 Isabeau 's life is well documented , most likely because Charles ' illness placed her in an unusual position of power . Nevertheless , not much is known about her personal characteristics , and historians even disagree about her appearance . She is variously described as " small and brunette " or " tall and blonde " . The contemporaneous evidence is contradictory : chroniclers said of her either that she was " beautiful and hypnotic , or so obese through dropsy that she was crippled . " Despite living in France after her marriage , she spoke with a heavy German accent that never diminished , which Tuchman describes as giving her an " alien " cast at the French court . 
