Editing Edward II of England (section)

==Early life (1284–1307)==
===Birth===
[[File:Caernarfon Castle 1994.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=photograph of Caernarfon castle|[[Caernarfon Castle]] in north Wales, Edward's birthplace]]

Edward II was born in [[Caernarfon Castle]] in [[north Wales]] on 25 April 1284, less than a year after Edward&nbsp;I had conquered the region, and as a result is sometimes called Edward of Caernarfon.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=33, 36}}.</ref> The King probably chose the castle deliberately as the location for Edward's birth as it was an important symbolic location for the native Welsh, associated with [[Roman Britain|Roman imperial history]], and it formed the centre of the new royal administration of North Wales.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=35–36}}; {{Harvnb|Haines|2003|p=3}}.</ref> Edward's birth brought predictions of greatness from contemporary [[prophet]]s, who believed that the [[Eschatology|Last Days]] of the world were imminent, declaring him a new [[King Arthur]], who would lead England to glory.<ref>{{Harvnb|Coote|2000|pp=84–86}}.</ref> [[David Powel]], a 16th-century clergyman, suggested that the baby was offered to the Welsh as a prince "that was borne in Wales and could speake never a word of English", but there is no evidence to support this account.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=36}}; {{Harvnb|Haines|2003|pp=3–4}}.</ref>

Edward's name was [[Middle English|English]] in origin, linking him to the [[Anglo-Saxon]] [[saint]] [[Edward the Confessor]], and was chosen by his father instead of the more traditional [[Norman language|Norman]] and [[Castilian Spanish|Castilian]] names selected for Edward's brothers:<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=39}}.</ref> John and Henry, who had died before Edward was born, and [[Alphonso, Earl of Chester|Alphonso]], who died in August 1284, leaving Edward as the heir to the throne.<ref name="Phillips2011P40">{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=40}}.</ref> Although Edward was a relatively healthy child, there were enduring concerns throughout his early years that he too might die and leave his father without a male heir.<ref name=Phillips2011P40/> After his birth, Edward was looked after by a [[wet nurse]] called Mariota or Mary Maunsel for a few months until she fell ill, when Alice de Leygrave became his foster mother.<ref name="PhillipsChaplaisHaines">{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=37, 47}}; {{Harvnb|Chaplais|1994|p=5}}; {{Harvnb|Haines|2003|p=4}}.</ref> He would have barely known his natural mother, Eleanor, who was in Gascony with his father during his earliest years.<ref name=PhillipsChaplaisHaines/> An official household, complete with staff, was created for the new baby, under the direction of a clerk, Giles of Oudenarde.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=47}}.</ref>

===Childhood, personality and appearance===
[[File:Edward I - Westminster Abbey Sedilia.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=painting of Edward|Portrait in [[Westminster Abbey]], thought to be of Edward's father, [[Edward&nbsp;I]]]]

Spending increased on Edward's personal household as he grew older and, in 1293, William of Blyborough took over as its administrator.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=48}}.</ref> Edward was probably given a religious education by the [[Dominican friar]]s, whom his mother invited into his household in 1290.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2006|p=226}}.</ref> He was assigned one of his grandmother's followers, [[Guy Ferre the Elder|Guy Ferre]], as his ''magister'', who was responsible for his discipline, training him in riding and military skills.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=53–54}}.</ref> It is uncertain how well educated Edward was; there is little evidence for his ability to read and write, although his mother was keen that her other children be well educated, and Ferre was himself a relatively learned man for the period.{{Sfn|Phillips|2011|pp=55–57}}{{Sfn|Haines|2003|p=11}}{{Efn|Earlier histories of Edward II considered him poorly educated, principally because he took his coronation oath in French, rather than Latin, and because of his interest in agricultural crafts. His use of French at his coronation is no longer interpreted in this fashion, but there is little other evidence to show to what extent Edward was educated. The links drawn between an interest in crafts and low intelligence are no longer considered accurate.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2006|pp=53}}; {{Harvnb|Haines|2003|pp=11, 45–46}}.</ref>}} Edward likely mainly spoke [[Anglo-Norman French]] in his daily life, in addition to some English and possibly [[Latin]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=60}}.</ref>{{Efn|The historian Seymour Phillips considers it probable that Edward possessed some Latin; Roy Haines is less convinced.{{Sfn|Haines|2003|p=11}}{{Sfn|Phillips|2006|pp=53}}}}

