A view of Caernarvon - built by Edward I
Edward II... He was rumoured to be really tall but I'm not getting the tall, dark handsome vibe from this picture!
He was eventually deposed... murdered... abdicated... ran off to Italy to live a life of sun, sea and sand... well, maybe not sun, sea and sand, but take your pick of those options because honestly we have no idea what the hell happened to the guy. But we'll come back to that at a later date.
Ed himself was from a large family. Not that this was particularly unusual in the medieval period but Eleanor and Edward the First had at least fourteen kids. Yeah I know, it makes me ache even thinking about that without an epidural! Although mortality rates being what they were in those days a lot of them didn't survive which was how Edward became the sole surviving male heir.
It's a mistake to assume because he was a king that Edward could write. He could certainly speak French - the Norman influence of William I was still deeply ingrained in English society even three hundred years after his conquest - but Mr J.R.S. Philips suggest he couldn't speak Latin because his Coronation Oath was said in French. A shrewd assensment and further backed up by a papal letter to the Pope thanking him for the translation from Latin to French.
As Princes of the realm go, Edward was pretty much set up from the age of seven. When his mother died he inherited Ponthieu and Montreuil. Not bad for a kid not even in double figures. That said, I'm guessing he wasn't overly bowled over by his betrothal to the Count of Flander's daughter. As with all medieval kiddie's he was promised to her, but this was annulled by the Pope himself in 1298 following one of those pesky Anglo-French wars. These days parents moan about their kids sponging off them, in those days they used to use their children as bargaining tools. Progress, you've gotta love it.
Anyway the only really good thing to come out of this - or bad thing with hindsight - was the betrothal 
of our Edward to Isabella of France. Ok, so get your head out of Disney movies and come back to the reality of the situation, this betrothal wasn't about love and all that mushy crap, but it was a politically motivated move to keep peace between England and France. Love didn't really feature highly in the medieval landscape, and sons and daughters were pretty much only useful for keeping your neighbours from invading your lands and stealing your pocket money.
I'm guessing if the picture on the left is a true depiction of her then Edward must have been pretty upset when she tipped up his doorstep proclaiming to be his future wife. Medieval artists really aren't that flattering! Anyway, a little info on Isabella herself. As I've mentioned she was French, part of the Capetian dynasty in fact, and she was apparently nicknamed the She-Wolf of France... Nice name - if you believe it. It has a certain ring to it anyway. Her father was Philippe (or Philip) IV of France and a lot of her family succeeded the French throne during Edward's reign. They didn't seem to live very long, French Kings.
Louis X was only on the throne for two years before he died. Not that Isabella's nephew, John, lasted any longer. He was king for five days before he was supposedly bumped off by the next King Philip V. This actually happened quite a lot in medieval history. A little bit of a detour but that was how Aethelred the Unrede came to be in power. His half brother, Edward was murdered in Corfe castle in the tenth century. It's good that they learnt from history and used that information wisely. Yes, our medieval ancestors were a pretty nasty bunch. Politics haven't really changed all that much even today.
By 1300, our little sixteen year old Edward had become Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. Add that to Montreuil and Ponthieu and I guess he was doing pretty well for himself. Surprisingly, he was also fairly popular in Wales, which, considered the dislike for the English, was astounding. It was possibly a clever ploy by Edward I to have his son born in Caernarvon for that reason. It made Edward II at least a little bit Welsh and therefore slightly more bearable as a ruler. I guess they must have liked him because the Welsh were loyal to him even after he was imprisoned later on in his reign.
By the age of 21, our Princeling was causing trouble. He fell out with his father's treasurer, a guy called Walter Langton. Langton was the Bishop of Lichfield and Conventry as well - Jack of All Trades. He was favoured by Ed I, and even became the Keeper of the Realm in his absence. However, his popularity was not shared by others. Archbishop Winchelsey (of Canterbury)disliked the man intently, as did our Edward, and following the death of Edward I he continued to fall in and out of favour with Edward II. However, following their fall out in June 1305, Langton and the young Edward were finally reconciled in October 1305 but the Bishop was never granted the same trust as he had received from Edward I.
