Isabel the Fair

Shadows of the Crown #2

by Margaret Campbell Barnes

Shocking Truths Shattered Her Innocence
and dimmed Isabel's young, virgin dreams of the ideal love she brought to her enchanting bridegroom, Edward II. The warm, generous girl soon sensed that her celebrated beauty would be no match against the extraordinary rivals claiming her handsome king's ardor, and undermining his reign.

Indignant with the role of royal breeder and nothing else, Isabel found disastrous outlets for her thwarted passions. Her infamous adultery, and the brutal intrigues that ensued, electrified the stormy patterns behind the court's medieval splendor, and finally branded the popular daughter of France's King Philip as "she-wolf."

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction, British Literature, Historical Romance, Tudor Period, France

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Margaret Campbell Wood was born on 17 February 1891 in Rotherfield, Sussex, England, UK. She was the youngest of ten children, who had a happy childhood in the Sussex country side. She was eventually educated at small private schools in Paris and London.

She married Peter Barnes in 1917,( a furniture salesman), and the couple had two sons, Michael and John. Michael, a Royal Armoured Corps Lieutenant, was killed during WW II.

She died on 1 April 1962 in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.

Her books are historical novels, called Shadows of the Crown, that follow the history of the English Crown. The majority of her books were written between the 1940's and 1950's. Her last and posthumous novel Lady on the Coin was finished by the novelist Hebe Elsna

Over two million copies of Margaret's historical novels have been sold worldwide.

Reviews

[Orsolya]

Time and time again; the most passionate, formidable and alpha-females are slandered and debased as crazy, not “staying in their lane” and lacking submissive charms. The hell with the people who think that, I say! I have a feminist love for all these women in history and Isabella of France, the Queen consort of England’s King Edward II, is certainly in this category. Isabella was the first and only English queen to head a civil movement against an anointed king; resulting in his abdication of the throne in favor of his son, the now-famous King Edward III. Having done this solo would cause backlash; but working in concert with an alleged lover, Roger Mortimer, set the medieval period into a fury and eventually to turn against Isabella. The English historical-fiction top author of the 1950s Margaret Campbell Barnes invites readers into Isabella’s story in, “Isabel the Fair”.

Fans of Margaret Campbell Barnes will find a familiar stylistic approach in “Isabel the Fair” with Barnes diving head-first into the narrative rather than tip-toe into the murky water. Readers are immediately overwhelmed (in the best way) with glorious detail and vivid, picturesque imagery that is inviting, intriguing, truly brings the tale to life and maintains a steady pace making “Isabel the Fair” difficult to put down and deny attention. Frankly speaking, “Isabel the Fair” is yet another Barnes success.

“Isabel the Fair” focuses more on history than fiction eschewing overly romanticized fluff or filler-material. Even though some historical liberties are evident; they are so organic that it is a wonder that Barnes herself didn’t travel back in time and take first-person notes. “Isabel the Fair” is remarkable in its clever and smooth storytelling.

The primary strength of “Isabel the Fair” is the absence of sticking to stereotypical characterizations of Isabella, King Edward II, the Despensers, Piers Gaveston, Roger Mortimer, etc. Barnes shatters these constructs and instead offers well-rounded alternate perspectives that not only make “Isabel the Fair” stand-out among similar-topic novels; but also encourages readers to ponder these historical events. This method makes the events of the novel more relatable and easier to grasp. One will often be convinced that this is how and why these historical events actually took place.

Unfortunately, “Isabel the Fair” falls victim to some negative streaks: Barnes has the habit of chaotically jumping in chronological time, skipping ahead in large chunks which can cause confusion or a slight step back. Barnes apparently attempts to remedy this by overly explaining events within conversations between characters in a heavy, “As you know, Bob” – style. This isn’t how people normally converse and results in a narrative that is sometimes tedious and dragging of “Isabel the Fair”.

Like all of the works written by Barnes; “Isabel the Fair” is the home to occasional grammar and typo errors. Were there no editors available during the time of publication? Or did Barnes simply never employ them? Perhaps, I am the only one who notices? Whichever the case; it is a weak point of “Isabel the Fair”.

Although it isn’t thoroughly explored how Isabella allegedly developed a romantic interest in Mortimer and suddenly is in-deep; Barnes still does well with offering a softer side of Isabella and featuring her as being manipulated by a man taking advantage of her vacancies in her heart. “Isabel the Fair” is a refreshing take on Isabella of France and the abdication of King Edward II.

