Isabella of France, Queen of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Isabella of France, Queen of England; Credit – Wikipedia

The wife of King Edward II of England, whom she later helped depose and then probably had murdered, Isabella of France was probably born in Paris in 1295.  She was the sixth child of the seven children of King Philippe IV of France and Joan I, Queen of Navarre in her own right.  Isabella had six siblings:

Isabella’s family in 1315: (left to right) Isabella’s brothers Charles and Philip, Isabella, her father Philip IV, her brother Louis, and her uncle Charles of Valois; Credit – Wikipedia

Isabella was brought up in the royal palaces in Paris, France the medieval Château du Louvre and the Palais de la Cité, where she was brought up by her nurse Théophania de Saint-Pierre, and given a good education.  Isabella also learned by observing her parents, both reigning monarchs.  The French royal court was one of the wealthiest and most influential in Europe. Her father Philippe IV of France strengthened the French monarchy with clever financing and administrative reform. Her mother Joan I of  Navarre successfully defended her kingdom twice against the territorial claims of other European princes and played an active diplomatic role in the marriages of her children.

As a young child, Isabella was betrothed to the son and heir of King Edward I of England, the future King Edward II, intending to resolve the conflicts between France and England over England’s possession of Gascony and claims to Anjou, Normandy, and Aquitaine.  However, King Edward I attempted to break the engagementl several times and the marriage did not occur until after his death.  Isabella and King Edward II were married on January 25, 1308, at Boulogne Cathedral in France.  The couple’s coronation was held in Westminster Abbey on February 25, 1308.

Isabella and Edward had four children:

Edward II receiving the English crown in a contemporary illustration; Credit – Wikipedia

From the start of her marriage, Isabella was confronted with the close relationship between her husband and Piers Gaveston, described as “an arrogant, ostentatious soldier, with a reckless and headstrong personality.”  The true nature of this relationship is not known and there is no complicit evidence that comments directly on Edward’s sexual orientation.   Gaveston was part of the delegation that welcomed the young couple when they arrived in England after their marriage, and the greeting between Edward and Gaveston was unusually warm.  Edward chose to sit with Gaveston at his wedding festivities rather than his bride and gave Gaveston part of the jewelry that belonged to Isabelle’s dowry.  Eventually, with the influence of Isabella’s father,  Dowager Queen Margaret, widow of King Edward III and Isabella’s aunt, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward agreed to exile Gaveston to Ireland.  However, in a move that angered the barons, Edward made Gaveston  Regent of Ireland.  When Gaveston returned to England in 1312, he was hunted down and executed by a group of barons led by Edward’s uncle Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster and Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick.

From 1312 – 1321, there is no evidence that Edward and Isabella had a discordant marriage or that Isabella was not loyal to her husband.  Isabella took a role in the reconciliation between Edward and the barons, who were responsible for the execution of Gaveston. However, during this time, Hugh Despenser the Elder became part of Edward’s inner circle, marking the beginning of the Despensers’ increased prominence at Edward’s court.  His son, Hugh Despenser the Younger, became a favorite of Edward II.  Edward was willing to let the Despensers do as they pleased, and they grew rich from their administration and corruption.

It is thought that Isabella first met and fell in love with Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March when he was a prisoner in the Tower of London, which was both a royal palace and a prison at that time.  Isabella arranged for Mortimer’s death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.  In 1323, Isabella helped arrange Mortimer’s escape from the Tower and his subsequent flight to France.  During the next year, Isabella had enough of the Despensers and left Edward II, who made an unwise decision to send Isabella and their 12-year-old son Edward on a mission to France.  Not surprisingly, Isabella met Mortimer in France where they planned to depose Edward II.  Isabella gathered an army and set sail for England, landing at Harwich on September 25, 1326.  With their mercenary army, Isabella and Mortimer quickly seized power. The Despensers were both executed and Edward II was forced to abdicate. Isabella’s son was crowned King Edward III, and Isabella and Mortimer served as regents for the teenage king.

Isabella landing in England with her son, the future Edward III in 1326; Credit – Wikipedia

King Edward II was imprisoned in Berkeley Castle and died there on September 21, 1327, probably murdered on the orders of Isabella and Mortimer.  Relations between Mortimer and the young Edward III became more and more strained.  In 1330, the 18-year-old King Edward III conducted a coup d’état at Nottingham Castle where Mortimer and Isabella were staying.  Mortimer was arrested and then executed on fourteen charges of treason, including the murder of Edward II.

After the coup, Isabella was taken to Berkhamsted Castle and then held under house arrest at Windsor Castle until 1332, when she was moved to her own Castle Rising in Norfolk.  Edward III granted his mother a yearly income of £3,000, which by 1337 had increased to £4,000. She enjoyed a regal lifestyle, maintaining minstrels, huntsmen, and grooms and being visited by family and friends.  On August 22, 1358, Isabella died at the age of 63.  She was buried at the now-destroyed Franciscan Church at Newgate, London.  Her tomb did not survive the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of King Henry VIII.

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King Edward II of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

King Edward II of England; Credit – Wikipedia

King Edward II of England was born on April 25, 1284, at Caernarfon Castle in Gwynedd, Wales. Known as Edward of Caernarfon, he was the fourth son and the youngest of the 14-16 children of King Edward I of England and his first wife, Eleanor of Castile.  Only six of their children survived childhood.

  • Daughter (stillborn in May 1255)
  • Katherine of England (before 1264 – 1264)
  • Joan of England (born and died 1265)
  • John of England (1266 – 1271)
  • Henry of England (1268 – 1274)
  • Eleanor of England (1269 – 1298), married Henri III, Count of Bar, had issue
  • Daughter (born and died 1271)
  • Joan of Acre (1272 – 1307), married (1) in 1290 Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, had issue  (2) in 1297 Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer, had issue
  • Alfonso, Earl of Chester (1273 – 1284)
  • Margaret of England (1275 – after 1333), married John II, Duke of Brabant, had issue
  • Berengaria (1276 – 1278)
  • Daughter (born and died 1278)
  • Mary of Woodstock (1279 – 1332), a Benedictine nun in Amesbury, Wiltshire
  • Son (born in 1280 or 1281, who died very shortly after birth)
  • Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (1282 – 1316), married (1) in 1297 John I, Count of Holland, no issue (2) in 1302 Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, 3rd Earl of Essex, had issue

Edward was born less than a year after his father, King Edward I, had taken complete control of Wales. At the time of his birth, Edward had only one surviving elder brother, Alphonso, Earl of Chester. However, ten-year-old Alphonso died four months after Edward’s birth, leaving his baby brother as heir to the throne. The tradition of conferring the title Prince of Wales on the heir apparent of the monarch is usually considered to have begun in 1301 when King Edward I of England invested his son Edward of Caernarfon with the title at a Parliament held in Lincoln. Since then, the title has been granted (with a few exceptions) to the heir apparent of the English or British monarch.

