Edward tried to divorce Isabella in 1324 or 1325
The Lanercost chronicle says that in 1324 or 1325 Edward II's favourite Hugh Despenser "was exerting himself at the pope’s court to procure divorce between the king of England and the queen, and in furtherance of this business there sent to the court a certain man of religion, acting irreligiously, by name Thomas Dunheved", and that this was the reason for Isabella’s willingness to ‘escape’ to France in March 1325. (She did not, of course, 'escape' or 'flee' to France, but was sent there on the pope's advice to negotiate peace between her warring husband and brother King Charles IV.)
The Annales Paulini repeats the rumour that Edward was trying to annul his marriage to Isabella. Although it is just possible that Edward was contemplating this course of action in 1326, when Isabella was holding their son hostage and planning an invasion of his country, it is unlikely in the extreme that he would have attempted to annul his marriage in 1324 or 1325, at a time when offending her brother the king of France would have been disastrous. No proof of the chroniclers’ statement has ever been discovered in the Vatican archives, and Brother Thomas Dunheved’s mission to the pope in fact concerned, according to a letter of John XXII himself - who obviously was in the best position to know - Edward’s grievances against the archbishop of Dublin, Alexander Bicknor. [Calendar of Papal Letters 1305-1342, p. 474.]
As divorce in the modern sense was unknown, Edward could only have hoped to persuade the pope to grant an annulment, which would mean that their marriage had never been valid in the first place. Edward had no grounds for an annulment; the only possible reason would have been for consanguinity, as he and Isabella were second cousins once removed, for which they had received a dispensation from Clement V. Not only did he have no grounds, but an annulment would have made their children illegitimate. Given that Edward spent much of 1324 and 1325 negotiating marriages for his children with the royal families of Spain, it is impossible to believe that he would have risked this. The Lanercost chronicler in his convent near the Scottish border, although an invaluable source for events in the north of England and Scotland, knew little of what was going on at court, while the Pauline annalist was merely reporting a rumour he had heard. Many rumours were flying around England in the final years of Edward’s reign, most of them untrue, such as the statements in various chronicles that Edward had it publicly proclaimed in 1326 that "the queen of England might not be called queen" and that his wife and his son were his enemies. The royal clerk and chronicler Adam Murimuth, who visited the papal court in 1324 and was therefore in an excellent position to know the truth, does not say anything about Edward trying to get an annulment, and when Thomas Dunheved wrote to Edward in 1325, he did not mention it.
The total lack of corroboration of the two chroniclers' story does not, unfortunately, prevent some writers repeating 'Edward was trying to divorce Isabella!' as certain fact.
The Lanercost chronicle says that in 1324 or 1325 Edward II's favourite Hugh Despenser "was exerting himself at the pope’s court to procure divorce between the king of England and the queen, and in furtherance of this business there sent to the court a certain man of religion, acting irreligiously, by name Thomas Dunheved", and that this was the reason for Isabella’s willingness to ‘escape’ to France in March 1325. (She did not, of course, 'escape' or 'flee' to France, but was sent there on the pope's advice to negotiate peace between her warring husband and brother King Charles IV.)
The Annales Paulini repeats the rumour that Edward was trying to annul his marriage to Isabella. Although it is just possible that Edward was contemplating this course of action in 1326, when Isabella was holding their son hostage and planning an invasion of his country, it is unlikely in the extreme that he would have attempted to annul his marriage in 1324 or 1325, at a time when offending her brother the king of France would have been disastrous. No proof of the chroniclers’ statement has ever been discovered in the Vatican archives, and Brother Thomas Dunheved’s mission to the pope in fact concerned, according to a letter of John XXII himself - who obviously was in the best position to know - Edward’s grievances against the archbishop of Dublin, Alexander Bicknor. [Calendar of Papal Letters 1305-1342, p. 474.]
As divorce in the modern sense was unknown, Edward could only have hoped to persuade the pope to grant an annulment, which would mean that their marriage had never been valid in the first place. Edward had no grounds for an annulment; the only possible reason would have been for consanguinity, as he and Isabella were second cousins once removed, for which they had received a dispensation from Clement V. Not only did he have no grounds, but an annulment would have made their children illegitimate. Given that Edward spent much of 1324 and 1325 negotiating marriages for his children with the royal families of Spain, it is impossible to believe that he would have risked this. The Lanercost chronicler in his convent near the Scottish border, although an invaluable source for events in the north of England and Scotland, knew little of what was going on at court, while the Pauline annalist was merely reporting a rumour he had heard. Many rumours were flying around England in the final years of Edward’s reign, most of them untrue, such as the statements in various chronicles that Edward had it publicly proclaimed in 1326 that "the queen of England might not be called queen" and that his wife and his son were his enemies. The royal clerk and chronicler Adam Murimuth, who visited the papal court in 1324 and was therefore in an excellent position to know the truth, does not say anything about Edward trying to get an annulment, and when Thomas Dunheved wrote to Edward in 1325, he did not mention it.
The total lack of corroboration of the two chroniclers' story does not, unfortunately, prevent some writers repeating 'Edward was trying to divorce Isabella!' as certain fact.
Kathryn Warner October 2009