Ancestral Glimpses » Edward Plantagênet II, King of England (1284-1327)

Personal data Edward Plantagênet II, King of England 

• He was born on April 25, 1284 in Caernarfon, Caernarvonshire, WALESCaernarfon Castle.
• (BURI) in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, ENGLANDGloucester Cathedral.
• He died on September 21, 1327 in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, ENGLAND, he was 43 years oldBerkeley Castle.

  Oorzaak: (tortured and murdered)

• A child of Edward Plantagênet and Eleanor de Castile
• This information was last updated on November 4, 2017.

Household of Edward Plantagênet II, King of England

(1) He is married to Isabella of France.

They got married on January 25, 1308 at Bologne, Champagne, FRANCE, he was 23 years oldBoulogne Cathedral.

Child(ren):

1. Edward III of England  1312-1377 

(2) He is married to Isabella Capet.

They got married on January 25, 1308 at Bologne, Champagne, FRANCE, he was 23 years oldBoulogne Cathedral.

Child(ren):

1. Edward Plantagênet  1312-1377 
2. Adam Plantagênet  
3. Eleanor Plantagênet  
4. John Eltham Plantagênet  
5. Isabella Plantagênet  

Notes about Edward Plantagênet II, King of England

King Edward II was dethroned 20 Jan 1327, and murdered the 21st of Sep in the same year.

Plantagênet king of England (1307-1327), whose incompetence and distaste for government finally led to his deposition and murder. Edward was born on 25 Apr 1284, at Caernarfon (Caernarvon), Wales, the fourth son of King Edward I and his first wife, Eleanor of Castile. The deaths of his older brothers made the infant prince heir to the throne; in 1301 he was proclaimed Prince of Wales, the first heir apparent in English history to bear that title. The prince was idle and frivolous, with no liking for military campaigning or affairs of state. Believing that the prince's close friend Piers Gaveston, a Gascon knight, was a bad influence on the prince, Edward I banished Gaveston. On his father's death, however, Edward II recalled his favorite. Gaveston incurred the opposition of the powerful English barony. The nobles were particularly angered in 1308, when Edward made Gaveston regent for the period of the king's absence in France, where he went to marry Isabella, dau. of King Philip IV. In 1311 the barons, led by Thomas, earl of Lancaster, forced the king to appoint from among them a committee of 21 nobles and prelates, called the lords ordainers. They proclaimed a series of ordinances that transferred the ruling power to themselves and excluded the commons and lower clergy from Parliament. After they had twice forced the king to banish Gaveston, and the king had each time recalled him, the barons finally had the king's favorite kidnapped and executed. In the meantime, Robert Bruce had almost completed his reconquest of Scotland, which he had begun shortly aft. 1305.
In 1314 Edward II and his barons raised an army of some 100,000 men with which to crush Bruce, but in the attempt to lift the siege of Stirling they were decisively defeated at the Battle of Bannockburn. For the following eight years the earl of Lancaster virtually ruled the kingdom. In 1322, however, with the advice and help of two new royal favorites, the baron Hugh le Despenser, and his son, also Hugh le Despenser, Edward defeated Lancaster in battle and had him executed. The le Despensers thereupon became de facto rulers of England. They summoned a Parliament in which the commons were included and which repealed the ordinances of 1311 on the ground that they had been passed by the barons only. The repeal was a great step forward in English constitutional development, for it meant that thenceforth no law passed by Parliament was valid unless the House of Commons approved it. Edward again futilely invaded Scotland in 1322, and in 1323 signed a 13-year truce with Bruce. In 1325 Queen Isabella accompanied the Prince of Wales to France, where, in accordance with feudal custom, he did homage to king Charles IV for the fief of Aquitaine. Isabella, who desired to depose the le Despensers, allied herself with some barons who had been exiled by Edward. In 1326, with their leader, Roger de Mortimer, Isabella raised an army and invaded England. Edward and his favorites fled, but his wife's army pursued and executed the le Despensers and imprisoned Edward. In Jan 1327, Parliament forced Edward to resign and proclaimed the Prince of Wales king as Edward III. On Sep 21 of that year Edward II was murdered by his captors at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire.
Source: http://www.castlewales.com/caernarf.html