An early 14th-century depiction of Edward I (left) declaring his son Edward (right) the Prince of Wales; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1290, Edward’s mother, Eleanor of Castile, died at the age of 49. When Eleanor died, only six children, five daughters and one son, Edward, were still living. Edward was the youngest child and only six years old. King Edward I had to be worried about the succession, and a second marriage with sons would ensure the succession. On September 10, 1299, in Canterbury, England, 60-year-old King Edward I and 17-year-old Margaret of France were married.  Edward also had three half-siblings from his father’s second marriage to Margaret of France:

Because his father was often away on military campaigns and was accompanied by his mother, Edward had seen little of his parents and lacked parental guidance for most of his childhood. He had no living brothers, and four of his five surviving sisters (all older than him) were married, and the other sister was a nun. His half-siblings were not born until after he was 16 years old. Therefore, Edward did not grow up surrounded by siblings. Edward had an official household since he was an infant, and staff that took care of his personal needs and education.

Edward probably grew up as a lonely boy, longing for male companions of his own age, but his choices of favorites caused him many problems. His first favorite was Piers Gaveston from a family from Gascony (now in France). Gaveston had impressed King Edward I, and he was assigned to Edward of Caernarfon’s household and became Edward’s inseparable companion. Gaveston became involved in conflicts between King Edward I and his son. The situation got so bad that shortly before his death, King Edward I banished Gaveston.

Isabella of France; Credit – Wikipedia

King Edward I died on a military campaign on July 7, 1307. As a child, Edward was betrothed to Isabella of France, daughter of King Philippe IV of France and Joan I, Queen of Navarre in her own right.  The marriage was arranged to resolve the conflicts between France and England over England’s possession of Gascony and claims to Anjou, Normandy, and Aquitaine.  However, King Edward I attempted to break the betrothal several times, and the marriage did not occur until after his death.  Isabella and King Edward II were married on January 25, 1308, at Boulogne Cathedral in France.  The couple’s coronation was held at Westminster Abbey on February 25, 1308.  Isabella and Edward had four children.

One of King Edward II’s first acts as king was to recall to court his favorite Piers Gaveston.  From the start of her marriage, Isabella was confronted with the close relationship between her husband and Gaveston, described as “an arrogant, ostentatious soldier, with a reckless and headstrong personality.”  The true nature of their relationship is not known, and there is no contemporary evidence that comments directly on Edward’s sexual orientation. Gaveston was created Earl of Cornwall, a title usually given to the sons of the king, and Edward arranged for Gaveston to marry his niece Margaret de Clare, which greatly displeased the English nobility.

Eventually, with the influence of Isabella’s father, Dowager Queen Margaret, who was Isabella’s aunt, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward agreed to exile Gaveston to Ireland.  However, in a move that angered the barons, Edward made Gaveston Regent of Ireland.  When Gaveston returned to England in 1312, he was hunted down and executed by a group of barons led by Edward’s uncle, Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, and Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick.

Depiction of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 from the Holkham Bible; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1314, King Edward II took up arms in an attempt to complete his father’s campaign in Scotland, resulting in a decisive Scottish victory at the Battle of Bannockburn by a smaller army led by Robert the Bruce, King of Scots.

From 1312 – 1321, there is no evidence that Edward and Isabella had a discordant marriage or that Isabella was not loyal to her husband.  Isabella took a role in the reconciliation between Edward and the barons, who were responsible for the execution of Gaveston. However, during this period, Hugh Despenser the Elder became part of Edward’s inner circle, marking the beginning of the Despensers’ increased prominence at Edward’s court.  His son, Hugh Despenser the Younger, became a favorite of Edward II.  Edward was willing to let the Despensers do as they pleased, and they grew rich from their administration and corruption.

It is thought that Edward’s wife Isabella first met and fell in love with Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March when he was a prisoner in the Tower of London, both a royal palace and a prison at that time.  Isabella arranged for Mortimer’s death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.  In 1323, Isabella helped arrange Mortimer’s escape from the Tower and his subsequent flight to France.  During the next year, Isabella had had enough of the Despensers and left Edward, who made an unwise decision to send Isabella and their 12-year-old son Edward on a mission to France.  Not surprisingly, Isabella met Mortimer in France, where they planned to depose Edward II. Isabella gathered an army and set sail for England, landing at Harwich on September 25, 1326.  With their mercenary army, Isabella and Mortimer quickly seized power. The Despensers were both executed, and Edward II was forced to abdicate. Isabella’s son was crowned King Edward III, and Isabella and Mortimer served as regents for the teenage king.

A 15th-century depiction of Isabella capturing Edward II; Credit – Wikipedia

King Edward II was sent to Berkeley Castle, where castle records indicate he was well treated. The circumstances of what happened to him are uncertain.  One theory is that he died at Berkeley Castle on September 21, 1327, murdered on the orders of Isabella and Mortimer.  His body was then embalmed at Berkeley Castle, was shown to local town leaders, and was buried at St. Peter’s Abbey in Gloucester. The abbey was dissolved in 1540 by King Henry VIII and became Gloucester Cathedral in 1541. Certainly, King Edward III arranged for a tomb for his father to be constructed with an alabaster effigy, a tomb chest, and a canopy made of oolite and Purbeck stone. King Edward II’s tomb, restored in 2007-2008, can still be seen in Gloucester Cathedral.  However, there are other theories about his death, including one that says he did not die in 1327 but escaped Berkeley Castle with the help of a servant.

Tomb of King Edward II; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Effigy of King Edward II; By Philip Halling http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/1837 – http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2133715, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31221892

In 1330, the 18-year-old King Edward III conducted a coup d’état at Nottingham Castle, where Mortimer and Isabella were staying.  Mortimer was arrested and executed on fourteen charges of treason, including the murder of Edward II. After the coup, Isabella was taken to Berkhamsted Castle and then held under house arrest at Windsor Castle. In 1332, Isabella was moved to her own Castle Rising in Norfolk, where she was confined for the rest of her life, enjoying a regal lifestyle, until her death at the age of 63 in 1358.

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Margaret of France, Queen of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Statue of Margaret of France, Queen of England at Lincoln Cathedral; Credit – Wikipedia

Margaret of France was the second wife of King Edward I of England. Probably born in Paris, France in 1279, Margaret was the youngest child of King Philippe III of France and his second wife Marie of Brabant.