History readers will note quite a few moments of obvious foreshadowing. These don’t weaken “Isabel the Fair” and the novice English history reader more-than-likely won’t even notice.

The concluding chapters of “Isabel the Fair” commit the sin of addressing Isabella as a, “She-Wolf”. This is 100% inaccurate and NO evidence of contemporaries calling Isabella such a moniker exists. It wasn’t until Shakespeare’s stage play that this nick name was adopted. “Isabel the Fair” reminds readers that it is a fictional work, after all.

The finality of “Isabel the Fair” isn’t as powerful as the former part of the book but regardless, feels well-concluded and strong-enough. As usual, Barnes doesn’t provide an ‘Author’s Note’ decoding the historical liberties within the novel. This is typical of the publication period; but this means new readers will simply accept all facts as truth which is unfortunate.

Even with its flaws, “Isabel the Fair” is a well-crafted, beautifully-composed narrative surrounding Isabella and King Edward II. “Isabel the Fair” is recommended for all readers interested in medieval English history and/or fans of Margaret Campbell Barnes.

[Sarah Mac]

NOPE. Abandoned @ 26%.

I literally fell asleep while slogging through this paperback Ambien, & would have done so again had I not fired up an aggressively loud playlist. 😶 Truly, it’s one of the dullest things I’ve read in yoinks. Dusty, musty blabbering pieced together via clumsy infodumps + multi-page talking head onslaughts of “As you know, Bob”—yup, it all weaves together in tedious coma-inducing glory to ensure maximum boredom at any given moment. Revel in the nonexistent tension! Frolic in the flatline drama! Wallow in the stilted dialogue!

Or, y’know, don’t. Because going to the dentist is more fun than reading this book.

The entire E2/Piers/Isabel period can go pound sand. Every time I try to read it I’m defeated by the fog of names, numbers, ranks, & royals. Every time. Sweet mother of pearl, this era makes me want to inflict violence on breakable objects. Never again will I be enticed. Never! I VOW IT. ☠️ If I happen to find another Edward II, Queen Isabel, or Piers Gaveston novel cowering in the shadowed corners of my bookcase, I’m dropping it in the donate bag without the tiniest twinge of conscience.

Goodbye, good riddance, & zero stars.

[Lisa]

First published in 1957, Isabel the Fair retells the story of Edward II’s disastrous reign and the rebellion against him by Isabel (or Isabella) of France, his queenly famously known as ‘the she-wolf of France’ through her eyes.

It’s hard to say how I felt about this book. Part of me appreciates that this is one of the better done novels about Edward II and Isabel, particularly when, in spite of its age, it doesn’t outright vilify Edward to lift up Isabel or resort too much to homophobic stereotyping of Edward’s character. I also found it quite well-written – a tad overwritten a few times, but that might be the 1950s style of writing – and the tone felt quite authentic.

So, what, then, didn’t I like? There were a few things, but mainly it was Isabel’s characterisation. I just couldn’t connect with her. I spent the first few chapters convinced that Barnes was writing Isabel as a flawed heroine. That she was deliberately characterising Isabel as a naïvely romantic, selfish and vain girl and that these traits would lead her on a dangerous path and eventually, to maturity. Instead, I finished the book and I’m not quite sure whether Isabel was characterised that way, or whether Barnes had meant Isabel to be the utterly sympathetic and wronged party.

I don’t want to say that Isabel was ‘unlikeable’ because I don’t like the idea that protagonists have to be likeable, and God knows I’m sick of how women have to be ‘likeable’ in the real world. But I found Isabel unpleasant – juvenile, vain, selfish – and there was very little reason for me to care about her. This isn’t like having a great, compelling villain that you’re fascinated by – she’s more brattish than anything else.

Her great burden in life? Her husband is gay. He treats her with a great deal of kindness and regard, but he’s unable to love her as passionately as Isabel would like and so this makes Isabel utterly despise him.

Now, I appreciate that Isabel is in an awkward and painful position. The man she’s convinced she’s in love with isn’t in love with her. Per her time period, the man she’s in love with is living in heinous sin as a sodomite and this is no doubt humiliating for her. But it’s hard to square Isabel’s deep loathing of Edward with the fact that he has been kind to her and never once been deliberately cruel to her.

