This Day in History: 1396-10-31

On 31st October 1396, Isabella of Valois became Richard II‘s second wife. Richard was twenty-nine years old and Isabella was just six years old. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and lord of Pontefract, oversaw the finalisation of the marriage agreement with the Duke of Burgundy. Later in 1406, after Richard’s death, Isabella married her cousin Charles, Duke of Orléans. She was sixteen and he was eleven. Coincidentally, Richard II died at Pontefract Castle and the Duke of Orléans was imprisoned at the castle for many years.