Comte de Ponthieu et Montreuil, 1st Earl of Chester, Prince of Wales, Duc d'Aquitaine, King Edward II of England Edward, II

Notes:

1. Edward II, Plantagenet king of England (1307-1327), whose incompetence and distaste for government finally led to his deposition and murder. Edward was the fourth son of King Edward I and his first wife, Eleanor of Castile. The deaths of his older brothers made the infant prince heir to the throne; in 1301 he was proclaimed prince of Wales, the first heir apparent in English history to bear that title. The prince was idle and frivolous, with no liking for military campaigning or affairs of state.Believing that the prince's close friend Piers Gaveston, a Gascon knight, was a bad influence on the prince, Edward I banished Gaveston. On his father's death, however, Edward II recalled his favorite homosexual lover Piers Gaveston from exile, abandoned the campaign against Robert Bruce, and devoted himself to frivolity.Gaveston incurred the opposition of the powerful English barony. The nobles were particularly angered in 1308, when Edward made Gaveston regent for the period of the king's absence in France, where he went to marry Isabella, 15, daughter of King Philip IV. Gaveston married the king's niece, Margaret of Gloucester, and received the earldom of Cornwall. In 1311 the barons, led by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, forcedthe king to appoint from among them a committee of 21 nobles and prelates, called the lords ordainers. They proclaimed a series of ordinances that transferred the ruling power to themselves and excluded the commons and lower clergy from Parliament. After they had twice forced the king to banish Gaveston, and the king had each time recalled him, the English barons finally had the king's favorite kidnapped and treacherously executed. In the meantime, Robert Bruce had almost completed his re conquest of Scotland, which he had begun shortly after 1305. In 1314 Edward II and his barons raised an army of some 100,000 men with which to crush Bruce,but in the attempt to lift the siege of Stirling they were decisively defeated (Battle of Bannockburn). For the following eight years the earl of Lancaster virtually ruled thekingdom. In 1322, however, with the advice and help of two new royal favorites, the baron Hugh le Despenser, and his son, also Hugh le Despenser, Edward defeated Lancaster in battle and had him executed. The le Despensers thereupon became de facto rulers of England. They summoned a Parliament in which the commons were included and which repealed the ordinances of 1311 on the ground that they had been passed by the barons only. The repeal was a great step forward in English constitutional development, for it meant that thenceforth no law passed by Parliament was valid unless the House of Commons approved it. Edward again futilely invaded Scotland in 1322, and in 1323 signed a 13-year truce with Bruce. In 1325 Queen Isabella accompanied the prince of Wales to France, where, in accordance with feudal custom, he did homage to king Charles IV for the fief of Aquitaine. Isabella, who desired to depose the le Despensers, allied herself with some barons who had been exiled by Edward. In 1326, with their leader, Roger de Mortimer, Isabella raised an army and invaded England. Edward and his favoritesfled, but his wife's army pursued and executed the le Despensers. Edward II was effectively deposed by his wife Isabelle and her lover Mortimer, who had the parliament of Westminster force the king's abdication and replace him with his son of 14, who reigned until 1377 as Edward III. Edward II was captured in 1326, deposed in 1327, imprisoned in Berkeley Castle where he was mistreated in hopes that he would die of disease and malnutrition, but the king had a strong constitution, so he was put to death with cruelty September 21; it was announced that he died of natural causes.

Edward married Queen of England, Princess of France Isabelle de France in 28 Jan 1307 and 1308 in Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, Normandy, France. Isabelle (daughter of King of France Philip Capet, IV and Queen Of France, Princess Juana Navarre) was born in 1292 in Paris, Île-de-France, France; died on 22 Aug 1358 in Hertford Castle, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom; was buried on 27 Nov 1358 in Grey Friars, Newgate, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Adam was born in Abt. 1310; died in Aft. 1322.
2. 1st Earl of Chester, Comte de Ponthieu et Montreuil, Duc d'Aquitaine, King Edward III of England Edward, III was born on 13 Nov 1312 in Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom; was christened on 20 Nov 1312; died on 21 Jun 1377 in Shene Palace, , Surrey, England, United Kingdom; was buried in Westminster, London, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom.
3. Earl of Cornwall John of Eltham Plantagenet was born on 15 Aug 1315 in Eltham, Kent, England, United Kingdom; died on 14 Sep 1336 in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland, United Kingdom; was buried in Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom.
4. Eleanor of Woodstock Plantagenet was born on 8 Jun 1318 in Woodstock Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom; died on 22 Apr 1355 in Deventer Abbey, Deventer, Overijssel, Netherlands; was buried in Deventer Abbey, Deventer, Overijssel, Netherlands.
5. Joanna of The Tower Plantagenet was born in Jul 1321 in Tower Of London, London, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom; died on 07 Sep 1362 in Hertford, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom; was buried in Grey Friars, Newgate, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom.

