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Edward II of England

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and
before (including Roman Britain); Monarchs of Great Britain

                   Edward II
     By the Grace of God, King of England
   Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitaine
              Image:Edward2.JPG
   Reign       7 July 1307 - 20 January 1327
   Coronation  25 February 1308
   Born        25 April 1284
               Caernarfon Castle
   Died        21 September? 1327
               Berkeley Castle
   Buried      Gloucester Cathedral
   Predecessor Edward I
   Successor   Edward III
   Consort     Isabella of France (c. 1295- 1358)
   Issue       Edward III ( 1312- 1377)
               John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall
               ( 1316- 1336)
               Eleanor of Woodstock ( 1318- 1355)
               Joanna ( 1321- 1362)
   Royal House Plantagenet
   Father      Edward I ( 1239- 1307)
   Mother      Eleanor of Castile ( 1246- 1290)

   Edward II, ( 25 April 1284 – 21 September? 1327), of Caernarfon, was
   King of England from 1307 until deposed in January, 1327. His tendency
   to ignore his nobility, in favour of low-born favourites, led to
   constant political unrest and eventually to his deposition.

   Edward was the first monarch to establish colleges in the universities
   of Oxford and Cambridge, he founded Cambridge's King's Hall in 1317 and
   gave Oxford's Oriel College its royal charter in 1326. Both colleges
   were to have the favour of Edward's son, Edward III, who confirmed
   Oriel's charter in 1327 and refounded King's Hall in 1337.

Prince of Wales

   The fourth son of Edward I of England by his first wife Eleanor of
   Castile, Edward II was born at Caernarfon Castle. He was the first
   English prince to hold the title of the Prince of Wales, which was
   formalized by the Lincoln Parliament of 7 February 1301. (The story
   that his father presented Edward II as a newborn to the Welsh as their
   future native prince is unfounded; the story first appeared in the work
   of 16th century Welsh " antiquary" David Powel.)

   Edward became heir to the throne when he was just a few months old,
   upon the death of his elder brother Alfonso. His father, a notable
   military leader, made a point of training young Edward in warfare and
   statecraft starting in his childhood. Edward however preferred boating
   and craftsman work, things thought beneath kings at the time. It has
   been hypothesized that Edward's love for "low brow" activities was
   developed because of his overbearing and ruthless father. The prince
   took part in several Scots campaigns, but "all his father's efforts
   could not prevent his acquiring the habits of extravagance and
   frivolity which he retained all through his life". The king attributed
   his son’s problems to Piers Gaveston, a Gascon knight some believe to
   have been the prince's lover. Gaveston was exiled by the king after the
   then Prince Edward attempted to bestow upon him a title reserved for
   royalty. Ironically it was the king who had originally chosen Gaveston
   to be a suitable friend for his son, in 1298. When Edward I died, on
   July 7, 1307, the first act of the prince, now King Edward II, was to
   recall Gaveston. His next was to abandon the Scots campaign on which
   his father had set his heart.

King of England

   Edward II, depicted in Cassell's History of England, published circa
   1902
   Edward II, depicted in Cassell's History of England, published circa
   1902

   The new king was physically as impressive as his father. He was,
   however, lacking in drive and ambition and was "the first king after
   the Conquest who was not a man of business" (Dr Stubbs). His main
   interest was in entertainment, though he also took pleasure in
   athletics and in the practice of mechanical crafts. He had been so
   dominated by his father that he had little confidence in himself, and
   was always in the hands of some favourite with a stronger will than his
   own.
                 English Royalty
               House of Plantagenet
   Armorial of Plantagenet
                    Edward II
      Edward III
       John, Earl of Cornwall
       Eleanor, Duchess of Gueldres and Zutphen
       Joan, Queen of Scots

   In the early years of his reign Gaveston held this role, acting as
   regent when Edward went to Boulogne in northern France, where, on 25
   January 1308, he married Isabella of France, the daughter of King
   Philip IV of France, "Philip the Fair"; she was the sister of three
   French kings. The marriage was doomed to failure almost from the
   beginning. Isabella was neglected by her husband, who spent much of his
   time with the few friends he shared power with, conspiring on how to
   limit the powers of the Peerage in order to consolidate his father's
   legacy for himself. Their marriage nevertheless produced two sons,
   Edward ( 1312– 1377), who would succeed his father on the throne as
   Edward III, and John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall ( 1316– 1336), and two
   daughters, Eleanor ( 1318– 1355) and Joanna ( 1321– 1362), wife of
   David II of Scotland. Edward had also fathered at least one
   illegitimate son, Adam FitzRoy, who accompanied his father in the
   Scottish campaigns of 1312, and who died shortly after on 18 September
   1322.

Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall

   Gaveston received the earldom of Cornwall with the hand of the king's
   niece, Margaret of Gloucester. The honour of marriage with a close
   relative of the King was generally reserved for more senior or proven
   nobles; the Earldom of Cornwall, at £4000 p.a. being one of the richest
   earldoms in the Kingdom, was viewed as belonging rightfully only to a
   son of the King, and had indeed been intended by Edward I for his
   second son, Thomas of Brotherton. The barons grew resentful of Gaveston
   and twice insisted on his banishment. On each occasion Edward recalled
   his friend, whereupon the barons, headed by the king's cousin Thomas,
   Earl of Lancaster, went to war against king and favourite and in 1312
   Gaveston was executed as a traitor by the Earl of Lancaster and his
   allies, claiming that Gaveston led the King to folly. Gaveston was run
   through and beheaded on Blacklow Hill, outside the small village of
   Leek Wootton, where a monument (Gaveston's Cross) still stands today.

   Edward, appalled by the death of his friend, swore, "He acted as a
   fool. If he had taken my advice, he would never have fallen into the
   hands of the earls...I guessed that what has now happened would occur."
   He immediately became focused on the destruction of those earls who had
   betrayed him, resulting in him temporarily becoming more clear in
   thought and deed; this coincided with the rebels losing impetus (with
   Gaveston dead, they saw little need to continue). As a result, the
   earls were prevented from marching on London, and instead loitered at
   Ware in Herefordshire, steadily weakening, whilst the King gained
   advice, money and arms from others. By mid-July, the Earl of Pembroke
   was advising the King to make war on the rebels; the rebels, unwilling
   to risk their lives, entered negotiations in the September of 1312.
   Eventually, in October, the Earls of Lancaster, Warwick, Arundel and
   Hereford begged Edward's pardon.

