Atlantic West Europe (33–22 BCE): Augustan Reorganization and Regional Integration

Edward's son, Edward II, proves a disaster.

A weak man, he spends most of his reign trying in vain to control the nobility, who in return show continual hostility to him.

Meanwhile, the Scottish leader Robert Bruce begins retaking all the territory conquered by Edward I.

In 1314, the English army is disastrously defeated by the Scots at the Battle of Bannockburn.

Edward also showers favors on his companion Piers Gaveston, a knight of humble birth.

While it has been widely believed that Edward was a homosexual because of his closeness to Gaveston, there is no concrete evidence of this.

The king's enemies, including his cousin Thomas of Lancaster, capture and murder Gaveston in 1312.

The Marriage of Edward II and Isabella of France (1308) and Growing Noble Resentment

On January 25, 1308, King Edward II of England married Isabella of France, daughter of King Philip IV of France, in Boulogne. This union was intended to strengthen Anglo-French relations following the Treaty of Paris (1303), which had restored Gascony to England and sought to prevent further conflict between the two kingdoms.

Piers Gaveston as Regent and Noble Suspicion

• Before departing for France to wed Isabella, Edward II appointed his close friend and confidant, Piers Gaveston, as regent.
• Gaveston, a Gascon knight, had risen to extraordinary prominence under Edward, enjoying lavish royal favor and influence.
• This deeply alienated the English magnates, who saw Gaveston as an unworthy foreigner and a dangerous influence on the king.
• The marriage to Isabella did little to ease their suspicions, as Edward’s favoritism toward Gaveston continued unabated.

Tensions Between Edward II, Isabella, and the Barons

• Upon her arrival in England, Isabella found herself sidelined, as Edward showered attention on Gaveston, reportedly ignoring his new queen at their own coronation feast.
• The English barons, already hostile to Gaveston, grew even more determined to curtail his influence, leading to an ongoing power struggle.
• In 1308, Edward was forced to banish Gaveston under pressure from his magnates, though he would recall him soon after, further inflaming tensions.

The Road to Conflict

• The Isabella-Edward marriage alliance failed to stabilize English politics, as noble resentment toward the king’s favoritism toward Gaveston deepened.
• The crisis would escalate into baronial opposition, leading to the execution of Gaveston in 1312 and the eventual collapse of Edward II’s rule in 1327, when Isabella played a leading role in his deposition.

Edward II’s marriage to Isabella of France in 1308 was intended as a diplomatic success, but it failed to resolve internal tensions, as his continued favoritism toward Gaveston alienated his nobility, setting the stage for one of the most turbulent reigns in English history.

Edward II had incurred the wrath of his nobles by making Gaveston regent during his absence in early 1308.

Leading magnates draw up the Ordinances of 1311, a series of regulations imposed upon Edward by the peerage and clergy of the Kingdom of England to restrict the power of the king.

English setbacks in the Scottish war, combined with perceived extortionate royal fiscal policies, set the background for the writing of the Ordinances in which the administrative prerogatives of the king had been largely appropriated by a baronial council.

The twenty-one signatories of the Ordinances are referred to as the Lords Ordainers, or simply the Ordainers.

The Ordinances reflect the Provisions of Oxford and the Provisions of Westminster from the late 1250s, but unlike the Provisions, the Ordinances feature a new concern with fiscal reform, specifically redirecting revenues from the king's household to the exchequer.

Just as instrumental to their conception are other issues, particularly discontent with the king's favorite, Piers Gaveston, whom the barons subsequently banish from the realm.

Edward II accepts the Ordinances only under coercion, and a long struggle for their repeal ensues that will not end until Thomas of Lancaster—the leader of the Ordainers—is executed in 1322.

It is not quite clear where Piers Gaveston, the favorite of Edward II, spent his time abroad; the conditions of his exile in late 1311 banned him from staying in any of the lands of the English king.

This precluded both Aquitaine and Ireland, where he had spent his previous exiles.

There is some evidence that he might have gone to France initially, but considering the French king's hostile attitude towards him, he is not likely to have stayed there long.

Flanders is a much more likely candidate for Gaveston's third and final exile.

This time his absence was even shorter than the second time, lasting no more than two months.

Returning around Christmas 1311, he is reunited with the King early in 1312, probably at Knaresborough on January 13.

The reason for his quick return might have been the birth of his child, a daughter named Joan, around this time.

On January 18, Edward declares the judgment against Gaveston unlawful, and restores all lands to him.

The royal and baronial parties now both begin preparations for war.

In March, Gaveston settles at Scarborough, and begins to fortify the castle.

Around the same time, he is pronounced excommunicate by Archbishop Winchelsey at St Paul's.

At the same meeting the barons—under the leadership of Lancaster—divide up the realm to oppose the King.

Pembroke and Warenne are given the responsibility of capturing Gaveston.

On May 4, the King and Gaveston are at Newcastle, and barely escape a force led by Lancaster, Henry Percy and Robert Clifford.Gaveston then returns to Scarborough, while the King leaves for York.

Scarborough is soon besieged by Pembroke, Warenne, Percy and Clifford, and on May 19 Gaveston surrenders to the besiegers.

The terms of the surrender are that Pembroke, Warenne and Percy will take Gaveston to York, where the barons will negotiate with the king.

If an agreement cannot be reached by August 1, Gaveston will be allowed to return to Scarborough.

The three swear an oath to guarantee his safety.

After an initial meeting with the King in York, Gaveston is left in the custody of Pembroke, who escorts him south for safekeeping.

On June 9, Pembroke leaves Gaveston at the rectory at Deddington in Oxfordshire, while he himself leaves to visit his wife.

When Warwick finds out about Gaveston's whereabouts, he immediately rides out to capture him.

The next morning he appears at the rectory, where he takes Gaveston captive and brings him back to his castle at Warwick.

Pembroke, whose honor has been affronted, appeals for justice both to Gaveston's brother-in-law Gloucester and to the University of Oxford, but to no avail.

At Warwick, Gaveston is condemned to death for violating the terms of the Ordinances, before an assembly of barons, including Warwick, Lancaster, Hereford and Arundel.

On June 19, he is taken out on the road towards Kenilworth as far as Blacklow Hill, which is on the Earl of Lancaster's land.

Here, two Welshmen run him through with a sword and behead him.

Gaveston's body is simply left behind at the site of his execution.

One chronicle tells of how four shoemakers brought it to Warwick, who refused to accept it, and ordered them to take it back outside his jurisdiction.

Eventually, a group of Dominican friars brought it to Oxford.

A proper burial could not be arranged while Gaveston was still excommunicate, and it will not be until January 2, 1315, after the King had secured a papal absolution for his favorite, that he could have his body buried in an elaborate ceremony at the Dominican foundation of King's Langley Priory; the tomb is now lost.

In 1823, a cross with inscription was erected at Blacklow Hill by local squire, Bertie Greathead, at the place believed to be the location of Gaveston's execution.

Edward also provides a generous endowment for Gaveston's widow Margaret, who in 1317 will marry Hugh de Audley, later Earl of Gloucester.

The King will try to find a suitable marriage for Piers' and Margaret's daughter Joan, but these arrangements come to nothing when Joan dies in 1325, at the age of thirteen.

There is also some evidence that Gaveston might have fathered another, extramarital daughter; one contemporary document refers to an "Amie filie Petri de Gaveston".

This Amie was a chamberlain of Edward III's wife, Queen Philippa, and later married John Driby, a yeoman of the royal family.