Notes:

[Source: Who's Who in the Middle Ages, John Fines, Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 1995]

Edward I was born at Westminster in 1239, and was named for his father Henry III's favourite saint, Edward the Confessor. He was heir to wide domains and many troubles, and had an early taste of both. In 1252 he was given charge of the troublesome but lucrative Gascon territories. Two years later he was married to Eleanor of Castile---a political marriage, but one that was to turn into a love-match.

There was little time to enjoy it at first, for Edward was now pitched into the discords of the English baronial revolt. His father was neither a good leader of men, nor a good soldier, so the burden was thrust upon his young son. The barons' leader, Simon de Montfort, was Edward's uncle, and there is no doubt that the prince was both attracted to his uncle's ideas of government, and also deeply influenced by his military tactics. But after the defeat at Lewes, and a humiliating imprisonment, his admiration turned to hostility, which was only sated with the rout of Evesham in 1265.

In the next few years he acted as a moderating influence on his father's vindictive wrath, and saw to it that the settlement with the baronial opposition should not in itself provoke a further uprising.

In 1270 he was at last able to go off on crusade, when he brought relief to Acre. His military reputation now soared, and in 1272 he suffered an attack from an assassin, in which he was grazed by a poisoned dagger in the scuffle. He recovered, and was able to negotiate a ten-year truce before returning home, covered with honour.

On landing in Sicily he heard of his father's death, but he did not hurry to get back to England, spending a whole year settling his affairs in Gascony first. It was 1274 before England saw him. Once properly seated on the throne, however, he gave every evidence of his vigour and determination to rule. Within two months of the coronation, commissioners were scouring the land completing a survey as large and efficient as any that had been understaken since Domesday. The commissioners enquired into encroachments upon royal rights, and into injustices committed by the king's servants; their detailed reports are know to historians as the Hundred Rolls, based as they were on the administrative unit of the hundred.

The evidence of the Hundred Rolls was to be the basis of Edward's legislative reforms. A long series of statutes, enacted at the enlarged parliaments introduced by Simon de Montfort, aimed at the improvement of justice at the local as well as the national level, and also tried to rationalise the bewildering array of jurisdictions, known as liberties, the feudal government had seen grow up. Edward had a genuine concern to see justice done, which gained for him the deep admiration of his subjects. He was also very well informed about the localities, for he was constantly on the move, covering distances of about 2,000 miles a year, with a court of perhaps a thousand horses lumbering behind him on the muddy and dangerous medieval roads.

Much larger groups travelled with him when he went to war, and Wales was the first to see his unwelcome visitation. Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, had rather foolishly refused to do homage for his lands at Edward's coronation, and in 1277 the King attacked and reduced his dominions by half. Five years later the Prince's brother David rose in rebellion, and Llewellyn was forced to join him, only to be killed in a petty foray. With no great leader left to them, the Welsh submitted to annexation, and saw gigantic castles rise in key-points such as Conway, Caernarvon and Harlech, castles that would prevent future revolt. Edward was an arrant colonist, and typically brought back from Wales the great cross of Neath to carry in procession to Westminster for the service of thanksgiving. The Abbey was to see many more proud trophies plundered for its decoration and distinction.

Edward was eager to be off to Palestine once more, but the European situation prevented a new crusade: France and Aragon struggled over the body of Sicily, and the Pope was hopelessly committed as a partisan. Edward now spent long months attempting to bring peace to Europe so that the Christian nations could unite in crusade.

His design for Europe was interrupted by troubles at home. In his prolonged absence corruption throve, and in 1289 the King was forced to conduct an enquiry which resulted, among other things, in the banishment of his chief justice. The same year he had to go north to convene the court that was to judge between the various 'competitors' for the throne of Scotland. The legalism fascinated him, but in the middle of this interesting judicial wrangle, his wife died. He was heartbroken, and as he accompanied the body from Lincolnshire to London, he ordered elaborate crosses to be set up wherever the cortège rested. The last was Charing Cross. A most beautiful monument was set up in Westminster Abbey, and those who view it can see something of Edward's loss.

