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.