Isabella of Valois was born on November 9, 1389 in Paris. She was the oldest surviving child of Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. When Isabeau was born, her father’s reign was still going fairly well. However, when she was almost three, her father suffered the first of his attacks of mental illness that would continue for the rest of his reign. And, there was that whole 100 Years War going on.
In 1394, Richard II, the king of England, became a widower when his first wife, Anne of Bohemia. Richard and Anne hadn’t had any children, so Richard needed to remarry. And marrying the king of France’s oldest daughter was a great way to end the decades-long war. The only issue was that Isabella was only five years old (Richard was in his twenties). Oh, and she was technically engaged to a French noble, John, the Duke of Alencon. Oh, and the marriage was politically unpopular with factions in both the English and French courts. It didn’t matter. In March 1396, a marriage agreement between Isabella and Richard II was signed as part of a larger peace treaty that was meant to create a 28-year-long truce (which did not happen). During the negotiations, Isabella met some English diplomats who found the six year old shockingly mature for her age.
After meeting with the ambassadors, Isabella and her father met with Richard II in Calais. Isabella then married Richard on October 31, 1396. After the wedding, the couple made it to England. When their boat arrived, the crowds to see them were so big that people literally got crushed to death in the excitement.
Despite the circumstances, Isabella’s married life to Richard was shockingly…nice? He never acted at all sexually to her and basically treated her like a normal (albeit royal) little kid. As great as Richard was as a platonic husband, he kind of sucked at being king. By 1399, he’d fallen utterly out with his cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke and exiled him to Europe and confiscated all his estates.
The same year, Richard had to leave England to deal with some military in Ireland. While he was away, Henry returned. Because Richard had the not so great habit of isolating the nobility, it was easy enough for Henry to usurp the throne and become Henry IV of England. Along the way, Richard II was captured and then killed under…mysterious circumstances in Yorkshire in 1400.
With Richard dead, Isabella, at the age of ten, was suddenly the queen dowager of England. The new queen of England was about forty years old, for the sake of comparison. Given both Isabella’s age and how exactly she’d become the dowager, her exact position in England was a bit unclear. Henry IV virtually took her prisoner, confiscating all of her jewelry and lands in the process. He was determined to have Isabella marry his son, the Prince of Wales, the future Henry V (who actually would end up marrying Isabella’s little sister Catherine). Isabella had other ideas. Even though she and Richard did not have a traditional relationship, she was determined to be loyal to his memory. She went into full mourning and insisted that all her servants join her in it, which made Henry furious. Isabella insisted on meeting with Henry IV face-to-face (and remember, she was only ten years old) to tell him how she felt. While we don’t know exactly what happened in the meeting, Isabella left it with all her jewels back.
In 1401, Henry allowed Isabella to return back to France. After more than half her life away, she was able to reunite with her parents and see some siblings that she’d never met.
In 1406, she got married for a second time, at the slightly more socially acceptable age of 15. Her husband this time was her cousin, Charles of Orleans, the son of her uncle Louis. While we don’t know that much about this marriage, apparently Isabella and Charles got along. The two were close in age, had a common culture and spoke the same language, which is always helpful.
In 1409, Isabella became pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter, Joan, on September 13. A few hours later, she died from some sort of complication. Joan would survive infancy and would go onto marry John II of Alencon, the son of the man that Isabella was initially supposed to marry.
Isabella was initially buried apart from her family in an abbey in Blois. In the 1620s, her body was moved to the Convent of the Celestines, but her tomb was destroyed, like many other royal tombs, during the French Revolution.
Sources
Flantzer, Susan. “Isabella of Valois.” Unofficial Royalty. July 2016.
“Isabella of Valois.” English Monarchs. July 2016.