Margaret had two siblings:

Margaret had four half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to Isabella of Aragon:

King Edward I of England had a loving marriage with his first wife Eleanor of Castile, and they were inseparable throughout their married life. Edward I is one of the few English kings of the period to apparently be faithful to his wife. Eleanor accompanied her husband on Crusade and other military campaigns. She died in 1290 at the age of 49, and King Edward I was devastated. He had been married to Eleanor for 36 years, and she had given birth to 14 -16 children. However, only six children, five daughters and one son, were still living when Eleanor died in 1290. The son was the youngest child and only six years old. Edward I had to be worried about the succession, and a second marriage with sons would ensure the succession.

Edward I was also anxious for an alliance with France. In 1291, he arranged for the betrothal of his seven-year-old son Edward, Prince of Wales (the future King Edward II) to Blanche of France, the half-sister of King Philippe IV of France and the sister of Margaret of France. However, in 1293, after hearing of Blanche’s beauty, Edward I broke off his son’s betrothal to Blanche and sent emissaries to negotiate a marriage between himself and Blanche. King Philippe IV of France agreed to the marriage providing that a truce would be concluded between the two countries and that Edward would cede the province of Gascony to France. Edward agreed, but when his brother Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster went to fetch Blanche, he discovered that Blanche was already betrothed to Rudolf, Duke of Austria. King Philippe IV instead offered Edward Blanche’s younger sister Margaret, who was only eleven years old. Edward I refused, and instead declared war on France. Five years later, King Edward, I of England and King Philippe IV of France declared a truce under which Edward would marry Margaret, now a more mature 16 years old.

On September 10, 1299, at Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England 60-year-old King Edward I and 17-year-old Margaret of France were married. This was followed by four days of wedding festivities. Margaret was never crowned, making her the first queen since the Norman Conquest in 1066 not to be crowned.

Edward and Margaret had three children:

Edward I of England and Margaret of France; Credit – Wikipedia

As King Edward I’s first wife did, Margaret accompanied him on military campaigns. Margaret got along well with her stepson Edward, Prince of Wales, who was two years younger than her, and Margaret often reconciled the prince with his father when the two disagreed. In the summer of 1307, Margaret accompanied Edward I on a military campaign in Scotland. On the way to Scotland, the 68-year-old king died on July 7, 1307, at Burgh by Sands in Cumbria, England.

Although the widowed Margaret was still in her 20s, she never remarried saying, “When Edward died, all men died for me.” In January 1308, Margaret accompanied her stepson King Edward II of England to Boulogne, France where he married Margaret’s half-niece Isabella of France, daughter of King Philippe IV. Margaret then retired to her dower house, Marlborough Castle, in Wiltshire, England, where she lived the rest of her life. She died there on February 14, 1318, not yet 40 years old, and was buried at Christ Church Greyfriars in London, England which she had co-founded. Her beautifully carved tomb was destroyed during the English Reformation and sold for its marble and other valuable materials.

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King Edward I of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Portrait at Westminster Abbey done sometime during reign of Edward I, thought to be an image of the king; Credit – Wikipedia

King Edward I of England, the firstborn child of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence, was born on June 17, 1239, at the Palace of Westminster in London, England. It was the first time the Anglo-Saxon name Edward (Anglo-Saxon Ēadweard, ead: wealth, fortune; prosperous and weard: guardian, protector) was used for a child of the monarch since the Norman Conquest. Henry III was devoted to St. Edward the Confessor, King of England and named the infant after the monarch/saint.

Edward had four siblings:

Henry III (top) and his children, (l to r) Edward, Margaret, Beatrice, Edmund, and Katherine; Credit – Wikipedia

Edward was raised under the care of Hugh Giffard of Boyton, a royal justice, and his wife Sibyl, daughter and co-heiress of Walter de Cormeilles. After Giffard’s death in 1346, Sir Bartholomew Pecche became Edward’s tutor. Edward spoke Norman French as did his ancestors, but he mastered English fairly well. His closest childhood friend was his first cousin Henry of Almain, the son of his paternal uncle Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, who remained a close companion of Edward.

In 1254, a possible invasion of the English territory Gascony (in France) by Castile, caused King Henry III to make a marriage alliance with King Alfonso X of Castile. 15-year-old Edward was to marry 13-year-old Eleanor of Castile, the half-sister of King Alfonso X of Castile. Eleanor was the daughter of (Saint) King Ferdinand III of Castile and his second wife Jeanne de Dammartin, Countess of Ponthieu in her own right. The young couple was married on November 1, 1254, in the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas in Burgos, Kingdom of Castile, now in Spain.

Edward and Eleanor (sculptures on the facade of Lincoln Cathedral); Credit – Wikipedia

Edward and Eleanor had a loving marriage and were inseparable throughout their married life.  Edward is one of the few English kings of the period to apparently be faithful to his wife.  Eleanor accompanied her husband on Crusade and other military campaigns.

The couple had 14-16 children, but only six survived childhood.

  • Daughter (stillborn in May 1255)
  • Katherine of England (before 1264 – 1264)
  • Joan of England (born and died 1265)
  • John of England (1266 – 1271)
  • Henry of England (1268 – 1274)
  • Eleanor of England (1269 – 1298), married Count Henry III of Bar, had issue
  • Daughter (born and died 1271)
  • Joan of Acre (1272 – 1307), married (1) in 1290 Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, had issue  (2) in 1297 Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer, had issue
  • Alfonso, Earl of Chester (1273 – 1284)
  • Margaret of England (1275 – after 1333), married John II of Brabant, had issue
  • Berengaria (1276 – 1278)
  • Daughter (born and died 1278)
  • Mary of Woodstock (1279 – 1332), a Benedictine nun in Amesbury, Wiltshire
  • Son (born in 1280 or 1281, died very shortly after birth)
  • Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (1282 – 1316), married (1) in 1297 John I, Count of Holland, no issue (2) in 1302 Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, 3rd Earl of Essex, had issue
  • King Edward II of England (1284 – 1327), married Isabella of France, had issue

Edward’s father King Henry III was a weak king. His wife’s family and his half-brothers from his mother’s second marriage were rewarded with large estates, largely at the expense of the English barons. From 1236 to 1258, the weak king fluctuated repeatedly between various advisers including his brother Richard of Cornwall and his Lusignan half-brothers, greatly displeasing the English barons. In addition, the English barons were displeased with Henry III’s demands for extra funds, Henry’s methods of government, and widespread famine.

The displeasure of the English nobility with the king ultimately resulted in a civil war, the Second Barons’ War (1264–1267). The leader of the forces against Henry III was led by his brother-in-law Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, who was married to Henry’s sister Eleanor. de Montfort wanted to reassert the Magna Carta and force the king to surrender more power to the baron’s council. Edward loyally supported his father during the Barons’ War.