Conflict with Scotland

   During the quarrels between Edward and the "ordainers", Robert the
   Bruce was steadily re-conquering Scotland. His progress was so great
   that he had occupied all the fortresses save Stirling, which he
   besieged. The danger of losing Stirling shamed Edward and the barons
   into an attempt to retrieve their lost ground. In addition, Edward saw
   a chance for his sworn revenge against Lancaster, if he were to return
   home in front of a large, victorious army. Lancaster, his greatest
   Magnate, however refused to join the campaign. In June 1314 Edward led
   a huge army into Scotland in the hope of relieving Stirling. On 24
   June, his ill-disciplined and poorly led force was completely defeated
   by Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn. Henceforth Bruce was sure of his
   position as King of Scots, and took vengeance for Edward I's activities
   by devastating the northern counties of England.

Political factions

   With the English disaster at Bannockburn, the advantage passed to
   Lancaster's party. Lancaster had shown some ability as a leader of
   opposition, but lacked creativity or the leadership ability of previous
   baronial leaders like Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. He was
   the de facto leader because he was the wealthiest of the barons, not
   because of his skills. The perception was not that he wanted Edward to
   be more equitable with his distribution of gifts, but that he wanted
   Edward to give everything to him instead. He also was suspected of
   having made a secret understanding with Bruce, in hopes of keeping the
   king weak.

   Lancaster and Lord Warwick demanded changes to be made to the royal
   household, claiming that the King had ignored the Ordinances since
   Gaveston's death, had wrongfully appointed men to offices they did not
   deserve, and had wrongfully forgiven debts. The Bannockburn humiliation
   was explained as Divine punishment for Edward's flouting of the
   Ordinances, since the Archbishop of Canterbury had threatened all who
   disobeyed them with Excommunication. Accordingly, Parliament met in
   York in the September of 1314, to discuss this matter.

   Edward was saved from excessive humiliation in this Parliament by a
   phenomenon typical of all politics, namely division of the opposition:
   in this case, the division of the Barons into fiercely contending
   factions. In this case, the King had the support of the powerful Aymer
   of Valence, Earl of Pembroke, and also that of Pembroke's kinsman (and
   Edward's childhood friend), Sir Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, both of
   whom, together with others, were sympathetic to the King due to their
   hatred of Lancaster, and commanded enough political authority to make
   their sympathy effective. This 'middle party' dreaded the overweening
   power of the Earl of Lancaster, and feared a return to England as it
   had stood under Simon de Montfort. Accordingly, the replacement
   Chancellor and Treasurer were both sympathetic to the King (and one was
   also a friend of Lord Mortimer), and other allies of the King whom
   Lancaster wished removed were kept in place. Most of these were allies
   or friends of the Mortimer and the de Valence (Pembroke) family. Hugh
   le Despenser, the husband of one of the Gloucester sisters (Edward's
   nieces) was not.

   The result of this was that the dramatic curtailment of the King's
   power envisioned by Lancaster and his followers (with the associated
   benefits for themselves) failed to emerge; instead, Edward emerged from
   the crisis with a bruised ego, a fading grief for Gaveston, an all but
   lost Scotland, but little loss of real power. However, he was already
   breeding new troubles with his favouring of the Despenser family.

The Favourites

   Since the death of Gaveston, the King had been showing increasing
   favour to his nephew-by-marriage (who was also Gaveston's
   brother-in-law), Hugh the Younger Despenser. Although the King listened
   to and trusted the advice given by Lords such as Pembroke and Hereford,
   he had little personal liking for them, in large part due to their
   involvement in the murder of Gaveston. He also had a large amount of
   trust and liking for Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, but that man was more
   valuable to Edward far away in Ireland, quelling revolts and the
   Scottish Invasion, than he could be as a court favourite. Accordingly,
   it was Despenser, of Edward's own age, who rose in the affections of
   the King, becoming as close to and favoured by the King as Gaveston had
   been. Initially with Despenser rose also William de Montagu, Roger
   Damory, and Hugh Audley.

   If the hatred the Barons had borne Gaveston had been very great, that
   which they would eventually bear these four, in particular the
   Despenser family, would prove even greater. "Worse than Gaveston," was
   how chroniclers described their effect upon the King. Since Damory,
   Audley and Despenser were married to the three de Clare sisters,
   heiresses to the rich Gloucester estates, they accordingly were placed
   in a high position in the realm, and were a real threat to the
   influence and power of Lancaster. The Barons were especially indignant
   at the privileges Edward lavished upon the Despenser father and son,
   especially when the younger Despenser began in 1318 to strive to
   procure for himself the earldom of Gloucester, and the lands associated
   with it, in right of his wife Eleanor de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de
   Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford and Joan of Acre and niece of Edward II.
   Accordingly, Lancaster yet again accused the King of disobeying the
   Ordinances, and demanded that all four favourites be banished - a
   demand which was predictably ignored.

   By late 1316, tension in England was so great that it appeared to be at
   the point of breaking into full-scale conflict. The King, ignoring
   Lancaster's demands and fearing war, mustered an army at York, in
   preparation for any conflict beginning whilst Parliament met there in
   October. Pembroke and Bartholemew de Badlesmere (head of a particularly
   rich and influential family, whose daughter was married to Roger
   Mortimer's heir), as two particularly respected and senior politicians,
   urged the supporters of both the King and Lancaster to come to an
   agreement between them; Lancaster, fearing that he would be murdered,
   refused to attend any conference, or go to Court. He finally agreed to
   attend Court in September 1317; at this point, Edward very foolishly
   was persuaded by his favourites to attack Pontefract Castle, a
   possession of the Earl, in retaliation to Lancaster's occupation of two
   royal castles under the jurisdiction of Damory. Pembroke and Badlesmere
   managed to prevent any bloodshed; however, when they were left
   despairing by Lancaster's withdrawal from negotiations, they decided to
   take a new line of behavour - they would aim to influence the King's
   favourites. Accordingly, by Spring 1318, the two had enlisted the
   cooperation of Roger Damory (who promised to advise the King only
   according to the wishes of Pembroke and Badlesmere), and were in a
   position of real influence. Accordingly, by August 1318, agreement was
   secured - gifts contrary to the Ordinances would be revoked, and
   Damory, Montagu and Audley would be banished from Court. The
   Despensers, however, would remain near to the King. Accordingly, the
   King, having lost three of his favourites, vested his affections
   entirely in Hugh the Younger Despenser; at the same time, Roger
   Mortimer, a long valued and respected, yet not entirely trusted, vassal
   of the King, began to slide in the King's regard, due to both
   Mortimer's behaviour (he was very independent minded), and due to the
   old rivalry between the Mortimer and the Despenser families.

