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Review
Edward II's painful death - caused by a hot iron rammed up his anus - is in the Premier League of well-known historical facts. Less well known is the role played in his murder by his wife, Queen Isabella. In a colourful narrative which provides an evocative setting for a Mafia-like scramble for wealth and power, Paul Doherty traces the life of Philip IV of France's daughter, who was only 12 when she was married to the bisexual Edward. She supported her husband in his many domestic and foreign crises, but later Isabella fled abroad and soon deposed and murdered her husband. However, at the end of this highly readable popular history, Doherty intriguingly suggests that Edward in fact escaped at Berkeley Castle and lived out the rest of his life in peace.
If people only know one thing about the 14th century English king Edward II, it's that he was murdered by the insertion of a red-hot poker into a bodily orifice not normally associated with domestic heating. (There's even a folk group called King Edward II and the Red Hot Pokers). Unfortunately, like most easily remembered historical facts this one is closer to fiction and in this enjoyable book Paul Doherty does his best to demonstrate why. Doherty is already well known for his historical and fantasy fiction but he earned a PhD for a thesis on the beautiful Isabella (popularly known as the she-wolf of France) and his academic credentials are displayed to good advantage in this saga of murder, malice, intrigue and regicide. Isabella and Edward were betrothed when both were children. It was a purely dynastic match devised by two politically insecure kings - Edward I of England and Philip V of France. Although Isabella bore Edward four healthy children Doherty uncovers documents that leave us in no doubt that Isabella was angered by her husband's continuing infatuation with two different men. Nobody can say whether Edward's relationships with Piers Gaveston and Hugh de Spencer were sexual and in a sense it doesn't matter. Isabella was so aggrieved at Edward's treatment of her that she left England for France and only returned, complete with a wild Welsh lover called Roger Mortimer, in order to topple Edward from the throne and claim the crown for her eldest son Edward III. Isabella is the undoubted star of this lively piece of popular history. The invasion, Edward's flight and the subsequent bloody deaths of Hugh de Spencer and his family make gripping reading. However, Doherty does take time to explore his theories about Edward's death and, in particular, why he believes that Edward was not murdered at all but ended his days wandering Europe as a tramp known as William the Welshman. Doherty has taken care not to overload the book with too much scholarly detail but there is a comprehensive bibliography for those who want to read more about this fascinating period of British history. (Kirkus UK)
A lively reconstruction of events in medieval English history, full of all the good stuff: murder, adultery, treason, and a few beheadings. Isabella, the daughter of French king Philip Le Bel and Johanna of Navarre, is a minor figure in world history, all things considered; Mel Gibson's 1995 film Braveheart gives her a far more important role in the unpleasantness between England and Scotland of the late-13th and early-14th centuries than the facts warrant, especially by supposing that the Scottish leader William Wallace was the father of her child, who would become Edward III. For all that, Isabella did chalk up some significant deeds, not least of which, writes English mystery author and historian Doherty (The Mysterious Death of Tutankhamun, 2002, etc.), was that "she brought about the first formal deposition of an English king, even though it was for her own selfish motives." That king was Edward II, son of Edward Longshanks, who emerges in Doherty's account as a feckless but not altogether bad fellow; his downfall came not through his homosexual dallying, as Braveheart hints, but through his overall lack of interest in running an empire, a job Isabella was only too happy to take on in the name of her son, fathered not by Edward but by the English exile Roger Mortimer. The existence of both heir and bedroom rival meant, of course, that Edward II had to be done away with, and Isabella engineered a nicely gruesome end for him. Confused yet? Well, the times were plenty confusing-they could hardly be otherwise in a milieu when royal spymasters wrote to the Pope to ask for blessings against spells cast by rival magicians, and when the death of a child in Norway could set about a struggle over monastic succession in France. Doherty deftly keeps the players and the facts lined up, delivering an entertaining tale as well. A satisfying excursion for medieval-history buffs. (Kirkus Reviews)
Independent on Sunday, March 23, 2003
Doherty skilfully illuminates the life of the enigmatic Isabella
See all Product Description
Edward II's painful death - caused by a hot iron rammed up his anus - is in the Premier League of well-known historical facts. Less well known is the role played in his murder by his wife, Queen Isabella. In a colourful narrative which provides an evocative setting for a Mafia-like scramble for wealth and power, Paul Doherty traces the life of Philip IV of France's daughter, who was only 12 when she was married to the bisexual Edward. She supported her husband in his many domestic and foreign crises, but later Isabella fled abroad and soon deposed and murdered her husband. However, at the end of this highly readable popular history, Doherty intriguingly suggests that Edward in fact escaped at Berkeley Castle and lived out the rest of his life in peace.
