Favorite: Piers Gaveston and Edward II

Almost as intriguing as how he died are questions surrounding the friendship of Edward II and his favorite, Piers Gaveston.  Were they lovers or just friends, and why did Edward rely so heavily on this man who began life as a squire?  Despite their power and wealth, Kings were human beings who needed love, friendship or trustworthy relationships as much as anyone.  Surrounded by greedy and dangerous relatives and nobles, and yes-men, with no one whom they could treat as an equal, some Kings fell into the trap of lavishing too much attention on someone whom they perceived to be a trusted friend and confidante.  Often, that person could be just as greedy and arrogant as the courtiers around them but some Kings failed to see these faults.

All of the above combined in the relationship between Edward II and Piers Gaveston, c 1284-1312.  While Edward's nobles sneered at Piers' low birth, his father was in fact a knight from Gascony, which is how young Piers became a squire, first in the household of Edward I and later assigned to his son and heir, Prince Edward of Caernarfon, the future Edward II.  The two young men, who were the same age, hit it off as friends and Prince Edward began to lavish gifts on his friend.  As Piers mixed in the circle of younger men around Prince Edward, he became more enmeshed in Prince Edward's conflicts with his own father, the King.  In February, 1307, Edward I banished Gaveston from Court.  The exile was short lived, as Edward I died soon after and his son, now Edward II, recalled Gaveston, made him Earl of Cornwall, a title reserved in later years for royal offspring, and married him to a wealthy heiress, Margaret de Clare.  Margaret was the daughter of Edward's sister Joan, and thus a member of the extended royal family.  The nobles, including members of the Plantagenet family, were quick to sense the significance of this title and marriage and to resent it, but Edward paid no heed to the danger signs. 

When Edward left the realm in 1308 to marry Isabella of France, he appointed Gaveston Protector of the Realm or regent.  This flew in the face of angry members of the royal family and high nobility.  The nobles and parliament demanded the exile of Gaveston and had the tacit support of Isabella's father, Phillip IV of France.  Though no wrongdoing had been proved against Gaveston, Edward had no choice but to strip Gaveston of the Earldom of Cornwall and send him into exile.  He rewarded Gaveston soon after by making him Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.  Edward made the situation worse by continuing to lavish money and property on Gaveston in compensation for the lost Earldom.   As with the Regency, there was no evidence that Gaveston misused his position for self-enrichment and he was efficient in his duties, but it wasn't enough to keep the barons at bay for long.  Nevertheless, Edward allowed Gaveston to return in 1309 and reinstated him as Earl of Cornwall.

The barons and parliament seethed.  Gaveston, believing he had the King's mandate, began to mock the other lords.  They soon found out that he had his own pet names for them, which the King allowed him to use with impunity.  Lincoln was "burst-belly", probably alluding to weight trouble.  Lancaster was "the Fiddler", and on it went.  Gaveston also began to demand money, favors and lands for his family and friends, which Edward gladly gave.  In 1310, these offended noblemen and others refused to attend parliament as long as Gaveston was present.  Edward dismissed him and the barons showed up with a list of demands to lay before the King, including repudiation of Piers Gaveston.  This group of earls and barons became known as the Lords Ordainers and they had the support of both people who were hostile to the King, as well as members of the royal family and supporters of Edward.  Edward was forced to dismiss Gaveston once again in November, 1311.

Distraction as a political tactic is as old as the hills and in 1311, Edward II decided that a campaign in Scotland would keep the barons busy and off his case.  This campaign, which ultimately ended up in the Scots victory at Bannockburn in 1314 was a disaster from the beginning and Edward's clout sank even lower.  And Gaveston kept returning like a bad penny.  In January, 1312, he was back in England, any accusations against him declared invalid, restored to his lands and titles, and began fortifying Scarborough Castle.  Gaveston was gearing for war.  So were the barons.  In May, 1312, a group of barons including the Earls of Warwick and Pembroke besieged Scarborough Castle.  Gaveston surrendered and was placed in the custody of Pembroke.  Pembroke took Gaveston to Deddington in Oxfordshire, supposedly on his way to present Gaveston to the King for judgment. 

