Edward II of England--

Edward II's effigy in
Gloucester Cathedral
@Pinterest

Edward II of England

(1284-1327)

King of England

1307-1327

Son of: Edward I of England & Eleanor of Castile.

Husband of: Isabelle de France. mar 1308.

Physical appearance & personal qualities.

"As far as his appearance was concerned, Isabella's bridegroom was everything a young girl could dream of. Edward II was tall (about six feet) and muscular, 'a fine figure of a handsome man' and 'one of the strongest men in his realm.' He had 'better advantages of birth and nature than any other king,' for 'God had endowed him with every gift.' Even hostile chroniclers expressed admiration for his handsome looks, which he inherited from his father. He was well proportioned and had curly, fair, shoulder length hair, with a mustache and beard. He was also well spoken---his mother tongue was Norman French---and articulate, and he dressed elegantly, even lavishly. He cannot have failed to make a good impression on his young bride." (Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England: 24)

"Anyone who has seen the 1995 movie Braveheart is likely to remember the pathetic and weak Prince Edward, a snivelling wretch whose lover is tossed out a window by his depraved father. The real Edward II could not have been less like his portrayal in one of the 1990s’ most successful flicks. He had a filthy sense of humour, an easy-going repartee with common people and a passion for manual labour. Like his father, Edward II was tall and robust. The “Vita Edwardi Secundi”, which was an account of the King’s life written by a clerk who lived at Edward’s court and who recorded his experiences at the time, observed that the King was ‘a fine figure of a handsome man’, while Sir Thomas Grey, whose father fought in Edward’s army, wrote that ‘physically he was one of the strongest men in the realm’. Another thought Edward moved well despite his size: ‘elegant, of outstanding strength’. None of the eyewitness descriptions of Edward’s contradicts one chronicler’s description of him as ‘fair of body and great of strength’. There are no surviving accounts that mention his eye colour, but illustrations and his effigy all show wavy blond hair that fell either to his chin or his shoulders. Later in life, he grew a beard." (The Scandal and Downfall of Piers Gaveston)

" . . . In the case of Edward II, the existence of male lovers has certainly been alleged, and two such lovers have been named. But curiously Edward also had a bastard son, Adam Fitzroy, so he must have had a sexual relationship with a woman other than his wife on at least one occasion. Adam seems to have been born in about 1205, at a time when Edward was a teenager, still unmarried, and still heir to the throne. However, there is no reason to suppose that Adam Fitzroy's mother was Edward's 'mistress' in terms of the definition we are using here. Adam may have been the fruit of a mere passing fancy." (Royal Marriage Secrets: Consorts & Concubines, Bigamists & Bastards)

The favourites.

" . . . Edward had always had royal favourites, Piers Gaveston being the man he loved the most and was closest to. Their bond had been forged as teenagers, long before Edward assumed the throne in 1307 and was unequivocally sexual as demonstrated by their actions. Edward's preoccupation with Gaveston's soul and his burning desire for revenged are the clearest proofs. The rise of Damory, Audley and Montacute in the middle years of his reign was driven by his need to counter the position of his over-mighty cousin and bring about his revenge for Gaveston's death. Damory seemed to head the group and may have been the more attracted to the king, possibly sexually but this is speculative. By 1319, these bonds were strong, but in 1320 they were frayed and almost broken." (Spinks. Edward II the Man: A Doomed Inheritance)

Edward II of England

Edward II's royal favourites/lovers were:

1) Hugh de Audley, 1st Earl of Gloucester (1289-1347)

Baron Audley; Earl of Gloucester 1337; Ambassador to France.

Husband of: Margaret de Clare (1292-1342), mar 1317, daughter of Gilbert de Clare & Joan of Acre, Princess of England; widow of Piers Gaveston, Edward II's lover.

Personal & family background.

"The second son of a minor baron with lands in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, Hugh Audley junior (b. circa 1291) was probably introduced to the court by his father (Hugh Audley, snr). He became a knight of Edward’s household in 1311 but rapidly became part of a central group of favourites consisting of Roger Damory and William Montague. His loyalty and service to Edward resulted in a number of gifts of lands and, like Damory in 1317, he married one of the de Clare co-heiresses, Margaret ( the widow of Piers Gaveston)." (Lady Despenser's Scribery)

In Edward II's court.

