General Notes

REFN: 1247
The fourth son of King Edward I, he ascended the throne upo
n his father's death (July 7, 1307) and immediately gave th
e highest offices to Edward I's most prominent opponents. H
e earned the hatred of the barons by granting the earldom o
f Cornwall to his frivolous favourite (and possible lover)
, Piers Gaveston. In 1311 a 21-member baronial committee dr
afted a document--known as the Ordinances--demanding the ba
nishment of Gaveston and the restriction of the King's powe
rs over finances and appointments. Edward pretended to giv
e in to these demands; he sent Gaveston out of the countr
y but soon allowed him to return. In retaliation the baron
s seized Gaveston and executed him (June 1312).
Edward had to wait 11 years to annul the Ordinances and ave
nge Gaveston. Meanwhile, the Scottish king Robert I the Bru
ce was threatening to throw off English overlordship. Edwar
d led an army into Scotland in 1314 but was decisively defe
ated by Bruce at Bannockburn on June 24. With one stroke, S
cotland's independence was virtually secured, and Edward wa
s put at the mercy of a group of barons headed by his cousi
n Thomas of Lancaster, who by 1315 had made himself the rea
l master of England. Nevertheless, Lancaster proved to be i
ncompetent; by 1318 a group of moderate barons led by Ayme
r de Valence, earl of Pembroke, had assumed the role of arb
itrators between Lancaster and Edward. At this juncture Edw
ard found two new favourites--Hugh le Despenser and his so
n and namesake. When the King supported the younger Despens
er's territorial ambitions in Wales, Lancaster banished bot
h Despensers. Edward then took up arms in their behalf. Hi
s opponents fell out among themselves, and he defeated an
d captured Lancaster at Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, in Marc
h 1322. Soon afterward, he had Lancaster executed.
At last free of baronial control, Edward revoked the Ordina
nces. His reliance on the Despensers, however, soon arouse
d the resentment of his queen, Isabella. While on a diploma
tic mission to Paris in 1325, she became the mistress of Ro
ger Mortimer, an exiled baronial opponent of Edward. In Sep
tember 1326 the couple invaded England, executed the Despen
sers, and deposed Edward in favour of his son, who was crow
ned (January 1327) King Edward III. Edward II was imprisone
d and in September 1327 died, probably by violence. His car
eer is recounted in Hilda Johnstone's Edward of Carnarvon (
1946).
(Encyclopedia Britannica)