At Deddington, Pembroke left for a short visit to his wife.  Warwick showed up and captured Gaveston.  He took Gaveston to Warwick Castle, intending to place him on trial for treason.  Pembroke protested the seizure of his captive, but to no avail.  Gaveston was placed on trial before a board of barons including Warwick, Hereford, and Arundel, among others, and condemned to death.  On June 19, 1312, he was taken towards Kenilworth as though to be turned over to the Earl of Lancaster.  Once on Blacklow Hill, which may have been on either Warwick's land or Lancaster's, depending on the source, two Welshmen ran Gaveston through with swords and beheaded the body.  The body remained on the spot until some Dominican friars attempted to present it to Warwick, who refused to take it.  The body was taken to Oxford, but since Gaveston had died excommunicate, he could not be buried in 1315, when Edward II secured a dispensation for the burial.  He also provided generously for Margaret Gaveston, who was, after all, his niece.

Margaret later remarried the Earl of Gloucester.  Her and Gaveston's daughter, Joan, died before Edward could arrange a suitable match for her.  A monument was erected on Blacklow Hill in 1823 by a local, antiquarian squire.  Edward was full of anger and vengeance against his barons but had to patch things up with them as the situation in Scotland deteriorated and his own hold on his throne began to falter.  Questions abound about how close he and Piers Gaveston really were.  They both had wives and fathered children both in and out of wedlock.  However, the innuendo began during both men's lifetime and hasn't let up ever since.  There remains no definitive proof either way.  However, whether or not they were lovers, the main complaint of the barons was Gaveston's access to power and wealth they believed was their right.  Political and personal smear tactics, too, are as old as the hills.   

Battle: Bannockburn, June 23-24, 1314

Edward II's reign was one crisis after disaster after drama but this battle in the otherwise costly endemic wars between Scotland and England was one of the lowest points of Edward's reign, both in men and money, as well as national and dynastic pride.

Each time the English concluded a campaign in Scotland, they liked to think that Scotland was conquered for good.  And, each time, the Scots rose under a new leader and gave them a nasty surprise.  Edward I's victories at Dunbar (1296), the Siege of Berwick (1296)) and Falkirk of 1297 gave the English much reason to think they had the job done this time.  Wallace had won a victory at Stirling Bridge (1297), but the English had captured and killed him and removed one claimant from the Scottish throne.  They had reckoned without Robert Bruce, a former vassal of Edward I's who had thrown in his lot with his native country in an effort to win the empty Scottish throne for himself.  Bruce, assisted by his brothers Edward, Thomas and Nigel began the piecemeal work of taking Scotland back.  Edward Bruce besieged the English garrison at Stirling Castle in 1314 and Edward II, never a keen military man, knew he had to answer the challenge.

Robert Bruce was aware that Edward II was on his way and began gathering his army.  Estimates of the two armies vary.  Probably, Edward II's army consisted of 2,000 cavalry and 15,000 infantry.  The Scots had 7-10,000 infantry, with maybe 500 cavalry.  On paper, Bruce's chances did not look good.  Bruce divided his army into three divisions known as schiltrons, each surrounded by pikemen meant to drive away the English cavalry.  Though archers were present in both armies, they relied primarily on slingers and crossbowmen.  Though a modern visitors center, monument and statue proclaim what many to believe the site of the battle, near Bannock, Scotland, the actual combat may have taken place nearby.  Unlike many Medieval battles, this one would take two days to complete. 

One the first day, the English vanguard under the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford advance, meeting up with a small Scottish advance led by Robert Bruce.  Bruce directed his attention to Hereford's nephew, Henry de Bohun, who charged at him.  Using his battle-ax, Bruce split de Bohun's head through his helmet, "knave to the chops", as one writer later put it.  Hereford and Gloucestor hurried to cross back over the small burn or stream, which gave the battle its name.  Another English advance then tried its luck, meeting up with the Scots vanguard under the Earl of Moray.  Thomas Gray, whose father Thomas Gray de Heaton was one of the leaders of this second English advance, later wrote of the mayhem caused when the English knights threw themselves against Moray's tightly packed formation with its pikemen and were scattered, several prominent English knights being killed or taken prisoner.

