EDWARD
II 
Lived from 1284 to 1327. Edward ascended the throne in 1307 and was murdered in 1327.
Edward was the first Prince of Wales. The Welsh after their defeat, complained that they wanted a prince who could speak Welsh. Edward I promised them that he would invest one "who could speak no other".... indeed Edward II was but a child who could not yet speak. This remains a sore point between the English and Welsh even to today.
As a youth, Edward was extravagant and incompetent and kept unsavoury friends, he was probably homosocial. He was considered a weak king, liking athletic sports theatricals and manual crafts. He was unpopular with the barons and in 1310 the aristocracy revolted against him. Defeated by Robert de Bruce at Bannockburn in 1314 he placed England under baronial control.
Edward married Queen Isabella who was
disaffected by the treatment of her by Edward's favourites Gaveston and
after Gaveston's murder, the Despensers (de Spencers later Spencers).
She fled to France with her son Edward [later Edward III] in 1325 and returned in 1326 with Sir Roger de Mortimer. They landed in Suffolk and were greeted by the people who had grown tired of Edward's ways. Edward was overthrown and finally imprisoned in Berkeley Castle, Gloucester where he was murdered in 1327.
Copyright © 1998. Tim Midgley, modified January 2001.
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