"Hugh first appears in November 1311 when he joined Edward II's household as a newly created knight, around the time that Piers Gaveston was sent into his third exile. In 1315, he grew close to Edward, and was one of the three men, the other two being Roger Damory and William Montacute, who came to dominate the king's court, though the precise nature of his relationship with Edward II is a matter for speculation. Hugh was arguably the least prominent of the three courtiers, but still wielded enough influence over the king to be included in the Flores Historiarum's statement that they were 'worse than Piers.' In June 1315, Edward II, evidently missing his friend, ordered the chancellor to complete some of Hugh’s business as soon as possible, so that he 'can return to us as quickly as we have instructed him to do.'" (Edward II @blogspot)

"Hugh Audley was the only favourite of Edward II to survive the reign - being Edward's favourite was a dangerous occupation - and also enjoyed the trust of Edward III, who raised him to comital rank. J. R. Maddicott points out, in his ODNB entry on Hugh, that 'he had followed a course unusual enough to suggest both his high abilities and his political dexterity.'" (Edward II @blogspot)

Relationship's benefits to Hugh. 

". . . Edward rewarded Hugh's friendship with one of the two greatest prizes at his disposal: marriage to his niece Margaret de Clare, dowager countess of Cornwall, widow of Piers Gaveston and joint heiress of her late brother the earl of Gloucester. . . . " (Edward II @blogspot)

". . . Edward rewarded Hugh's friendship with one of the two greatest prizes at his disposal: marriage to his niece Margaret de Clare, dowager countess of Cornwall, widow of Piers Gaveston and joint heiress of her late brother the earl of Gloucester. . . . " (Edward II @blogspot)

Hugh, 1st Lord Despenser

2) Hugh le Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser (1286-1326)

Lover in 1318-1326.

Son of: Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester & Isabella de Beauchamp, Lady Kidwelly.

Husband of: Eleanor de Clare (1292-1337), 6th Lady of Glamorgan, mar 1306, daughter of Gilbert daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, & Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I of England.

Edward II & his niece, Eleanor de Clare, wife of his favourite Hugh Despenser the Younger.

"While Margaret Audley languished at Sempringham and Elizabeth Burgh at Barking, their sister Eleanor Despenser rose to great prominence. Edward II, implacably spiteful to those he believed had betrayed him, was immensely loyal and generous to people he loved and were faithful to him. Eleanor as well as her husband Hugh benefited from his munificence and his great affection for her. She was so high in the king's favour and so close to him in and after 1322 that one Flemish chronicler even claimed that Hugh Despenser gave her to Edward for sex, and that she was imprisoned after the two men's downfall in 1326 in case she was pregnant by the king. Any relationship between Edward II and Eleanor Despenser would, of course, have been incestuous, and therefore the allegation should be treated very seriously. There is no conclusive evidence to prove they were lovers, though there are ample instances of closeness between the two in the king's chamber accounts in the 1320s. Between 1322 and 1326 Eleanor spent most of her time at court, Edward frequently gave her large sums of money, and on the rare occasions they were apart they exchanged letters and gifts. In the summer of 1326---when we are fortunate to have the evidence of Edward's last chamber account in its entirety---the spent considerable time together, sometimes with Eleanor's husband there and sometimes, not, sailed along the Thames in the king's barge, and dined 'privately' or 'secretly' together. In October 1324, Edward was rowed across the River Thames to a house opposite the Tower of London for a secret assignation with a lover, and it is not impossible that this was Eleanor. . . ."

Relationship's benefits to Eleanor.