Timeline

1284 25 Apr 1284
Birth of Edward II at Caernarfon Castle, Caernarfon, Caernarvonshire, Wales

1290 Age 5
The Great Cause
The relationship between the nations of England and Scotland by the 1280s was one of relatively harmonious coexistence. The issue of homage did not reach the same level of controversy as it did in Wales; in 1278 King Alexander III of Scotland paid homage to Edward I, but apparently only for the lands he held of Edward in England. Problems arose only with the Scottish succession crisis of the early 1290s. In the years from 1281 to 1284, Alexander's two sons and one daughter died in quick succession. Then, in 1286, King Alexander died himself, leaving as heir to the throne of Scotland the three-year-old Margaret, the Maid of Norway, who was born in 1283 to Alexander's dau. Margaret and King Eric II of Norway. By the Treaty of Birgham it was agreed that Margaret should marry King Edward's then one-year-old son Edward of Carnarvon, though Scotland would remain free of English overlordship.
The Scottish coronation stone remained at Westminster until it was returned to Scotland in 1996. Margaret, by now seven years of age, sailed from Norway for Scotland in the autumn of 1290, but fell ill on the way and died in Orkney. This left the country without an obvious heir, and led to the succession dispute known to history as the Great Cause. Even though as many as fourteen claimants put forward their claims to the title, the real contest was between John Balliol and Robert Bruce. The Scottish magnates made a request to Edward to arbitrate in the dispute. At Birgham, with the prospect of a personal union between the two realms, the question of suzerainty had not been of great importance to Edward. Now he insisted that, if he were to settle the contest, he had to be fully recognized as Scotland's feudal overlord. The Scots were reluctant to make such a concession, and replied that since the country had no king, no one had the authority to make this decision. This problem was circumvented when the competitors agreed that the realm would be handed over to Edward until a rightful heir had been found.

1296 Age 11
Battle of Dunbar
The battle of Dunbar effectively ended the war of 1296. The remainder of the campaign was little more than a grand mopping-up operation. James, the hereditary High Steward of Scotland, surrendered the important fortress at Roxburgh without attempting a defence, and others were quick to follow his example. Only Edinburgh Castle held out for a week against Edward's siege engines. A Scottish garrison sent out to help King John, who had fled north to Forfar, were told to provide for their own safety. Edward himself, true to his word, advanced into central and northern Scotland in pursuit of King John. Stirling Castle, which guarded the vital passage across the River Forth was deserted save for a janitor who stayed behind to hand the keys to the English. Edward reached Perth on 21 Jun, where he received messages from John asking for peace.
John Balliol, in surrendering, submitted himself to a protracted abasement. At Kincardine Castle on 2 Jul he confessed to rebellion and prayed for forgiveness. Five days later in the kirkyard of Stracathro he abandoned the treaty with the French. The final humiliation came at Montrose on 8 Jul. Dressed for the occasion John was ceremoniously stripped of the vestments of royalty. Antony Bek, the Bishop of Durham, ripped the red and gold arms of Scotland from his surcoat, thus bequeathing to history the nickname "Toom Tabard" (empty coat) by which John has been known to generations of Scottish schoolchildren. He and his son Edward were sent south into captivity. Soon after, the English king followed, carrying in his train the Stone of Scone and other relics of Scottish nationhood.

1301 7 Feb 1301 Age 16
First Prince of Wales
He was the first English prince to hold the title Prince of Wales, which was formalized by the Parliament of Lincoln.