In 1264 at the Battle of Lewes, Henry III and his son Edward I were defeated and captured. Henry was forced to summon a parliament and promise to rule with the advice of a council of barons. Henry was reduced to a figurehead king, and de Montfort broadened parliamentary representation to include groups beyond the nobility, members from each English county and many important towns. Fifteen months later, Edward led the royalists into battle again, defeating and killing de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. Ultimately, authority was restored to King Henry III and severe retribution was exacted on the rebellious barons. In 1266, the Dictum of Kenilworth worked out a reconciliation between the king and the rebels. In the years that followed his death, Simon de Montfort’s grave was frequently visited by pilgrims. Today, de Montfort is considered one of the fathers of representative government.

King Henry III was increasingly ill and infirm during his final years. Edward became the Steward of England and began to play a more prominent role in government. King Henry III died at the age of 69 on November 16, 1272, at the Palace of Westminster and Edward became king. in 1270, Edward had gone off on the Crusades accompanied by his wife Eleanor, and at the time of his father’s death, he was in Sicily making his slow way back to England. The new king thought England was safe under his mother’s regency and a royal council led by Robert Burnell,  so he did not hurry back to England. On his way back to England, King Edward I visited Pope Gregory X in Rome and King Philip III of France in Paris and suppressed a rebellion in Gascony. He finally arrived back in his kingdom on August 2, 1274. On August 19, 1274, King Edward I and his wife Eleanor were crowned in Westminster Abbey.

Edward I’s relentless, but unsuccessful campaign to assert his overlordship over Scotland was resisted by William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, (later King Robert I of Scotland) but it gave him one of his nicknames, “Hammer of the Scots,” which was inscribed on his tomb. In 1296, Edward I captured the Stone of Scone, an oblong block of red sandstone used for centuries in the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland. Edward had the Stone of Scone taken to Westminster Abbey, where it was fitted into a wooden chair, known as King Edward’s Chair, on which most subsequent English monarchs have been crowned. In 1996, 700 years after it was taken, the Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland. It is kept at Edinburgh Castle in the Crown Room alongside the crown jewels of Scotland (the Honours of Scotland) when not used at coronations.

Coronation Chair with Stone of Scone in Westminster Abbey; Credit – Wikipedia

King Edward I’s campaign in Wales was much more successful, resulting in Wales being completely taken over by England. It ended with the deaths of the last two native Princes of Wales: Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. who was ambushed and killed in 1282 and his brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd, who was the first prominent person in recorded history to have been hanged, drawn, and quartered in 1283. Edward I ensured that Wales remained under English control by building the castle fortresses at Rhuddlan, Conwy, Denbigh, Harlech, and Caernarfon, and all the castles still stand today. The tradition of conferring the title “Prince of Wales” on the heir apparent of the monarch is usually considered to have begun in 1301 when King Edward I of England invested his son Edward of Caernarfon (later King Edward II) with the title at a Parliament held in Lincoln. Since then, the title has been granted (with a few exceptions) to the heir apparent of the English or British monarch.

Early 14th-century depiction of Edward I (left) declaring his son Edward (right) the Prince of Wales; Credit – Wikipedia

In the autumn of 1290, while traveling north to meet her husband who had been attending a session of Parliament in Nottinghamshire, Eleanor, Edward’s beloved wife, fell ill. As she reached the village of Harby in Nottinghamshire, 22 miles from Lincoln, she could go no further, so she sought lodging at the house of Richard de Weston in Harby.  Eleanor’s condition worsened and messengers were sent to summon the king to her bedside.  King Edward arrived in Harby before Eleanor died on the evening of November 28, 1290.  Eleanor was 49 years old, had been married to Edward for 36 years, and had given birth to 14-16 children.

King Edward I was devastated when Eleanor died.  Eleanor’s body was taken to the Gilbertine Priory of St. Catherine in Lincoln, where she was embalmed. Her viscera were buried at Lincoln Cathedral and her body was then taken to London, where Eleanor was to be interred at Westminster Abbey.  It took 12 days to reach Westminster Abbey and twelve crosses, known as Eleanor Crosses, were erected at the places where her funeral procession stopped overnight.  Charing Cross in London is perhaps the most famous, but the cross there is a reconstruction.  Only three original crosses survive although they have had some reconstruction: Geddington Cross, Hardingstone Cross, and Waltham Cross.

Original Eleanor Cross, in Geddington, England;  Credit – Wikipedia

Statue of Eleanor of Castile, part of the Eleanor Cross at Waltham, Hertfordshire, England; Victoria and Albert Museum in London; Photo – Susan Flantzer

When Eleanor died, only six children, five daughters and one son, were still living. The son was the youngest child and only six years old. Edward I had to be worried about the succession, and a second marriage with sons would ensure the succession.  On September 10, 1299, in Canterbury, 60-year-old King Edward I and 17-year-old Margaret of France were married. This was followed by four days of wedding festivities. Margaret was never crowned, making her the first queen since the Norman Conquest in 1066 not to be crowned.

Edward and Margaret had three children:

Edward I of England and Margaret of France; Credit – Wikipedia

As King Edward I’s first wife did, Margaret accompanied him on military campaigns. Margaret got along well with her stepson Edward, Prince of Wales, who was two years younger than her, and Margaret often reconciled the prince with his father when the two disagreed. In the summer of 1307, Margaret accompanied Edward I on a military campaign in Scotland. On the way to Scotland, the 68-year-old king died on July 7, 1307, at Burgh by Sands in Cumbria, England.  King Edward I was buried in Westminster Abbey near his father and his first wife Eleanor of Castile, adjacent to the tomb of his namesake Edward the Confessor, which can be seen in the background on the left in the photo below.

Tomb of Edward I at Westminster Abbey; Photo Credit – https://www.westminster-abbey.org

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Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Margaret of Anjou was the wife of King Henry VI of England and one of the principal players in the Wars of the Roses, the battle for the English crown between the House of Lancaster and the House of York.  She was born on March 23, 1430, at Pont-à-Mousson, Duchy of Lorraine, now in France, that was ruled by a cadet branch of the French kings, the House of Valois-Anjou.  Margaret was the fifth of the ten children of René, Duke of Anjou and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine in her own right.  Margaret’s paternal aunt Marie of Anjou was married to King Charles VII of France.

Margaret’s nine siblings were:

France and England had been in a series of conflicts with each other since 1337 called the Hundred Years’ War.  King Henry V of England, a warrior king, the victor against the French at the Battle of Agincourt, determined to conquer France once and for all, succumbed to dysentery, a disease that killed more soldiers than battle, on August 31, 1422, at the age of 35, leaving a nine-month-old son to inherit his throne, King Henry VI. Two years before his death, Henry V had married Catherine of Valois, the daughter of King Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria.

