Edward II Abandoned Queen Isabella at Tynemouth in May 1312.
A story which appears in one source, the chronicle of St Albans Abbey, written at least twenty years later and 270 miles away from Tynemouth: in May 1312, Edward II, desperate to save Piers Gaveston from their enemy the earl of Lancaster who is coming to capture Gaveston, departs Tynemouth for Scarborough in a boat with his friend, leaving Isabella behind. The queen, a few weeks pregnant, begs Edward in tears not to abandon her. This is grist to the mill to some writers, who love to portray Isabella as a weeping abandoned victim and Edward as so callous and uncaring that he is willing to throw his pregnant wife to the wolves to save Gaveston. But is it true?
In May 1312, Piers Gaveston had recently returned to England from his third exile, to the fury of the English magnates and the joy of Edward II, who restored Gaveston to his lands and his title of earl of Cornwall. Thomas, earl of Lancaster, Edward's first cousin and greatest enemy, made his way north where Edward and Gaveston were lurking, in the hope of capturing the royal favourite. On 3 May, Edward and Gaveston learned of Lancaster's imminent arrival at Newcastle, which took them completely by surprise. They fled the nine miles from Newcastle to Tynemouth to join Isabella, escaping Lancaster by only a few hours, leaving most of Edward’s household behind. However, they left on 5 May, by sea, to the secure and fortified castle of Scarborough, and left Isabella at Tynemouth Priory.
The men arrived at Scarborough on 10 May. Edward left Gaveston there and set out for Knaresborough, where he spent several days at Gaveston’s castle and where some of his household joined him after travelling to the town by land. Edward then went on to York, where he met Queen Isabella by 16 May at the latest, possibly on the 14th, a maximum of eleven days and perhaps only nine days after he had supposedly ‘abandoned’ her. Clearly this was a prior arrangement, and Edward paid her controller twenty pounds for the expenses of her journey on 16 May. [The Household Book of Queen Isabella of England, ed. F. D. Blackley and Gustav Hermansen, 1971, pp. xxvi, 15] Isabella was so anxious to be reunited with her husband that she left most of her belongings behind at South Shields, and ignored a letter sent to her by her uncle the earl of Lancaster, promising that he would rid her of Gaveston’s presence. [Paul Doherty, Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II, 2003, p. 51] None of this indicates that Isabella was angry with Edward for ‘abandoning’ her, or that she wanted to stay away from him, or that she had any interest in acting against her husband, or even that she desired Piers Gaveston’s removal from her life.
What writers who believe this story fail to recognise or to mention was that the earl of Lancaster was Queen Isabella's own uncle, the younger half-brother of her mother Queen Jeanne of Navarre. I've even seen some fairly recent accounts of the story which state that Isabella was in danger from Robert Bruce, king of Scots and her husband's enemy. (This is completely untrue; neither Bruce nor any of his allies were anywhere near Tynemouth at the time.) Rather than 'abandoning' Isabella, it is far more likely that Edward thought it would be far safer and more comfortable for the queen to travel by land and meet him at York. Isabella was in the first trimester of pregnancy, when the risk of miscarriage is high. It seem far more likely that Edward was displaying concern for Isabella, not callousness.
No other source mentions that Isabella begged Edward in tears not to leave her. Not the extremely well-informed author of the Vita Edwardi Secundi. Not the Flores Historiarum, a Westminster chronicle which seized every opportunity to criticise Edward. Not one of the northern chroniclers, Not the royal clerk Adam Murimuth, who knew the couple well. Not Isabella herself in any known source. Nothing. It took Edward and Gaveston a full five days to sail down the coast from Tynemouth to Scarborough, a distance of roughly ninety miles; a long and dreadfully uncomfortable journey, especially for a woman in the first trimester of pregnancy. As Edward II is usually damned if he did and damned if he didn’t, if he had taken Isabella on the boat, no doubt he would be castigated nowadays for risking the health of his wife and their unborn child.
It is possible that Piers Gaveston was still ill in early May 1312 - Edward paid a physician named William de Burntoft and a monk of Tynemouth named Robert de Birmingham ten marks each for looking after him in April - and that Edward was keen to keep him away from his pregnant queen. It is also possible that the St Albans chronicler confused this event with another occasion when the queen was at Tynemouth, ten years later.
Alison Weir (Isabella, She-Wolf of France, Queen of England) is one of the very few modern writers who accepts the story without question, failing to point out the total lack of corroboration and that the editors of Isabella's own household accounts of 1312 - which Ms Weir uses as a source and cites frequently - say "the story that Edward abandoned Isabella seems to be a most unlikely one" and that the queen’s household book "gives us no support for any part of this story." Most likely she accepts the story as gospel truth because it fits so nicely into the image she's peddling of Isabella: that of a tragic, abused and neglected victim of her cruel, heartless husband and his nasty male favourites. Other, less biased, writers take a very different view: Dr Jochen Burgtorf points out that the life of the possible heir to the throne was at stake and Isabella's joining the two men on the sea too much of a risk; Dr Paul Doherty says that Isabella "adhered to her husband" in the spring of 1312; Professor Roy Martin Haines says the story "has the appearance of a fictitious tale."
But who cares about lack of bias, historical truth and plausibility when you can write a poignant scene with the tragic neglected heroine Isabella in tears, hand on pregnant belly, pleading with her cruel heartless husband not to abandon her for his male lover?
H. T.Riley, ed., Chronica Monasterii S. Albani Johannis de Trokelowe et Henrici de Blaneforde, pp. 75-76.
Roy Martin Haines, King Edward II, p. 84.
Jochen Burgtorf, 'With his life, my joyes began and ended: Piers Gaveston and King Edward II of England Revisited', in Fourteenth Century England V, ed. Nigel Saul, p. 49.