Rule of the Despensers

   By 1320, the Despensers were extraordinarily powerful in England. The
   younger Despenser had already been responsible for the killing of the
   Welsh rebel Llywellyn Bren, and had suffered no punishment. He had
   attempted to seize lands once associated with the County of Gloucester,
   for example Gwennllwg from Hugh Audley in 1317 (having already been
   granted the Lordship of Glamorgan, the richest part of the Gloucester
   inheritance, in that same year). He had also been made King's
   Chamberlain in 1318, granting him control over access to the King. And
   by 1320, it was evident that he was attempting to lay claim to the
   Earldom of Gloucester itself, whose rightful disposition was unclear.
   This attitude earned him the enmity of Hugh Audley and Roger Damory,
   the two former favourites and husbands of the other two Gloucester
   heiresses, whose marital inheritances were threatened by Despenser's
   ambitions. It also angered the Earl of Hereford and Roger Mortimer,
   both of whom had been angered by Despenser's murder of Llywellyn, and
   whose lands were also threatened by Despenser.

   By 1320, though, the situation in England was becoming dangerously
   unstable. The King, desiring to please the voracious Despenser, had
   granted to him Gwennllwg, a former Gloucester possession but inherited
   by Audley in his wife's name; Edward's new grant went against all law
   and right. Not even in Gaveston's day had the King so blatantly treated
   England as a personal fief (which it was in theory only), nor had he
   then granted Gaveston the lands of another at a whim, an action which
   went against all moral and legal justification. Edward followed this by
   ignoring laws of the land in favour of Despenser: when Lord de Braose
   of Gower sold his Lordship to his son-in-law (an action entirely lawful
   in the Welsh Marches), Despenser demanded that the King grant Gower to
   him instead. The King, against all laws, confiscated Gower from the
   purchaser, de Mowbray; in doing this, he invoked the fury of most of
   England, and brought armed resistance to himself. At the same time,
   Despenser served as his 'right-hand man', preventing the King from
   being exposed to duties which Edward found tedious, and taking many
   features of his administration onto his own shoulders. This led to the
   opposition even of the Earl of Pembroke.

   In 1321, the Earl of Hereford and Roger Mortimer took up the leadership
   of the Marcher Lords, and took up arms, along with the Earl of
   Lancaster and his allies, against the Despenser family. The Marchers
   had on their side some of the best fighters in the realm, in particular
   the battle-hardened Mortimer, whose conduct in Ireland had so recently
   earned him great praise. The Despensers had very few military knights.
   The rebel force then proceeded to ravage Despenser lands, causing
   massive amounts of damage, and stirring up an almost united national
   force of hatred against the Despenser family, which Gaveston had never
   experienced. Indeed, many from all sides now heartily regretted
   Gaveston's death - where he had not been guilty of more than
   flamboyance, irreverence, and a worrying closeness to the King, the
   Despensers were described as "brutal and greedy," having "wronged
   many"; the elder Despenser was accused of having "accused many of
   poaching from royal hunting grounds, many of these he vilely
   disinherited, some he forced into exile, from many he extorted unjust
   sums of money, and collected a thousand librates of land by means of
   threats...By general judgement, he justly lost what he had accumulated
   from the losses of others." By the end of July 1321, the forces of
   Roger Mortimer were outside London, awaiting a break of the deadlock.

   In 1321, under the mediation of Lord Pembroke, an agreement between the
   King and the rebels was hammered out. On the 14 August at Westminster
   Hall, in the presence of the rebels, and accompanied by the Earls of
   Pembroke and Richmond, the King declared the Despenser father and son
   both banished. Further legal manoueverings affixed the blame rightfully
   due to the Despensers (and some which was not) to the two men, and
   absolved the rebels of any blame. The Despensers retired from England
   in a spiteful and vicious mood: whilst the elder retired to Bordeaux,
   fulminating against the greed of his son which had led to their
   downfall, the younger became an undiscriminating pirate, "a sea
   monster", whose actions greatly damaged England's international
   relations and trade.

Edward Victorious

   The victory of the rebels, however, proved their undoing. With the
   removal of the Despensers, many nobles in England, regardless of
   previous affiliation, now attempted to move into the vacuum left by the
   two. Hoping to win Edward's favour, these nobles were willing to aid
   the King in his revenge against the rebels, and thus increase their own
   wealth and power. Edward himself therefore not only desired revenge; he
   also had the means to attain it.

   The excuse for the opening of hostilities came when Lady Badlesmere of
   Leeds Castle, Kent, refused to give Queen Isabella - returning to
   London from Canterbury - lodging for the night, having been ordered by
   her husband Bartholemew de Badlesmere to grant access to no-one.
   Accordingly, the furious Queen ordered her men to force the gate.
   Ill-equipped to attack a well-defended castle, nine of the men
   perished, and the shamed Queen was forced to return to her husband -
   who used the incident as an excuse to raise an army, and attack Leeds
   Castle. The result was the division of the rebel alliance: the Marcher
   Lords, led by Mortimer and Hereford, chose to support Badlesmere,
   expecting all those who had hated the Despensers to aid them. They did
   not. Instead, the Earl of Lancaster - who detested Badlesmere -
   broadcasted his disapproval of the march to aid Badlesmere. As a
   result, the rebels failed to send troops to Leeds, which was captured
   by the King. Twelve of its garrison were hanged; the Badlesmere
   womenfolk and children were imprisoned in the Tower of London.

