Edward abandoned Isabella at Tynemouth in 1322.
Edward II is often slammed for supposedly abandoning his pregnant and distraught queen at Tynemouth in May 1312, because he was more concerned with Piers Gaveston's welfare than with her and their unborn child. There is another occasion when he is also often said to have deserted her, and left her in danger from the Scots at Tynemouth: in the autumn of 1322.
Edward's cousin the earl of Richmond lost the battle of Byland to Robert Bruce on 14 October 1322; Edward himself, staying at Rievaulx Abbey, was humiliatingly forced to flee before the Scots could capture him. At the time of the battle, Queen Isabella was staying at Tynemouth, about ninety miles to the north of her husband’s position and well behind the Scottish lines. She accused Hugh Despenser at his trial four years later of "falsely and treacherously counselling the king to leave my lady the queen in peril of her person" at Tynemouth. This is nonsense; Edward’s concern for his wife is apparent in the number of letters he rushed off at this time. Unable to ride all the way to Tynemouth and fetch her himself, he did the next best thing: he ordered men he trusted to help her. He commanded Thomas Grey, constable of Norham Castle, to take Isabella under his protection; should Scottish troops approach Tynemouth, Grey was to enlist the assistance of the constables of all the castles in the north-east. (Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland 1307-1357, p. 146)
Edward also ordered the earls of Richmond (captured by the Scots at Byland) and Atholl and his household steward Richard Damory to raise troops, who included some of Hugh Despenser’s men, and go to her aid. Isabella, who loathed Despenser, refused to accept the presence of his soldiers, even though they would be commanded not by Despenser himself but by three men she had no reason to distrust, one of whom (Richmond) was her kinsman. Edward then sent Isabella’s countryman Henri, lord of Sully and butler of France, visiting England, to Tynemouth with his troops to protect her. Unfortunately Sully was caught up in the chaos, and the Scots captured him at Byland – though Bruce treated him as a honoured guest. With hindsight, Edward’s decision to send Isabella to Tynemouth seems foolish, especially considering how close the Scots had come to capturing her in September 1319, but she had safely accompanied him on campaign in 1310 and 1314, staying much farther north than Tynemouth, and it probably never occurred to him that she would be in danger.
According to the French chronicle which, with the 1326 charge against Despenser, is the only source for the incident, the queen’s squires fortified Tynemouth Priory against a possible Scottish raid and arranged a boat for her, and she sailed down the coast to safety. The chronicle also claims that two of Isabella’s attendants died on the journey, one when she went into premature labour. Although several contemporary English chroniclers noted Isabella’s near-capture by James Douglas in 1319, not one of them, not even the deeply anti-Edward Flores or Adam Murimuth, a royal clerk who knew Isabella well, deemed her supposed predicament in 1322 worthy of mention. Had the Scots captured Isabella, they would have demanded an enormous ransom, and it would have unthinkable for Edward not to pay it.
For Despenser, whose main interest in life was amassing vast amounts of money for himself and the king, this would have been anathema, and therefore it is hard to imagine that he would have wanted the Scots to capture the queen, as some commentators have suggested. Supposedly his aim was to remove Isabella from Edward’s side to give himself free rein over the king, and therefore he decided that placing her in danger from the Scots was the best way to achieve this; yet the few references to Isabella after early 1322 indicate that her influence over Edward was by now minimal and that Despenser had no need to go to such lengths. Besides, his own wife was attending the queen, a fact missed or ignored by the commentators who think he deliberately placed Isabella in danger: Edward wrote to Eleanor Despenser at Tynemouth on 13 September, and after he reached York in mid-October, an entry in his wardrobe account indicates that he sent twenty pieces of sturgeon to his wife and thirteen to Eleanor.
Pope John XXII commended Despenser in January 1324 for his "good services, as related by Henry, lord of Sully," whom Edward had sent to Isabella’s aid. It is difficult to believe that Sully, who was in a good position to know what had really happened, would have recommended Despenser to the pope had he held him in any way responsible for Isabella’s supposed ordeal, and John XXII, who wrote frequently to both Edward and Isabella, never mentioned the incident.
Edward II is often criticised for 'leaving Isabella behind'. But he and Isabella were not together. He and Despenser didn't sneak out of the abbey where they were staying and leave her there. If the queen had refused help from men she had no reason not to trust, then the Tynemouth affair was the fault of nobody but herself, but Isabella found it easier to load the blame onto Hugh Despenser than acknowledge her own responsibility for the (presumed, given that no English chronicle mentions them) deaths of her attendants.
For more information on this situation, and more on why we can be sure that Isabella's accusation against Despenser was not true - not everything Isabella thought or said or believed was automatically the gospel truth, despite what some modern commentators seem to think - see my other article.
