Elin Gregory

Love at first sight

Edward II and one of the great love stories of the Middle Ages

Colin Falconer

It is love at first sight.

I knew from the moment I laid eyes that this would be forever. Men like my father, like my cousin Lancaster sneer at such conceits but I know it to be true and my life will bear out the truth of it.

You say you believe in love. What would you have done in my position?

If you love someone you want to give them the earth, don’t you? I did not possess the earth but I possessed a good portion of it, much of England anyway and I was in a position to be generous. As King of England was I not entitled to choose who I loved? I must marry for political reasons, I understood this was my duty, but England could not rule my heart as well.

But you have your queen now, my barons said, and they sought to threaten me. You cannot have affairs. Anyone else must be sent away – exile they said, nothing less.

So of course I defied them. Isn’t that what any true lover would have done?

Edward II and Piers Gaveston by Marcus Stone. Wikimedia

But in the end, for the good of England, I let my love be sent into exile. It broke my heart. Later I realised the mistake I had made. Should you ever find your soul mate, then you will know what I mean. You cannot live without them.

So I rescinded the order. It was an act of courage, not weakness. This is a love story, I told you that.

So when later my love was threatened, I took up arms. What would you call a man who will not stand up for what he loves?

I fought tooth and nail.

Men have been called heroes before me and after me for doing so.

Why not me?

And then my sweet lover, the one who set my body and soul on fire with their kisses, the only one whose touch I craved, they were butchered in a field and their body left there mutilated?

My barons and my cousins did this. These were the ones I had to govern with, I needed their armies, their support. I could not take vengeance straight away, no matter the agony in my soul.

But I never forgot my love. Every day there were prayers said. Every year on the anniversary of their terrible death I went there and prayed. Till the day I died I never stopped loving.

The Gaveston Cross on Blacklow Hill, marking the site of Piers’ execution. Wikimedia

What else could I do?

What would you have done?

Yes, he was a man same as I. But I loved him as much as a man ever loved any woman.

You say you believe in love.

Then why should you judge me now?

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Isabella

Blurb:

She was taught to obey. Now she has learned to rebel.

12 year old Isabella, a French princess marries the King of England – only to discover he has a terrible secret. Ten long years later she is in utter despair – does she submit to a lifetime of solitude and a spiritual death – or seize her destiny and take the throne of England for herself?

Isabella is just twelve years old when she marries Edward II of England. For the young princess it is love at first sight – but Edward has a terrible secret that threatens to tear their marriage – and England apart.

Who is Piers Gaveston – and why is his presence in the king’s court about to plunge England into civil war?

The young queen believes in the love songs of the troubadours and her own exalted destiny – but she finds reality very different. As she grows to a woman in the deadly maelstrom of Edward’s court, she must decide between her husband, her children, even her life – and one breath-taking gamble that will change the course of history.

This is the story of Isabella, the only woman ever to invade England – and win.

In the tradition of Philippa Gregory and Elizabeth Chadwick, ISABELLA is thoroughly researched and fast paced, the little known story of the one invasion the English never talk about.

ISABELLA, Braveheart of France, available now from Amazon US and Amazon UK

And also available as POD from Cool Gus publishing.