Back in Scotland he finally adjudged John Balliol's claim for the crown to be the best, but forced him to accept vassal status as a quid pro quo. Years of trouble lay ahead: the French made war, the Welsh rebelled, and the Pope made life extrememly difficult for the hard-pressed English king. He continued to demand Edward's presence on crusade---which he would have dearly loved, but found impossible; his only contribution was the expulsion of Jews in 1290. Furthermore the Pope had suddenly issued a Bull declaring that the state had no right to tax the clergy, and Edward was desperately short of money for war on three fronts.

These diffficulties explain but do not excuse the viciousness of his actions in the next few years. Scotland had refused to accept him as overlord, and he annexed the land, deposed Balliol, and removed the Stone of Scone to Westminster Abbey in 1296. When Wallace rose as a leader in Scotland, Edward increased the fury of his attack; the rebels received no mercy.

Gradually the King seemed to be achieving his aims. France was satisfied by his marriage to the sister of the French king, and by 1304 Scotland seemed well under his heel, controlled by a policy of ruthless savagery. Edward could at last turn his attention back to English affairs, where disorder was rampant. New justices were sent round on the 'Trailbaston' commission to seek out the unsavoury Robin Hoods of the land, and gradually order returned.

Inagine then the fury of the aged king when, in 1306, Robert Bruce, who had been his man for the past four years, suddenly went north and was crowned King of Scots. Old, tired, and sick, Edward moved up country to deal with this fresh menace to peace, but was taken very ill on the way. He had to direct the campaign from his bed, and vitriolic letters showered on his commanders accusing them of inaction and failure.

In a last tremendous effort the King got up and gave his litter to Carlisle Cathedral---a typical gesture, again---and set off on horseback. The progress was desperately slow---some two miles a day---but even that was too fast for the sick king, who quickly succumbed and died in July 1307.

Son and father of weak and inefffectual kings, Edward I had many fine qualities which seem to make nonsence of heredity. He was tall and strong, a fine horseman and a doughty warrior. A great leader of men, he was also able to lead to success. He was interested in government and law in a very genuine way. As a personality he was pious, but easily provoked to rage and often vindictive. He was fond of games---so passionately did he love his hawks that when they were ill he sent money to shrines to pray for their recovery. He was generous to the poor, and often a gay companion: he played chess, and loved music and acrobats; once he bet his laundress Matilda that she couldn't ride his charger, and she won! Every Easter Monday he paid ransom to his maids if they found him in bed. He loved his two wives, and fussed over their health and that of his children with a pathetic concern---sometimes threatening the doctor with what would happen to him if his patient did not recover. His people feared, respected and remembered him.

Edward married Queen Consort Eleanor of England, Comtesse de Montreuil, Comtesse de Ponthieu Eleanor de Castilla on 18 Oct 1254 in Las Huelgas, Burgos, Castille and León, Spain . Eleanor was born in Abt. 1244 in Castille and León, Spain; died on 29 Nov 1290 in Heredeby, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom; was buried on 16 Dec 1290 in Westminster, London, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

NOTES: Eleanor was only about ten years old when married to the 15 year old Edward of Westminster at Las Huelgas in 1254. Such child marriages were commonplace in Europe in the Middle Ages and the brides were usually consigned to their husbands' families to complete ther education. The marriages were not consummated until the bride reached a suitable age (usually 14 or 15) and in Eleanor's case it seems to have been 18 or 19.Eleanor of Castile (1244?-90), queen consort of England (1272-90), daughter of Ferdinand III, king of Castile and León. In 1254 she married Prince Edward, later Edward I of England, the eldest son of King Henry III. In 1270 she accompanied Edward on the Seventh Crusade. During their absence from England, Henry III died (1272), and Edward succeeded to the throne. Two years later, following their return from the Middle East, Edward and Eleanor were crowned king and queen of England.
"Eleanor of Castile," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Henry married Queen Consort Eleanor of England Eleanor De Berenger de Provence on 14 Jun 1235/36 in Canterbury, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Eleanor was born in 1222 in Aix-en-Provence, Provence, France; died on 24 Jun 1291 in Amesbury Abbey, Amesbury, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom; was buried in Amesbury Abbey, Amesbury, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]