“Based on Public Domain” – will help you get a meeting per Young Screenwriters.
Logline: This mashup based on the life of Isabella of France meets Dante’s Inferno, this limited series follows a girl forced to wed at age 12 in a world where women, even those twice royal, are treated more as breeding stock than as people.
***Where in this story does my theme come up???*** Use highlighters or flags
What did all of her secret/unknown letters say?
Logline: In this adaptation of Dante’s Inferno,
PG-13. A mini or limited series is 150+ program minutes and at least two episodes.
Have her say she never met Wallace!
Rats on ship.
It isn’t actually the story of Isabella; it’s a story of hypocrisy and maltreatment of women. Overcoming adversity no matter what. On never giving up.
Isabelle’s traits: Throughout her career, Isabella was noted as charming and diplomatic, with a particular skill at convincing people to follow her courses of action. Unusual for the medieval period, contemporaries also commented on her high intelligence.
The Inferno is about the poet’s journey into Hell. Guided by the poet Virgil, Dante descends through the Nine Circles of Hell, eventually arriving at the center where Satan himself resides (Hugh Despenser). While Inferno can be read as a straightforward story about Dante’s journey through Hell, it is also a big, long allegory for man’s descent into sin. Dante represents everyone. He loses the path of salvation in a shadowy world of sin. He travels the path through Hell trying to find his way back to God’s grace.
Isabelle’s Life Timeline:
1295 – birth in Paris
1308 25 January – married to Edward II at Boulogne Acheron Field – Marriage to Edward, English Channel is river Acheron. Edward chose to sit with Gaveston rather than Isabella at their wedding celebration causing grave offence to her uncles Louis, Count of Évreux, and Charles, Count of Valois, and then refused to grant her either her own lands or her own household. Edward also gave Gaveston Isabella’s own jewelry, which he wore publicly.
?? – Philip 4 intervened and made E2 provide for her appropriately
??? Edward forced to exile Gaveston
1309-1311 –
1312 – birth of Edward III
?? – E3 Assigned her lands
1313 – She traveled to Paris with Edward to garner support for E2. She was injured when her tent burned down.
1315-1317 Great Famine (4th – Gluttony) spring of 1315, unusually heavy rain began in much of Europe. The price of food began to rise. Prices in England doubled between spring and midsummer. Salt, the only way to cure and preserve meat, was difficult to obtain because brine could not be effectively evaporated in wet weather. Its price increased from 30 to 40 shillings.Stores of grain for long-term emergencies were limited to royalty, lords, nobles, wealthy merchants, and the Church. Edward II of England stopped at St Albans on 10 August 1315 and had difficulty finding bread for himself and his entourage; it was a rare occasion in which the king of England was unable to eat.
1316 – birth of son John
1318 – birth of daughter Eleanora
1320 – Isabella accompanied Edward to France, to try and convince her brother, Philip V, to provide fresh support to crush the English barons.
~~1320 is when Hugh Despenser the Younger started sexual relations with Edward (Lust, hypocrisy)
1321 – by autumn tensions between the two factions of Edward, Isabella and the Despenser, opposing the baronial opposition led by Thomas of Lancaster, were extremely high, with forces still mobilised across the country. At this point, Isabella undertook a pilgrimage to Canterbury, during which she left the traditional route to stop at Leeds Castle in Kent, a fortification held by Bartholomew de Badlesmere, steward of the King’s household who had by 1321 joined the ranks of Edward’s opponents. Some historians believe that the pilgrimage was a deliberate act by Isabella on Edward’s behalf to create a casus belli. Lord Badlesmere was away at the time, having left his wife Margaret de Clare, Baroness Badlesmere in charge of the castle. When the latter adamantly refused the Queen admittance, (saying she wouldn’t admit anyone without an order from her lord) fighting broke out outside the castle between Isabella’s guards and the garrison, marking the beginning of the Despenser War.[50] Whilst Edward mobilised his own faction and placed Leeds Castle under siege, Isabella was given the Great Seal and assumed control of the royal Chancery from the Tower of London.
