King Edward II of England ^{1 2}

   Another name for Edward was Edward of Caenarvon.

  Research Notes:

From Wikipedia - Edward II of England :

Edward II, (April 25 , 1284 - September 21 , 1327 ) of Caernarfon , was King of England from 1307 until deposed in January 1327. His tendency to ignore his nobility in favour of low-born favourites led to constant political unrest and his eventual deposition. Edward is perhaps best remembered for his murder and his alleged homosexuality .
Edward II was the first monarch to establish colleges in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge ; he founded Cambridge's King's Hall in 1317 and gave Oxford's Oriel College its royal charter in 1326. Both colleges received the favour of Edward's son, Edward III , who confirmed Oriel's charter in 1327 and refounded King's Hall in 1337.

Prince of Wales
The fourth son of Edward I of England by his first wife Eleanor of Castile , Edward II was born at Caernarfon Castle . He was the first English prince to hold the title of the Prince of Wales , which was formalized by the Lincoln Parliament of February 7 , 1301 .
The story that his father presented Edward II as a newborn to the Welsh as their future native prince is unfounded (the Welsh would have asked the King to give them a prince that spoke Welsh , and he would have answered he would give them a prince that spoke no English at all); the story first appeared in the work of 16th century Welsh "antiquary " David Powel [citation needed ].
Edward became heir at just a few months old, following the death of his elder brother Alphonso . His father, a notable military leader, trained his heir in warfare and statecraft starting in his childhood, yet the young Edward preferred boating and craftsman work - activities thought beneath kings at the time...

On January 25 , 1308 , Edward married Isabella of France , the daughter of King Philip IV of France , "Philip the Fair," and sister to three French kings. The marriage was doomed to failure almost from the beginning. Isabella was frequently neglected by her husband, who spent much of his time conspiring with his favourites regarding how to limit the powers of the Peerage in order to consolidate his father's legacy for himself. Nevertheless, their marriage produced two sons, Edward (1312-1377), who would succeed his father on the throne as Edward III, and John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall (1316-1336), and two daughters, Eleanor (1318-1355) and Joanna (1321-1362), wife of David II of Scotland . Edward had also fathered at least one illegitimate son, Adam FitzRoy , who accompanied his father in the Scottish campaigns of 1322 and died on 18 September 1322 .

[edit ] War with the Barons
When Edward travelled to the northern French city of Boulogne to marry Isabella, he left his friend and counsellor Gaveston to act as regent. Gaveston also received the earldom of Cornwall and the hand of the king's niece, Margaret of Gloucester; these proved to be costly honours.
Various barons grew resentful of Gaveston, and insisted on his banishment through the Ordinances of 1311 . Edward recalled his friend, but in 1312, Gaveston was executed by the Earl of Lancaster and his allies, who claimed that Gaveston led the king to folly. (Gaveston was run through and beheaded on Blacklow Hill, outside the small village of Leek Wootton , where a monument called Gaveston's Cross still stands today).
Immediately following, Edward focused on the destruction of those who had betrayed him, while the barons themselves lost impetus (with Gaveston dead, they saw little need to continue). By mid-July, Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke was advising the king to make war on the barons who, unwilling to risk their lives, entered negotiations in September 1312. In October, the Earls of Lancaster, Warwick, Arundel and Hereford begged Edward's pardon.

[edit ] Conflict with Scotland
During this period, Robert the Bruce was steadily re-conquering Scotland . Each campaign begun by Edward, from 1307 to 1314, ended in Robert's clawing back more of the land that Edward I had taken during his long reign. Robert's military successes against Edward II were due to a number of factors, not the least of which was the Scottish King's strategy. He used small forces to trap an invading English army, he took castles by stealth to preserve his troops and he used the land itself as a weapon against Edward by attacking quickly and then disappearing into the hills before facing the superior numbers of the English. Castle by castle, Robert the Bruce rebuilt Scotland and united the country against its common enemy. Indeed, Robert is quoted as saying that he feared more the dead Edward I than the living Edward II. Thus, by June 1314, only Stirling Castle and Berwick remained under English control.
On 23 June 1314 , Edward and his army of 20,000 foot soldiers and 3000 cavalry faced Robert and his army of foot soldiers and farmers wielding 14 foot long pikes. Edward knew he had to keep the critical stronghold of Stirling Castle if there was to be any chance for English military success. The castle, however, was under a constant state of siege, and the English commander, Sir Phillip de Mowbray, had advised Edward that he would surrender the castle to the Scots unless Edward arrived by June 24 , 1314 , to relieve the siege. Edward could not afford to lose his last forward castle in Scotland. He decided therefore to gamble his entire army to break the siege and force the Scots to a final battle by putting its army into the field.
However, Edward had made a serious mistake in thinking that his vastly superior numbers alone would provide enough of a strategic advantage to defeat the Scots. Robert not only had the advantage of prior warning, as he knew the actual day that Edward would come north and fight, he also had the time to choose the field of battle most advantageous to the Scots and their style of combat. As Edward moved forward on the main road to Stirling, Robert placed his army on either side of the road north, one in the dense woods and the other placed on a bend on the river, a spot hard for the invading army to see. Robert also ordered his men to dig potholes and cover them with bracken in order to help break any cavalry charge.
By contrast, Edward did not issue his writs of service, calling upon 21,540 men, until May 27 , 1314 . Worse, his army was ill-disciplined and had seen little success in eight years of campaigns. On the eve of battle, he decided to move his entire army at night and placed it in a marshy area, with its cavalry laid out in nine squadrons in front of the foot soldiers. The following battle, the Battle of Bannockburn , is considered by contemporary scholars to be the worst defeat sustained by the English since the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Tactics similar to Robert's were employed by victorious English armies against the French in later centuries, partly as a direct result of the enduring decisiveness of the Scots' victory. A young Henry V of England would use this exact tactic against French cavalry in a key battle on the fields of Agincourt in 1415, winning the day and the war against France.[citation needed ]...