To add insult to injury, Isabel – twice! – wishes Edward would physically beat her because that’d prove he is capable of passion. I can’t help but feel a lot of women would rather have a husband like Edward than one who physically abused them because he was just so ‘passionate’.

It may be that Isabel was meant to head for a denouncement, where her flaws and actions would come home to roost. Unfortunately, the final chapters – dealing with life after Edward’s deposition – are rushed through. We don’t see the disaster Isabel and Roger Mortimer made of ruling England in Edward III’s name or Isabel truly made to feel the consequences of her decisions and actions. I did like the scene where Isabel, having long taken joy in crowds cheering for her, is met by a silent crowd, but there was very little time for her to reflect in her downfall – this is a very powerful moment and I almost would’ve been pleased if the novel finished here, but it’s not given any reflection.

There were a couple of fairly minor characters that I wished were better characterised, among them Eleanor de Clare whose kind of just thrown in towards the second half of the novel as Isabel’s adversary and is just sort of mean and hateful because she’s Hugh Despenser the Younger’s wife.

As a quick disclaimer, because the book was published over sixty years ago and because there’s been a lot of new and recent scholarship around Edward II and Isabella of France, I’m not holding any inaccuracies against the book but I do like to discuss them.

Isabel is stated to be 16 when she married Edward, but she is now believed to have been about 12 – the fact that she was a literal child goes some way to explaining why Edward did not immediately bring her to the marital bed, rather than presuming some cruel neglect of his wife. Barnes does handle this very well – despite her more mature age, Isabel is largely figured as being a child compared to Edward. Elsewhere, Edward is stated to have given Piers Gaveston the jewels Isabel’s father, the king of France, gave to him as a wedding gift – Edward sent the gifts from his father-in-law to Gaveston, who was regent in England while Edward was away, there is no one shred of evidence that he gave them to Gaveston to keep or that Gaveston paraded about in them. On a similar note, Gaveston’s mother is said to have been burnt as a witch which is untrue, but at least it is dealt with rather sympathetically by Barnes – it’s a moment when Isabel finally sees a humanity to Gaveston after despising him for being her husband’s lover despite, again, the fact that he treats her rather kindly.

Barnes largely ignores Edward’s own personal bravery at the Battle of Bannockburn in favour of reading him as a coward who fled, rather than the king who was told to flee so he wouldn’t be taken prisoner and held hostage in events that would have been a huge disaster for England. The details of Isabel’s refusal to return home to England are largely glossed over, such as the act of her donning widow’s weeds. She’s an accomplice in Roger Mortimer’s escape from the Tower of London which again is supremely unlikely and her chief motivation in crossing to France is to reunite with him and finally, finally, take him as her lover. There is no definitive evidence that Isabel and Roger were lovers – they may have been and it’s been a stalwart of fiction and non-fiction about Edward II and Isabella of France for years, but there’s no proof they were. Finally, Edward II is said to have died through hot poker which is extremely unlikely.

To round out the positives, I did find Edward II to be treated rather sympathetically – he’s a disaster as a king, unable to rule, frivolous and prone to extreme fits of emotion, but he’s generally a nice, kind person. There is a moment where he and Isabel finally have a confrontation about his sexuality and he reveals his own anxieties about that which – though painful (and no doubt potentially triggering for some readers) is something I hadn’t seen before in terms of Edward’s character and found intriguing. So often Edward’s sexuality is treated as something that ‘just is’, as though he is apart from a time period who would have seen his romantic and sexual relations with men as fundamentally a terrible sin. It isn’t a nice topic to cover, but I found the fact that Barnes addressed welcome and gave a new dimension to his character.

In terms of the actual Kindle edition – it is largely formatted well, though some paragraphs are incorrectly broken up, and there were several typos.

As I said, I don’t really know how to feel about it. There were strong points to recommend it, but I never found Isabella a compelling protagonist, which sank the book for me.

[Tracey- Jo]

A quick easy read . I liked Isabel the fair a lot , and had a lot of sympathy for her as her time as queen of England was fraught .