1301 Age 16
Christened in Wales

1305 Age 20
Birth of Adam Fitzroy Plantagênet at Windsor, Berkshire, England

1306 10 Feb 1306- 25 Mar 1306 Age 21
Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scotland
The situation changed again on 10 Feb 1306, when Robert the Bruce murdered his rival John Comyn and few weeks later, on 25 Mar, had himself crowned king of Scotland. Bruce now embarked on a campaign to restore Scottish independence, and this campaign took the English by surprise. Edward was suffering ill health by this time, and instead of leading an expedition himself, he gave different military commands to Aymer de Valence and Henry Percy, while the main royal army would be led by the Prince of Wales.

1307 Age 22
Christened on King

1307- 1314 Age 22
Robert the Bruce Returns
Robert the Bruce had been steadily reconquering Scotland. Each campaign begun by Edward, from 1307 to 1314, had ended in Robert clawing back more of the land that Edward I had taken during his long reign. Robert's military successes against Edward II were due to a number of factors, not the least of which was the Scottish king's strategy. He used small forces to trap an invading English army, took castles by stealth to preserve his troops and he used the land as a weapon against Edward by attacking quickly and then disappearing into the hills instead of facing the superior numbers of the English.
Bruce united Scotland against its common enemy and is quoted as saying that he feared more the dead Edward I than the living Edward II. By Jun 1314, only Stirling Castle and Berwick remained under English control.

1308 25 Jan 1308 Age 23
Marriage of Edward II to Isabelle de France at Boulogne Cathedral, Bologne, Champagne, France.

23 Feb 1308 Age 23
Christened at Cheshire, England, United Kingdom

25 Feb 1308 Age 23
Coronation in London, Greater London, United Kingdom

25 Apr 1308 Age 24
Ordained at Westminster Abbey, London, England

1312 13 Nov 1312 Age 28
Birth of Edward III of England Windsor, Berkshire, England
Edward III was the first of the English kings to have the time of birth recorded exactly. He was born at 5:40 am on a Monday. 
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1312 Age 27
Death of Piers Gaveston
While Edward was in France, he left Gaveston as regent. Some English barons grew resentful of Gaveston's power, and began to insist he be banished through the Ordinances of 1311. Edward recalled his friend, but could do little to prevent Gaveston being captured in 1312 under the orders of the Earl of Lancaster and his allies, who claimed that he had led the king to folly. He was captured first by the Earl of Warwick, who he was seen to have offended, and handed over to two Welshmen. They took him to Blacklow Hill and murdered him; one ran him through the heart with his sword and the other beheaded him. A monument called Gaveston's Cross remains on the site, outside Leek Wootton.
Edward's grief over the death of Gaveston was profound. He kept the remains of his body close to him for a number of weeks before the Church forcibly arranged a bur.

23 Jun 1314 Age 30
Fight for Stirling Castle
Edward and an army of 20,000 foot soldiers and 3,000 cavalry faced Robert and his army of foot soldiers and farmers wielding 14-foot-long pikes. Edward knew he had to keep the critical stronghold of Stirling Castle if there was to be any chance for English military success. The castle, however, was under a constant state of siege, and the English commander, Sir Phillip de Mowbray, had advised Edward that he would surrender the castle to the Scots unless Edward arrived by 24 Jun 1314, to relieve the siege. Edward could not afford to lose his last forward castle in Scotland. He decided therefore to gamble his entire army to break the siege and force the Scots to a final battle by putting its army into the field.
However, Edward had made a serious mistake in thinking his vastly superior numbers alone would provide enough of a tactical advantage to defeat the Scots. Robert not only had the advantage of prior warning, as he knew the actual day that Edward would come north and fight, he also had the time to choose the field of battle most advantageous to the Scots and their style of combat.
As Edward moved forward on the main road to Stirling, Robert placed his army on either side of the road north, one in the dense woods and the other placed on a bend on the river, a spot hard for the invading army to see. Robert also ordered his men to dig potholes and cover them with bracken in order to help break any cavalry charge.
By contrast, Edward did not issue his writs of service, calling upon 21,540 men, unt. 27 May 1314. Worse, his army was ill-disciplined and had seen little success in eight years of campaigns. On the eve of battle, he decided to move his entire army at night and placed it in a marshy area, with its cavalry laid out in nine squadrons in front of the foot soldiers. The following battle, the Battle of Bannockburn, is considered by contemporary scholars to be the worst defeat sustained by the English since the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