If people only know one thing about the 14th century English king Edward II, it's that he was murdered by the insertion of a red-hot poker into a bodily orifice not normally associated with domestic heating. (There's even a folk group called King Edward II and the Red Hot Pokers). Unfortunately, like most easily remembered historical facts this one is closer to fiction and in this enjoyable book Paul Doherty does his best to demonstrate why. Doherty is already well known for his historical and fantasy fiction but he earned a PhD for a thesis on the beautiful Isabella (popularly known as the she-wolf of France) and his academic credentials are displayed to good advantage in this saga of murder, malice, intrigue and regicide. Isabella and Edward were betrothed when both were children. It was a purely dynastic match devised by two politically insecure kings - Edward I of England and Philip V of France. Although Isabella bore Edward four healthy children Doherty uncovers documents that leave us in no doubt that Isabella was angered by her husband's continuing infatuation with two different men. Nobody can say whether Edward's relationships with Piers Gaveston and Hugh de Spencer were sexual and in a sense it doesn't matter. Isabella was so aggrieved at Edward's treatment of her that she left England for France and only returned, complete with a wild Welsh lover called Roger Mortimer, in order to topple Edward from the throne and claim the crown for her eldest son Edward III. Isabella is the undoubted star of this lively piece of popular history. The invasion, Edward's flight and the subsequent bloody deaths of Hugh de Spencer and his family make gripping reading. However, Doherty does take time to explore his theories about Edward's death and, in particular, why he believes that Edward was not murdered at all but ended his days wandering Europe as a tramp known as William the Welshman. Doherty has taken care not to overload the book with too much scholarly detail but there is a comprehensive bibliography for those who want to read more about this fascinating period of British history. (Kirkus UK)
A lively reconstruction of events in medieval English history, full of all the good stuff: murder, adultery, treason, and a few beheadings. Isabella, the daughter of French king Philip Le Bel and Johanna of Navarre, is a minor figure in world history, all things considered; Mel Gibson's 1995 film Braveheart gives her a far more important role in the unpleasantness between England and Scotland of the late-13th and early-14th centuries than the facts warrant, especially by supposing that the Scottish leader William Wallace was the father of her child, who would become Edward III. For all that, Isabella did chalk up some significant deeds, not least of which, writes English mystery author and historian Doherty (The Mysterious Death of Tutankhamun, 2002, etc.), was that "she brought about the first formal deposition of an English king, even though it was for her own selfish motives." That king was Edward II, son of Edward Longshanks, who emerges in Doherty's account as a feckless but not altogether bad fellow; his downfall came not through his homosexual dallying, as Braveheart hints, but through his overall lack of interest in running an empire, a job Isabella was only too happy to take on in the name of her son, fathered not by Edward but by the English exile Roger Mortimer. The existence of both heir and bedroom rival meant, of course, that Edward II had to be done away with, and Isabella engineered a nicely gruesome end for him. Confused yet? Well, the times were plenty confusing-they could hardly be otherwise in a milieu when royal spymasters wrote to the Pope to ask for blessings against spells cast by rival magicians, and when the death of a child in Norway could set about a struggle over monastic succession in France. Doherty deftly keeps the players and the facts lined up, delivering an entertaining tale as well. A satisfying excursion for medieval-history buffs. (Kirkus Reviews)
Independent on Sunday, March 23, 2003
Doherty skilfully illuminates the life of the enigmatic Isabella
See all Product Description