[Elena]

I had already read two books by Margaret Campbell Barnes and loved them, so I was excited to see her take on the story of Isabel (or Isabella) of France, a deeply fascinating historical figure.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed by Isabel the Fair. Maybe it wasn't the right time to read it: I have read many historical novels recently, and also a couple of books on this particular subject. Anyway, the story didn't grab me in any way: the writing was good, but the characters didn't stand out particularly. Isabel's characterization wasn't to my liking, I think she was too naive and irrational and I also felt we didn't see much of her true capabilities: the other characters often commented on her political acumen and her intelligence, but to me it was more telling than showing. I started to like her a little more when the Despensers began to work against her, and the story became more gripping as well, but not enough for me.

In conclusion, not Barnes's strongest book. If you are interested in Isabel of France I would recommend Harlot Queen by Hilda Lewis instead.

[Victoria Campbell]

Interesting book well-written. I knew the history but I forgot about the plantagenet/Capet alliance, and how Isabel led to the Capet line dying out. Seriously disturbing when you realize how Edward the II was killed.

[Sherry Sharpnack]

I bet “Isabel the Fair” was a really racy, shocking even, book when it was written in 1957, w/ it’s bisexuality, adultery, and regicide.

Isabel” is the beautiful, pampered daughter of the King of France married off to Edward II of England, the son of Edward I “Longshanks,” the scourge of the Scots. She can’t understand why her husband wants to spend all his time w/ his friends, particularly Piers instead of w/ her, his new bride. She also doesn’t understand any of the politics of the day. She just knows that she is young and pretty, and the English people love her.

Fortunately, she has her aunt, the widow of Edward I, her aunt’s two sons w/ Edward, and her cousin, Thomas of Lancaster, to help her puzzle through her husband’s apparent bisexuality, and it’s political consequences.

Isabel stays true to her marriage until her husband abandons her to her fate after losing a battle to the invading Scots. Then steps up Roger Mortimer, one of the most grasping, probably evil characters in history. Isabel takes Roger as her lover and they plot the removal of Edward II from his throne, putting Isabel’s son on the throne as a young, puppet ruler, in name only.

The barons truly dislike Mortimer’s rule, so the young Edward III and his barons throw off Mortimer’s rule, kill him, and lock up Isabel in one of her castles.

That’s all historical, and fully fleshed out by the author. We can see Isabel grow from a spoiled darling into a ruthless co-conspirator. The most affecting part of the book is when Edward II’s death is described to Isabel. We don’t know if he was actually killed by a hot poker up his bum, but that is the story told here.

My real quibble w/ the book is that the ending felt like it came quickly. I also felt that in history, Isabel caught on a lot faster to the fact that her husband loved men, and that she already despised him before he took his second male lover, Hugh Despenser. Maybe b/c my first introduction to Isabel came from the movie, “Braveheart,” I have always seen her as a more ruthless character than portrayed here.

[Doodles McC]

Loved this as a teen. Isabel the Fair, so called because of her beauty, the daughter of King Philip of France, seemed to have the perfect life as wife of Edward II of England. But nothing in the Plantagenet court was as it seemed. Their marriage would prove to be the undoing of both of them.
Edward loved no one more than Piers Gaveston, the Earl of Cornwall.

Isabel finds herself taking a backseat to the two lovers, a position that did not sit well with the beautiful and resentful Isabel, whose only desire had been to have a happy marriage. This love triangle would lead England to civil war…And Isabel would come to be known as “The She-Wolf of England.”

[Dorothy Beer]

Isobel the Fair

A tragic story detailing the manner in which Royalty lived in early European times. Marriage was arranged when subjects were still childred Isobel had high hopes when she married Edward the handsome English Prince. So much disappointment and so much mismanagement of the countries money and resources. Certainly not a happy story. I would give it 4 stars

[Christine Cazeneuve]

Really good

A somewhat different telling of the life of Isabel, wife of Edward II. Even though she was only 12 when she married, she is portrayed as more mature. The author writes her that you can appreciate what she longed for with her life and can almost forgive her shortcomings. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Christine]

Horrible writing. I was looking for brain candy to distract me from the news of the day, or decade. I'm pretty well versed in this time period and thought I would give it a try; it wouldn't tax me too much. But the taxing part was trying to keep from rolling my eyes. Just horrible.

[Julia Richards]

Enjoyed reading this book very much.

Look forward to reading more of her books. One turn of the page and you are hooked till the end!