31 October 1321 – After surrendering to Edward’s forces, Margaret and her children sent to Tower of London
Jan 1322 –
March 16 1322 Battle of Boroughbridge – – Lancaster executed – beheaded – while Isabella was at TOL for safety. She didn’t know her uncle was being executed. , leaving Edward and the Despensers victorious
1322 – Princess Joanna de la Tour born
Hugh Despenser the Younger was now firmly ensconced as Edward’s new favourite and together over the next four years Edward and the Despensers imposed a harsh rule over England, a “sweeping revenge”[52] characterised by land confiscation (theft), large-scale imprisonment, executions and the punishment of extended family members, including women and the elderly. Isabela did not approve.
Indeed, various authors have suggested that there is evidence that Hugh Despenser the Younger attempted to assault Isabella herself in some fashion. (3 p 149)
1323 – Mortimer condemned to death for high treason (dungeon in Tower) on August 1 Gerald Aspaye (Tower Constable) gave men-at-arms soporific potion provided by the queen (?- 6 so check this) and he escaped to Normandy. She accused Despensers (both) of depriving her of the love of her Royal husband. They conspired to have her French servants arrested and her pension greatly reduced. Isabella wrote to her brother (King Charles le Bel of France). Charles attacked Guinne, and Despensers advised Edward to take away her last possession in England, the earldom of Cornwall. Edward said he did not consider it safe to allow any portion of his territories to remain in her hands, as she maintained a secret correspondence with the enemies of the state. (Walsingham, Rapin) Victorian writers suggested that, given later events, Isabella might have helped Mortimer escape and some historians continue to argue that their relationship had already begun at this point, although most believe that there is no hard evidence for their having had a substantial relationship before meeting in Paris. (4)
1324 – there had been an assassination plot against Edward and Hugh Despenser in 1324—the famous magician John of Nottingham had been hired to kill the pair using necromancy—and criminal gangs were occupying much of the country.
1324 – as tensions grew with Isabella’s homeland of France, Edward and the Despensers confiscated all of Isabella’s lands, took over the running of her household and arrested and imprisoned all of her French staff. Isabella’s youngest children were removed from her and placed into the custody of the Despensers.[63] At this point, Isabella appears to have realised that any hope of working with Edward was effectively over and begun to consider radical solutions. The Pope proposed Isabella as an ambassador. Isabella, however, saw this as a perfect opportunity to resolve her situation with Edward and the Despensers.
1325 When her brother, King Charles IV of France, seized Edward’s French possessions in
1325 May – sailed for France she returned to France, initially as a delegate of the King charged with negotiating a peace treaty between the two nations. However, her presence in France became a focal point for the many nobles opposed to Edward’s reign. Isabella gathered an army to oppose Edward, in alliance with Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, whom she may have taken as a lover.
Mortimer and Isabella may have begun a physical relationship from December 1325 onwards. If so both Isabella and Mortimer were taking a huge risk in doing so—female infidelity was a very serious offence in medieval Europe, as shown during the Tour de Nesle Affair—both Isabella’s former French sisters-in-law had died by 1326 as a result of their imprisonment for exactly this offence,[77] and their alleged lovers had been brutally executed. (4)
Summer 1326 – Taking Prince Edward (14) with them, Isabella and Mortimer left the French court in summer 1326 and traveled north to William I, Count of Hainaut. As Joan had suggested the previous year, Isabella betrothed Prince Edward to Philippa of Hainault, the daughter of the Count, in exchange for a substantial dowry.[81] She then used this money plus an earlier loan from Charles[82] to raise a mercenary army, scouring Brabant for men, which were added to a small force of Hainaut troops.[83] William also provided eight men-of-war ships and various smaller vessels as part of the marriage arrangements. Although Edward was now fearing an invasion, secrecy remained key, and Isabella convinced William to detain envoys from Edward.[83] Isabella also appears to have made a secret agreement with the Scots for the duration of the forthcoming campaign.
