A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Isabella (of Bavaria)
ISABELLA, of Bavaria, Daughter of the Duke of Bavaria; born A. D. 1371;
Esteemed one of the greatest beauties of the age. Charles VI. king of France, on seeing her, became deeply enamoured, and married her at the age of fourteen, 1385; and Isabella, with the crown on her head, was conducted in a covered waggon to the cathedral of Amiens, where they received the nuptial benediction. Afterwards, when she made her public entry into Paris, the presents made, on the occasion, by the citizens, were carried to her apartment by two men, one of whom was disguised as a bear, and the other as an unicorn.
In the year 1392, the king was attacked with that dangerous delirium which, except some lucid intervals, attended him through life; and, in one of these, the queen, with four princes, were appointed guardians of the children. Hitherto Isabella had appeared as an affectionate wife; but from the king's illness, and the attractions of the duke of Orleans, his brother, she began to regard her husband with disgust. Violent, vindictive, and intriguing, she had a heart open to flattery, and susceptible of every lawless passion. The power of the duke was supported by the queen; and so intirely were they occupied by their pleasure and ambition, that the king and his children were often left without food and clothes!
The duke of Burgundy, a vile and ambitious man, called John the Fearless, envied the power and superiority of Orleans, and procured his assassination, in 1407. The greatness of this daring crime seemed to produce universal stupefaction; but he soon made the king proclaim an approbation of his conduct, though arms were frequently had recourse to. In the queen's party, were the young princes of Orleans, headed by the count d'Armagnac, and thence called the Armagnac faction; but Paris opening its gates to Burgundy, the queen and dauphin fled, and the most dreadful proscriptions followed. The mob became ungovernable by him who had raised it; and Burgundy, in his turn, retiring with precipitation, the queen again entered Paris; and instead of improving the moment, gave herself up to vicious pleasure; of which Armagnac at length informed the king, who had hitherto been ignorant of her crimes, and he caused her to be confined at Tours, Isabella, eager for revenge, applied to the duke of Burgundy to release her; and forgetful of her late inveterate hatred to the assassin of Orleans, she saw in a man, whose soul was familiarized to every deed of darkness, a fit instrument of her vengeance: he seized with joy the invitation, set her at liberty; and, accompanied by her deliverer, she performed the first acts of her new administration at Chartres. A new seal was engraven for public deeds, representing on one side, the queen extending her arms towards the earth; on the reverse, the arms of France and Bavaria. The title she assumed was: "Isabella, by the grace of God, Queen of France, holding for my Lord, the King, the Government and Administration of this Kingdom, by the irrevocable Grant made to us by my said Lord and his Council." Arriving at Troyes, she called a parliament, gave away many of the principal offices of state, and exercised the various functions of royalty.
At length a pacification was effected; the queen and Burgundy were invited to Paris, and the latter with the dauphin associated in the government. But the dauphin was instructed to reject this infamous association; and the people, who had hoped for peace and relief from the burdens of war and taxes, flew to acts of desperation, declaring themselves the partisans of Burgundy, who was still at Troyes with the queen. This vile couple intimating to them that nothing less than the total annihilation of the Armagnac party would engage them to re-enter Paris, inexpressible horrors were immediately committed by the blood-thirsty Parisians; near 4000 being massacred in three days. Exulting in the success of their infernal schemes, the queen and her profligate associates now made their triumphal entry, with an escort of 1200 men at arms; the streets still stained with blood, shed in their quarrel, by their orders were strewed with flowers, and the whole city re-echoed with music and sounds of joy. Isabella appearing in a car richly decorated, while her dress displayed her luxurious mind, alighted at the hotel of St. Paul's, where her husband awaited her arrival. She did not dread his presence; but, superior to reproach, dead to remorse, and insensible to shame, the blush of modesty and conscience had long ceased to flush her cheek, which was alone tinged with the glow of vice.
The senseless monarch received her as a beloved wife, and his treacherous kinsman as an affectionate friend. They exercised sovereign authority in Paris, and the streets again flowed with blood. In this second massacre 14000 persons, of which 5000 were women, were murdered. Charles VI. died in 1422. The duke of Burgundy was afterwards assassinated at a conference with the dauphin, 1419; though it is thought by many he was not privy to the design.
Thus the ambitious, vindictive, and cruel Isabella publicly had twice seen the object of her affections murdered, and fired with indignation, she resolved to complete the infamy of her character. She had long since violated the duties of a wife and queen, and now determined to silence the voice of nature; abjuring the name of mother, she immediately caused a violent declaration to be published, denouncing vengeance against the dauphin and his adherents, as murderers of the duke of Burgundy, ordering a dreadful proscription to be published every week, and then implored the assistance of England, which was in France every where victorious, and invited the son of Burgundy to join the common cause. Within a fornight after the duke's death, Henry V. was offered the crown of France, with the princess Catherine; and entered into a treaty with the queen and new duke against the dauphin. Henry became king; but, by his early death, Charles VII. recovered part of his dominions, and, in 1535, concluded a treaty with the duke of Burgundy. The grief and disappointment the unnatural Isabella felt at this success of her son, terminated her wretched existence. She died in 1435, despised by the English, and detested by the French.