Editing Edward III of England (section)

== Background ==
Edward's father, King [[Edward II of England]] had court favourites who were unpopular with his nobility, such as [[Piers Gaveston]] and [[Hugh Despenser the Younger]]. Gaveston was killed during a noble rebellion against Edward II in 1312, while Despenser was hated by the English nobility.{{sfn|Le Baker|2012|p=11}} Edward II was also unpopular with the common people due to his repeated demands that they provide unpaid military service in Scotland.{{Sfn|Powicke|1956|p=114}} None of his campaigns there were successful,{{Sfn|Prestwich|1980|p=70}} and this led to a further decline in his popularity, particularly with the nobility. His image was damaged again in 1322 when he executed his cousin [[Thomas, Earl of Lancaster]], and confiscated the Lancaster estates.{{Sfn|Given-Wilson|1994|p=553}} Historian [[Chris Given-Wilson]] wrote that, by 1325, the nobility believed that "no landholder could feel safe" under the regime.{{Sfn|Given-Wilson|1994|p=571}} This distrust of Edward II was shared by his wife, [[Isabella of France]],{{sfn|Warner|2014|p=196}}{{efn|This had not always been the case. For most of her marriage, she had been a loyal wife who had provided the King with four children. Moreover, she was politically active in Edward's cause, having shared his hatred of the Earl of Lancaster, and played a pivotal role in Anglo-French relations.{{sfn|Doherty|2003|p=90}} This is at variance with the impression received from chroniclers writing under Isabella and Mortimer between 1327 and 1330, who says Lisa St John, tend to give "the impression that Isabella's relationship with Edward was dysfunctional from the start".{{sfn|St John|2014|p=24}}}} who believed Despenser responsible for poisoning the King's mind against her.{{sfn|Given-Wilson|Brand|Phillips|Ormrod|2005}} In September 1324 Queen Isabella was publicly humiliated when the government declared her an enemy alien,{{Sfn|Ormrod|2012|p=32}} and the King [[Repossession|repossessed]] her estates,{{Sfn|Ormrod|2012|p=32}} probably at the urging of Despenser.{{Sfn|Parsons|2004}} Edward II also disbanded her retinue.{{Sfn|Lord|2002|p=45 n.5}} Edward II had already been threatened with deposition on two previous occasions (in 1310 and 1321).{{sfn|Given-Wilson|Brand|Phillips|Ormrod|2005|p=}} Historians agree that hostility towards the king was universal. W. H. Dunham and C. T. Wood ascribed this to Edward II's "cruelty and personal faults",{{Sfn|Dunham|Wood|1976|p=739}} suggesting that "very few, not even his half-brothers or his son, seemed to care about the wretched man"{{Sfn|Dunham|Wood|1976|p=739}} and that none would fight for him.{{Sfn|Dunham|Wood|1976|p=739}} A contemporary chronicler described Edward II as {{lang|la-x-medieval|rex inutilis}}, or a "useless king".{{Sfn|Peters|1970|p=217}}