Sept 22, 1326 – Set sail for England. Returned to England with Roger Mortimer, deposed Edward. Her aim was to remove her husband from his throne and to replace him with their son.(8) Isabella and Mortimer returned to England with a mercenary army, seizing the country in a lightning campaign. The Despensers were executed and Edward was forced to abdicate—his eventual fate and possible murder remains a matter of considerable historical debate. Isabella ruled as regent until
1330, when her son, Edward deposed Mortimer in turn and ruled directly in his own right
Oct 2 – Oxford, where she was greeted as a savior. Edward flees London the same day. LONDON UPRISING
Oct 7 – Bishop Stapleton tried to intervene to save his own property against rioters. He was hated locally. Her supporters sent Isabella his head. Stapledon was associated in the popular mind with the misdeeds of King Edward II.[5] On fleeing London before the advancing troops of Queen Isabella, that king appointed Stapledon Custos or “Keeper” of the City of London, the population of which was mostly in favour of the Queen. Foreseeing her forced entry into the City, Stapledon demanded from the Lord Mayor of London the keys to the gates, to lock her out. The following account is related by William de Dene in his History of the See of Rochester.[10] A gathering of bishops took place at Lambeth Palace, south of the River Thames, aimed at arranging a mission of two of their number to convene peace talks between the warring king and queen in St Paul’s Cathedral in the City. However all the bishops were wary of crossing the Thames into London, where the population was known to be hostile to them. Eventually The Bishop of London and Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, appear to have volunteered and crossed the Thames to convene at the Blackfriars, just outside the City gates. Here they met with a group of the Kings Justices[11] (possibly therefore including Sir Richard de Stapledon, the bishop’s brother). When the Londoners heard of this they met in the Guildhall and plotted how to ambush, capture and kill the two bishops, and then loot the merchants, and sent out scouting parties to report on the route of their journey. The plot came to fruition when Stapledon was ambushed on his journey. He was accompanied by his elder brother Richard de Stapledon, a Justice of Assizes for the western circuit,[4] who in trying to save him was dragged from his horse and murdered. This is said by John Prince to have happened as he rode through the city gate of Cripplegate, when a cripple grasped one of the forelegs of Sir Richard’s horse and by crossing it threw the horse and rider to the ground, whereupon Sir Richard was murdered by the mob. Sir Richard’s elaborate monument with effigies survives in Exeter Cathedral, near to that of his brother the bishop . The bishop fled for safety into St Paul’s Cathedral. However he found no safety there as a mob entered and dragged him out and proceeded to beat and wound him and dragged him to the Great Cross at Cheapside “where those sons of the devil most barborously murdered him”[12] on 15 October 1326.[13][6][8] His head was chopped off and his body was thrown onto a dunghill “to be torn and devoured by dogs”
Oct 16 – Edward flees from Gloucester into Wales
Oct 25 – Edward forced to return to Cardiff
Nov 1 – Isabella establishes base at Hereford
Nov 16 – Edward captured near Llantrisant
1330 – Edward III (age 18) executed Mortimer, put his mother under house arrest.
22 August 1358- Death Hertford Castle, England
Dante is thirty-five years old, half of the biblical lifespan of 70 (Psalms 89:10, Vulgate), lost in a dark wood (understood as sin),[29][30][31] assailed by beasts (a lion, a leopard, and a she-wolf) he cannot evade and unable to find the “straight way” (diritta via) – also translatable as “right way” – to salvation (symbolized by the sun behind the mountain). Conscious that he is ruining himself and that he is falling into a “low place” (basso loco) where the sun is silent (‘l sol tace), Dante is at last rescued by Virgil, and the two of them begin their journey to the underworld.