The English decided to regroup and try their luck next day.  They crossed the Bannockburn and encamped on the plain nearby, ready to advance next morning.  Robert Bruce received a tip from a Scottish knight who threw off his English alliance and deserted, informing Bruce that English morale was low.  At sunrise, Bruce had his spearmen on the move toward the English positions.  Edward II was surprised at the size of Bruce's force and at the fact that they dropped to their knees before continuing their advance.  "They cry for mercy," he said.  "They cry for mercy," an advisor replied," but from God, not you."  Bruce's spearmen finished their devotions, got on their feet and kept on coming.  Gloucester and Hereford chose that moment to quarrel about who should lead the vanguard.  When Gloucester threatened to sit out the battle altogether, Edward II accused him of cowardice.  The English mustered up a hurried and ill-planned charge against Bruce's pikes. 

It didn't go well.  The pikemen penned down the English knights.  English longbow men tried to get into the battle, but inflicted casualties on their own side, only making the mayhem worse.  The Scots Earl Marischal, Robert Keith, had mounted men at arms on lighter horses.  They road into the English and Welsh bowmen and disbursed them easily enough.  As the confusion worsen, the top priority became to get Edward II out of the area before he was captured.  The Earl of Pembroke and Giles d'Argentan guided Edward away from the fighting and turned back to join the battle.  Both were killed.  The king's flight led to fear and panic in the English lines.  Little by little the English resistance dribbled away before turning into a full-scale route.  According to sources at the time, about 7,000 English men at arms lost their lives.  So did several high profile English knights including the Earl of Gloucester, d'Argentan, one of the most famous knights in Europe at the time, Robert, Baron de Clifford, Henry de Bohun, William Marshal, descendant of Richard I's jousting partner, with the Earl of Hereford, Baron Seagrave, Baron Berkeley and others being taken prisoner.

The route of Edward's army and its pell-mell flight back to England opened up the North of England to raids from the Scots, which were not long in coming.  It also enabled Bruce to try to set up a satellite kingdom in Ireland.  Edward II would spend the rest of his hard-luck reign trying to clean up these messes, draining England's finances and deepening his own rifts with the barons and other members of his own Plantagenet family.  The English never stopped trying to get into Scotland.  There would be other battles and skirmishes just as bloody, but this was the first. 

King: Edward II of England (1284-1327)

One of the two worst of the Plantagenet kings (next to Richard II who met a similar fate), Edward II had an uphill battle as a king from the first days of his reign.  Although there were bright spots, his reign was one failure and disaster and crisis after another until he was deposed, imprisoned, and met an untimely end-or not.

Edward II was born in Caernarfon Castle in North Wales, the fourth son of one of the best Plantagenet kings.  Edward I, law-giver, military commander, hammer of the Scots and the Welsh.  It was an intimidating act to follow.  Despite predictions that he would be another King Arthur, little Edward was a frail child.  Though provision was made for his education, there is little evidence that Edward actually absorbed what he was taught.  He was a good rider, had a keen sense of humor, but wasn't particularly interested in hunting, falconry or military pursuits.  Not the typical recipe for a Plantagenet king.  A good-looking man who could be gracious when he chose, his life was otherwise dull normal for the period.  During the later years of his father's reign, Edward sometimes served as regent or even commanded troops on campaigns in Scotland, so he wasn't the total brainless fop he's made out to be in Braveheart.  But he had his weaknesses and they would prove to be fatal in the end.

