General Notes

homosexual Now, Edward Longshanks was a bit of a nasty man
, even by English Royalty standards, and this might have ha
d something to do with the way his son turned out. Edwar
d I was tough and warrior-like, while Edward II was the com
plete opposite. Edward II was betrothed at a very early ag
e to the six-year-old heiress to the Scottish throne, but s
he died in a shipwreck on the way to the wedding. Having fa
iled to unite England and Scotland through marriage, Edwar
d I did it by force: which is where the story of Bravehear
t really starts.  Eventually Edward II was married at the a
ge of 24 to Isabella of France, but even on his wedding nig
ht he preferred to sleep on the couch of his homosexual fav
ourite, Piers Gaveston. Gaveston was exiled and eventuall
y murdered - there's no proof that Longshanks ever threw hi
m out of the window as portrayed in the film - and Isabell
a went on to bear two sons and two daughters. Again there i
s no historical proof that she ever met William Wallace, le
t alone slept with him.  Edward II was a very weak king wh
o tended to rule by resorting to executing anyone who trie
d to stand against him. He wasted a lot of money on his hom
osexual lovers and was very unpopular. As a soldier, he fai
led to stop Robert The Bruce from regaining power in Scotla
nd and was defeated at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314, e
nsuring Scottish independence until the Act of Union in 170
7.  In 1324, war broke out with France1, and Isabella and t
heir child Edward2 were sent to France to negotiate peace w
ith her brother, the King. Instead, she met up with Roger M
ortimer, one of Edward's expelled Barons, and they began a
n open affair. Isabella and Roger managed to raise an arm
y and invaded England in 1326, capturing and imprisoning Ed
ward in Bristol Castle.  The people of Bristol wouldn't pu
t up with Edward, so he was moved to Berkeley Castle3, a sm
all castle in Gloucestershire, England, under cover of dark
ness in April 1327.   Many attempts were made to kill him w
ithout violence. At Berkeley he was thrown into a waste pi
t and forced to eat rotten food and drink foul water. Dea
d animals were even thrown into the pit, but he still did n
ot die.  In September 1327, a Knight named Gurney joined Lo
rd Maltravers as gaoler. They inserted a straight cow hor
n with the point removed into Edward's anus, then a red ho
t iron was pushed through the cow horn and into the body, b
urning out his entrails. This killed him while leaving no m
arks on his body, making it appear as if he had died of nat
ural causes. The crime might have gone unnoticed if they ha
d not murdered him in an outbuilding: as it was, his scream
s could be heard all over the village. When the crime was i
nvestigated, Thomas Berkeley produced an alibi that he wa
s ill and staying five miles away at Wotton Under Edge. H
e was acquitted. In the 1600s, a historian found papers rev
ealing that Thomas Berkeley did not attend Bradley Court, W
otton Under Edge until a week after Edward's murder. No on
e was ever found guilty, mainly due to Thomas Berkeley conc
ealing Gurney and exiling him to Beverston.  Sir Richard Ba
ker wrote about Edward I in A Chronicle to the Kings of Eng
land:  'His great unfortunateness was in his greatest bless
ing: for of four sons which he had by his Queen Eleanor, th
ree of them died in his own lifetime, who were worthy to ha
ve outlived him; and the fourth outlived him, who was worth
y never to have been born.'  In his dying moments, Edward I
I probably wished he had never been born too. -------------
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--------- 1 As it so frequently did in those days, before t
he European Union made it possible for the countries to ann
oy one another almost as much without anyone having to di
e for one's country. 2 The Plantagenets are not famed for t
heir originality in naming their children. 3 It is in a sle
ep