Virgil was born a peasant
Gates of Hell: Abandon all hope, you who enter here = “Abandonnez tout espoir, vous qui entrez ici”
What is original Theme, promise, dramatic question of Inferno? Remove the misogynist filter. Your characters are all just avatars for your theme. If you’re not threatening the world then what are you doing? Why are you writing it? Isabella is trying to save the world from the Despensers.
Anti-Inferno: the souls who in life could not commit to either good or evil now must run in a futile chase after a blank banner, day after day, while hornets bite them and worms lap their blood –
Across river Acheron to real border of hell: Acheron Field – Marriage to Edward, English Channel is river Acheron. English Channel should look like it’s on fire when they sail.
1st circle: Limbo, houses pagans, including Virgil and many of the other great writers and poets of antiquity, who died without knowing of Christ.
2nd: Lust – The wind-buffeted second circle of Hell is the final destination of the lustful and adulterous — basically anyone controlled by their hormones. Edward II and Piers Gaveston, 1320 is when Hugh Despenser the Younger started sexual relations with Edward
3rd: Gluttony = During the Great Famine (1315-1317) “Isn’t gluttony a sin?”
4th: Greed – This section of Hell is reserved for the money-grubbers and overly materialistic among us.
5th: Anger –Be prepared to hoist the Jolly Roger and go to war against that one guy in line who yelled at your favorite barista, and the road rage-possessed driver who very nearly rear-ended you last week.
6th: Heresy- belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious (especially Christian) doctrine. 1321 – by autumn tensions between the two factions of Edward, Isabella and the Despenser, opposing the baronial opposition led by Thomas of Lancaster, were extremely high, with forces still mobilised across the country. At this point, Isabella undertook a pilgrimage to Canterbury, during which she left the traditional route to stop at Leeds Castle in Kent, a fortification held by Bartholomew de Badlesmere, steward of the King’s household who had by 1321 joined the ranks of Edward’s opponents. Some historians believe that the pilgrimage was a deliberate act by Isabella on Edward’s behalf to create a casus belli.
7th: Violence – Hugh Despenser was violent to Isabelle. This circle which is reserved for those who are violent in life was separated into 3 parts: Violence against others, Violence against self and Violence against God. Like the other previous circles, Dante had to break the Chain of Judecca to get through, but since the Chain was out of reach, he had to use the Minotaur‘s statue axe to cut it.
Those who acted with violence against others are boiled in the river of blood (The Phlegethon). Those who committed suicide or violence against themselves are placed as part of the Wood of the Suicides and they are condemned to writhe in eternal pain as gnarled trees. Finally, those who showed violence against God are placed in the harsh region of the Abominable Sands.
8th: Fraud – Con artists. The travelers find those who were violent toward God (the Blasphemers) Dante described ditches, but I prefer to think of the eight circle as being a giant cubicle farm full of phone and internet fraudsters.
- First Pouch, the Panderers and the Seducers (Gaveston, Dispenser, Edward) receive lashings from whips
- the second, the Flatterers must lie in a river of human feces
- The Simoniacs (the buying or selling of ecclesiastical privileges, for example pardons or benefices) in the Third Pouch hang upside down in baptismal fonts while their feet burn with fire
- In the Fourth Pouch are the Astrologists or Diviners, forced to walk with their heads on backward, a sight that moves Dante to great pity. – Magician tried to assassinate Edward and Despenser with Necromancy 1324. How did they punish him?
- In the Fifth Pouch, the Barrators (those who accepted bribes) steep in pitch while demons tear them apart.
- The Hypocrites in the Sixth Pouch must forever walk in circles, wearing heavy robes made of lead. = They hold her to a different standard than her own father, Edward I, and Edward II. She (woman) is “She-wolf” and diabolical even though the kings are treated with respect and awe. 1320 is when Hugh Despenser the Younger started sexual relations with Edward “We just keep looping back to hypocrisy, don’t we?” The way her father and Edward I and II act vs what she is held to.
