The Sexualities of Edward II

Defining Queenship at Greyfriars London, c.1300–58

“…113 It was at this point that estrangement between the king and queen dating back to at least the curtailment of her intercessory activity in 1321 went 'public', with Edward II openly accusing his wife of adultery with Roger Mortimer early in 1326. 114 The armed uprising Isabella launched in 1326, in alliance with the Count of Hainault, declared its aim to be the removal of evil counsellors from her husband's side. 115 These were popularly identified as the king's favourites, Hugh Despenser the Elder and his son Hugh the Younger, the royal treasurer, bishop of Exeter Walter de Stapeldon, and the royal chancellor, Robert Baldock.…”

“…At his trial, Roger Mortimer was blamed for disrupting a supposedly functioning royal marriage, and for the subsequent evils of the regency regime. 145 As early as 1332, Isabella is recorded to have made pilgrimages to the shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham. 146 In the last years of her life, the queen dowager distributed alms to 150 paupers on principal feast days, paid for thirteen people to be fed every day, and for sixteen people to be fed every Monday, Friday and Saturday.…”

“…These features of her funerary arrangements are again strongly in accord with Edward III's suggested policy towards his father's memory, and selective rewriting of recent history. 170 While Mark Ormrod's argument for the deliberate representation on Isabella's tomb of a functioning royal marriage is a persuasive one, I think that her burial arrangements can also be seen in a slightly different light: as assertions of her dual Anglo-French royal status as much as articulations of her post-1330 political identity. Isabella's French heritage is emphasised in a manner that goes beyond routine confirmation of the legitimacy of Edward III's dynastic ambitions, and is once again suggestive of the queen's personal input.…”

Loans from English provincial towns to the crown during the reigns of Edward II and Edward III*

“…60 Overall, the crown spent in the region of £200,000 on the Crécy-Calais campaign, but the loans from towns and burgesses only amounted to around £11,000 (5 per cent) of the total cost. 61 Townsmen, however, also paid the wages of troops laying siege to Calais. Bristol provided £134 6s 8d for the expenses of forty men-at-arms participating in the campaign.…”

“…In 1351 the crown issued another plea for loans to support campaigns in France, but only raised around £6,500. 63 Norwich's corporate loan of £666 13s 4d was the second largest contribution from any town, behind only London. Bishop's Lynn (£506 13s 4d), Colchester (£100), Hereford (£50) and Grimsby (£40) also provided corporate loans to the king.…”