Edward had a normal upbringing for a member of a royal family.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hamilton|2006|pp=5–6}}; {{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=45}}.</ref>{{Efn|Earlier historical accounts of Edward have suggested that his childhood was marred by a lack of contact with his family and an absence of familial affection, influencing his later personality and problems; although Edward's father, Edward&nbsp;I, is still considered an "irascible and demanding" figure, his childhood is no longer thought unusual for the period, or particularly isolated.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hamilton|2006|pp=5–6}}; {{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=43–45}}; {{Harvnb|Haines|2003|pp=4–5}}.</ref>}} He was interested in horses and [[horsebreeding]], and became a good rider; he also liked dogs, in particular [[greyhound]]s.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hamilton|2006|pp=6–8}}.</ref> In his letters, he shows a quirky sense of humour, joking about sending unsatisfactory animals to his friends, such as horses who disliked carrying their riders, or lazy hunting dogs too slow to catch rabbits.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hamilton|2006|p=8}}; {{Harvnb|Haines|2003|p=7}}.</ref> He was not particularly interested in [[hunting]] or [[falconry]], both popular activities in the 14th century.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=73–74}}.</ref> He enjoyed music, including [[Welsh music]] and the newly invented [[crwth]] instrument, as well as [[musical organ]]s.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=37, 74}}; {{Harvnb|Hamilton|2006|p=9}}.</ref> He did not take part in [[jousting]], either because he lacked the aptitude or because he had been banned from participating for his personal safety, but he was certainly enthusiastic in his  support of the sport.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hamilton|2006|p=6}}; {{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=40}}.</ref>

Edward grew up to be tall and muscular, and was considered good-looking by the standards of the period.<ref>{{Harvnb|Prestwich|2003|p=71}}; {{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=41}}.</ref> He had a reputation as a competent public speaker and was known for his generosity to household staff.<ref>{{Harvnb|Prestwich|2003|p=73}}; {{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=61}}.</ref> Unusually, he enjoyed [[rowing]], as well as [[hedge|hedging]] and [[ditch]]ing, and enjoyed associating with labourers and other lower-class workers.{{Sfn|Phillips|2011|pp=72–73}}{{Sfn|Prestwich|2003|p=72}}{{Efn|The historian Seymour Phillips notes, however, that there is relatively little hard evidence to support the statements made by contemporaries about Edward's enjoyment of rural pastimes.{{Sfn|Prestwich|2003|p=72}}}} This behaviour was not considered normal for the nobility of the period and attracted criticism from contemporaries.{{Sfn|Phillips|2011|p=72}}{{Sfn|Prestwich|2003|p=72}}

In 1290, Edward's father had confirmed the [[Treaty of Birgham]], in which he promised to marry his six-year-old son to the young [[Margaret, Maid of Norway|Margaret of Norway]], who had a potential claim to the crown of Scotland.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=41}}; {{Harvnb|Haines|2003|p=19}}.</ref> Margaret died later that year, bringing an end to the plan.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=42}}.</ref> Edward's mother, Eleanor, died shortly afterwards, followed by his grandmother, [[Eleanor of Provence]].<ref name="Phillips2011P43">{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=43}}.</ref> Edward&nbsp;I was distraught at his wife's death and held a huge funeral for her; his son inherited the County of Ponthieu from Eleanor.<ref name=Phillips2011P43/> Next, a French marriage was considered for the young Edward, to help secure a lasting peace with France, but [[Philip IV of France|King Philip{{nbsp}}IV]]'s refusal to release fortresses in [[Duchy of Gascony|Gascony]] offered by Edward{{nbsp}}I provoked the [[Gascon War]] in 1294.<ref name="Phillips2011PP77HallamEverard">{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=77–78}}; {{Harvnb|Hallam|Everard|2001|p=360}}.</ref> The idea was replaced with the proposal of a marriage to a daughter of the [[Franco-Flemish War|rebellious]] [[Guy, Count of Flanders]], but this too failed after King Philip was able to have the proposed bride sent to Paris.<ref name=Phillips2011PP77HallamEverard/>

===Early campaigns in Scotland===
[[File:Edward I & II Prince of Wales 1301.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=medieval painting|Early 14th-century depiction of Edward&nbsp;I (left) declaring his son Edward (right) the Prince of Wales]]

Between 1297 and 1298, Edward was left as [[regent]] in charge of England while the King campaigned in [[Flanders]] against Philip&nbsp;IV, who had occupied part of the English king's lands in Gascony.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=78–79}}.</ref> On his return, Edward&nbsp;I signed a [[Treaty of Paris (1303)|peace treaty]], under which he took Philip's sister [[Margaret of France, Queen of England|Margaret]] as his wife and agreed that Prince Edward would in due course marry Philip's daughter, Isabella, who was then only two years old.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=80–81}}; {{Harvnb|Rubin|2006|p=30}}.</ref> In theory, this marriage would mean that the disputed Duchy of Gascony would be inherited by a descendant of both Edward and Philip, providing a possible end to the long-running tensions.<ref>{{Harvnb|Brown|1988|p=574}}.</ref> The young Edward seems to have got on well with his new stepmother, who gave birth to two sons, [[Thomas of Brotherton]] in 1300 and [[Edmund of Woodstock]] in 1301.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=81–82}}; {{Harvnb|Marshall|2006|p=190}}.</ref> As king, Edward later provided his half-brothers with financial support and titles.<ref name="Marshall2006PP198">{{Harvnb|Marshall|2006|pp=198–199}}.</ref>{{Efn|Edward II faced criticism from contemporaries for favouring Gaveston above his half-brothers, although detailed research by Alison Marshall shows more generosity, Marshall arguing that "for once", Edward was criticised unfairly.<ref name=Marshall2006PP198/>}}

