His wife, left to keep the castle in his absence,
was alarmed by Isabella's sudden arrival,
and refused to let her in.
Isabella was left out in the cold, and she was furious.
She never lacked a sense of her own majesty,
and now she ordered her men to force their way in.
In response, the archers on the castle walls began to shoot,
and within minutes, six of Isabella's soldiers lay dead.
Isabella's confrontation at Leeds gave her husband the chance
to send a message to all the rebel lords.
The violent reception of his queen,
Edward said, was treason,
and he sent troops and siege engines to attack the castle.
And when Lady Badlesmere threw open the gates to appeal for mercy,
she and her young children were dispatched as prisoners to the Tower,
while her men were hanged from the castle walls.