Isabella of France, Queen of England. A postscript

Isabella of France (1295-1358) presents a historic-graphical challenge that has not yet received satisfactory answers in historical research. A foreigner in the Kingdom of England, she led the opposition to her husband, Edward II - which brought about the king's deposition and eventually his murder - and afterwards lived blatantly with her main political partner, Roger Mortimer. During her first years in England, Isabella enjoyed wide support among the nobility and probably the townsmen, as well; her popularity was reflected in contemporary sources, despite the monastic identity of most authors. Yet, her standing conspicuously deteriorated between 1327 and 1330, the years she ruled the country in actual practice. This paper elucidates the most important stages in Isabella's political career while focusing on the different and sometimes conflicting aspects of her character and the dissonances that have characterized her image up to the present time.