Edward I returned to Scotland once again in 1300, and this time took his son with him, making him the commander of the rearguard at the siege of [[Caerlaverock Castle]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=82–84}}.</ref> In the spring of 1301, the King declared Edward the [[Prince of Wales]], granting him the [[earldom of Chester]] and lands across North Wales; he seems to have hoped that this would help pacify the region, and that it would give his son some financial independence.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=85–87}}.</ref> Edward received homage from his Welsh subjects and then joined his father for the 1301 Scottish campaign; he took an army of around 300 soldiers north with him and captured [[Turnberry Castle]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=88–90}}.</ref> Prince Edward also took part in the 1303 campaign during which he besieged [[Brechin Castle]], deploying his own siege engine in the operation.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=91–93}}.</ref> In the spring of 1304, Edward conducted negotiations with the rebel Scottish leaders on the King's behalf and, when these failed, he joined his father for the siege of [[Stirling Castle]].<ref name="Phillips 2011 94–95">{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=94–95}}.</ref>

In 1305, Edward and his father quarrelled, probably over the issue of money.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=104–105}}.</ref> The prince had an altercation with Bishop [[Walter Langton]], who served as the royal treasurer, apparently over the amount of financial support Edward received from the Crown.<ref name="Phillips 2011 94–95"/> The King defended his treasurer, and banished Prince Edward and his companions from his court, cutting off their financial support.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=95–96}}.</ref> After some negotiations involving family members and friends, father and son were reconciled.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=107}}.</ref>

The Scottish conflict flared up once again in 1306, when [[Robert the Bruce]] killed his rival [[John Comyn&nbsp;III of Badenoch]] and declared himself King of the Scots.<ref name="Phillips2011P199">{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=109}}.</ref> Edward I mobilised a fresh army, but decided that, this time, his son would be formally in charge of the expedition.<ref name=Phillips2011P199/> Prince Edward was made the [[duke of Aquitaine]] and then, along with many other young men, he was [[knight]]ed in a lavish ceremony at [[Westminster Abbey]] called the [[Feast of the Swans]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=109–111}}.</ref> Amid a huge feast in the neighbouring hall, reminiscent of [[Arthurian legend]]s and [[crusading]] events, the assembly took a collective oath to defeat Bruce.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=111}}; {{Harvnb|Rubin|2006|pp=29–30}}; {{Harvnb|Haines|2003|pp=16–17}}.</ref> It is unclear what role Prince Edward's forces played in the campaign that summer, which, under the orders of Edward&nbsp;I, saw a punitive, brutal retaliation against Bruce's faction in Scotland.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=111–115}}.</ref>{{Efn|The English 1306 campaign in Scotland was brutal, and the chronicler [[William Rishanger]] held Prince Edward responsible for savage attacks on the local population; the historian Seymour Phillips has noted that many of Rishanger's other details are incorrect, and casts doubt on the chronicle's more extreme statements.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2006|pp=113–115}}.</ref>}} Edward returned to England in September, where diplomatic negotiations to finalise a date for his wedding to Isabella continued.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=116–117}}.</ref>

===Piers Gaveston and sexuality===
[[File:Gaveston Cornwall charter.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=initial from a charter|[[Initial]] from the [[charter]] granting [[Piers Gaveston]] the [[earldom of Cornwall]]]]

During this time, Edward became close to [[Piers Gaveston]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=96}}.</ref> Gaveston was the son of one of the King's household knights whose lands lay adjacent to Gascony, and had himself joined Prince Edward's household in 1300, possibly on Edward I's instruction.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=96–97}}.</ref> The two got on well; Gaveston became a [[squire]] and was soon being referred to as a close companion of Edward, before being knighted by the King during the Feast of the Swans in 1306.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=96–97, 120}}; {{Harvnb|Chaplais|1994|p=4}}.</ref> The King then exiled Gaveston to [[Gascony]] in 1307 for reasons that remain unclear.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=112, 120–121}}.</ref> According to one chronicler, Edward had asked his father to allow him to give Gaveston the County of [[Ponthieu]], and the King responded furiously, pulling his son's hair out in great handfuls, before exiling Gaveston.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=120–121}}.</ref> The official court records, however, show Gaveston being only temporarily exiled, supported by a comfortable stipend; no reason is given for the order, suggesting that it may have been an act aimed at punishing the prince.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|pp=120–123}}; {{Harvnb|Haines|2003|pp=20–21}}.</ref>