On October 21, 1422, Henry VI became titular King of France upon his grandfather Charles VI’s death in accordance with the Treaty of Troyes. Henry was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London, England on November 6, 1429. Two years later, on December 16, 1431, he was crowned King of France at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. Before Henry came of age, English rule in France had begun a steady decline with Joan of Arc‘s campaign in support of Dauphin of France, later King Charles VII of France. By 1453, only Calais remained of Henry V’s French conquests.

Henry, who was more interested in religion and learning than military matters, was not a successful king. He was shy, peaceful, and pious, hated bloodshed and deceit, and was not a warrior like his father. Instead of wearing the fashions of the day, Henry dressed in the clothing of a farmer or merchant. He lacked administrative skills which left him open to the machinations of his advisers. When it was time for him to marry, his advisers persuaded Henry that the way to achieve peace with France was to marry Margaret of Anjou, the niece of King Charles VII of France. The couple was married at Titchfield Abbey in England on April 23, 1445. Margaret was crowned Queen Consort of England on May 30, 1445, at Westminster Abbey. She was to prove as strong as Henry was weak.

The marriage of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou; Credit – Wikipedia

Margaret and Henry had one child, born eight years after their marriage:

Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales; Credit – Wikipedia

Shortly before his son was born, Henry had some kind of mental breakdown. He was unable to recognize or respond to people for over a year. These attacks may have been hereditary. Henry’s maternal grandfather King Charles VI suffered similar attacks, even thinking he was made of glass. Sometimes Henry also had hallucinations which makes some modern medical experts think he may have had a form of schizophrenia. Porphyria, which may have afflicted King George III, has also been suggested as a cause. During Henry’s incapacity, Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, the next in line to the throne after Henry’s son, governed as Lord Protector.

Even before the birth of Henry’s son, factions were forming and the seeds of the Wars of the Roses were being planted. Margaret was an intelligent, energetic woman. She realized she would have to take on most of her husband’s duties.  She aligned herself with Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset. Margaret believed her husband was threatened with being deposed by Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York who thought he had a better claim to the throne and would be a better king than Henry. After Henry’s recovery in 1455, the Duke of York was dismissed, and Margaret and the Duke of Somerset became all-powerful. Eventually, things came to a head between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists, and war broke out.

At the First Battle of St. Albans on May 22, 1455, the Duke of Somerset was killed. Afterward, there was a peace of sorts, but hostilities started again four years later. On July 10, 1460, Henry was captured at the Battle of Northampton and forced to recognize the Duke of York as his heir instead of his own son. Margaret rallied the Lancastrian forces and was victorious at the Battle of Wakefield on December 29, 1460. The Duke of York and his second son Edmund, Earl of Rutland were both killed in the battle.

The leader of the Yorkists was now the late Duke of York’s eldest son Edward, Earl of March, the future King Edward IV of England. During the Second Battle of St. Albans on February 17, 1461, Henry’s freedom was secured and it is alleged that he laughed and sang insanely throughout the battle. The Yorkists regained the upper hand at the Battle of Towton on March 29, 1461, when Edward, Earl of March defeated the Lancastrian forces in a snowstorm. Henry fled to Scotland, and England had a new king, as Edward, Earl of March became King Edward IV from the House of York.

Henry returned from Scotland in 1464 and took part in an ineffective uprising. In 1465, Henry was captured and taken to the Tower of London. Margaret, exiled in France, wanted to restore the throne to her husband. Coincidentally, King Edward IV had a falling out with his major supporters, his brother George, Duke of Clarence and Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, known as the Kingmaker. Margaret, Clarence, and Warwick formed an alliance at the urging of King Louis XI of France. Edward IV was forced into exile, and Henry VI was restored to the throne on October 30, 1470. However, once again, Edward IV got the upper hand. Edward IV returned to England in early 1471 and killed Warwick at the Battle of Barnet. The final decisive Yorkist victory was at the Battle of Tewkesbury on May 4, 1471, where Margaret led the Lancastrian forces and her son Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales was killed. Henry VI was returned to the Tower of London and died on May 21, 1471, probably murdered on orders from Edward IV.

Margaret was imprisoned at Wallingford Castle in England with Alice de la Pole, Duchess of Suffolk (born Alice Chaucer, granddaughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer), her former lady-in-waiting, acting as her custodian. Margaret’s father René, Duke of Anjou worked tirelessly to arrange his daughter’s release. In 1475, King Louis XI agreed to pay Margaret’s ransom provided that her father would cede to France his territories of Anjou, Bar, Lorraine, and Provence.

Margaret was released from her imprisonment in November 1475 and arrived in France in January 1476. She was allowed to join her father at his country home La Maison de Reculée near Angers. René, Duke of Anjou died in 1480. Two years later, Margaret died on August 25, 1482, at the age of 53. She was buried with her parents at Saint Maurice Cathedral in Angers. Her tomb survived until the French Revolution when it was destroyed in 1794 and her remains were scattered.

Drawing (ca. 1820) of the tomb of René d’Anjou and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine before its destruction in 1794; Credit – Wikipedia

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King Henry V of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

King Henry V of England; Credit – Wikipedia

The last great warrior king of the Middle Ages, King Henry V of England, was the eldest son of King Henry IV of England, known as Henry Bolingbroke before he became king, and his first wife Mary de Bohun, who died before her husband became king. He was born at Monmouth Castle in Wales on September 16, 1386. The powerful John of Gaunt, third surviving son of King Edward III of England, was his paternal grandfather. The king at the time of his birth was King Richard II, his father’s first cousin, the only child of Edward, Prince of Wales (the Black Prince) who had predeceased his father King Edward III.

Henry had five younger siblings:

The year after Henry’s birth, his father participated in the rebellion of the Lords Appellant, a group of nobles who wanted to restrain some of King Richard II’s favorites from the power they held. The Lords Appellant were successful for a time until John of Gaunt’s support enabled Richard to regain power. In 1394, when Henry was nearly eight years old, his mother died giving birth to his sister Philippa. In 1398, Henry’s father quarreled with Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, who accused him of treason. The two men planned to duel, but instead, King Richard II banished them from England. While his father was in exile, Richard II took charge of the 12-year-old Henry and eventually took him to his father in France.

On February 3, 1399, Henry’s grandfather John of Gaunt died and Richard II confiscated the estates of his uncle and stipulated that Henry Bolingbroke would have to ask him to restore the estates. Henry Bolingbroke returned to England while his cousin Richard II was on a military campaign in Ireland. He began a military campaign of his own, confiscating the land of those who had opposed him. King Richard II eventually was abandoned by his supporters and was forced by Parliament on September 29, 1399, to abdicate the crown to his cousin Henry Bolingbroke. King Henry IV was crowned in Westminster Abbey in London, England, on October 13, 1399. The former Richard II was imprisoned at Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire, England where he died on or around February 14, 1400. The exact cause of his death, thought to have been starvation, is unknown.