   In the following campaigns, Lancaster offered his support, but failed
   to give force of arms to the Marcher forces - his excuse being their
   protection of de Badlesmere. The Mortimers therefore sued for peace.
   Having been lied to by a desperate Lord Pembroke - who claimed that the
   King would spare their lives and pardon them - Lords Roger Mortimer de
   Chirk and de Wigmore submitted to the King, and were imprisoned in the
   Tower of London. Soon after this, the Despenser father and son returned
   to England. Lancaster, viewed with disdain for his abandonment of the
   Marcher Lords, abandoned by his vassals, attempted to flee to
   Dunstanburgh Castle. They were caught at Boroughbridge near York,
   however, between two royal armies. The Earl of Hereford was there
   murdered gruesomely: he was stabbed from below in the intestines with a
   pike. Lord Damory, the former favourite of the King, also perished. The
   Earl of Lancaster was caught by Sir Andrew de Harclay, the Sheriff of
   Carlisle, along with the other rebellious Lords, and led to gaol in
   York. From there, six northern barons were immediately hanged, drawn
   and quartered at Pontefract Castle. Lancaster, due to his royal blood,
   was given a show trial, at which he was allowed no defence; he was then
   dressed in an old surcoat and led a mile from Pontefract on an ass, at
   which point he was beheaded in the presence of the King.

   The death of Lancaster was followed by further harsh reprisals from the
   King and the Despensers. More than a dozen lords were killed or
   executed, and many knights died or were imprisoned. Property was
   confiscated, and women and children of rebels imprisoned. Only a few,
   such as the Lords Mortimer, were spared - the two Roger Mortimers,
   despite their crimes against the King, were sentenced to perpetual
   imprisonment rather than death.

   With all opposition crushed, the King and the Despensers were left the
   unquestionable masters of England. At the York Parliament of 1322,
   Edward issued a Statute which revoked all previous Ordinances designed
   to limit his power and to prevent any further encroachment upon it. The
   King would no longer be subject to the will of Parliament, and the
   Lords, Prelates and Commons were to suffer his will in silence.
   Parliament degenerated into a mere advisory council.

   The younger Despenser, meanwhile, took on the guise of both first
   minister and national bully. He demanded that the King gather a large
   Treasury, taking money from whoever he could and paying as little as
   possible. He threatened anyone he wished to constrain with fines so
   crippling that they could not pay, thereby ensuring their obedience to
   himself. He seized any lands he wished: thus, he was given lands by the
   King which rightfully belonged to Roger Mortimer of Chirk and Alice de
   Lacy, dowager Countess of Lancaster; and the King's brother, the Earl
   of Kent, was forced to rent out lands to Despenser for a nominal
   amount, before later being forced to sell them for a farcically small
   sum. He also seized the inheritance of his sister in law, Elizabeth de
   Clare, the widow of Lord Damory.

   Says Ian Mortimer of Despenser: "It would be tedious and depressing to
   list all of Despenser's misdealings. Through extraordinary connivance,
   intrigue, extortion, oppression and royal nepotism, he acquired
   whatever he wanted. Lands, money, influence, and prestige all flooded
   his way...what Despenser requested, the King invariably agreed."

Queen Isabella's Resistance

   It was unfortunate in the extreme for the Despensers that they should
   have engaged the hatred of the Queen so vigourously. She had never
   cared for any of the King's favourites; for the Despensers, she
   reserved a particular detestation, due to their ruthlessness and their
   manipulation of the King. She also hated the tyranny they were
   inflicting upon England, especially the imprisonment of noblewomen, and
   their treatment of the people of London (for whom Isabella cared - they
   had welcomed her upon her arrival to England), whom they subjected to
   unbearable taxation; and she detested the separation of children from
   their families, and the undermining of her respect and authority by the
   younger Despenser.

   Isabella's patience finally snapped during the Summer of 1322, during
   yet another Scottish Campaign. Isabella had, for the first time,
   accompanied the King to the border as part of the campaign, during
   which she stayed at Tynemouth Abbey. The Scots surprised Edward and
   Despenser at Blackhow Moor, causing them to flee. Isabella, the King
   abandoned to the mercy of Robert Bruce, who still remembered the
   treatment of his women by Edward I. Isabella, however, managed to
   escape - although two of her ladies in waiting died - in a boat willing
   to take her to England, despite the control of the coastal routes by
   the Fleming allies of the Scots.

   Upon her return to England, the Queen began drifting towards active
   opposition to her husband. She began to complain of the mistreatment of
   Joan Mortimer, wife of Sir Roger Mortimer de Wigmore. She also may have
   had a hand in the escape of Mortimer from the Tower. This escape
   pitched the King into further dread of insurrection, and he expended
   great efforts upon seeking out Mortimer. He failed to discover more
   than that Mortimer was staying with his cousins, the de Fiennes family,
   which led many of those who hated the Despensers to gather hope, and
   begin making sporadic attacks upon Despenser property.

   At the same time, dispute between France and England broke out over the
   thorny subject of Gascony. Edward had refused to pay homage to the
   French King for the territory upon his succession, and had failed to
   stamp out various insurrections in the territory. This legally obliged
   the French King to confiscate the territory. When a disagreement arose
   between England and France over the building of a fortified town in
   English territory, during which a French official was murdered by the
   Gascon Lord Raymond Bernard, and when Edward (on Despenser's advice)
   refused yet again to do homage for Gascony, Isabella's brother, Charles
   IV of France, declared the territory forfeit.

   This incurred the King's wrath against his wife, Isabella. It was
   further stirred when she declared her support for the Bishops of
   Hereford and Lincoln, both accused of aiding Mortimer's escape. She was
   ordered to write to the French King with a request for peace, which
   Edward claimed to have been the purpose of their marriage. He refused,
   however, to allow her to mediate with her brother in person, as the
   Pope suggested be done - Edward feared that she would ally with
   Mortimer. Instead, he kept her under strict control, refused to repay
   his debts to her, and set his niece Eleanor - wife of the younger
   Despenser - to watch over the Queen and to read her letters. In
   September 1324, all her property was confiscated following rumours of
   Mortimer invading from Hainault, and Despenser reputedly requested a
   divorce for the King from the Pope. The Queen then lost most of her
   living expenses, all French people in England, including her servants,
   were arrested, and her children were removed from her care and given
   into that of Eleanor de Clare.

