Phillip IV of France is popularly known in history as the Fair, meaning the Handsome. He's also called the Iron King. A good-looking, intelligent and proud man who took no nonsense from anybody, he'd broken the Knights Templar and expected implicit obedience from his children. He had three sons, Louis, Phillip and Charles. He also had a daughter, Isabella. Making dynastic marriages for all of these children was critical. In 1305, he married his son Louis to Margaret, elder daughter of the Duke of Burgundy. In 1307, he arranged for Phillip to marry Jeanne, daughter of the Count of Burgundy. How Burgundy could have a duke and a count is material for another post. Finally, in 1308, Phillip IV married Isabella to Edward II of England, and his son Charles to Blanche, Margaret's sister.
In 1313, Isabella's marriage with Edward was on the rocks. He was spending most of his time with his companion, some said lover, Piers Gaveston, and heavily in debt with the ongoing war with Scotland. Isabella and Edward visited France to request a loan from her father. Isabella brought as gifts embroidered purses for each member of her family. In that day and age both genders carried purses. In 1314, some of Isabella's family visited her in London and she noticed that the purses she'd given to her sisters-in-law were now dangling from the girdles of two knights in their entourage, brothers Gautier and Phillip d'Aunay. Fuming, Isabella went to her father with her immediate suspicions. The three Burgundian women were having an affair. Why Isabella ratted out her sisters-in-law is anyone's guess. Neither Louis nor Charles had children and Phillip, Jr., had only girls with Jeanne. Did she suspect she could prevent them from having any heirs, and pave the way for her son Edward to inherit his grandfather's throne? Possible, but highly unlikely. It was also ironic, given that Isabella was likely involved with Roger de Mortimer after the fact, and later helped plot Edward II's overthrow.
Phillip IV had the d'Aunay brothers put under surveillance and they were tracked to a guardhouse in Paris known as the Tour de Nesle. All three Burgundian women had attended parties there with their social circle, which included the d'Aunays. Rumor had it that they had all three committed adultery with the d'Aunays and others. Louis, who was known as the Headstrong or the Quarrelsome, was ready to believe to it, as was Charles. Phillip stuck by Jeanne. Phillip IV was unmoved and had the d'Aunay brothers and his three daughters-in-law arrested. The men confessed under torture, were convicted of lese-majeste and castrated before being killed by being broken on the wheel before beheading. Margaret and Blanche were convicted, had their heads shaved, and were imprisoned in Chateau Gaillard. Jeanne was declared innocent but placed under house arrest. Phillip, Jr., continued to protest his wife's innocence.
Were Blanche and Margaret guilty, probably of indiscretion if not of outright adultery. Did Jeanne know of what they were doing and turn a blind eye? Most likely. Phillip's letters indicated that he had some love for her, but Jeanne was heiress to her father's estate as well as her mother's and, as a middle son, Phillip could have used the money. The scandal may have taken a toll on Phillip IV's health, as he died a few months later. When Louis became King, he had his marriage to Margaret annulled. She died in 1315 while still imprisoned and was possibly murdered. Louis married Clementia of Hungary, but died in 1316 after over-exerting at tennis. Phillip and Jeanne were crowned King and Queen of France in 1317. They had four surviving daughters, but no son. Phillip himself died in 1322, leaving Jeanne a widow. In 1329, she inherited her father's estate, becoming Jeanne II, Countess of Burgundy in her own right. She later followed her mother as Countess of Artois.
Blanche remained in prison at Chateau Gaillard for 8 long years. When Charles became King in 1322, he had their marriage annulled and Margaret herself consigned to a convent. He remarried but his second marriage was also childless. This scandal led to a tightening of the Salic Law, which prevented women from inheriting titles. Jeanne's children could never become Queens of France in their own right. Instead, the Kingdom passed to the first Valois heir, Phillip VI. Meanwhile in England, Isabella thought her son Edward should inherit his grandfather's throne. The rivalry between the English and French claims to the throne of France would spark the Hundred Years War and not be settled entirely until the French Revolution ended the monarchy in 1789.
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