella was sorely tried. For years, Isabella attempted to play the role of a good and dutiful queen and it was only after years of provocation that she finally snapped and took unprecedented, and to many, damning action. It should also not be forgotten that she received the support of the country in her endeavours. It was only later as her situation degenerated that she became the victim of her own fame with the irretrievable loss of her reputation. Isabella of France carried out some cruel and terrible actions but she was driven into these and supported, at least for a time, by the entire country, only later being transformed from ‘Isabella the Fair’ into Isabella the She-Wolf of France.
Isabella of France was the only surviving daughter of Philip IV of France and his wife, Jeanne, Queen of Navarre. As the daughter of two monarchs, Isabella would have been raised to have the highest opinion of her own status and she was thoroughly spoiled by her adoring father. Isabella enjoyed a cosseted upbringing and she would have known, from her youth, that she was destined to be a queen. Relations between France and England were often tense and, in 1298, the Pope proposed a double marriage to cement an alliance between England and France, with Edward I marrying Isabella’s aunt, Margaret, and his son marrying the infant Isabella.
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The first marriage occurred soon afterwards, but Isabella’s was postponed until she was older. Isabella was formally betrothed by proxy to Prince Edward in May 1303.
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Isabella probably enjoyed being the centre of attention at the ceremony and she must have wondered what her absent future husband was like.
Edward, who was twelve years older than Isabella, showed no interest in his future bride and was only interested in the political advantages of the match. Isabella, as the daughter of two sovereigns, was the most eligible princess of her generation. According to Froissart, she was also ‘one of the greatest beauties of her time’ and she must have been confident in her ability to please her husband.
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She came from a very good-looking family and both Isabella and her father Philip were nicknamed ‘the Fair’. Throughout her lifetime everyone praised Isabella’s beauty and her charms and she cannot have doubted that she would be anything other than adored by Edward, as she was by everyone else.