Henry was now the heir to the English throne. At his father’s coronation on October 13, 1399, Henry was created Prince of Wales. A month later, he was created Duke of Lancaster. His other titles were Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester, and Duke of Aquitaine. During 1399, Henry had spent time at The Queen’s College, Oxford, under the supervision of his uncle Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester and the Chancellor of Oxford University.

In 1403, at the age of 16, Henry got his first taste of battle. Owain Glyndŵr‘s fight for Welsh independence started in 1400 and continued until 1415. Henry commanded part of the English forces and he led his own army into Wales against Owain Glyndŵr. In other conflicts, the Percy family, led by Sir Henry Percy (Hotspur), and their supporters made three attempts to overthrow King Henry IV. At the Battle of Shrewsbury fought on July 21, 1403, which pitted an army led by King Henry IV against a rebel army led by Sir Henry Percy, Henry was hit in the face with an arrow during the fighting, sustaining a terrible wound. He later recovered due to the skilled treatment of court surgeon John Bradmore using honey, alcohol, and a specially designed surgical instrument. Henry was left with a permanent scar, evidence of his battle experience.

In 1410, King Henry IV’s poor health obliged Henry to take a share in running the government along with his uncles Cardinal Henry Beaufort and Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter. However, Henry’s policies differed from King Henry IV’s and when the king recovered somewhat, he dismissed his son from the council.

Henry, while Prince of Wales, presenting Thomas Hoccleve’s, Regement of Princes to the Duke of Norfolk, British Library, 1411–13; Credit – Wikipedia

On March 20, 1413, while in prayer at the shrine of Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey, King Henry IV suffered a fatal attack, possibly a stroke. He was carried to the Jerusalem Chamber, a room in the house of the Abbey’s abbot, where he died at age 45. King Henry V’s coronation was held at Westminster Abbey on April 9, 1413, in a snowstorm.

In the first years of his reign, King Henry V benefited from a royal treasury that, for the first time in a long time, had a surplus. England’s longtime enemy France was ravaged by civil war, so it temporarily became less of a threat. Henry V began a reconciliation policy. King Richard II was rehabilitated as a former king and buried in Westminster Abbey. The noble families of York, Mortimer, Percy, and Holland, who had rebelled repeatedly against King Henry IV, had their titles and lands restored.

As the domestic situation settled down, Henry V devoted more time to foreign affairs. A renewal of the war of France also had a domestic benefit and would divert the attention of the great nobles. King Charles VI of France suffered from some kind of mental illness (he thought he was made of glass) and his son was not a great prospect as king, so the old dynastic claim to the throne of France, first pursued by Edward III of England, was renewed. Henry V demanded the complete restoration of the Angevin Empire, including Normandy, to England.

In the summer of 1415, the negotiations with France failed due to Henry V’s demands. In August of the same year, an English invading army of approximately 12,000 soldiers landed on the Normandy coast. Diseases, minor skirmishes, and long marches in rainy weather weakened the English army. Nevertheless, because of defensive tactics and the use of the English longbow, the English won a decisive victory over a numerically much superior French opponent at the Battle of Agincourt on October 25, 1415. The battle is the centerpiece of the play Henry V by William Shakespeare in which the character of Henry V gives the rousing St. Crispin’s Day speech before the battle. The historical Henry V did give a brief speech to the English army before the Battle of Agincourt emphasizing the right of his claim to the French throne and recalling the previous victories the English had over the French. According to Burgundian sources, he concluded the speech by telling the English longbowmen that the French had boasted that they would cut off two fingers from the right hand of every archer, so they could never draw a string again.

Battle of Agincourt, early 15th century; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1419, Henry V besieged Rouen, the capital of Normandy, where he herded 12,000 people into the moat surrounding the city and left them there to die of starvation and exposure. By August 1419, the English army had reached the walls of Paris. Negotiations for peace resulted in the Treaty of Troyes, an agreement that King Henry V of England and his heirs would inherit the throne of France upon the death of King Charles VI of France. The treaty also arranged for the marriage of Charles VI’s daughter Catherine of Valois to Henry V and the disinheritance of the Dauphin of France (the future King Charles VII of France) from the French succession. On June 2, 1420, King Henry V married Catherine of Valois in Troyes, France.

Catherine went to England with Henry and was crowned queen in Westminster Abbey on February 23, 1421. In June 1421, Henry returned to France to continue his military campaigns. Catherine was already several months pregnant and gave birth to a son:

King Henry V never saw their child. The warrior king, the victor against the French at the Battle of Agincourt, determined to conquer France once and for all, succumbed to dysentery, a disease that killed more soldiers than battle, on August 31, 1422, at the age of 35, leaving a nine-month-old son to inherit his throne. King Charles VI of France died a couple of months after Henry V, making the young Henry VI King of England and King of France. Henry VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey on November 6, 1429. Two years later, on December 16, 1431, he was crowned King of France at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Before Henry VI came of age, English rule in France had begun a steady decline with Joan of Arc‘s campaign supporting Dauphin of France, later King Charles VII of France. By 1453, only Calais remained of Henry V’s French conquests.

Modern head on Henry V's tomb WEstminster Abbey.

Restored head on Henry V’s effigy; Photo Credit – http://westminster-abbey.org/

King Henry V’s body was dismembered, boiled, and then brought back to England for burial in Westminster Abbey. His tomb was damaged during the Reformation and at some time the head of the effigy disappeared, but it was restored in 1971.

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Mary de Bohun, Countess of Northampton, Countess of Derby

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Mary de Bohun, Countess of Northampton, Countess of Derby: Credit – Wikipedia

Mary de Bohun was the first wife of King Henry IV of England and the mother of King Henry V of England, but she died before her husband became king. Mary was born around 1368 and was the second of the two children of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, and Joan FitzAlan.  Mary’s father, a descendant of King Edward I through his daughter Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, had become 7th Earl of Hereford after the death of his childless uncle Humphrey de Bohun, 6th Earl of Hereford, and he became one of the most powerful noblemen in England. Mary’s mother Joan FitzAlan was the daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and 8th Earl of Surrey, one of England’s wealthiest nobles. He was a military leader, an admiral, and a loyal supporter of King Edward III of England.

Mary had one elder sister:

When Mary’s father died in January 1373, his estates should have passed to his cousin Gilbert de Bohun because he had no sons. However, due to the influence of King Edward III, the estates of the 7th Earl of Hereford were divided between his two daughters. In 1376, Mary’s elder sister Eleanor married King Edward III’s youngest son Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Gloucester. The couple lived in Pleshey Castle in Essex and the young Mary lived there under Eleanor and Thomas’ care. She was instructed in religious doctrine in the hope that she would become a nun, which would cause her share of the de Bohun inheritance to go to Eleanor and Thomas.