1320 1320- 1322 Age 35
Hugh Despenser, A New Favorite
The situation in England was again becoming dangerously unstable. Edward ignored the law in favor of Despenser: when Lord de Braose of Gower sold his title to his son-in-law, an action entirely lawful in the Welsh Marches, Despenser demanded the king grant Gower to him instead. The king, against all laws, then confiscated Gower from the purchaser and offered it to Despenser; in so doing, he provoked the fury of most of the barons. In 1321, the Earl of Hereford, along with the Earl of Lancaster and others, took up arms against the Despenser family, and the King was forced into an agreement with the barons.
On 14 Aug at Westminster Hall, accompanied by the Earls of Pembroke and Richmond, the king declared the Despenser father and son both banished.
The victory of the barons proved their undoing. With the removal of the Despensers, many nobles, regardless of previous affiliation, now attempted to move into the vacuum left by the two. Hoping to win Edward's favor, these nobles were willing to aid the king in his revenge against the barons and thus increase their own wealth and power. In following campaigns, many of the king's opponents were murdered, the Earl of Lancaster being beheaded in the presence of Edward himself.
With all opposition crushed, the king and the Despensers were left the unquestioned 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.

1321 5 Jul 1321 Age 37
Birth of Joan "of The Tower", Queen of Scots at Tower of London, London, Middlesex, England

1325 Mar 1325 Age 40
Isabella Goes to France
A dispute between France and England then broke out over Edward's refusal to pay homage to the French king for the territory of Gascony. After several bungled attempts to regain the territory, Edward sent his wife, Isabella, to negotiate peace terms. Overjoyed, Isabella arrived in France in Mar 1325. She was now able to visit her family and native land as well as escape the Despensers and the king, all of whom she now detested.
On 31 May 1325, Isabella agreed to a peace treaty, favoring France and requiring Edward to pay homage in France to her brother, King Charles; but Edward decided instead to send his son to pay homage. This proved a gross tactical error, and helped to bring about the ruin of both Edward and the Despensers, as Isabella, now that she had her son with her, declared that she would not return to England until Despenser was removed.

December 1325- 1326 Age 41
Isabella Leads and Invasion
When Isabella's retinue - loyal to Edward, and ordered back to England by Isabella - returned to the English Court on 23 Dec, they brought further shocking news for the king: Isabella had formed a liaison with Roger Mortimer in Paris and they were now plotting an invasion of England.
Edward prepared for the invasion but was betrayed by those close to him: his son refused to leave his mother - claiming he wanted to remain with her during her unease and unhappiness. Edward's half-brother, the Earl of Kent, md. Mortimer's cousin, Margaret Wake; other nobles, such as John de Cromwell and the Earl of Richmond, also chose to remain with Mortimer.
In Sep 1326, Mortimer and Isabella invaded England. 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.
The invasion swiftly had too much force and support to be stemmed. As a result, the army the king had ordered failed to emerge and both Edward and the Despensers were left isolated. They abandoned London on 2 Oct, leaving the city to fall into disorder.
On the 15 Oct, a London mob seized and beheaded without trial John le Marshal (a Londoner accused of being a spy for the Despensers) and Edward II's Treasurer, Walter de Stapledon Bishop of Exeter, together with two of the bishop's squires. The king first took refuge in Gloucester (where he arrived on 9 Oct) and then fled to South Wales in order to make a defence in Despenser's lands. However, Edward was unable to rally an army, and on 31 Oct, he was abandoned by his servants, leaving him with only the younger Despenser and a few retainers.
On 27 Oct, the elder 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 Wales in order to fetch the King and the younger Despenser; on 16 Nov he caught Edward, Despenser and their soldiers in the open country near Tonyrefail, where a plaque now commemorates the event. The soldiers were released and Despenser was sent to Isabella at Hereford whilst the king was taken by Lancaster himself to Kenilworth.

