England still had an anointed king.
But the king had lost control of his kingdom.
A Son Takes His Father’s Crown
Edward II was taken to Kenilworth Castle.
In January 1327, his reign effectively came to an end. He was forced to relinquish the crown, and his son succeeded him as Edward III.
The new king was only 14.
That solved one problem while creating another.
England had a legitimate male monarch from the Plantagenet dynasty, but he was a teenager whose mother and Mortimer possessed the real political power.
The humiliation for Edward II was profound.
A king who had inherited the throne from Edward I was now alive while his own son wore his crown.
The deposed Edward was later moved to Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.
There, in September 1327, came the event that would make Isabella’s story far darker in later retellings.
Edward II died.
For centuries, his death generated lurid stories. The traditional narrative held that the former king was murdered, and later accounts supplied particularly gruesome details. Historians have debated both the reliability of those stories and broader questions surrounding Edward’s final days.
English Heritage describes Edward as having been murdered at Berkeley in its general account of medieval England, while another of its histories says he is “believed” to have been murdered. Its account of Isabella notes the possibility that his death occurred on her orders rather than presenting that responsibility as established fact.
That distinction is important.
Edward died while his wife and her ally dominated the new regime. That circumstance naturally generated suspicion, and the political advantages of ensuring the former king could never become the center of a restoration attempt are obvious.
But obvious political benefit is not proof of an individual’s responsibility.
The precise circumstances of Edward II’s death therefore remain one of the mysteries attached to Isabella’s reputation.
What is beyond dispute is that Edward disappeared from English political life and Isabella and Mortimer emerged at the center of power.
Yet their victory contained the seeds of their own downfall.
Isabella and Mortimer Become the New Power
The rebellion had been launched against a king whose government was widely resented for the influence of favorites.
Now Roger Mortimer himself rose to extraordinary heights.
Isabella and Mortimer effectively governed in the name of the young Edward III. English Heritage describes them as ruling until 1330, when Edward finally asserted his own authority.
Mortimer’s prominence became increasingly conspicuous.
His position was particularly ironic.
He had helped overthrow a regime condemned for the power concentrated around Hugh Despenser. Yet Mortimer now occupied an enormously influential position beside the queen mother while the actual king remained young.
By 1330, Edward III was 17.
He was no longer a child.
And he was apparently no longer prepared to allow his mother and Mortimer to govern for him.