Philippa, the steady queen

By the time that Philippa of Hainault became Queen of England it was a job with a bad reputation. Her immediate predecessor as consort, Isabella of France, had become one of the most notorious women in Europe after deposing her husband, Edward II, and ruling on behalf of her teenage son, Edward III, with the advice of her lover, Roger Mortimer.  Before that, two queens called Eleanor had annoyed just about everyone they met by bringing with them large retinues of courtiers from their own lands and spending a large part of the royal cash box on keeping them.  Just before them came another notorious Isabella - a young royal from Angouleme who had ruled alongside the disastrous King John and who was blamed by some for his nightmare of a reign.  The teenage Philippa, who was born on this day in 1314, inherited a role that had lost much of its prestige.  And yet this quiet, bookish girl from Flanders transformed queenship in her adopted country and became a very English monarch indeed.

Philippa of Hainault in a Victorian engraving - she was Queen of England from 1328 until 1369

Like many medieval consorts, Philippa came into her role through the bargaining of others.  But while most princesses of the time were married off at the behest of royal men, Philippa became the bargaining chip of a woman.  Isabella of France hadn't yet got rid of Edward II, the husband she had come to hate, but she was edging closer to his deposition when she arrived at the court of Philippa's father in 1326.  William of Hainault would give her some of the resources she needed to sweep her husband from power and in return, she would make his second daughter a queen.  But whether Isabella's side of the deal was as good an offer as it might once have been is open to doubt.  For a start, the kingdom of England was in trouble after the turbulent rule of Edward II and the all but open warfare between the monarch and his consort.  And secondly, Philippa's father had already landed the best marriage on the continent for his first daughter, Margaret.  Just two years earlier, she had married the heir to the Holy Roman Empire.  Isabella was offering a shaky crown and in return she was getting money for her invasion plans and a link to the Emperor.  The She-Wolf got a good deal.

Edward III in later life - as a young man, his mother negotiated alliances to help make him king in his father's place

Philippa arrived in England about a year later by which time the consort's crown which awaited her was tarnished even more.  Isabella had succeeded in getting rid of her husband and making her son king but it was widely known that she ruled in his place, along with Mortimer, and now there were widespread rumours that her husband was dead, murdered on their orders.  Philippa married her king in January 1328 but while she automatically became queen, there was no coronation as Isabella wasn't going to have a rival at her court.  But while Isabella went around sewing the seeds of her own decline, Philippa took a back seat and seems to have learned from the mistakes of her predecessors.  While Queen Isabella, Queen Eleanor of Castile and Queen Eleanor of Provence had made little change to their ways of life on coming to England, spent furiously and annoyed just about everyone they met, Queen Philippa set about charming her new home country into submission.

Philippa of Hainault and her army

And she succeeded.  In some ways, just not being Queen Isabella would have been enough to impress quite a lot of people who had seen the last consort go from being a proud but fun loving princess to angry and avenging fury of a queen in less than twenty years.  But Philippa had many qualities that would have impressed even if she wasn't being compared to some of the least popular consorts England had known.  She was famous for her gentle nature and her kindness - in 1347 she persuaded her husband not to execute the Burghers of Calais.  She also proved herself as a ruler when her husband left her as regent several times during their marriage - Philippa is said to have governed wisely and with the best interests of her kingdom at heart, a stark contrast to the grasping rule of Isabella.  Philippa loved books and learning and became a patron of the arts - among those she supported was the chronicler, Jean Froissart.  And that is perhaps where her real understanding of the politics of court and royal life showed.  She helped out one of the few people who would leave a record of what went on in the reign of Edward III.  Philippa, sister of an Empress, made sure the press of her day was on her side.

Isabella the She-Wolf of France was an easy act to follow for a queen who wanted to be liked

The baby born on June 24th 1314 went down in history as a good, kind queen.   The main trouble of her reign came after her death - Philippa outlived several of her children but enough survived to adulthood to produce a thriving generation of grandchildren and great grandchildren who all started fighting one another for the crown that her husband once wore.  Philippa helped bring stability to the crown of England after several turbulent decades.  It is ironic that her legacy ultimately became the instability of the Wars of the Roses.