   Edward then proceeded to bungle attempts to regain Gascony, sending his
   half-brother the Earl of Kent to lead the campaign. Kent was young and
   inexperienced; he won the hostility of the Gascons by attempting to
   extort money from them, and by abducting a young girl from Agen, before
   losing large amounts of territory to his uncle, Charles of Valois, and
   being forced to call a truce. The King then attempted to conscript
   large numbers of men from England into the army, threatening to hang
   without trial any who returned to their homes. The army then proved to
   be ill-funded and ill-provisioned, and failed to make any headway in
   Gascony.

   Charles, in secret alliance with Mortimer, then made Edward an offer:
   if the King sent Isabella and his heir, Prince Edward of Windsor, to
   France to pay homage to the French King, all Edward's French lands
   would be returned. This was clearly a trap: the Queen and the heir
   could easily be used against Edward. However, it would also allow
   Edward to regain his lost French possessions with little trouble.
   Edward accordingly sent Isabella, promising to send Prince Edward when
   further concessions were made. Isabella was sent to France in March
   1325 in the company of spies and chaperones - her women were all
   married to loyal retainers of Edward, and her male retainers were all
   staunchly royalist. Nonetheless, the Queen was visibly overjoyed to be
   leaving England, which would not only allow her to visit her family and
   native land, but also allow her to escape the Despensers and the King,
   all of whom she by now detested.

   Isabella initially acted in a manner designed to allay suspicions - she
   toured the country briefly, met her sister-in-law the Queen of France,
   and negotiated with her brother over the future of Gascony. She even
   wrote to Edward, after a bad start to negotiations, claiming that she
   was considering returning to England, but that if he agreed, she would
   remain in France. Edward agreed to the latter, and sent her some money.

   On 31 May 1325, Isabella agreed to a Peace Treaty. It favoured France:
   Gascony would be entirely surrendered to Charles, and then partially
   returned. France would also retain a measure of power in the region,
   thereby limiting that of England there, and would retain a military
   presence there. Nonetheless, Edward had no choice but to agree to it:
   the King of France would make no further concessions, England was not
   able at that time to secure Gascony militarily, and the Treaty was
   considered better than the complete loss of the region. He therefore
   did so on 13 June, and announced that he, rather than his son, would
   pay homage to the King.

   Edward initially intended to go to France and pay homage himself: if he
   were to send his son, the Prince would almost inevitably be used as a
   bargaining chip. The younger Despenser, however - recalling the fate of
   Piers Gaveston when divided from the King - knew full well that, were
   he left alone in England without the King, his downfall would be swift
   and implacable. Accordingly, he desperately attempted to persuade
   members of the royal council to persuade the King to remain in England.
   Given that the council was not fond of him, it was hardly surprising
   that they largely spoke in favour of the King going to France. Nor that
   Henry of Lancaster, brother of the deceased Earl Thomas, proved the
   deciding voice in urging the King to go. Despenser, unable to persuade
   the King in public, made clear in private to the King the extent to
   which the Despenser family would be endangered should Edward leave the
   realm. Edward gave in to Despenser, and feigned illness. He then sent
   the Bishop of Winchester to France to make an alternative arrangement:
   and to order Isabella back to England. Isabella, however, bluffed him,
   promising to return when her son had paid homage to her brother. And
   Edward invested his son with the title of Duke of Aquitaine, and sent
   him to Isabella in France.

   It is perhaps unsurprising that in his handling of the matter, Edward
   proved right the fears his father had so long ago had regarding the
   friendship between Edward and Gaveston. Edward I had dreaded that the
   binding of the King to a commoner would restrict the King and bring his
   ruin. Now he was proved right: for, instead of going to France himself,
   which would have no doubt doomed le Despenser but preserved himself,
   Edward II chose to send his heir - knowing full well the dangers of
   doing so - into the hands of France and his wife, in order to preserve
   the life of his favourite. This would prove a gross tactical error, and
   bring about the ruin of himself and le Despenser.

   The signal that Edward had miscalculated came after Prince Edward had
   performed his homage to the King of France. The Bishop of Exeter,
   Isabella's enemy, demanded on King Edward's behalf, and in front of the
   French King and court, that she must now immediately return home -
   claiming in front of all that Edward would tolerate no excuse for her
   intransigence. Isabella's expenses, the Bishop continued, would be paid
   only if she returned to England, as was her moral and legal duty. He
   finished by insisting that she had no choice in the matter. Isabella,
   however, thought otherwise, and - now that she had her son with her -
   declared (to the amazement, and ill-concealed delight, of the court)
   that she would not return to England until Despenser was removed. Her
   brother, to the Bishop's horror, supported her, vowing that as her
   brother he would let her reside in France for as long as she wished.
   The Bishop they sent packing to England, disguised as a hermit, where
   he reported the events to the outraged King.

Invasion by Isabella and Mortimer

   The King did not immediately give up hope of persuading the Queen to
   return to England. In reply to an earlier statement from her that she
   would not return "for fear and doubt of Hugh Despenser", he wrote to
   her in December, saying that he did not believe her to dislike
   Despenser, and claiming that Despenser had always done his utmost to
   advance the Queen (a statement which no doubt flabbergasted Isabella,
   considering that she was the daughter of a King and Queen, and Hugh le
   Despenser a mere Baron's son). He also flatly refused to her
   complaints. He then proceeded to order all of the Bishops in England to
   write to her in the guise of disapproving fathers, ordering her to
   return home - he even dictated the text of their letters.

   However, when Isabella's retinue (loyal to Edward, and ordered back to
   England by Isabella) returned to the English Court on 23 December, they
   brought shocking news for the King: Isabella had formed a liaison with
   Roger Mortimer in Paris. Furthermore, they were now plotting an
   invasion of England. Edward had already been driven to hatred of
   Mortimer by his rebellion and escape; now, appalled at being cuckolded
   by his enemy, he not only prepared for invasion, but continued his
   revenge against Mortimer, sending soldiers to arrest the man's mother,
   Margaret de Fiennes (who, like her son, managed to evade capture by the
   King). He was then left betrayed by others close to him: his son
   refused to leave his mother (claiming that he wanted to remain with her
   during her unease and unhappiness); his brother, the Earl of Kent,
   married Mortimer's cousin, Margaret Wake; and other nobles, such as
   John de Cromwell and the Earl of Richmond, also chose to remain with
   Mortimer.

