User:Aldebaran69/sandbox

Even as a widow, Isabel became one of the most important figures in 14th-century Kingdom of Norway.^{[19] [21]} She was very devout and attached to the local Church and, in 1305, she attended with King Haakon V and his wife Euphemia of Rügen the consecration of the new Bishop of Bergen, Arne Sigurdsson.^{[3] [4]} Very popular for her charitable works, Isabel was witness to numerous bequests and contracts^[7] and in 1320 the Bishop of Bergen Audfinn Sigurdsson granted her a house with servants.^{[3] [4] [6] [22]} Later the diocese granted her the lifelong use of several other houses owned by the Bishop in thanks for her new large donations.^{[4] [7] [22]}

She was also very active in foreign and domestic politics. Despite the general disinterest of her brother-in-law and new King Haakon V of Norway towards the British Isles, Isabella continued her late husband's pro-Scottish policy.^[21] Although there is no certain evidence, some historians suspect that Robert the Bruce, after the defeat against the English at the Battle of Methven on 19 June 1306, to escape capture, had taken refuge in the outer Scottish islands, probably the Orkneys Islands, then a Norwegian dominion, under the protection of his sister, spending the winter of 1306-1307 there and reorganising his surviving forces.^{[3] [20] [23]} That Robert was hosted directly in Norway by Isabel, a fact that is occasionally cited,^{[3] [20]} appears less likely, even if King Haakon V had shown sympathy for the Scottish cause by previously providing safe conduct to William Wallace.^[24] It is also possible that Isabel, disturbed by the persecution suffered by her family at the hands of the English (her brothers Neil, Thomas and Alexander were brutally killed, while all her sisters had been held captive for many years),^[7] helped the Scottish cause with sending troops and, above all, funding.^[3] In 1312 she acted as mediator between Haakon V and his brother Robert I, who in the meantime had become King of Scotland, regarding the Scottish-Norwegian dispute over the Orkney Islands, facilitating the signing of a treaty in Inverness.^{[3] [4] [20] [25]}

In later years Isabel remained informed of Scottish politics through her sister Christina, with whom she maintained a close correspondence.^{[3] [7]} In 1339 she interceded with Magnus VII to pardon a man brought to trial before the king.^[7] During the 1330s she probably gave hospitality to Scottish exiles caused by the Second War of Scottish Independence, such as her nephew William III, Earl of Ross and Malise V, Earl of Strathearn.^[26] In 1341, through Christina's mediation, she had a Norwegian merchant's debt remitted in Aberdeen.^{[3] [4]} In 1342 her nephew, King David II of Scotland, presented her with a sum of money, which was sent by messenger.^[4]

At family level, Isabel tried to arrange an advantageous marriage for her daughter Ingeborg.^[4] According to the Icelandic annals , in 1300 the princess was betrothed to Jón Magnússon, Earl of Orkney and Mormaer of Caithness, probably to quickly find a new protector to affiliate with after the death of Eric II and to strengthen her ties with Scotland.^{[3] [4] [21]} Jón Magnússon, of whom little or nothing is known, must have been already old, however, and died ca. 1311, before the marriage being solemnized, thus thwarting the Queen Dowager's maneuver.^{[3] [4] [21]}

In 1312, Isabel married her daughter to Valdemar Magnusson, Prince of Sweden and Duke of Finland; the union only produced one son, Eric, born in 1316 but died in childhood. Valdemar himself died in 1318, following his arrest during the Nyköping Banquet, after which probably his brother, King Birger of Sweden, starved him to death. Ingeborg then rebelled and together with an anti-royal league chased the King away in 1319 and placed on the Swedish throne her nephew Prince Magnus Eriksson of Norway, grandson of Haakon V, who upon his grandfather's death shortly afterwards would unify the two kingdoms.^[3] Isabel's exact role in the events of 1318-1319 is not known but, given her political importance, it is very likely that she at least supported the action against Birger, subsequently exercising a certain influence on Magnus' government.^[3] There are no surviving records of the relationship between Isabel and her daughter Ingeborg, who remained living in Sweden until her death.^[7]

She never returned to Scotland, also because of the continuous wars with the Kingdom of England led first by her brother Robert I and then by her nephew David II.^[3] After the death of Eric II in 1299 she never remarried, remaining a widow for almost sixty years.^{[3] [5]} Given her prestige, she continued to be officially called "Queen of Norway" even after leaving the throne.^[27]

In 1357 she was mentioned in a document attesting as one of the heirs of her daughter Ingeborg, who had died in that year;^{[4] [7] [28] [29]} Isabel, already very old, died shortly afterwards, according to the Icelandic annals in Bergen in 1358, at an uncertain age but around eighty, considerable for the time.^{[4] [7]}