" . . . There is much evidence of Edward's great regard for his eldest niece early on in his reign, when he paid her expenses and often gave her money. The amounts of cash increased substantially in the 1320s: in the early 1310s Eleanor received between about 4 pounds and 10 pounds regularly, and by the 1320s this had gone up to 100 pounds or 100 marks (66 pounds). On 9 April 1325 and again on 2 December 1325, for example, Edward gave Eleanor 100 marks. Eleanor gave her uncle sets of clothes on 1 November 1324 and 3 December 1325, an oddly wifely thing to do. In June and OCtober 1325 Edward gave Eleanor caged larks, goldfinches and three swans, and on another occasion two gallons of honey to make a sweet called sucre de plate when she was pregnant. Eleanor sent him presents every New Year including a palfrey horse in1326, and during her pregnancy in 1325 he accommodated her at his manor-house of Sheen, where she gave birth." (Warner. Edward II's Nieces: The Clare Sisters: Powerful Pawns of the Crown: 92)

Hugh's personal & family background.

"Eleanor's groom was Hugh Despenser, known to history as Hugh Despenser the Younger to distinguish him from his father of the same name. He was about four years Eleanor's senior, born in the late 1280s and probably 17 or 18 years old in May 1306, and was the maternal grandson of the late Earl and Countess of Warwick, William Beauchamp (d.1298) and Maud FitzJohn (d.1301). Hugh's paternal grandmother Aline Basset (d. 1281) was Countess of Norfolk by her second marriage, and his older half-sister Maud Chaworth (b.1282) married Edward I's nephew Henry of Lancaster (b.c1280/81) in early 1297, so Hugh had some impressive family connections, yet would not himself inherit an earldom. Warwick passed to his uncle Guy Beauchamp in 1328, and Norfolk escheated to the Crown on the death of his childless step-grandfather Roger Bigod in 1306." (Warner. Edward II's Nieces: 10)

Hugh the Younger's physical appearance & personal qualities.

"The same chronicler, after making this comment, provides us with a pen-portrait of the younger Hugh. He remarks that he was a fine figure of a man. But he also notes the younger Despenser's impetuosity, pride, ambition and greed. These qualities brought disaster upon him and upon his king, whose chief favourite and adviser he was from 1322 to 1326. . . ." (Frude. The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II 1321-1326: 30)

Edward II & Hugh more than just friends & allies.

"This begs the question: how exactly did Hugh the younger exert such overwhelming control over Edward? Why did he let them behave like that? As stated at the beginning of the post, I believe that Edward and the younger Hugh were lovers - it's difficult to account for Hugh's hold over him any other way. In 1321, the Earl of Pembroke, an ally of Edward's who died in 1324, told him (quoting the Bible): 'he perishes on the rocks who loves another more than himself'. This certainly seems to indicate that Edward and Hugh were more than just friends and allies. Edward II's most recent biographer, Roy Martin Haines, has also stated his belief in the sexual nature of the relationship. A contemporary chronicler of the Low Countries believed that Edward was involved in a menage a trois with Hugh the younger and his wife - Edward's own niece Eleanor. While it's impossible to prove or disprove the story, I believe the sexual politics of Edward's reign are fascinating. Edward and Isabella's unhappy marriage, and the lovers they both took, are vital to an understanding of Edward's downfall." (Edward II's other great favourite, Hugh Despenser the Younger)

Hugh the king's "husband".

"Hugh despenser the Younger himself was called the king's 'husband' by an abbey annalist in 1326, chronicler Jean le Bel thought Hugh was executed that year partly because he had been 'a sodomite, above all with the king himself', chronicler Geoffrey le Baker wrote that Despenser bewitched Edward's mind, and the writer of the Anonimalle that Edward 'loved [Hugh] dearly, with all his heart and mind, above all others'. It does seem as though something intimate was going on between the Despenser;s husband and wife, and Edward II. The Flores Historiarum, a chronicle written at Westminster Abbey, accused the king of taking pleasure in 'illicit and sinful sexual intercourse', which might mean sex with men, incestuous sex with his niece or both. . .  Sir Thomas Gray, whose father of the same name served in Hugh Despenser's retinue in the 1320s and who may therefore have been privy to accurate information, wrote in his chronicle called Scalacronica that Edward II led a 'debauched life', and added that he 'loved and entirely trusted' Hugh Despenser. There is no evidence at all, however, that Hugh Despenser raped Queen Isabella---an invention of two writers of the early twenty-first century---or that he had sex with her." (Warner. Edward II's Nieces: 92)

Affair's effect on Edward II's wife Isabella.

