Isabelle, _surnamed_ the Fair, only daughter of Philippe the Fourth, King of France, and Jeanne Queen regnant of Navarre: _born_ 1282, 1292, or 1295 (latest date most probable); _married_ at Boulogne, January 25, 1308. All the chroniclers assert that on Edward the Third's discovery of his mother's real character, he imprisoned her for life in the Castle of Rising. The evidence of the Rolls and Wardrobe Accounts disproves this to a great extent. It was at Nottingham Castle that Mortimer was taken, October 19, 1330. On the 18th of January following, 36 pounds 6 shillings 4 pence was paid to Thomas Lord Wake de Lydel, for the expense of conducting Isabel Queen of England, by the King's order, from Berkhamsted Castle to Windsor Castle, and thence to Odiham Castle. (Issue Roll, _Michs._, 5 Edward the Third.) On the 6th of October, 1337, she dates a charter from Hertford Castle; and another from Rising on the 1st of December following. She paid a visit to London--the only one hitherto traced subsequent to 1330--in 1341, when, on October 27, she was present in the hostel of the Bishop of Winchester at Southwark, when the King appointed Robert Parving to the office of Lord Chancellor. She dates a charter from Hertford Castle, December 1st, 1348. (Close Rolls, 11, 15, and 22 Edward the Third.) The Household Book for the last year of her life is in the British Museum, and it runs from September 30th, 1357, to December 4th, 1358 (Cott. Ms., Galba, E. 14). We find from this interesting document that she spent her final year mainly at Hertford, but that she also made two pilgrimages to Canterbury, visiting London on each occasion; that she was at Ledes Castle, Chertsey, Shene, Eltham, and Windsor. The King visits her more than once, and several of his children do the same, including the Princess Isabel. There is no mention of any visit from the Queen, but she corresponds with her mother-in-law, and they exchange gifts. The most frequent guests are Joan Countess of Surrey, and the Countess of Pembroke: there were then three ladies living who bore this title, but as letters are sent to her at Denny--her pet convent, where she often resided and finally died--it is evident that this was the Countess Marie, the "fair Chatillon who (_not_ `on her bridal morn,' but at least two years after) mourned her bleeding love." Both these ladies were of French birth, and were very old friends of Isabelle: the Countess of Surrey was with her when she died. Her youngest daughter, Joan Queen of Scots--an admirable but unhappy woman, who had to forgive that mother for being the cause of all her misery and loveless life--spent much of this last year with Isabel. Her most frequent male guests are the Earl of Tankerville and Marshal Daudenham, both of whom were probably her own countrymen; and Sir John de Wynewyk, Treasurer of York: the captive King of France visits her once, and she sends him two romances, of which one at least was from the _Morte Arthur_.