Edward II is often slammed for supposedly abandoning his pregnant and distraught queen at Tynemouth in May 1312, because he was more concerned with Piers Gaveston's welfare than with her and their unborn child. There is another occasion when he is also often said to have deserted her, and left her in danger from the Scots at Tynemouth: in the autumn of 1322.
Edward's cousin the earl of Richmond lost the battle of Byland to Robert Bruce on 14 October 1322; Edward himself, staying at Rievaulx Abbey, was humiliatingly forced to flee before the Scots could capture him. At the time of the battle, Queen Isabella was staying at Tynemouth, about ninety miles to the north of her husband’s position and well behind the Scottish lines. She accused Hugh Despenser at his trial four years later of "falsely and treacherously counselling the king to leave my lady the queen in peril of her person" at Tynemouth. This is nonsense; Edward’s concern for his wife is apparent in the number of letters he rushed off at this time. Unable to ride all the way to Tynemouth and fetch her himself, he did the next best thing: he ordered men he trusted to help her. He commanded Thomas Grey, constable of Norham Castle, to take Isabella under his protection; should Scottish troops approach Tynemouth, Grey was to enlist the assistance of the constables of all the castles in the north-east. (Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland 1307-1357, p. 146)
Edward also ordered the earls of Richmond (captured by the Scots at Byland) and Atholl and his household steward Richard Damory to raise troops, who included some of Hugh Despenser’s men, and go to her aid. Isabella, who loathed Despenser, refused to accept the presence of his soldiers, even though they would be commanded not by Despenser himself but by three men she had no reason to distrust, one of whom (Richmond) was her kinsman. Edward then sent Isabella’s countryman Henri, lord of Sully and butler of France, visiting England, to Tynemouth with his troops to protect her. Unfortunately Sully was caught up in the chaos, and the Scots captured him at Byland – though Bruce treated him as a honoured guest. With hindsight, Edward’s decision to send Isabella to Tynemouth seems foolish, especially considering how close the Scots had come to capturing her in September 1319, but she had safely accompanied him on campaign in 1310 and 1314, staying much farther north than Tynemouth, and it probably never occurred to him that she would be in danger.
According to the French chronicle which, with the 1326 charge against Despenser, is the only source for the incident, the queen’s squires fortified Tynemouth Priory against a possible Scottish raid and arranged a boat for her, and she sailed down the coast to safety. The chronicle also claims that two of Isabella’s attendants died on the journey, one when she went into premature labour. Although several contemporary English chroniclers noted Isabella’s near-capture by James Douglas in 1319, not one of them, not even the deeply anti-Edward Flores or Adam Murimuth, a royal clerk who knew Isabella well, deemed her supposed predicament in 1322 worthy of mention. Had the Scots captured Isabella, they would have demanded an enormous ransom, and it would have unthinkable for Edward not to pay it.
For Despenser, whose main interest in life was amassing vast amounts of money for himself and the king, this would have been anathema, and therefore it is hard to imagine that he would have wanted the Scots to capture the queen, as some commentators have suggested. Supposedly his aim was to remove Isabella from Edward’s side to give himself free rein over the king, and therefore he decided that placing her in danger from the Scots was the best way to achieve this; yet the few references to Isabella after early 1322 indicate that her influence over Edward was by now minimal and that Despenser had no need to go to such lengths. Besides, his own wife was attending the queen, a fact missed or ignored by the commentators who think he deliberately placed Isabella in danger: Edward wrote to Eleanor Despenser at Tynemouth on 13 September, and after he reached York in mid-October, an entry in his wardrobe account indicates that he sent twenty pieces of sturgeon to his wife and thirteen to Eleanor.
Pope John XXII commended Despenser in January 1324 for his "good services, as related by Henry, lord of Sully," whom Edward had sent to Isabella’s aid. It is difficult to believe that Sully, who was in a good position to know what had really happened, would have recommended Despenser to the pope had he held him in any way responsible for Isabella’s supposed ordeal, and John XXII, who wrote frequently to both Edward and Isabella, never mentioned the incident.
Edward II is often criticised for 'leaving Isabella behind'. But he and Isabella were not together. He and Despenser didn't sneak out of the abbey where they were staying and leave her there. If the queen had refused help from men she had no reason not to trust, then the Tynemouth affair was the fault of nobody but herself, but Isabella found it easier to load the blame onto Hugh Despenser than acknowledge her own responsibility for the (presumed, given that no English chronicle mentions them) deaths of her attendants.
For more information on this situation, and more on why we can be sure that Isabella's accusation against Despenser was not true - not everything Isabella thought or said or believed was automatically the gospel truth, despite what some modern commentators seem to think - see my other article.
Kathryn Warner Nov 2009