- In the horrifying Seventh Pouch, the Thieves sit trapped in a pit of vipers – land confiscation
- In the Eighth Pouch of the Eighth Circle of Hell, Dante speaks to Ulysses, the great hero of Homer’s epics, now doomed to an eternity among those guilty of Spiritual Theft (the False Counselors) for his role in executing the ruse of the Trojan Horse.
- In the Ninth Pouch, the souls of Sowers of Scandal and Schism (the Despencers) walk in a circle, constantly afflicted by wounds that open and close repeatedly.
- In the Tenth Pouch, the Falsifiers suffer from horrible plagues and diseases. Lancaster’s supporters (including Roger Mortimer, William Trussell and Robert de Holland) found themselves systematically accused of false charges, being imprisoned and having their lands taken over by the Despensers.
9th Circle: Traitors – The final circle is a frozen wasteland occupied by history’s greatest traitors. Those who were traitors to their country, their kind, their friends.
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- the First Ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell, those who betrayed their kin stand frozen up to their necks in the lake’s ice. – Women who betrayed other women = Isabella de Vesci was her family, friend, and in the end betrayed her.
- In Antenora, the Second Ring, those who betrayed their country and party stand frozen up to their heads – (he gave Piers Gaveston the Crown Jewels) “There is a place in hell for those who betray their country”
- In Ptolomea, the Third Ring, those who betrayed their guests spend eternity lying on their backs in the frozen lake, their tears making blocks of ice over their eyes. Margaret de Clare, Baroness Badlesmere in charge of the castle. When the latter adamantly refused the Queen admittance, (saying she wouldn’t admit anyone without an order from her lord) fighting broke out outside the castle between Isabella’s guards and the garrison, marking the beginning of the Despenser War. https://www.openbible.info/topics/welcoming_new_guests
- Judecca, the Fourth Ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell and the lowest depth. Here, those who betrayed their benefactors spend eternity in complete icy submersion. “You would betray your benefactor for the purpose of what?”
- Re Edward and the 2 Despensers – May they be knawed in the maws of Satan.
Lucifer, then Lethe (river of forgetfulness) and travel from Hell back to Earth.
Galatians 3:28 ESV / 75 helpful votes
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
CHARACTERS:
Isabelle of France – the daughter of King Philip IV of France and Queen Joan I of Navarre. Raised in the Louvre Palace in Paris, Isabella is beautiful, intelligent, and an excellent diplomat. She’s an avid reader and highly educated for her time. She has a strong sense of morality and duty to both countries as well as to her son and crown prince, Edward III. She did love Edward. She was buried in her wedding gown which she had preserved for fifty years. Archetype: Starts as The Innocent: They’re earnest, naïve, optimistic joy-chasers.Innocent protagonist can be a delightful and refreshing change-up. An Innocent character abides by a moral code. It may not be the same moral code you or I follow, but the Innocent Child archetype always wants to do the right thing and expects the same from others. And they do not handle it well when they witness moral failings in another character, especially those they love. Loyal, honest, optimistic, naive, easily disappointed, masters of denial. Fears: rocking the boat, punishment, rejection, disappointing others. Arcs to: The Hero/Traits: Strong, persistent, courageous, honorable, stands up for those who can’t stand up for themselves, Arrogance and hubris
Théophania de Saint-Pierre – Nurse (in 1316 Edward II bestowed fifty pounds sterling and lands in Ponthieu, he calls her the lady of Bringuencourt). Acts as Virgil unti forced away in 1324, where Edward III takes over as the Virgil figure.
Edward II – “Damn your father for teaching you to read.”
Hugh De Spencer/Despenser – VILLAIN/Represents Satan in the 9th circle of hell – Edward married him to his great-niece Eleanor
Thomas of Lancaster – Tall, slim, imposing, flamboyant dress, Haughty, selfish, treacherous, and vicious. (1 – p40) Lancaster’s supporters (including Roger Mortimer, William Trussell and Robert de Holland) found themselves systematically accused of false charges, being imprisoned and having their lands taken over by the Despensers. Mortimer and Trussell eventually fled to Paris, where they were to be joined by Edward’s estranged wife, Isabella, who may have become Mortimer’s lover.