However, John of Gaunt, the third surviving son of King Edward III and Thomas’ older brother, had other ideas. He arranged for Mary’s aunt to take her from Pleshey Castle to Arundel Castle, the home of her mother’s family. There, on July 27, 1380, Mary married John of Gaunt’s eldest son, 13-year-old Henry Bolingbroke, the future King Henry IV.  Mary was 11 – 12 years old, and John of Gaunt had planned for the marriage to remain unconsummated until Mary was 16 years old. Mary and Henry disobeyed, resulting in Mary becoming pregnant at 14, but the infant lived only a few days.

Mary and Henry had six children:

Mary, age 25-26, died in 1394 at Peterborough Castle, giving birth to her last child, a daughter Philippa. There is much confusion about the date of Mary’s death and her burial place. Many sources say she was buried at St Mary de Castro in Leicester. Several years ago, I emailed Virginia Wright, the Historical and Heritage Adviser at St Mary de Castro, and here is what she said:

“Mary de Bohun was buried at St Mary of the Annunciation in The Newarke, not at St Mary de Castro.  St Mary of the Annunciation was a Collegiate church, built as part of the religious enclave of The Newarke by the Earls and Dukes of Lancaster and was destroyed in the mid-16th century under the Dissolution of the Chantries Act of Edward VI. Parish registers were not compulsory until the late 16th century and no ‘day books’ or similar survive.  St Mary de Castro was built as the chapel for Leicester Castle and later a parish church was added as a south aisle; today it is one combined church. There is a lot of confusion about the two churches. There is also a lot of confusion about what happened to the tomb of Mary de Bohun.”

I asked writer Susan Higginbotham, who has written historical fiction and non-fiction about medieval England, to check a source, and here is what she said: “According to Ian Mortimer in “The Fears of Henry IV,” the death date is disputed. He thinks that June 4 is more probable than July 4, given the evidence that Mary was buried on July 6. He concludes that all that is certain is that she died in June or very early July 1394.”

Mary’s husband survived her for nineteen years, dying in 1413. In 1399, he usurped the throne from his first cousin King Richard II of England, and became the first Lancaster king. King Henry IV made a second, childless marriage to Joan of Navarre in 1403. Mary and Henry IV’s eldest son reigned as King Henry V from 1413 – 1422.

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King Ludwig III of Bavaria

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Kingdom of Bavaria: The House of Wittelsbach ruled as Dukes, Electors, and Kings of Bavaria from 1180 until 1918. Today Bavaria is a landlocked federal state of Germany, occupying its southeastern corner.  Maximilian IV Joseph, Prince-Elector of Bavaria allied his electorate with Napoleon and adopted many of the French beliefs of the Enlightenment. It was this loyal service to Napoleon through which Maximilian’s electorate was created the Kingdom of Bavaria with Maximilian at its king. He officially became the Maximilian I Joseph, the first King of Bavaria on January 1, 1806. On November 13, 1918, King Ludwig III would be the first monarch in the German Empire to be deposed at the end of World War I, ending 738 years of rule by the Wittelsbach dynasty.

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King Ludwig III of Bavaria – source: Wikipedia

King Ludwig III was the last King of Bavaria, reigning from November 1913 until November 1918. He was born Prince Ludwig Luitpold Josef Maria Aloys Alfried on January 7, 1845, in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in Bavaria, Germany, the eldest son of Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, the third son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, and Archduchess Augusta of Austria. He had three younger siblings:

Just hours after birth, Ludwig was baptized in the throne room of the Munich Residenz, where he was named after his grandfather, the reigning King Ludwig I. At the time, he was fifth in the line of succession, with little expectation of ever becoming King of Bavaria. Three years later, his grandfather abdicated, and his uncle took the throne as King Maximilian II.

Ludwig, c1860. source: Wikipedia

Ludwig was raised at the Munich Residenz and the Wittelsbacher Palais, both in Munich before moving to Palais Leuchtenberg, also in Munich, in 1855. Palais Leuchtenberg was the former home of Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg, and his wife Princess Augusta of Bavaria, who was also the aunt of Ludwig’s father Luitpold. Prince Luitpold purchased the palace in 1852, after his aunt Augusta’s death. Ludwig was educated privately at home by a series of tutors, before entering the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1864, studying law, economics, history, and philosophy. He also began a military career in 1861, commissioned as a Lieutenant in the infantry.

In 1866, Ludwig served as a military aide to his father during the war against Prussia and was injured at the Battle of Helmstedt, sustaining a gunshot wound in his leg. The following year, while in Vienna for the funeral of his cousin Archduchess Mathilda of Austria, Ludwig met his future wife Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria-Este. She was the daughter of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este and Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria. After a brief courtship, Ludwig and Maria Theresia married on February 20, 1868, at the Augustinerkirche in Vienna, Austria, adjacent to the Hofburg Palace.

Over the next 23 years, Ludwig and Maria Theresia had thirteen children:

Some of Ludwig’s children circa 1909. source: Wikipedia

In 1886, Ludwig’s father Prince Luitpold became Prince Regent after King Ludwig II was declared mentally incompetent. Just days later, King Ludwig II died mysteriously and was succeeded by his brother King Otto. However, Otto was also mentally ill, and the Regency continued. Upon his father’s death on December 12, 1912, Ludwig succeeded him as Prince Regent for his cousin King Otto. Less than a year later, the Bavarian Parliament passed legislation allowing the Regent to assume the throne himself, provided that the regency was for reasons of incapacity, had lasted more than ten years, and there was no prospect of the Sovereign being able to reign. So on November 5, 1913, with overwhelming support from the parliament, Ludwig deposed his cousin and assumed the Bavarian throne as King Ludwig III.

Enthronement of King Ludwig III, 1913. source: Wikipedia

King Ludwig III’s reign would be brief, as World War I saw the end of the German Empire and many other European monarchies. As the war was ending, the German Revolution of 1918 -1919 broke out in Bavaria. Ludwig fled Munich with his family and took up residence at Anif Palace near Salzburg, Austria, thinking it would be a temporary move. A week later, on November 13, 1918, King Ludwig III would be the first monarch in the German Empire to be deposed, ending 738 years of rule by the Wittelsbach dynasty.

The former King Ludwig III returned to Bavaria and lived at Wildenwart Castle, where his wife died three months later. Fearing his life was in danger, Ludwig soon left the country, traveling to Hungary, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. He returned to Wildenwart Castle in April 1920 and remained until the following autumn, when he traveled to his castle Nádasdy in Sárvár, Hungary.