A story which appears in one source, the chronicle of St Albans Abbey, written at least twenty years later and 270 miles away from Tynemouth: in May 1312, Edward II, desperate to save Piers Gaveston from their enemy the earl of Lancaster who is coming to capture Gaveston, departs Tynemouth for Scarborough in a boat with his friend, leaving Isabella behind. The queen, a few weeks pregnant, begs Edward in tears not to abandon her. This is grist to the mill to some writers, who love to portray Isabella as a weeping abandoned victim and Edward as so callous and uncaring that he is willing to throw his pregnant wife to the wolves to save Gaveston. But is it true?
In May 1312, Piers Gaveston had recently returned to England from his third exile, to the fury of the English magnates and the joy of Edward II, who restored Gaveston to his lands and his title of earl of Cornwall. Thomas, earl of Lancaster, Edward's first cousin and greatest enemy, made his way north where Edward and Gaveston were lurking, in the hope of capturing the royal favourite. On 3 May, Edward and Gaveston learned of Lancaster's imminent arrival at Newcastle, which took them completely by surprise. They fled the nine miles from Newcastle to Tynemouth to join Isabella, escaping Lancaster by only a few hours, leaving most of Edward’s household behind. However, they left on 5 May, by sea, to the secure and fortified castle of Scarborough, and left Isabella at Tynemouth Priory.
The men arrived at Scarborough on 10 May. Edward left Gaveston there and set out for Knaresborough, where he spent several days at Gaveston’s castle and where some of his household joined him after travelling to the town by land. Edward then went on to York, where he met Queen Isabella by 16 May at the latest, possibly on the 14th, a maximum of eleven days and perhaps only nine days after he had supposedly ‘abandoned’ her. Clearly this was a prior arrangement, and Edward paid her controller twenty pounds for the expenses of her journey on 16 May. [The Household Book of Queen Isabella of England, ed. F. D. Blackley and Gustav Hermansen, 1971, pp. xxvi, 15] Isabella was so anxious to be reunited with her husband that she left most of her belongings behind at South Shields, and ignored a letter sent to her by her uncle the earl of Lancaster, promising that he would rid her of Gaveston’s presence. [Paul Doherty, Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II, 2003, p. 51] None of this indicates that Isabella was angry with Edward for ‘abandoning’ her, or that she wanted to stay away from him, or that she had any interest in acting against her husband, or even that she desired Piers Gaveston’s removal from her life.
What writers who believe this story fail to recognise or to mention was that the earl of Lancaster was Queen Isabella's own uncle, the younger half-brother of her mother Queen Jeanne of Navarre. I've even seen some fairly recent accounts of the story which state that Isabella was in danger from Robert Bruce, king of Scots and her husband's enemy. (This is completely untrue; neither Bruce nor any of his allies were anywhere near Tynemouth at the time.) Rather than 'abandoning' Isabella, it is far more likely that Edward thought it would be far safer and more comfortable for the queen to travel by land and meet him at York. Isabella was in the first trimester of pregnancy, when the risk of miscarriage is high. It seem far more likely that Edward was displaying concern for Isabella, not callousness.
No other source mentions that Isabella begged Edward in tears not to leave her. Not the extremely well-informed author of the Vita Edwardi Secundi. Not the Flores Historiarum, a Westminster chronicle which seized every opportunity to criticise Edward. Not one of the northern chroniclers, Not the royal clerk Adam Murimuth, who knew the couple well. Not Isabella herself in any known source. Nothing. It took Edward and Gaveston a full five days to sail down the coast from Tynemouth to Scarborough, a distance of roughly ninety miles; a long and dreadfully uncomfortable journey, especially for a woman in the first trimester of pregnancy. As Edward II is usually damned if he did and damned if he didn’t, if he had taken Isabella on the boat, no doubt he would be castigated nowadays for risking the health of his wife and their unborn child.
It is possible that Piers Gaveston was still ill in early May 1312 - Edward paid a physician named William de Burntoft and a monk of Tynemouth named Robert de Birmingham ten marks each for looking after him in April - and that Edward was keen to keep him away from his pregnant queen. It is also possible that the St Albans chronicler confused this event with another occasion when the queen was at Tynemouth, ten years later.
Alison Weir (Isabella, She-Wolf of France, Queen of England) is one of the very few modern writers who accepts the story without question, failing to point out the total lack of corroboration and that the editors of Isabella's own household accounts of 1312 - which Ms Weir uses as a source and cites frequently - say "the story that Edward abandoned Isabella seems to be a most unlikely one" and that the queen’s household book "gives us no support for any part of this story." Most likely she accepts the story as gospel truth because it fits so nicely into the image she's peddling of Isabella: that of a tragic, abused and neglected victim of her cruel, heartless husband and his nasty male favourites. Other, less biased, writers take a very different view: Dr Jochen Burgtorf points out that the life of the possible heir to the throne was at stake and Isabella's joining the two men on the sea too much of a risk; Dr Paul Doherty says that Isabella "adhered to her husband" in the spring of 1312; Professor Roy Martin Haines says the story "has the appearance of a fictitious tale."
But who cares about lack of bias, historical truth and plausibility when you can write a poignant scene with the tragic neglected heroine Isabella in tears, hand on pregnant belly, pleading with her cruel heartless husband not to abandon her for his male lover?
H. T.Riley, ed., Chronica Monasterii S. Albani Johannis de Trokelowe et Henrici de Blaneforde, pp. 75-76.
Roy Martin Haines, King Edward II, p. 84.
Jochen Burgtorf, 'With his life, my joyes began and ended: Piers Gaveston and King Edward II of England Revisited', in Fourteenth Century England V, ed. Nigel Saul, p. 49.