   In February 1326, the Pope wrote to Despenser, ordering him to leave
   court to avert civil war. Despenser however responded by claiming that
   the Queen had no right to demand his withdrawal. He also claimed that
   Isabella was refusing to leave France because Mortimer was threatening
   to kill her, and that she was sharing her bed with Mortimer. Despenser
   then attempted to have the Queen assassinated. In September 1326,
   Mortimer and Isabella invaded England from Hainault, landing in
   Suffolk, on the north bank of the Orwell, in the lands of the Earl of
   Norfolk (the King's half-brother, who detested Despenser).

   Edward was amazed by their small numbers of soldiers, and immediately
   attempted to levy an immense army to crush them. However, a large
   number of men refused to fight Mortimer and the Queen; Henry of
   Lancaster, for example, was not even summoned by the King, and he
   showed his loyalties by raising an army, seizing a cache of Despenser
   treasure from Leicester Abbey, and marching south to join Mortimer.
   Mortimer and the Queen also showed a shrewd understanding of popular
   thought processes - they made clear that Prince Edward supported their
   invasion (since many people would refuse to fight the future monarch),
   and were careful to minimise Mortimer's role (to avoid people looking
   askance at his connection to the Queen). They claimed that their goal
   was only to rid England of the tyrannical Despenser. Isabella, for her
   part, played the role of a wife in distress, winning the support of the
   commoners, and behaved as though on pilgrimage (to emphasise their
   campaign as Divinely Ordained). She also, importantly, made recompense
   to any whose property was damaged by her army.

   Swiftly, the invasion had too much force and support (from, for
   example, the Bishops of Hereford, Ely, Lincoln, Durham and Norwich, and
   the Archbishop of Dublin) to be easily stemmed. The King and Despenser
   further damaged themselves by showing a complete inability to
   effectively spend the Treasury in fighting the invaders, whilst
   Mortimer easily spent to his best advantage. As a result, the army the
   King had ordered failed to emerge - his Sheriffs either gave excuses,
   or simply stayed silent, due to the unwillingness of their men to fight
   - and the King, with Despenser, was left isolated in the Tower of
   London. They abandoned London on 1 October, leaving the city to fall
   into disorder, many Despenser agents suffering persecution.

   The King first took refuge in Gloucester, from where he ordered all
   soldiers still loyal to him to join him there. He then fled to South
   Wales, to make a defence in Despenser's misbegotten lands there,
   following receivement of Lancaster's treachery on 10 October. Isabella,
   on 15 October, certain now of victory, declared that she had come to
   free Kingdom, Crown and Church from the abuses of Despenser and his
   followers, including Robert Baldock the Chancellor and Walter de
   Stapledon the Treasurer. The London mob, inspired by this, promptly
   murdered de Stapledon and various men they considered spies of
   Despenser, stealing much of de Stapledon's wealth in the process. His
   head was presented to Mortimer and Isabella, and the city of London
   continued to slide into anarchy, nominally presided over by Prince
   John, the younger son of Edward and Isabella. Mortimer and the Queen
   however chose to leave London in riot for that time, instead moving on
   Bristol and capturing the Earl of Winchester (the elder Despenser) at
   Bristol on 26 October.

   The King, in Glamorgan, was unable to rally an army - many of the
   Welshmen, for all their loyalty to the King, refused to fight to defend
   Despenser, whom they hated due to his murder of Llywellen Bren.
   Deciding to abandon England, Despenser and Edward took ship on 21
   October from Chepstow with a small force of soldiers. The weather being
   contrary, they attempted for five days to make headway (even paying a
   friar to pray for a change in weather) before finally putting into
   Cardiff. From there, they moved to Caerphilly Castle. On 31 October,
   Edward was abandoned by his servants, leaving him with only Despenser,
   Baldock, and a few retainers. On 26 October, Roger and Isabella had
   appointed Prince Edward as governor of the realm in the stead of his
   father - the boy being just fourteen and largely influenced by his
   mother and her lover, the de facto leaders of the country were thus the
   Queen and Roger Mortimer.

   On 27 October, the elder Despenser was tried by Roger Mortimer, Thomas
   Wake and Henry Trussel (former retainers of the Earl of Lancaster),
   Henry of Lancaster, and the King's half-brothers Norfolk and Kent.
   Isabella pleaded for the old man to be shown clemency, which was
   denied; instead, in a trial deliberately echoing that of Thomas of
   Lancaster, Despenser was accused of encouraging the illegal government
   of his son, enriching himself at the expense of others, despoiling the
   church, and taking part in the illegal execution of the Earl of
   Lancaster. He was hanged and beheaded at the Bristol Gallows. Henry of
   Lancaster was then sent to fetch the King and the younger Despenser
   from Wales.

   The two had by now retreated to Neath, from where the King sent its
   abbot to negotiate with Mortimer. Mortimer, however, refused to accept
   anything other than complete surrender. Then, on 16 November, Lancaster
   caught the King, Despenser and their soldiers in the open country near
   Neath (according to legend, his capture took place at Pant-y-Brâd ("the
   dell of treachery"), near Llantrisant). The soldiers were released;
   Despenser and Baldock were sent to Isabella at Hereford. The King was
   taken by Lancaster himself to Kenilworth. Caerphilly, the last royal
   castle, promptly surrendered.

