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The Very Rev. William Ralph Inge (1860-1954)

Inge was an author, Anglican prelate, professor of divinity at Cambridge and Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London from 1911 to 1934. Known as the "Gloomy Dean" in part for his pessimistic columns in the “Evening Standard", he published many books on religion, especially on mysticism. Amongst the quotations he is known for: “A nation is a society united by delusions about its ancestry and by common hatred of its neighbours.” and “Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter.” In 1934 he moved to Brightwell Manor, near Wallingford, where he lived out the rest of his life, writing books such as "A Rustic Moralist" (1937) and "The End of an Age" (1949).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ralph_Inge
http://www.ccel.org/i/inge/light/

William Ralph Inge

Isabella of France (c.1295 –1358)

Isabella was the Queen Consort of Edward II of England. She was born in Paris sometime between 1288 and 1296, the daughter of King Philip IV of France and Queen Jeanne of Navarre. Isabella and Edward II had four children, including Edward, later Edward III and John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall. She asked Edward II to banish his favourite Hugh le Despenser the younger, but Edward only did this temporarily. She became castellan of Wallingford in 1317. She returned to France and gathered an army to oppose Edward, in alliance with Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, who had become her lover. In 1326, Isabella and Mortimer landed in Suffolk with their troops. King Edward offered a reward for their deaths. Isabella responded by offering twice as much money for the head of Hugh the younger Despenser (this decree was issued from Wallingford Castle). Edward's few allies deserted him without a battle; the Despensers were killed, and Edward himself was captured and forced to abdicate in favour of his eldest son, Edward III of England. Since the young king was only fourteen when he was crowned in 1327, Isabella and Mortimer ruled as regents in his place. However when Edward III became 18 he had Isabella and Mortimer taken prisoner and Mortimer was executed for treason. Isabella was allowed to live in Castle Rising in Norfolk.

Isabella of France

On 31 October, 1396, when Isabella (daughter of King Charles VI of France) was six, she was betrothed to the widower Richard II. In 1399 Isabella was moved to Wallingford Castle for protection while Richard went on a campaign in Ireland. When, on his return to England, Richard II was imprisoned and murdered, Isabella was ordered by new king Henry IV to move out of Windsor. Henry wanted her to marry his son (later Henry V), but she refused and was allowed to go back to France (her sister Katherine of Valois later married Henry V). Isabella later married Charles of Valois. She died in childbirth at the age of 20. Charles of Valois was later held captive in Wallingford Castle.

Isabella of Valois