Ancestral Trails 2016 » EDWARD II OF ENGLAND (1284-1327)

Personal data EDWARD II OF ENGLAND 

• He was born on April 25, 1284 in Caernavon Castle, Caernavon, Gwynedd, Wales.Source 1
• Title: King of England
• (Known as) : Edward of Caernavon.
• (Ancestry) : House of Plantagenet.
• He died on September 21, 1327 in Berkeley Castle, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, he was 43 years old.

  Murdered

• He is buried on December 20, 1327 in Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucestershire.
• A child of EDWARD I OF ENGLAND and ELEANOR de CASTILE

Household of EDWARD II OF ENGLAND

(1) He is married to UNKNOWN.

They got married at Unmarried.

Child(ren):

1. Adam FITZROY  1305-????

(2) He is married to ISABELLA de FRANCE.

They got married on January 25, 1307/08 at Boulogne Cathedral, Boulogne, Champagne, France, he was 22 years old.Source 1

Child(ren):

1. Joan PLANTAGENET  1321-1362
2. John of ELTHAM  1316-1336
3. Eleanor of WOODSTOCK  1318-1355 
4. EDWARD III PLANTAGENET  1312-1377 

• The couple has common ancestors.



Notes about EDWARD II OF ENGLAND

Edward II (25 April 1284 - 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne following the death of his older brother Alphonso. Beginning in 1300, Edward accompanied his father on campaigns to pacify Scotland, and in 1306 he was knighted in a grand ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Edward succeeded to the throne in 1307, following his father's death. In 1308, he married Isabella of France, the daughter of the powerful King Philip IV, as part of a long-running effort to resolve the tensions between the English and French crowns.

Edward had a close and controversial relationship with Piers Gaveston, who had joined his household in 1300. The precise nature of Edward and Gaveston's relationship is uncertain; they may have been friends, lovers or sworn brothers. Gaveston's arrogance and power as Edward's favourite provoked discontent both among the barons and the French royal family, and Edward was forced to exile him. On Gaveston's return, the barons pressured the King into agreeing to wide-ranging reforms called the Ordinances of 1311. The newly empowered barons banished Gaveston, to which Edward responded by revoking the reforms and recalling his favourite. Led by Edward's cousin, the Earl of Lancaster, a group of the barons seized and executed Gaveston in 1312, beginning several years of armed confrontation. English forces were pushed back in Scotland, where Edward was decisively defeated by Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Widespread famine followed, and criticism of the King's reign mounted.

The Despenser family, in particular Hugh Despenser the Younger, became close friends and advisers to Edward, but in 1321 Lancaster and many of the barons seized the Despensers' lands and forced the King to exile them. In response, Edward led a short military campaign, capturing and executing Lancaster. Edward and the Despensers strengthened their grip on power, revoking the 1311 reforms, executing their enemies and confiscating estates. Unable to make progress in Scotland, Edward finally signed a truce with Robert. Opposition to the regime grew, and when Isabella was sent to France to negotiate a peace treaty in 1325, she turned against Edward and refused to return. Isabella allied herself with the exiled Roger Mortimer, and invaded England with a small army in 1326. Edward's regime collapsed and he fled into Wales, where he was captured in November. Edward was forced to relinquish his crown in January 1327 in favour of his fourteen-year-old son, Edward III, and he died in Berkeley Castle on 21 September, probably murdered on the orders of the new regime.

Edward's relationship with Gaveston inspired Christopher Marlowe's 1592 play Edward II, along with other plays, films, novels and media. Many of these have focused on the possible sexual relationship between the two men. Edward's contemporaries criticised his performance as a king, noting his failures in Scotland and the oppressive regime of his later years, although 19th-century academics later argued that the growth of parliamentary institutions during his reign was a positive development for England over the longer term. Debate has continued into the 21st century as to whether Edward was a lazy and incompetent king, or simply a reluctant and ultimately unsuccessful ruler.