   Reprisals against the King's allies immediately began. The Earl of
   Arundel, an old enemy of Roger Mortimer, was beheaded. This was
   followed by a trial against Despenser, presided over by those men who
   had tried the elder Despenser. The judgement on Despenser was
   "thorough, extensive and uncompromising." The sentence, however, was
   problematic. The Lancastrians wanted him beheaded at one of his own
   castles, to echo the death of Thomas of Lancaster at Pontefract.
   Mortimer wanted Despenser's death to be as horrible as the death of
   Llywelyn Bren (who had been drawn by two horses to a gallows, hanged,
   whose heart and intestines had been cut out before he was dead and
   burnt, and then dismembered, his limbs being dispersed through
   Glamorgan). Isabella wanted him executed in London. Therefore, a
   compromise was reached. On 24 November, Despenser and others were taken
   to Hereford. There, a huge crowd gathered in anticipation at seeing him
   die. They dragged him from his horse, stripped him, and scrawled
   biblical verses against corruption and arrogance on his skin, and then
   led him into the city, presenting him in the market square to Roger,
   Isabella, and the Lancastrians. The list of charges was then read out,
   taking a great time. He was then condemned to hang as a thief, and be
   drawn and quartered as a traitor, his quarters to be dispersed through
   England. Despenser was then brutally executed.

Abdication

   With the King imprisoned, Mortimer and the Queen faced the problem of
   what to do with him. The simplest solution would be execution: his
   titles would then pass to Edward of Windsor, whom Isabella could
   control, whilst it would also prevent the possibility of his being
   restored. However, execution would require the King to be tried and
   convicted of Treason: and whilst most Lords agreed that Edward had
   failed to show due attention to his country, several Prelates argued
   that, appointed by God, the King could not be legally deposed or
   executed; if this happened, they said, God would punish the country.
   There were also concerns that a fair trial might find the King innocent
   of treason and restore him, and that a show trial would evoke dangerous
   levels of sympathy. Therefore, whilst the Lancastrians demanded that
   the King die, Mortimer, who recalled the sparing of his own life by the
   King, and his one-time great loyalty to Edward, and who wanted to
   maintain the good opinion of Isabella (who believed in the dignity of
   royalty, and thus shied from execution) and her eldest son (who would
   naturally detest the murderer of his father), decided to have Edward
   imprisoned for life instead. The Lancastrians were worn down, the
   nobles persuaded, and Mortimer's decision was put into effect.

   However, the fact remained that the legality of power still lay with
   the King. Isabella had been given the Great Seal, and was using it to
   rule in the names of the King, herself, and their son as appropriate;
   and in December 1326, the Chancery was ordered to date writs issued in
   the King's name as if they came from him at Kenilworth; nonetheless,
   these actions were illegal, and could at any moment be challenged.

   Parliament was scheduled to meet on 7th January 1327, and the Queen's
   party entered London on the 4th to that purpose. Two Bishops were sent
   to Kenilworth, to accompany the King to Parliament (which required his
   presence to meet). However, the King did not appear, and Parliament
   could do nothing until the arrival of the two Bishops - alone - on the
   12th. They reported that the King refused to attend, and declared all
   who did so to be traitors. Furthermore, Bishop Orleton reported, the
   King reportedly kept a dagger in his clothes, with the intention of
   killing his wife if the chance ever arose.

   In these circumstances, Parliament chose to act as an authority above
   the King. Representatives of the Commons were summoned, and debates
   began. Initially, Parliament - stunned by this sudden change of affairs
   - was unwilling to answer the question put by Bishop Orleton ("Did
   Parliament want the King to rule the country, or did it prefer that his
   son should rule instead?"); the Archbishop of York and others declared
   themselves fearful of the London mob, loyal to Roger Mortimer. Others
   wanted the King to speak in Parliament and openly abdicate, rather than
   be deposed by the Queen and her General. Mortimer responded by
   commanding the Mayor of London, Richard de Bethune, to write to
   Parliament, asking them to go to the Guildhall to swear an oath to
   protect the Queen and Prince Edward, and to depose the King. Mortimer
   then called the great lords to a secret meeting that night, at which
   they gave their unanimous support to the deposition of the King.

   When Parliament met in Westminster Hall the next day, Roger showed them
   the letter from the Mayor and citizens calling for the protection of
   the Queen and Prince, and deposition of the King; he also added that
   the great lords of the realm had met the night before and all believed
   that the King should be deposed; although he spoke neither for himself
   nor for the commons, he had to speak because the great lords had asked
   him to do so. At this point, Mortimer's cousin, Thomas Wake, loudly
   declared that the King should not rule any longer; Bishop Orleton then
   preached a vigourous and rousing sermon beginning "An unwise King
   destroyeth his people". By the end of that, Parliament was demanding
   "Away with the King!" After a sermon from Bishop Stratford to the same
   effect, Wake demanded, "Do you agree? Do the people of the country
   agree?" Those who agreed, swept away, loudly clamoured that they did
   so; those who did not, terrified of meeting the Londoners later that
   day, stayed quiet. Finally, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Walter
   Reynolds, spoke, saying that 'the people of England had been oppressed
   for too long, and that, if it were the people's will that the King
   should be deposed, then it was God's will, and the reign should come to
   an end.' For the final time, Wake rose, demanding, "Is this the
   people's will? Is it it the people's will that the king should be
   deposed and his son made king in his place?" When Parliament screamed,
   "Let it be done!", the Archbishop pronounced final judgement: "Your
   voice has been clearly heard here, for Edward has been deprived of the
   government of the Kingdom, and his son made king as you have
   unanimously consented." Edward of Windsor was then ushered into the
   hall to the cry, "Behold your King!" The assembly then proceeded to
   sing Glory, Laud and Honour; the Bishop of Rochester, one of the few to
   not sing, was later beaten up. Later that day, a large crowd of nobles,
   prelates and knights, led by Mortimer, proceeded to swear to the people
   of London to protect Isabella, her son, and those who fought against
   Despenser, and to observe the Ordinances and the liberties of the City
   of London; there was no mention of the Deposition of the King. It did
   not matter; Parliament had agreed to remove the King, an almost
   unprecedented event in mediaeval Europe (the only precedent being the
   deposition of a minor forgettable German prince in the fourteenth
   century). However, for all that Parliament had agreed that the King
   should no longer rule, they had not deposed him. Rather, their decision
   made, Edward was asked to accept it.