On an architectural note, Langton did a lot of work on his bishopric seat in Lichfield and was responsible for the Lady Chapel there, which I have to say is really beautiful. If you ever get a chance to pop into the Cathedral you should really go. It just dominates the Lichfield landscape.
The frontage of Lichfield Cathedral, Staffordshire
Edward's first toe into the grand pool of military matters came in April, 1306 when his father gave him control of an invading force in Scotland. Needless to say, it didn't go well. Tyranny got the better of the twenty-one year old and was rebuked for his cruelty against the Scots. Yup, Edward got a little sword happy, had to be brought home and was told off by his daddy. Edward never really managed to establish himself as a great military leader like his father as we will see from his repeated defeats.
Anywho Edward I died in July 1307 and his son, Edward of Caernarvon became King Edward II of England. I have to say from the moment the crown touched our Edward's head things just went from bad to worse. He fell out with pretty much every single one of his magnates, as well as his wife, successfully annoyed the French and the Scots and generally just made a mess of everything.
The first point of contention - and possibly one of the major failings of Edward himself - was his choice in favourites. Piers Gaveston being the first, but not the last. A Gascon knight, he was a member of Edward's household from 1300. Gaveston was a bit of a bugger. He was exiled from the kingdom a grand total of three times and managed to annoy practically every earl he so much as looked at. Of course it probably didn't help that the man had names for them all - and they weren't exactly flattering. The Earl of Lincoln was slapped with the name 'belly-buster', Earl of Lancaster was 'the fiddler', 'the actor' or 'the churl', Pembroke became 'Joseph the Jew' and Warwick was gifted the wonderful title of 'the black dog of Arden'. Needless to say this didn't do a lot for Gaveston's popularity; he did eventually lose his head.
But this is where it gets interesting. The relationship between Ed and Gaveston is somewhat ambiguous and there is some contention amongst the academic world about whether or not their relationship was of a sexual nature. Historians such as J.S. Hamilton suggest it may well have been in his book, (Piers Gaveston) but since there is no proof it is difficult to say. His article in History Today called Menage a Roi is particularly interesting reading and offers a slightly less biased view of the whole thing. However, for a recent argument on Gaveston/Edward the best source is Chaplais. His theory is that the pair of them were in a compact of Brotherhood. Now, I've studied his argument and what others have said but I'm not entirely convinced either way. Chaplais puts forward a number of good points (all of which I will discuss in a later blog) but due to the lack of evidence we will never know. Although if he was gay it would be such a great scandal! It could practically be a soap opera!
Anyway, in 1307 Edward was supposed to travel to France to complete his marriage to Isabella. However, he didn't go. Instead he went to meet Gaveston who had been exiled by the late Edward I. Great way to start a marriage I feel. I'm not entirely sure I would have been happy with my new husband for jolting me for his friend but still.
Edward buried his father, made Gaveston Earl of Cornwall, completed his marriage, imprisoned the aforementioned Walter Langton and was eventually crowned in April 1308.
Sources used for those of you geeky enough to want to do further reading:
- Chaplais, P, Piers Gaveston: Edward II’s Adoptive Brother, (Oxford Clarendon Press, 1994)
- Hamilton, J.S, Piers Gaveston: Earl of Cornwall 1307-1312 (Wayne State University Press,1988)
Hamilton, J.S, ‘Menage a Roi. Edward II and Piers Gaveston’, History Today (June, 1999), 26-31. - Hamilton, J.S, Gaveston, Piers, Earl of Cornwall and Royal Favourite, (Oxford University Press, 2004) online edition, Jan 2005, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- Parsons, J.C, Isabella, (1295-1358) Queen of England, Consort of Edward II, (Oxford University Press, 2004) online edition, Jan 2005, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- Philips, J.R.S, Edward II (1284-1327) King of England and Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquataine, (Oxford University Press, 2005) online edition, May 2005, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
No comments:
Post a Comment