Background
Edward II was the fourth son of Edward I and his first wife, Eleanor of Castile. His father was the King of England, and had also inherited Gascony in south-western France, which he held as the feudal vassal of the King of France, and the Lordship of Ireland. His mother was from the Castilian royal family, and held the County of Ponthieu in northern France. Edward I proved to be a successful military leader, leading the suppression of the baronial revolts in the 1260s, and joining the Ninth Crusade. During the 1280s he conquered North Wales, removing the native Welsh princes from power, and in the 1290s he intervened in Scotland's civil war, claiming suzerainty over the country. He was considered an extremely successful ruler by his contemporaries, largely able to control the powerful earls that formed the senior ranks of the English nobility. The historian Michael Prestwich describes Edward I as "a king to inspire fear and respect", while John Gillingham characterises him as an efficient bully.

Despite his successes, when Edward I died in 1307 he left a range of challenges for his son to resolve. One of the most critical was the problem of English rule in Scotland, where Edward's long but ultimately inconclusive military campaign was ongoing when he died. Edward's control of Gascony created tension with the French kings. They insisted that the English kings should give homage to them for the lands; the English kings saw this demand as insulting to their honour, and the issue remained unresolved.[9] Edward I also faced increasing opposition from his barons over the taxation and requisitions required to resource his wars, and left his son debts of around £200,000 on his death.

Early life (1284-1307)
Edward II was born in Caernarfon Castle in North Wales on 25 April 1284, less than a year after Edward I had conquered the region, and as a result is sometimes called Edward of Caernarfon. The King probably deliberately chose the castle as the location for Edward's birth, as it was an important symbolic location for the native Welsh, associated with Roman imperial history, and it formed the centre of the new royal administration of North Wales. Edward's birth brought with it predictions of greatness from contemporary prophets who believed that the Last Days of the world were imminent, declaring him to be a new King Arthur, who would lead England to glory. David Powel, a 16th-century clergyman, suggested that the baby was offered to the Welsh as a prince "that was borne in Wales and could speake never a word of English", but there is no evidence to support this account.

Edward's name was English in origin, linking him to the Anglo-Saxon saint Edward the Confessor, and was chosen by his father instead of the more traditional Norman and Castilian names selected for Edward's brothers: Edward had three elder brothers: John and Henry who had died before Edward was born, and Alphonso, who died in August 1284, leaving Edward as the heir to the throne. Although Edward was a relatively healthy child, there were enduring concerns throughout his early years that he too might die and leave his father without a male heir. After his birth, Edward was looked after by a wet-nurse called Mariota or Mary Maunsel for a few months until she fell ill, when Alice de Leygrave became his foster mother. He would have barely known his natural mother Eleanor, who was in Gascony with his father during his earliest years. An official household complete with staff was created for the new baby, under the direction of a clerk, Giles of Oudenarde.

Childhood, personality and appearance
Spending on Edward's personal household increased as he grew older, and in 1293 William of Blyborough took over as its administrator. Edward was probably given a religious education by the Dominican friars, whom his mother invited into his household in 1290. He was assigned one of his grandmother's followers, Guy Ferre, as his magister, who was responsible for his discipline, training him in riding and military skills. It is uncertain how well educated Edward was; there is little evidence for his ability to read and write, although his mother was keen that her other children were well educated, and Ferre was himself a relatively learned man for the period. Edward likely mainly spoke Anglo-Norman French in his daily life, in addition to some English and possibly Latin.

Edward had a normal upbringing for a member of a royal family. The prince was interested in horses and horse breeding, and became a good rider; he also liked dogs, in particular greyhounds. In his letters, he shows a quirky sense of humour, joking about sending unsatisfactory animals to his friends, such as horses who disliked carrying their riders, or lazy hunting dogs too slow to catch rabbits. He was not particularly interested in hunting or falconry, both popular activities in the 14th century. He enjoyed music, including Welsh music and the newly invented crwth instrument, as well as musical organs. He did not take part in jousting, either because he lacked the aptitude or because he had been banned from participating for his personal safety, but he was certainly supportive of the sport.

