King Edward II
1284 – 1327 · Generation XV · King of England (r. 1307–1327)
Edward II of Caernarfon (1284–1327). King of England (r. 1307–1327). Married Isabella of France in 1308. Deposed by his own queen and her allies; died a prisoner at Berkeley Castle. His reign was shaped by favourites. Devotion to Piers Gaveston, whose arrogance enraged the barons, forced concessions in the Ordinances of 1311 and ended when the barons seized and executed Gaveston the following year. At Bannockburn in 1314 Robert the Bruce routed his army; famine and mounting criticism followed. He then bound himself to the Despensers, crushing his baronial enemies and executing his cousin Lancaster, until the regime’s oppression turned even his queen against him during her embassy to France. Historians still argue over whether he was idle and unfit for kingship or merely an unwilling, unlucky ruler, and his bond with Gaveston inspired Marlowe’s play Edward II.
Line of descent: King William I The Conqueror → King Henry I → Matilda the Empress → King Henry II → King John → King Henry III → King Edward I Longshanks → King Edward II.
Parents
- King Edward I Longshanks (1239 – 1307)
- Eleanor of Castile (1241 – 1290)
Partners
- Married Isabella of France (1295 – 1358) in 1308 — one child together
Children
- King Edward III (1312 – 1377)
Life
- 1284 — Born
- 1307 — Edward II accedes to the throne on the death of his father, Edward I.
- 1308 — Married Isabella of France
- 1308 — Edward’s favourite, Piers Gaveston, is exiled for misgovernment.
- 1310 — Parliament sets up a committee of Lords Ordainers to control the King and improve administration. The King’s cousin, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, takes control
- 1312 — Piers Gaveston is kidnapped by the King’s opponents and is put to death.
- 1314 — Edward and the English army are defeated at the Battle of Bannockburn by Robert Bruce. Scottish independence is assured
- 1320 — Welsh border barons, father and son, both named Hugh Despenser, gain the King’s favour,
- 1326 — Edward’s wife, Isabella, abandons him and with her lover, Mortimer, seizes power and deposes Edward. The Despensers are both put to death.
- 1327 — Died
- 1327 — Edward is formally deposed by Parliament in favour of Edward III, his son, and is murdered in Berkeley Castle on the orders of his wife, Isabella.