"But it was not as it seemed. Prince Edward had joined his mother at the Chateau of Vincennes on 22 September 1325 and homage for Aquitaine was duly performed before the French king two days later. After a short stay in Paris, he was expecting that - in keeping with the instructions King Edward II had given him - he and his mother would both return to England and report back to his father on what had been achieved. Instead, Isabella made an extraordinary declaration in front of the entire French court, in which all her pent-up frustrations about her marriage were unleashed. She made clear, in quite astonishing fashion, that she was no longer willing to endure what had become for her a sham: 'I feel that marriage is a joining together of man and woman, maintaining the undivided habit of life, and that someone has come between my husband and myself trying to break this bond. I protest that I will not return until this intruder is removed - and discarding my marriage garment, shall assume the robes of widowhood and mourning until I am avenged of the Pharisee.' This announcement stunned all who heard it and must have been a bombshell to the young Edward. The picture of a contented family was breaking into pieces all around him. He now learned that his father was embroiled in a highly charged relationship with the chamberlain of the royal household, Hugh Despenser the Younger, the 'Pharisee' of Isabella's stinging denunciation and, in political terms, a man who exerted a baleful influence on Edward ii." (The Black Prince: England's Greatest Medieval Warrior)

Affair's effect on other people.

"But it was the emotional and almost certainly sexual relationship between the two that disturbed people the most. The Anonimalle chronicler criticized the royal favourite and lover for leading the king into 'a cruel and debauched life'; while another, the Westminster chronicler Robert of Reading, caught the sheer degree of infatuation involved: 'he led the monarch around as if he were teasing a cat with a piece of straw.'" (The Black Prince)

Affair's end & aftermath.

" . . . King Edward called Isabella back to England. She refused, because Hugh le Despenser was in power. . . She now took a powerful opponent, Mortimer, as her lover and canvassed the English exiles in France. They landed in England with an army and Edward and le Despenser fled west to Wales. He was soon captured and his lover, Hugh le Despenser handed over to the queen. Hugh le Despenser was tied to a ladder, castrated, beheaded and then quartered. The pieces of the King's lover were sent to four cities in the realm. All the time the Queen sat calmly through it. . . ." (Secret Royal History: 28)

Edward II & Piers Gaveston

3) Piers Gaveston,1st Earl of Cornwall (1284-1312)

Royal favourite 1300-1312.

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

Lieutenant of Scotland
Regent of England 1308.

Son of: Arnaud de Gabaston (d.1302), a Gascon knight & Claramonde de Marsan (1287).

Personal & family background.

" . . . Gaveston was not, however, the son of a woman burned alive as a witch; this story, often repeated in fiction featuring him as a character, was first invented by the antiquarian John Stow at the end of the sixteenth century. Gaveston's mother, Claramonde de Mardan, was, in fact, a noblewoman who died a natural death in late 1286 or early 1287. . . Contrary to what some fourteenth-century chroniclers and other writers since have believed, Gaveston was not of low birth but a nobleman, and his father and grandfather were among the leading barons of Bearn (one of the old provinces of France, in the Pyrenees in the far south-west of the country, bordering Spain). If he had been of such lowly position

Husband of: Margaret de Clare, mar 1307.

First encounter.

" . . . One was Piers Gaveston, the son of a leading Gascon baron who had fought for Edward I in France and Wales. Gaveston was born at Gabaston in Bearn; he first came to England in 1297 with his father, and in 1300, after serving two campaigns in Scotland and impressing the King with his courtly demeanor, was placed in the Prince of Wales's household as one of his squires. Before long, he had become 'the most intimate and highly favoured member' of it." (Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery and Murder in Medieval England: 16)

Introduced into the household of Prince Edward by his father Edward I himself.