[edit ] End of the Despensers
Reprisals against Edward's allies began immediately thereafter. The Earl of Arundel, an old enemy of Roger Mortimer, was beheaded; this was followed by the trial and execution of Despenser.
Despenser was brutally executed and a huge crowd gathered in anticipation at seeing him die. They dragged him from his horse, stripped him, and scrawled Biblical verses against corruption and arrogance on his skin. They then led him into the city, presenting him in the market square to Roger, Isabella, and the Lancastrians. He was then condemned to hang as a thief, be castrated , and then be drawn and quartered as a traitor, his quarters to be dispersed through England.

[edit ] Abdication
With the King imprisoned, Mortimer and the Queen faced the problem of what to do with him. The simplest solution would be execution: his titles would then pass to Edward of Windsor, whom Isabella could control, while it would also prevent the possibility of his being restored. Execution would require the King to be tried and convicted of treason: and while most Lords agreed that Edward had failed to show due attention to his country, several Prelates argued that, appointed by God, the King could not be legally deposed or executed; if this happened, they said, God would punish the country. Thus, at first, it was decided to have Edward imprisoned for life instead.
However, the fact remained that the legality of power still lay with the King. Isabella had been given the Great Seal, and was using it to rule in the names of the King, herself, and their son as appropriate; nonetheless, these actions were illegal, and could at any moment be challenged.
In these circumstances, Parliament chose to act as an authority above the King. Representatives of the House of Commons were summoned, and debates began. The Archbishop of York and others declared themselves fearful of the London mob, loyal to Roger Mortimer. Others wanted the King to speak in Parliament and openly abdicate , rather than be deposed by the Queen and her General. Mortimer responded by commanding the Mayor of London , Richard de Bethune, to write to Parliament, asking them to go to the Guildhall to swear an oath to protect the Queen and Prince Edward, and to depose the King. Mortimer then called the great lords to a secret meeting that night, at which they gave their unanimous support to the deposition of the King.
Eventually Parliament agreed to remove the King. However, for all that Parliament had agreed that the King should no longer rule, they had not deposed him. Rather, their decision made, Edward was asked to accept it.
On January 20, Edward II was informed at Kenilworth Castle of the charges brought against him. The King was guilty of incompetence; allowing others to govern him to the detriment of the people and Church; not listening to good advice and pursuing occupations unbecoming to a monarch; having lost Scotland and lands in Gascony and Ireland through failure of effective governance; damaging the Church , and imprisoning its representatives; allowing nobles to be killed, disinherited, imprisoned and exiled; failing to ensure fair justice, instead governing for profit and allowing others to do likewise; and of fleeing in the company of a notorious enemy of the realm, leaving it without government, and thereby losing the faith and trust of his people. Edward, profoundly shocked by this judgement, wept while listening. He was then offered a choice: he might abdicate in favour of his son; or he might resist, and relinquish the throne to one not of royal blood, but experienced in government - this, presumably, being Roger Mortimer. The King, lamenting that his people had so hated his rule, agreed that if the people would accept his son, he would abdicate in his favour. The lords, through the person of Sir William Trussel, then renounced their homage to him, and the reign of Edward II ended.
The abdication was announced and recorded in London on January 24, and the following day was proclaimed the first of the reign of Edward III - who, at 14, was still controlled by Isabella and Mortimer. The former King Edward remained imprisoned.

Death

Edward II's tomb at Gloucester Cathedral
The government of Isabella and Mortimer was so precarious that they dared not leave the deposed king in the hands of their political enemies. On April 3, Edward II was removed from Kenilworth and entrusted to the custody of two dependents of Mortimer, then later imprisoned at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire where, it is generally believed, he was murdered by an agent of Isabella and Mortimer...

Following the public announcement of the king's death, the rule of Isabella and Mortimer did not last long. Mortimer and Isabella made peace with the Scots in the Treaty of Northampton , but this move was highly unpopular. Consequently, when Edward III came of age in 1330, he executed Roger Mortimer on fourteen charges of treason, most significantly the murder of Edward II (thereby removing any public doubt about his father's survival). Edward III spared his mother and gave her a generous allowance, but ensured that she retired from public life for several years. She died at Hertford on August 23 , 1358 .

  Noted events in his life were:

• King of England, 1307-1327.

Edward married Isabella of France, daughter of Philip IV King of France and Jeanne of Navarre, on 25 Jan 1308 in Boulogne-sur-Mer [Boulogne], (Pas-de-Calais), France. (Isabella of France was born about 1295 in Paris, (Île-de-France), France and died on 22 Aug 1358.)