CHAPTER XV. ISABELLA OF VALOIS, SURNAMED THE LITTLE QUEEN, SECOND WIFE
OF RICHARD II.
(A. D. 1387-1410.)
It seems strange that when Richard II. reached the age of thirty he should have had a fancy to share his throne with a child of nine, yet that was the age of Isabella of Valois, when he married her.
She was the eldest daughter of Charles VI. of France and the wicked Isabeau of Bavaria; but fortunately she inherited nothing from her mother but her beautiful dark eyes and clear olive complexion; her goodness and lovely character she got from her father.
When Richard was told that Isabella was too young for him, he replied: "that every day would remedy the deficiency of age, and her youth was one of his reasons for preferring her, because he should educate her to his own mind, to the manners and customs of the English; and that, as for himself, he was young enough to wait for her."
A.D. 1396. When the English ambassadors waited on Isabella to solicit her hand for Richard, one of them dropped upon his knees and said: "Madam, if it please God, you shall be our lady and queen." Without any prompting, the little maid replied; "Sir, if it please God and my lord and father that I be Queen of England, I shall be pleased thereat, for I have been told I shall then be a great lady."
Her appearance and manners were very pleasing, and from the time when it was proposed that she should marry Richard, she began to practise how to behave as queen, though she could not prepare herself for the sad experience that awaited her in that exalted position.