   On 20 January, Edward II was informed at Kenilworth Castle of what had
   happened by those who had come to announce the decision of Parliament.
   He fainted upon seeing their faces, and had to be lifted up by Bishop
   Stratford and Henry of Lancaster. Orleton then read the charges. The
   King was guilty of: incompetence; allowing others to govern him to the
   detriment of the people and Church; not listening to good advice and
   pursuing occupations unbecoming to a monarch; having lost Scotland and
   lands in Gascony and Ireland through failure of effective governance;
   damaging the Church, and imprisoning its representatives; allowing
   nobles to be killed, disinherited, imprisoned and exiled; failing to
   ensure fair justice, instead governing for profit and allowing others
   to do likewise; and of fleeing in the company of a notorious enemy of
   the realm, leaving it without government, and thereby losing the faith
   and trust of his people. Edward, profoundly shocked by this judgement,
   wept whilst listening. He was then offered a choice: he might abdicate
   in favour of his son; or he might resist, and relinquish the throne to
   one not of royal blood, but experienced in government - this,
   presumably, being Roger Mortimer. The King, lamenting that his people
   had so hated his rule, agreed that if the people would accept his son,
   he would abdicate in his favour. The lords, through the person of Sir
   William Trussel, then renounced their homage to him, and the reign of
   Edward II was ended by himself. The abdication was announced and
   recorded in London on 24 January, and the 25th was proclaimed the first
   day of the reign of Edward III - who, at 14, was still controlled by
   Isabella and Mortimer. The former King Edward remained imprisoned.

Life in captivity and death

   Edward II's tomb at Gloucester Cathedral
   Edward II's tomb at Gloucester Cathedral

   The government of Isabella and Mortimer was so precarious that they
   dared not leave the deposed king in the hands of their political
   enemies. On April 3 he was removed from Kenilworth and entrusted to the
   custody of two dependents of Mortimer. He was imprisoned at Berkeley
   Castle in Gloucestershire where he died. Contrary to the polemical
   chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker, record evidence shows that he was
   well-treated in captivity.

   Following the declaration of the king's death, the rule of Isabella and
   Mortimer did not last long. Mortimer and Isabella made peace with the
   Scots with the Treaty of Northampton but this was highly unpopular. On
   19 March 1330, Edmund of Woodstock, brother of Edward II, was executed
   for plotting the restoration of Edward II. Some say Mortimer had fed
   him the information that Edward was still alive hoping to entrap him.
   However Mortimer's execution of the Earl lost him his remaining
   support. Consequently as soon as Edward III came of age in 1330, he
   executed Roger Mortimer on charges of treason, the most important of
   which was the murder of Edward II. Edward III spared Isabella and gave
   her a generous allowance, but he ensured that she retired from public
   life. She died at Hertford on 23 August 1358.

Fictional accounts of Edward II

   King Edward II of England. The scene on the lower part shows the king
   being murdered. Ca. 1700 AD
   King Edward II of England. The scene on the lower part shows the king
   being murdered. Ca. 1700 AD

   The most famous fictional account of Edward II's reign is that of
   Christopher Marlowe in his play Edward II. In recent years, several
   acclaimed productions have been staged in the United Kingdom, although
   the play is seldom performed in the United States outside of large
   cities and university towns. Derek Jarman's cinematic version of the
   play has much more to do with twentieth-century sexual politics than it
   does with Marlowe's drama.

   Margaret Campbell Barnes' Isabel the Fair, Hilda Lewis' Harlot Queen,
   Maureen Peters' Isabella, the She-Wolf, and Brenda Honeyman's The Queen
   and Mortimer all focus on Queen Isabella. Eve Trevaskis' King's Wake
   starts shortly after the fall of the Despensers and ends with the fall
   of Mortimer. Jean Plaidy's The Follies of the King is a rather plodding
   look at the reign, though it livens up when it comes time for the
   red-hot poker. In A Secret Chronicle by Jane Lane, Edward II's youngest
   daughter sends a trusted servant to investigate the circumstances of
   her father's death. Jean Evans' A Brittle Glory is narrated mostly by
   the king's fool. Chris Hunt's Gaveston is a sexually explicit account
   of the king's relationship with his first favourite, while Sandra
   Wilson's Alice breaks tradition with an emphatically heterosexual
   Gaveston, whose mistress is the title character. In Cashelmara, Susan
   Howatch updates the story to 19th century Ireland. Shootings,
   stabbings, and poisonings replace beheadings and red-hot pokers. There
   has also been a ballet of his story produced by Birmingham Royal
   Ballet, which adheres to the red hot poker myth.

   Most recently, Susan Higginbotham in The Traitor's Wife: A Novel of the
   Reign of Edward II looks at the reign and its aftermath through the
   eyes of Hugh le Despenser's wife, Eleanor de Clare. Medieval mystery
   novelists Paul Doherty and Michael Jecks have set a number of their
   books against the backdrop of Edward II's reign.

   A Victorian novelist, Emily Sarah Holt, set several historical novels
   during this period. Holt's appendices to her books show that she
   researched her novels thoroughly, though her religious prejudices (she
   appears to have been strongly anti-Catholic) and her strong sense of
   propriety make her books rather odd reading. She is far harsher on
   Isabella than on Edward II, and she seems to have had a soft spot for
   Hugh le Despenser.

   Edward II appears in Maurice Druon's series of novels The Accursed
   Kings (in French: Les Rois Maudits). There, his homosexuality is not at
   all hidden; Queen Isabella describes how she had to endure Hugh the
   younger Despenser's presence during sex with her husband. Volume 5, La
   Louve de France (The She-Wolf of France), describes the overthrow and
   murder of Edward II by Isabella and Roger Mortimer, the executions of
   the Despensers, and the installation of Edward III. The novel describes
   these as part of the circumstances leading to the Hundred Years' War
   and the end of the House of Capet.

   Cinematically, the Mel Gibson feature, Braveheart, shows Edward II as
   highly effeminate. This portrayal is inaccurate as Edward II's
   appearance was similar to his father's, right down to the drooping
   eyelid. He did not, however, care for warcraft; when he became king,
   Edward II was just as weak a military leader against the Scots as the
   film shows him to be.

   The film implies that William Wallace consummated an affair with Edward
   II's lonely wife Isabella and was the real father of Edward III. This
   is total fiction. Wallace was executed in 1305, Edward II married the
   twelve year old Isabella in 1308 and Edward III was born in 1312.

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