"Let us now turn to Piers Gaveston, whose introduction into the household of the adolescent prince was to have such an unforeseen impact. First of all, there can be little doubt about the fact that Gaveston was introduced into the household of Prince Edward by Edward I himself. The young Gascon, probably a few years older than the Prince, had already seen military service in Flanders in the company of his father Arnaud de Gabaston, a minor Gascon noble. Piers was consistently described in contemporary chronicles as handsome, athletic, and well mannered: in short, he was a suitable role model after whom Prince Edward might have been expected to pattern himself. From 1300 until his execution in 1312, his fortunes were inseparably linked to Edward’s, and in general his wealth and status rose steadily, if not at first remarkably. Gaveston appears in the records drawing wages and performing a variety of services in the Prince’s household, and his rising status may be indicated by his designation as socius (companion) rather than scutifer (esquire) by 1303. According to the Chronicle of the Civil Wars of Edward II , upon looking on Piers, the King’s son immediately felt such love for him that he ‘tied himself to him against all mortals with an indissoluble bond of love’." (Menage a Roi: Edward II and Piers Gaveston)

Gaveston's physical appearance & personal qualities.

"No physical description of Gaveston exists but he comes across as an arrogant, ostentatious man -- and a foreigner, which made matters worse. Yet he ws no court fop. He was courageous and proved his skill as a warrior during the savage war in Scotland. When he was exiled to Ireland, Gaveston brought the wild tribes into submission and executed rebel chieftains. The Irish regarded him as a very noble knight and were overawed by his martial skill and lavish vice-regal status. He was also a skilled jouster. At the Wallingford tournament of December 1307, Gaveston rubbed salt into open wounds when he and a collection of nonentities successfully toppled some of the great earls of England in the tourney lists." (Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II)

Handsome, graceful, active, intelligent & skilled in arms.

"Piers was a handsome boy about the same age as the Prince; he was graceful, active, intelligent, and skilled in arms. Of his courage there is no doubt, nor of his boundless self-confidence. He was ambitious, indiscreet, greedy, extravagant, and arrogant: his pride, it was said, would have been intolerable even in a king's son. But that was later, after he had become notorious. The chroniclers were also fond of deriding Gaveston's 'base and obscure' birth, even though his family was an old and respected one; and in the sixteenth century, John Stow recorded an unfounded rumor that Pier's mother, Claramonde de Marsan, has been burned as a witch. Gaveston was also accused of leading the Prince's household into degeneracy---one claim that might have some truth in it." (Queen Isabella: 16)

"Another person waiting at Dover, and one perhaps far more unwelcome to Isabella, was Edward II's beloved Piers Gaveston, Gascon-born earl of Cornwall, regent of England during the king's absence in France, and new husband of Edward's thirteen-year-old niece Margaret de Clare. Gaveston himself was somewhat older than the twenty-three-year-old Edward, then probably in his mid- to late twenties, and although no physical likeness of description of his exists, one later chronicler called him 'graceful and agile in body, sharp-witted, refined in manners, sufficiently well versed in military matters'. Others called him 'haughty and supercilious' but also 'very magnificent, liberal and well-bred, 'very proud and haughty in bearing' and 'a man of big ideas, haughty and puffed-up'. Gaveston's haughtiness would seem to be a given, and Edward's adoration of him went to his head and led him to act as thought he were of higher birth and . rank than he actually was, which aggravated his contemporaries beyond endurance. 'Indeed the superciliousness which he affected would have been unbearable enough in a king's son. . . ." (Isabella of France: The Rebel Queen)

Affair's benefits to Gaveston.

"On June 7, while still at Langley, the King granted castles and manors to Gaveston,a s well as lands in Gascony, a strong indication that he did not intend that his exile should last long. Then, on 16 June, much to the baron's chagrin, he appointed the favorite Lieutenant of Ireland with viceregal powers. On the same day, with devastating naivete, he wrote to his 'dearest lord and father,' King Philip, begging him to intercede with his magnates to bring about a concord over Gaveston, and to the Pope, asking him to annul Winchelsey's threat to excommunicate Piers." (Queen Isabella: 46)

4) Roger Damory (c1285-1322)
Royal favourite in 1315-1318.

English nobleman.
1st Lord d'Amory, 1317

Constable of Corfe Castle.