He did marry Isabella of France and had at least four children by her, and an out-of-wedlock child named Adam Fitzroy, so stories about him being effeminate or a homosexual are probably slanders or later inventions.  Edward's Achilles heel was his friends, particularly friends from lower social status, something not common for royalty of that era.  While still Prince of Wales, his father Edward I, became incensed at the amount of money Edward, Junior, lavished on his friends and banished several from court.  While still a prince, Edward developed a friendship for one of his squires, Piers Gaveston, and lavished funds and honors on him.  Though chroniclers described the "love" between the two, Gaveston likewise was married and had children by his wife.  Were they bisexual?  Who knows?  Even the mention of homosexuality at the time would have been considered sinful, let alone slanderous if applied by a chronicler to a member of the royal family. 

Edward I died in 1307 and his son succeeded him as Edward II.  Edward inherited a kingdom heavily in debt, still embroiled in war with Scotland and uprisings in Wales.  Not an auspicious start to any reign.  The first signs of trouble came when he left England to claim his bride, Isabella, and left the realm in the custody of Piers Gaveston, angering his nobles and officials who believed this was an inappropriate choice, particularly when there were ranking barons and other extended members of the Plantagenet family who should have taken this position.  As his reign progressed, Edward cared little for official business, delegating most or all of it to Piers Gaveston.  He could intervene in matters of justice, particularly where friends or favorites were involved, and he showed an interest in law and architecture, but the day to day business of ruling wasn't something he cared to participate in.  His barons, led by his cousin Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, grew more angry at Edward's involvement of Gaveston in the government, but Edward refused to relent, delegating more responsibility and yet more honors to his favorite.  Tensions ran so high that the barons began mobilizing their levies, prepared to go to war, with Lancaster at their head.

As the wars with Scotland dragged on and more taxes were squeezed out of unwilling parliaments, Edward chose to borrow from Italian bankers.  The country sank deeper into debt.  With his kingdom on the brink of insurrection, the King was finally forced in 1311 to turn over management of the realm to a committee of nobles known as Ordainers, who proposed reforms known as the Ordinances of 1311.  These limited his ability to go to war or grant land without parliamentary approval, gave parliament control of royal administration, forbid borrowing from foreign sources, and set up a system to monitor compliance.  Gaveston was exiled and Edward withdrew to Windsor, too upset about the limits of his power to try to exercise what government still remained to him.  He did an about-face the following year and decided on his own solution to the problem by recalling Gaveston in 1312 and repealing the Ordinances.   As the barons marched on London and the Archbishop of Canterbury excommunicated Gaveston, Edward, his wife and his favorite fled.  Eventually, Gaveston surrendered to the barons and was executed on Blacklow Hill under authority of the Earl of Lancaster.  Lancaster had his own claim to the throne and the will to exercise it if Edward didn't abandon his favorites and get down to the business of governing England.

Tensions between Edward and his cousin continued, as well as ongoing disputes with the King of France over the remaining Plantagenet domains in France.  Isabella used her connections with her family to resolve the disputes and receive a loan from the King of France.  This put Edward in a better position at home and other nobles took the opportunity to reconcile the King and his cousin.  But disaster struck again.  Robert Bruce was slowly but surely winning back Scotland, and he topped off his victory with the costly Battle of Bannockburn on June 23, 1314.  Edward II was present at the battle, and narrowly escaped with his life.  In 1315, the Scots tried to invade England, but were pushed back.  With his political clout in shambles, Edward was pressured to reinstate the Ordinances of 1311.  Edward and his cousin Lancaster agreed to the Treaty of Leake in August, 1318, in which Lancaster was pardoned for rebellion and Edward promised reform, but England was still reeling from a famine known as the Great Famine (1315-17).  The Scots had also tried to establish a foothold in Ireland, but were driven out there and revolts in Wales suppressed.  But these small success were wiped out by Edward's continued behavior of befriending favorites and spending money and honor on them. 