Edward grew up to be tall and muscular, and was considered good looking by the standards of the period. He had a reputation as a competent public speaker and was known for his generosity to his household staff. Unusually, he enjoyed rowing, as well as hedging and ditching, and enjoyed associating with labourers and other lower-class workers. This behaviour was not considered normal for the nobility of the period and attracted criticism from contemporaries.

In 1290, Edward's father had confirmed the Treaty of Birgham, in which he promised to marry his six-year-old son to the young Margaret of Norway, who had a potential claim to the crown of Scotland. Margaret died later that year, bringing an end to the plan. Edward's mother, Eleanor, died shortly afterwards, followed by his grandmother, Eleanor of Provence. Edward I was distraught at his wife's death and held a huge funeral for her; his son inherited the County of Ponthieu from Eleanor on her death. Next, a French marriage was considered for the young Edward, to help secure a lasting peace with France, but war broke out in 1294. The idea was replaced with the proposal of a marriage to a daughter of the Count of Flanders, but this too failed after it was blocked by King Philip IV of France.

Piers Gaveston and sexuality
During this time, Edward became close to Piers Gaveston. Gaveston was the son of one of the King's household knights whose lands lay adjacent to Gascony, and had himself joined Prince Edward's household in 1300, possibly on Edward I's instruction. The two got on well; Gaveston became a squire and was soon being referred to as a close companion of Edward, before being knighted by the King during the Feast of Swans in 1306. The King then exiled Gaveston to Gascony in 1307 for reasons that remain unclear. According to one chronicler, Edward had asked his father to allow him to give Gaveston the County of Ponthieu, and the King responded furiously, pulling his son's hair out in great handfuls, before exiling Gaveston. The official court records, however, show Gaveston being only temporarily exiled, supported by a comfortable stipend; no reason is given for the order, suggesting that it may have been an act aimed at punishing the prince in some way.

The possibility that Edward had a sexual relationship with Gaveston or his later favourites has been extensively discussed by historians, complicated by the paucity of surviving evidence to determine for certain the details of their relationships. Homosexuality was fiercely condemned by the Church in 14th-century England, which equated it with heresy, but engaging in sex with another man did not necessarily define an individual's personal identity in the same way that it might in the 21st century. Edward and Gaveston both had sexual relationships with their wives, who bore them children; Edward also had an illegitimate son, and may also have had an affair with his niece, Eleanor de Clare.

The contemporary evidence supporting their homosexual relationship comes primarily from an anonymous chronicler in the 1320s who described how Edward "felt such love" for Gaveston that "he entered into a covenant of constancy, and bound himself with him before all other mortals with a bond of indissoluble love, firmly drawn up and fastened with a knot". The first specific suggestion that Edward engaged in sex with men was recorded in 1334, when Adam Orleton, the Bishop of Winchester, was accused of having stated in 1326 that Edward was a "sodomite", although Orleton defended himself by arguing that he had meant that Edward's advisor, Hugh Despenser the Younger, was a sodomite, rather than the late King. The Meaux Chronicle from the 1390s simply notes that Edward gave himself "too much to the vice of sodomy."

Alternatively, Edward and Gaveston may have simply been friends with a close working relationship. Contemporary chronicler comments are vaguely worded; Orleton's allegations were at least in part politically motivated, and are very similar to the highly politicised sodomy allegations made against Pope Boniface VIII and the Knights Templar in 1303 and 1308 respectively. Later accounts by chroniclers of Edward's activities may trace back to Orleton's original allegations, and were certainly adversely coloured by the events at the end of Edward's reign. Such historians as Michael Prestwich and Seymour Phillips have argued that the public nature of the English royal court would have made it unlikely that any homosexual affairs would have remained discreet; neither the contemporary Church, Edward's father nor his father-in-law appear to have made any adverse comments about Edward's sexual behaviour.