Walter de Stapledon – Stapledon was associated in the popular mind with the misdeeds of King Edward II. His head was chopped off and his body was thrown onto a dunghill “to be torn and devoured by dogs
Battles:
The Battle of Boroughbridge was fought on 16 March 1322 in England between a group of rebellious barons and the forces of King Edward II, near Boroughbridge, north-west of York. The culmination of a long period of antagonism between the King and Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, his most powerful subject, it resulted in Lancaster’s defeat and execution. This allowed Edward to re-establish royal authority and hold on to power for almost five more years.
Though not a part of the Wars of Scottish Independence, the battle is significant for its employment of tactics learned in the Scottish wars in a domestic, English conflict. Both the extensive use of foot soldiers rather than cavalry and the heavy impact caused by the longbow represented significant steps in military developments.
References:
- Queen Isabella – Alison Weir
- Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II
- Isabella the She-wolf of France
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_of_France
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Boroughbridge
- Lives of the Queens of England 1883 – Super misogynist book. Calls her vile and says she has “Black traits”,
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_de_Stapledon
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_uprising
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_England_(1326)
The name Roger Fuckbythenavel was recently discovered in the Chester County Court rolls of 1310-11. It has reignited debate about when the f-word was first used in a sexual sense. There are earlier examples of it in names – John le Fucker (1278), Henry Fuckbeggar (1286), Simon Fuckbutter (1290)– but scholars usually explain them away as misspellings or closely related to Germanic words meaning “to hit” or “to strike”. Henry would then be known for walloping beggars, not sleeping with them. The first “real” use of the f-word is thought to occur in a poem partly written in cipher from around 1475, which complains that some monks are damned because they “fuccant” women around the monastery. Fuckbythenavel could be an example of either sense, really– it could refer to striking someone in the belly or some sexual proclivity (or youthful error?). Without context, it is impossible to tell.
Truby’s 22 Steps:
- Self-revelation, need, desire: She very much wants to be a good, dutiful queen. She represents the most powerful family in the world (the Plantagenets of France) She must state that she WANTS to be a good queen, she WANTS Edward to love her.
- Ghost and story world: Her innocence from growing up with happy parents, where queens were treated with the utmost respect. Her mother was very powerful.
- Weakness and need: She wants to be a good Queen. She needs to be in control of Edward, who is weak, pathetic, incompetent.
- Inciting event: Edward sits with Gaveston at wedding
- Desire: she wants to be a good queen, her dad threatens Edward
- Ally or Allies: King Philip, Theo, John de Brocas in the stud/stables
- Opponent and/or mystery:
- Fake-ally opponent: Isabella de Vesci was her family, friend, and in the end betrayed her.
- First revelation and decision – Changed desire and motive:
- Plan:
- Opponent’s plan and main counterattack:
- Drive:
- Attack by ally:
- Apparent defeat (false resolution): Gaveston murdered
- Second revelation and decision: Obsessive drive, changed desire and motive: She once again tries to be dutiful queen, make heirs to the throne. She is respected and Edward knows that she is smarter than him. He values her council and needs her advice.
- Audience revelation: That Edward is having another affair, this time when the nefarious Hugh Despenser the Younger.
- Third revelation and decision: Dispenser convinces Edward to take away her lands, possessions, and have her French staff arrested. She realizes she has to escape, that things are worse now than ever. Her children are in danger and she has reason to believe Despenser want both her and Edward III dead.
- Gate, gauntlet, visit to death: Despenser almost kills her, she escapes, goes to France
- Battle: They oust Edward from the throne
- Self -revelation. Someone calls her a traitor. Edward III has him executed.
- Moral decision
- New Equilibrium – Her visiting her grandkids, being buried in her wedding dress that she saved for 50 years.