Tomb of King Ludwig III. photo © Susan Flantzer

Tomb of King Ludwig III. photo © Susan Flantzer

The former King Ludwig III died at Nádasdy Castle in Sárvár, Hungary, on October 18, 1921. His body was brought to Wildenwart Castle where his wife was buried, and then both of their remains were brought to the Ludwigskirche in Munich where a state funeral was held. They were then buried in the crypt of the Frauenkirche in Munich. In keeping with tradition, his heart was buried separately, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Altötting.

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Auguste Ferdinande of Austria, Princess of Bavaria

by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Auguste Ferdinande of Austria, Princess of Bavaria Source: Wikipedia

The wife of Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, Regent of Bavaria, Archduchess Auguste Ferdinande of Austria, Princess of Tuscany, was born in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy, on April 1, 1825. She was the second of three daughters of Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Princess Maria Anna of Saxony.

Auguste had two sisters who both died before they were twenty:

  • Archduchess Carolina Auguste (1822 – 1841), died in her teens
  • Archduchess Maria Maximiliana (1827 – 1834), died in childhood

Auguste’s mother died in 1832, and the following year her father married Princess Maria Antonietta of the Two Sicilies.

Auguste had ten half-siblings from her father’s second marriage:

Auguste was a very intelligent child, interested in the arts and science from a young age. Raised in a strict Catholic background, it was expected that she would marry into one of the Catholic ruling families in Europe. This came to be on April 15, 1844, in Florence, when she married Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, a younger son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. King Ludwig had initially opposed the marriage, as Auguste was already showing signs of pulmonary tuberculosis, which would later take her life. However, he soon relented and allowed the couple to marry.

Over the next eight years, they had four children:

Auguste of Austria, Princess of Bavaria.source: Wikipedia

Because of her health, Auguste had difficulty adjusting to the Bavarian climate. A few years after marrying, she and her husband built a home on Lake Constance, which they used as a summer residence. Auguste was a devoted mother to her four children, speaking to them only in Italian, and a strong supporter of her husband and the Bavarian monarchy. In 1848, she publicly criticized her father-in-law, King Ludwig I, for his relationship with his mistress Lola Montez and its negative effects on the monarchy. King Ludwig I soon abdicated, and Auguste made many public appearances encouraging support for her brother-in-law, the new King Maximilian II.

Photo © Susan Flantzer

Tomb of Auguste of Austria, Princess of Bavaria. Photo © Susan Flantzer

Sadly, on April 26, 1864, Princess Auguste died, aged 39, in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria, from the effects of tuberculosis she had suffered for many years. She is buried in the crypt of the Theatinerkirche in Munich.

Years later, her husband would be named Prince Regent of Bavaria, due to the mental incapacity of his two nephews, the brothers King Ludwig II and King Otto. Following Luitpold’s death, the couple’s son Ludwig assumed the regency and eventually, formally deposed his cousin, King Otto, taking the throne himself as King Ludwig III, the last King of Bavaria.

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Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Kingdom of Bavaria: The House of Wittelsbach ruled as Dukes, Electors, and Kings of Bavaria from 1180 until 1918. Today Bavaria is a landlocked federal state of Germany, occupying its southeastern corner.  Maximilian IV Joseph, Prince-Elector of Bavaria allied his electorate with Napoleon and adopted many of the French beliefs of the Enlightenment. It was this loyal service to Napoleon through which Maximilian’s electorate was created the Kingdom of Bavaria with Maximilian at its king. He officially became the Maximilian I Joseph, the first King of Bavaria on January 1, 1806. On November 13, 1918, King Ludwig III would be the first monarch in the German Empire to be deposed at the end of World War I, bringing an end to 738 years of rule by the Wittelsbach dynasty.

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Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria; source: Wikipedia

Prince Luitpold of Bavaria served as Prince Regent from 1886 until he died in 1912. He was born Prince Luitpold Karl Joseph Wilhelm Ludwig on March 12, 1821, at the Wurzburg Residence, a palace in Würzburg, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in Bavaria, Germany, the third son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. He had eight siblings:

Luitpold joined the Bavarian Army when he was fourteen years old and was soon promoted to Captain of the Artillery. He would later attain the ranks of Major General and Field Marshal. He traveled extensively abroad, and on one trip he met his future wife, Archduchess Auguste Ferdinande of Austria. She was the daughter of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Princess Maria Anna of Savoy. Luitpold and Auguste married on April 1, 1844, in Florence, and went on to have four children:

Archduchess Auguste of Austria, c1850. source: Wikipedia

In 1848, Luitpold’s father abdicated and his eldest brother took the throne as King Maximilian II of Bavaria. During his brother’s reign, Luitpold did not play any significant role, focusing more on his military career. His second brother Otto had been serving as King of Greece since 1832, and as Otto had no children, Luitpold was considered his heir-presumptive. The Greek Constitution required that the heir be a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, and for some time, Luitpold considered converting from Catholicism. Otto would remain King of Greece until he was deposed in 1862.

In 1864, King Maximilian II of Bavaria died and was succeeded by his elder son King Ludwig II of Bavaria. During the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Luitpold commanded the 3rd Royal Bavarian Division and later became Inspector General of the Bavarian Army. He represented Bavaria in the German General Staff during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871.

During King Ludwig II’s reign, Luitpold began to take a more prominent role in the monarchy. King Ludwig II was often out of the capital for long periods and became increasingly averse to formal ceremonies and events. King Ludwig II’s younger brother, the future King Otto of Bavaria, began to show signs of mental illness and became increasingly unwell. By the mid-1880s, there were many questions about the mental health of King Ludwig II himself. A group of ministers began working to depose Ludwig and asked Luitpold to assume a Regency. Luitpold agreed, on the condition that there was irrefutable proof of his nephew’s incapacity.

On June 10, 1886, Luitpold became Prince Regent after King Ludwig II was declared mentally incompetent. Ludwig II died three days later under mysterious circumstances, and the throne passed to Ludwig’s brother Otto. However, by this time, Otto had also been declared mentally ill, and Luitpold continued as Prince Regent.

Like many others in his family, Luitpold was a supporter of the arts and culture in Bavaria. During his tenure, Munich continued to grow into one of the leading cultural cities in Europe. Shortly after assuming the Regency, Luitpold opened several of King Ludwig II’s palaces to the public, and in 1891, he established the Luitpold Gymnasium in Munich.

The Prince Regent, 1911. source: Wikipedia

At 91 years old, Luitpold died in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in Bavaria, Germany on December 12, 1912, from bronchitis. He is buried in the crypt of the Theatinerkirche in Munich. Luitpold’s eldest son succeeded him as Regent of Bavaria and became King Ludwig III the following year, after deposing his cousin King Otto.

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