A more recent theory, proposed by the historian Pierre Chaplais, suggests that Edward and Gaveston entered into a bond of adoptive brotherhood. Compacts of adoptive brotherhood, in which the participants pledged to support each other in a form of "brotherhood-in-arms", were not unknown between close male friends in the Middle Ages. Many chroniclers described Edward and Gaveston's relationship as one of brotherhood, and one explicitly noted that Edward had taken Gaveston as his adopted brother. Chaplais argues that the pair may have made a formal compact in either 1300 or 1301, and that they would have seen any later promises they made to separate or to leave each other as having been made under duress, and therefore invalid. Such a compact, however, might not have excluded their relationship from having a sexual dimension as well.

Early reign (1307-1311)
Edward I mobilised another army for the Scottish campaign in 1307, which Prince Edward was due to join that summer, but the elderly King had been increasingly unwell and died on 7 July at Burgh by Sands. Edward travelled from London immediately after the news reached him, and on 20 July he was proclaimed king. He continued north into Scotland and on 4 August received homage from his Scottish supporters at Dumfries, before abandoning the campaign and returning south. Edward promptly recalled Piers Gaveston, who was then in exile, and appointed him as the Earl of Cornwall, before arranging his marriage to the wealthy Margaret de Clare. Edward also arrested his old adversary Bishop Langton, and dismissed him from his post as treasurer. Edward I's body was kept at Waltham Abbey for several months before being taken for burial to Westminster, where Edward erected a simple marble tomb for his father.

In 1308, Edward's marriage to Isabella of France proceeded. Edward crossed the English Channel to France in January, leaving Gaveston as his custos regni in charge of the kingdom in his absence. This arrangement was unusual, and involved unprecedented powers being delegated to Gaveston, backed by a specially engraved Great Seal. Edward probably hoped that the marriage would strengthen his position in Gascony and bring him much needed funds. The final negotiations, however, proved challenging: Edward and Philip IV did not like each other, and the French King drove a hard bargain over the size of Isabella's dower and the details of the administration of Edward's lands in France. As part of the agreement, Edward gave homage to Philip for the Duchy of Aquitaine and agreed to a commission to complete the implementation of the 1303 Treaty of Paris.

The pair were married in Boulogne on 25 January. Edward gave Isabella a psalter as a wedding gift, and her father gave her gifts worth over 21,000 livres and a fragment of the True Cross. The pair returned to England in February, where Edward had ordered Westminster Palace to be lavishly restored in readiness for their coronation and wedding feast, complete with marble tables, forty ovens and a fountain that produced wine and pimento, a spiced medieval drink. After some delays, the ceremony went ahead on 25 February, under the guidance of Robert Winchelsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury. As part of the coronation, Edward swore to uphold "the rightful laws and customs which the community of the realm shall have chosen". It is uncertain what this meant: it might have been intended to force Edward to accept future legislation, it may have been inserted to prevent him from overturning any future vows he might take, or it may have been an attempt by the King to ingratiate himself with the barons. The event was marred by the large crowds of eager spectators who surged into the palace, knocking down a wall and forcing Edward to flee by the back door.

Isabella was only 12 years old at the time of her wedding, young by the standards of the period, and Edward probably had sexual relations with mistresses during their first few years together. During this time Edward fathered an illegitimate son, Adam, who was born possibly as early as 1307. Edward and Isabella's first son, the future Edward III, was born in 1312 amid great celebrations, and three more children followed: John in 1316, Eleanor in 1318 and Joan in 1321.

Issue
Edward III of England (13 November 1312 - 21 June 1377). Married Philippa of Hainault on 24 January 1328 and had issue.
John of Eltham (15 August 1316 - 13 September 1336). Never married. No issue.
Eleanor of Woodstock (18 June 1318 - 22 April 1355). Married Reinoud II of Guelders in May 1332 and had issue.
Joan of The Tower (5 July 1321 - 7 September 1362). Married David II of Scotland on 17 July 1328 and became Queen of Scots, but had no issue.

Edward also fathered the illegitimate Adam FitzRoy (c. 1307-1322), who accompanied his father in the Scottish campaigns of 1322 and died shortly afterwards.
SOURCE: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_II_of_England


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