Edward II of England (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327) was the king of England from 7 July 1307 to 25 January 1327, succeeding Edward I of England and preceding Edward III of England. Edward was known as an ineffective king who was unable to bring the rebellious Scots to heel, who endangered the country by granting too much power to his favorites Piers Gaveston and Hugh Despenser the Younger, and who was unable to command the loyalty of either his barons or his wife. In 1326, his wife Isabella of France and her lover Roger Mortimer invaded England and forced Edward to abdicate in January 1327, and he was murdered at Berkeley Castle in September 1327, with a hot poker being inserted up his rectum to kill him without leaving any sign of murder on his body.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Edward in 1296
Edward was born on 25 April 1284 to King Edward I of England and Queen Eleanor of Castile, and he was from the English Catholic House of Plantagenet. Edward was at least bisexual, as he was known to be uninterested in women, and he instead had intimate relationships with courtiers such as Piers Gaveston and his friend Philip Billington. Edward was an indecisive person, and it was by misfortune that became the heir to the Kingdom of England after the deaths of his older brothers. His father had him marry Isabella of France, the daughter of his enemy King Philip VI of France, and in 1297 King Edward went on campaign in France to expand Prince Edward's future kingdom. He left command of the English armies fighting the rebel William Wallace of Scotland to his son while he was away; Prince Edward was a coward, and he idled as Wallace gained ground. He left the command of his forces to nobles such as John de Warenne and Hugh de Cressingham, the former of which was a coward and the latter of which was hated by the Scots and English alike. The northern army of England was annihilated at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, and when King Edward heard the news, he returned to England. King Edward encountered Prince Edward at his castle, and he threw Philip out of a window, enraging Prince Edward, who drew a knife. King Edward beat him up, and shortly afterwards, a messenger brought in a basket containing the head of the King's nephew, the Governor of York, who had been killed by Wallace, who also sacked York. King Edward knew that he could not turn to his son, so he instead allied with Robert the Bruce.
Reign[]
Aymer de Valence, King Edward I, and Prince Edward before the Battle of Loudoun Hill, 1307
A bust of Edward at Caerphilly Castle
In 1300, Edward had a controversial relationship with the Gascon knight Piers Gaveston, who joined the household of the Plantagenets. King Edward had Prince Edward accompany him on his campaigns in Scotland after that year, and he banished Piers Gaveston, with whom Prince Edward was close friends and possibly a homosexual lover. The king died in 1307, and Prince Edward became the new king. He married Isabella of France in 1308 when she became of age, but he recalled Piers Gaveston again. The nobles again banished him, but when he returned in 1312, the nobles (led by Earl Thomas of Lancaster) executed Gaveston. Edward's reign progressively grew worse, and in 1314 he lost the Battle of Bannockburn to the Scots of Robert the Bruce. From 1315 to 1317, widespread famine broke out, and Edward became unpopular. Hugh Despenser the Younger and the House of Despencer became allies of Edward, and when the Earl of Lancaster forced the king to exile them in 1321 and tried to take over their lands, the Despenser War began between Lancaster and the king. At the battle of Boroughbridge on 16 March 1322, the rebels were defeated and Lancaster executed.
However, in 1326 Isabella of France and Roger Mortimer invaded England from France at the head of an army of rebels and French soldiers, and they defeated Edward, capturing Bristol after a major siege. They also captured London, and they captured Edward when he fled to Wales in November, executing Hugh the Younger and Edmund FitzAlan. In January 1327 Edward was forced to abdicate in the favor of his son Edward III of England, and he was murdered at Berkeley Castle on 21 September 1327.