Son of Sir Roger D'Amory

Husband of Elizabeth de Clare (her 3rd)

" . . . Edward II visited Elizabeth at Amesbury while she was pregnant or even just after she gave birth, and put pressure on her to marry his latest favourite, Roger Damory, whom he tactlessly took with him. As one of the three heirs of the earl of Gloucester and with dower and jointure lands from two previous husbands, Elizabeth was among the wealthiest women in the country and a great marital prize that th eking was determined to secure for Damory. Whatever her feelings about marrying an obscure knight, Elizabeth accepted; she really had no other choice. Sometime in late April or early May, she married Damory at Windsor Castle, and at about the same time her sister Margaret, Piers Gaveston's widow, married Sir Hugh Audley, another of the king's three current court favourites, in the presence of the king and queen. Roger Damory and Elizabeth de Clare had one child, Elizabeth Damory, later Lady Bardolf and heir to Damory's few landholdings, while Hugh Audley and Margaret de Clare also had only one daughter, Margaret Audley, later countess of Stafford and ancestor of the Stafford dukes of Buckingham, and sole heir (after her half-sister Joan Gaveston's death in 1325) to Margaret de Clare's third of the enormous de Clare inheritance." (Isabella of France: The Rebel Queen)

Edward II's favourite.

"He was Edward's great 'favourite' between 1315 and 1318, until he was ousted from Edward's favour by Hugh Despenser the Younger. It's interesting to see Damory's rise to favour from the beginning of 1315, around the time Edward finally had Piers Gaveston's embalmed body buried, two and a half years after his death! Perhaps Piers' funeral had finally enabled Edward to draw a line under his past, though to be fair to Edward, it's obvious that he remembered Piers with great love and affection for the rest of his life. You can criticise Edward II for many things, but fickleness to those he loved was emphatically not one of his faults." (Edward II)

King's Favorite.

In 1309, Roger Amory enters the service of Gilbert de Clare , 8th Earl of Gloucester. He fights alongside his master in 1314 during the Battle of Bannockburn. Despite the scathing defeat of England's King Edward II, Roger d'Amory is noticed during the fighting for his great bravery. The king allocates for him an annual pension of 100 marks. This money gain is timely because Roger d'Amory is in financial difficulty following the death of the Earl of Gloucester in Bannockburn. The generosity of King Edward to Roger d'Amory may have also been influenced at the request of Richard d'Amory, then Lord-intendant since 1311. This interest carried by the king to Roger d'Amory precipitates the young knight's dazzling career. In December 1314, Roger was appointed constable of Knaresborough Castle, Yorkshire. In January 1315, he continued his services as a knight in the royal suite. Thereafter, the king grants him several presents and goods in gratitude. At the end of 1316, Roger d'Amory became one of the eminent members of a circle of courtiers, to which Hugues le Despenser and Hugh Audley belong. These favorites gradually exert a growing influence on Edward II. Roger of Amory reached the peak of his career in April 1317, when he was allowed to marry Elizabeth of Clare, one of the nieces of the king who is also the sister and co-heir of the Earl of Gloucester. Due to the important legacy of his wife - who owns a third of the lands of the late Earl of Gloucester - Amory becomes a wealthy landowner and is summoned for the first time on November 20, 1317 to Parliament. D'Amory is considered by the other barons of England as an avid favorite. England is at this time in a difficult situation because of military defeats against Scotland and the Great Famine of 1315-1317. These crises, added the favors showered on the King's courtiers afoul of the great barons, whose leader is Thomas Plantagenet, 2nd Earl of Lancaster. Lancaster's opposition to the courtiers remained until 1319, when the earl retired from the affairs of the kingdom. Amory and Lancaster were hostile to each other: in October 1317, Lancaster occupied the royal castles of Knaresborough and Alton, both administered by D'Amory. He also accuses the favorite of wanting to attack his life. In November 1317, the moderate barons Aymar de Valence , 2nd Earl of Pembroke , and Bartholomew Badlesmere sent Amory a letter in which they ask him to refuse the new gifts the king is giving him. In August 1318, Lancaster and Edward's favorites reached a compromise at the signing of Leake's treaty." (Wikipedia)

Edward II's natural offspring.

" . . . It is worth noting that Edward II fathered at least one illegitimate child, a son named Adam, who apparently died in Scotland in 1321. Presumably this child was born prior to Edward’s accession, and this might have further reassured his father that the relationship with Gaveston, however unfortunate, would prove impermanent. . . ." (Menage a Roi)