1327 21 Sep 1327 Age 43
Death of Edward II at Berkeley Castle, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England
Holinshed describes it thus: 'With heavy feather beds or a table being cast upon him they kept him down...put into his fundament a horn and through the same they thrust up into his body a hot spit or through the pipe of a trumpet, a plumber's instrument of iron made very hot, the which passing up into his entrails and being rolled to and fro burnt the same, but so as no appearance of any wound or hurt outwardly might be perceived.' The ghastly screams of the dying King were long reported to be heard ringing through Berkeley Castle.

20 Dec 1327 Age 43
Burial of Edward II at Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England
Edward's body was brought to Gloucester Cathedral for bur. and a fine alabaster effigy was raised over his tomb by Edward III. It is located in the north ambulatory of the cathedral. His wife had Edward's heart removed and placed into a silver vase, which was later bur. in her own coffin.

Edward II (25 Apr 1284 – 21 Sep 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon,[1] was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in Jan 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenêt king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II. Between the strong reigns of his father Edward I and son Edward III, the reign of Edward II was considered by some to be disastrous for England, marked by alleged incompetence, political squabbling and military defeats.
While Edward fathered at least five children by two women, he was rumored to have been bisexual. His inability to deny even the most grandiose favors to his unpopular male favorites (first a Gascon knight named Piers Gaveston, later a young English lord named Hugh Despenser) led to constant political unrest and his eventual deposition.
Edward I had pacified Gwynedd and some other parts of Wales and the Scottish lowlands, but never exerted a comprehensive conquest. However, the army of Edward II was devastatingly defeated at Bannockburn, freeing Scotland from English control and allowing Scottish forces to raid unchecked throughout the north of England.
In addition to these disasters, Edward II is remembered for his probable death in Berkeley Castle, allegedly by murder, and for being the first monarch to establish colleges at Oxford and Cambridge: Oriel College at Oxford and King's Hall, a predecessor of Trinity College, at Cambridge.

Edward II Memorial
Birth: 25 Apr 1284 Caernarfon Gwynedd, Wales Death: 21 Sep 1327 Berkeley Stroud District Gloucestershire, England
English Monarch. The eldest surviving son of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, he succeeded his father in 1307, and was crowned on his birthday in 1308. Edward lacked the royal dignity and military skill of his father, and was a complete failure as king. He md. Isabella of France at Boulogne-sur-Mer on 28 Jan 1308. The marriage was also a failure, though four children were born. Edward relied heavily on court favorites, much like his grand-father Henry III. Edward's favorite was his former tutor and most certainly his lover, Piers Gaveston. This relationship angered the nobles, and in 1312 they revolted, murdering Gaveston and forcing Edward to accept restrictions of his power. But Gaveston was soon replaced by another despicable favorite and lover, Hugh Despenser. Edward rallied an army and met the rebellious nobles at the Battle of Boroughbridge. Edward prevailed, and he and Despenser ruled the government, gaining even more enemies. Edward's queen, who had been sent to France to negotiate her husband's affairs in Gascony, began an affair with one of the exiled nobles, Roger Mortimer. Together they raised an army, and in Sep 1326, they invaded, landing at Essex. Edward's followers deserted him, and the king fled London. His wife followed, Despenser was killed, and Edward was taken prisoner. He was imprisoned at Kenilworth Castle and forced by Parliament to abdicate on 20 Jan 1327. Isabella and Mortimer took up the reigns of power as regents for the young Edward III. The king was systematically ill-treated in hopes he would die of disease. When his constitution proved too strong, he was secretly murdered. He was 43 years old. (bio by: Kristen Conrad)

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Timeline Edward Plantagênet II, King of England

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