The latest favorites were the Despensers, father and son.  Hugh Despenser the Elder had served both Edward I and II honorably.  Hugh the Younger married into a wealthy family, the de Clares, served as the King's Chamberlain, and acquired land and honors in Wales and on the borderland known as the Welsh marches.  He incurred the wrath of Thomas of Lancaster and the Mortimer family.  Crisis loomed again as the barons took to arms to make the King understand the error of his ways, but the intervention of the Earl of Pembroke in 1321 brokered a temporary peace.  Edward had to send the Despensers into exile and pardon Lancaster and the Marcher lords again.  And, once again, once peace was restored, Edward refused all attempts at reform.  Lancaster rose in revolt again, was captured and Edward ordered his cousin's execution, recalling his favorites.  Other leaders of the revolt were executed, some with barely the benefit of a sham trial.  Edward called yet another parliament to levy more taxes and brought back the Despenser father and son.  He continued to levy honors on the Despensers.  In 1324, war broke out with France again. 

Isabella stepped in to broker a peace between her brother, the King of France, and decided to stay in her native country with her young son.  However successful their marriage had been in the early years. she was fed up with the constant strife and having to step in with her family to clean up Edward's messes.  In retaliation, Edward gave custody of their remaining children to Hugh the Younger's wife.  Isabella developed a relationship with Roger de Mortimer and plotted no less than her husband's overthrow.  The barons rallied to Isabella and her son, Prince Edward.  In 1326, she and Mortimer were amassing an army.  Edward tried to rally defenses but few of his subjects, noble or otherwise, responded to his efforts.  The people were tired of Edward, too.  In September, 1326, Isabella, her 13-year-old son, Mortimer, and Edward II's own half-brother Edmund of Woodstock landed on the coast and met little resistance as they marched toward London.  Edward took refuge in the Tower of London but as the city went over to Isabella and Mortimer he fled, taking the Despenser father and son with him.  He tried to reach the Welsh coast and take ship for Ireland, but rough seas drove him back to Carphilly as more support frittered away and his government collapsed.  Edward fled again and was captured with Hugh the Younger on November 16, 1327.

Edward was taken to Monmouth Castle.  Hugh the Younger was tried and summarily executed.  Parliament, backed by the people of the City of London, declared the young Prince as King in place of his father.  On January 20, 1327, Henry, the son of Thomas of Lancaster led a delegation of nobles and clergy to meet with Edward, who had been moved to Kenilworth Castle.  He demanded that Edward formally give up the throne, or face the possibility that his son would be disinherited as well and another candidate, most likely Henry himself, would take over.  In those days, when children and women were often pushed out of their inheritance to make way for an adult male, it was no idle threat.  Edward agreed and his reign formally ended on January 27.  Young Edward was crowned Edward III on February 2, 1327. 

Edward was moved to Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.  With few exceptions, especially when rumors or actual plots at rescue were discovered, he remained there.  No evidence exists for what kind of treatment he received.  Food and other luxury items were purchased in his behalf, but it is unknown how much of this he actually made use of.  The Castle still stands and a room is preserved as Edward's cell, but there's no evidence that it was his actual room or how it looked when he lived in it.  On September 23, 1327, Edward III was informed that his father had died.  Rumors immediately sprang up that he'd been murdered or ordered to be killed, though the red-hot poker up yonder is a later invention.  His body was quickly embalmed and held at Berkeley Castle until a suitable royal funeral could be arrange.  That happened on December 20, 1327 at Gloucester Abbey.  Edward was buried as a king, in clothing he had worn at his coronation and with an effigy showing him wearing a crown, holding a scepter and orb.  A popular cult of sainthood developed around him, with pilgrims visiting his tomb and declaring miracles. 

In 1330, a rift developed between Edward III, who was made of sterner stuff than he father.  Mortimer tried to assert his authority through rebellion, but the insurrection was put down and Mortimer executed.  Edward allowed his mother, Isabella, to receive a pension and remain in public life.  Perhaps to exonerate her, or maybe it's what he wanted to believe, he allowed the story to spread that an underling had been killed at Berkeley Castle and that body buried in the tomb at Gloucester Abbey, but that Edward II had been allowed to escape to the Holy Roman Empire, dying as a monk in a monastery there.  Some historians have given this theory serious consideration, citing letters received from Edward II's Italian banker creditors.  Most likely, though, he died at Berkeley Castle in 1327, of whatever causes.