The possibility that Edward had a sexual relationship with Gaveston or his later favourites has been extensively discussed by historians, complicated by the scarcity of surviving evidence to determine for certain the details of their relationships.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ormrod|2006|p=22}}; {{Harvnb|Haines|2003|pp=20–21}}.</ref>{{Efn|John Boswell puts forward one of the most prominent arguments in favour of Edward and Gaveston having been lovers. Jeffrey Hamilton supports that the relationship was sexual, but that it was probably not overtly so. The historian [[Michael Prestwich]] is sympathetic to the argument that Edward and Gaveston had entered into a bond of adoptive brotherhood, but with a "sexual element" to both this and Edward's relationship with Despenser; Roy Haines echoes Prestwich's judgements; Miri Rubin argues in favour of their being friends, with a "very intense working relationship"; [[Seymour Phillips]] believes it most likely that Edward regarded Gaveston as his adoptive brother.{{Sfn|Prestwich|2003|p=72}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Haines|2003|p=374}}; {{Harvnb|Rubin|2006|p=31}}; {{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=102}}; {{Harvnb|Ormrod|2006|p=23}}; {{Harvnb|Hamilton|2010|pp=98–99}}.</ref>}} Homosexuality was fiercely condemned by the Church in 14th-century England, which equated it with [[heresy]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Ormrod|2006|pp=23–25}}; {{Harvnb|Prestwich|2006|pp=70, 72}}.</ref> Both men had sexual relationships with their wives, who bore them children; Edward also had an illegitimate son, and may have had an affair with his niece, [[Eleanor de Clare]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Prestwich|2006|p=71}}; {{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=101}}; {{Harvnb|Haines|2003|pp=42–43}}.</ref>

The contemporary evidence supporting their homosexual relationship comes primarily from an anonymous chronicler in the 1320s who described how Edward "felt such love" for Gaveston that "he entered into a covenant of constancy, and bound himself with him before all other mortals with a bond of indissoluble love, firmly drawn up and fastened with a knot."<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=97}}.</ref> The first specific suggestion that Edward engaged in sex with men was recorded in 1334, when [[Adam Orleton]], the [[Bishop of Winchester]], was accused of having stated in 1326 that Edward was a "sodomite", although Orleton defended himself by arguing that he had meant that Edward's adviser, [[Hugh Despenser the Younger]], was a sodomite, rather than the late king.<ref>{{Harvnb|Mortimer|2006|p=50}}.</ref> The [[Meaux Chronicle]] from the 1390s simply notes that Edward gave himself "too much to the vice of sodomy".<ref>{{Harvnb|Mortimer|2006|p=52}}.</ref>

Alternatively, Edward and Gaveston may have simply been friends with a close working relationship.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rubin|2006|pp=31}}.</ref> Contemporary [[chronicler]] comments are vaguely worded; Orleton's allegations were at least in part politically motivated, and are very similar to the highly politicised sodomy allegations made against [[Pope Boniface&nbsp;VIII]] and the [[Knights Templar]] in 1303 and 1308, respectively.<ref>{{Harvnb|Mortimer|2006|pp=51–53}}.</ref> Later accounts by chroniclers of Edward's activities may trace back to Orleton's original allegations, and were certainly adversely coloured by the events at the end of Edward's reign.<ref>{{Harvnb|Mortimer|2006|p=52}}; {{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=102}}.</ref> Such historians as [[Michael Prestwich]] and Seymour Phillips have argued that the public nature of the English royal court would have made it unlikely that any homosexual affairs would have remained discreet; neither the contemporary Church, Edward's father nor his father-in-law appear to have made any adverse comments about Edward's sexual behaviour.<ref>{{Harvnb|Prestwich|2006|pp=70–71}}; {{Harvnb|Chaplais|1994|p=9}}; {{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=99}}.</ref>

A more recent theory, proposed by the historian [[Pierre Chaplais]], suggests that Edward and Gaveston entered into a bond of [[blood brother|adoptive brotherhood]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=100}}; {{Harvnb|Chaplais|1994|pp=11–13}}.</ref> Compacts of adoptive brotherhood, in which the participants pledged to support each other in a form of "brotherhood-in-arms", were not unknown between close male friends in the Middle Ages.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chaplais|1994|pp=14–19}}.</ref> Many chroniclers described Edward and Gaveston's relationship as one of brotherhood, and one explicitly noted that Edward had taken Gaveston as his adopted brother.<ref>{{Harvnb|Phillips|2011|p=102}}.</ref> Chaplais argues that the pair may have made a formal compact in either 1300 or 1301, and that they would have seen any later promises they made to separate or to leave each other as having been made under duress, and therefore invalid.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chaplais|1994|pp=20–22}}.</ref>