[Irène Wadowski uliasz]

Une découverte intéressante

[Michael Bully]

Subtitled 'The Story of Isabel Capet, wife of Edward II',
Published in 1957, this novel has a lot to offer today's medievalists. An account of how a young French princess was married to Edward II of England. Isabel was soon to discover that Edward was intimate with Piers Gaveston, and his excessive favouritism was disrupting the intricate patronage that existed in England at the time leading to civil war. Margaret Campbell Barnes repeats the tale that Gaveston's mother was burned at the stake as a witch in his native Gascony, though the historical evidence for this claim is disputed.
Edward's reign lurches from one crisis to another; unable to control his barons at home, England's success in Scotland reversed at Banockburn in 1314, and even abandoned Isabel in Tynemouth during a campaign against the Scots. Finally Edward begins a new relationship with the avaricious Hugh The Despenser the Younger.
Isabel manages to assist her lover Roger Mortimer escape from the Tower, joins him in France, and they invade England. Together they rule the country for nearly four years until 1330. Edward II died in 1327, but Edward III deposes Isabel and has Mortimer executed.
Gaveston's life has been the subject of subsequent other novels such as Chris Hunt's 'Gaveston' and P.C Doherty's 'Prince of Darkness'. Hugh the Despenser the Younger has escaped the attention of novelists and still seems very underplayed in 'Isabel The Fair'- one is never quite sure why Edward II was attracted to him.. Contemporary sources were hostile to Despenser, and his grisly execution in 1326 opens Froissart's 'Chronicles'.
The novel ends in 1330, Isabel was to live in largely comfortable retirement for a further 28 years.
The fact that this novel treats homosexuality in quite a candid fashion makes this novel quite appealing. But now there seems a great interest in 'strong women' in history, and the life of Isabel certainly fits into the category . There have been perhaps as many as 20 further novels in which Isabel has been featured which suggests that Margaret Campbell Barnes' 'Isabel The Fair' has made an impact.

[Naiad Lyne]

In recent years several books by Margaret Campbell Barnes were re-issued, but strangely not this one. Or I didn't find the re-issue. Isabella of France was a fascinating woman and Barnes pretty well captures her weak and strong qualities. Also kudos to her for making Mortimer, Edward II and Gaveston complex enough, so you can sympathize with them and dislike at the same time. Hugh Despenser was outright bad guy here though. The language drags a bit, but overall a quite well-written novel. The most disappointing part for me, though, was that Isbella didn't know that Edward was going to be obviously killed and while author did this to make Isabella clean, it robbed her somehow of her agency. Seriously, men on the throne killed or ordered to kill their kin, rivals, etc. through out the history and for the most part it was deemed as "pure politics". Why couldn't women do the same without it seeming as something overly shocking?

[Hallie Winchell]

Isabel, the "she-wolf", as so many other strong female leaders are throughout history, was slandered & blamed for terrible deeds. Similarly to Catherine the Great, she chose to take action on behalf of her son and defend the throne threatened by her husband's behaviour. Isabel is often painted with the same brush of judgement in other novels... however, in this well written version, I feel she has been more fairly represented by the decisions she was forced to make. Well written, researched and compelling.

[Denise]

Accomplished historical novelist Margaret Campbell Barnes delivers a believable portrait of Isabella of France (whom I've always found it quite impossible to sympathize with), exploring her emotional state and motives for her actions without either making excuses for her and glossing over her flaws or completely vilifying her.

[Jenny Lou Orear]

Compelling reading!

Isabel the Fair is a well written and fast paced book. Even if you know her history and how it will end, you still cannot put down the book. The author has you transported to the pass into Isabel's mind trying to live a life of power and love that was never to be. A strong woman who must live in a time when women of strength were mostly feared! Enjoy!

[Lin]

I didn't finish this book, if the author was trying to make us sympathetic towards Isabel, she failed hopelessly. If you want to read about this time period rather try Susan Higginbotham's The Traitors Wife, a really brilliant read.

[Elizabeth Hajek]

Loved this book! Margaret Campbell Barnes can make any historical period come alive.

[Supreya Mahabir]

Slow.

[Tea]

Expected more

Lots of dialogue, very little action. The ending was lackluster. Very disappointed, a story like this should be told better!

[Christine Philpott]

I felt it transported me away to a time forgotten. Well written and ready to read more from this author.