The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England

At Edward’s coronation (1308), his oaths included acknowledgment of the growing role of the political community, but he also centered Gaveston inappropriately. Armed insurrection loomed. The barons demanded Gaveston’s exile and an acknowledgment of separation between the king’s person and his office.

In 1309, Edward offered a reform program to sweeten Gaveston’s return. Gaveston’s presence and behavior rankled the barons. Financial demands were not matched by results in Scotland. Edward was accused of impoverishing the Crown and burdening the people, eroding the Magna Carta. A parliament demanded the creation of a reforming panel, the Ordainers.

In 1310, Edward and Gaveston failed to make progress in Scotland. English power balances shifted as the already powerful Lancaster inherited two more Earldoms. In 1311, the Ordinances were published. Reforms included further separating the king’s personal and official capacities, and embedding parliament’s rights and roles. They also banished Gaveston again. However, later, more stringent Ordinances provoked Edward’s furious recall of Gaveston and denunciation of the Ordinances altogether.

English magnates cooperated to capture Gaveston in 1312. His initial captor promised his safety, but another group (led by Lancaster) kidnapped him and killed him following a show trial. This flouted the rule of law, which governed throughout Plantagenet’s reigns. It divided the magnates between those involved, now definitely enemies of Edward, and others who felt betrayed by this violence and shifted allegiance towards Edward.

Edward was persuaded not to initiate civil war because it would facilitate Scottish encroachments. In 1312, his wife, Isabella, gave birth to an heir, also named Edward. In 1313, they were lavishly welcomed by her family, the French court, for a summer of pageantry. A delicate peace hung between Edward and the reformers who’d killed Gaveston. Edward won parliamentary consent and a papal loan for a Scottish campaign.

Only Edward’s loyalists committed fully to his Scottish campaign. They were decimated, returning to England humiliated and weakened while his detractors retained their strength.

From 1314-1317 terrible weather created harsh conditions throughout Europe with food shortages and commercial crises. England hovered on the edge of violence. Lancaster opposed Edward and insisted on the Ordinances but eschewed direct involvement to rule his bloc. Edward enriched and empowered his favorites. Moderate magnates and churchmen worked to mediate. In 1318, a treaty formalized peace, establishing a permanent royal council and Edward’s agreement to the Ordinances.

Edward’s favoring of the Despensers (father and son, both named Hugh) was seen to damage his governance and encroach on others’ rights. Welsh Marcher lords, including the Mortimers, rose in 1321. They were joined by others, including Lancaster in 1322. Edward gained the military upper hand, and a successful propaganda campaign reported that Lancaster was allying with Scotland. He was captured and executed following a show trial echoing Gaveston’s, escalating the culture of violence.

At a 1322 parliament, Edward shredded Lancaster’s reforms, rescinding most of the Ordinances. He wrought revenge, executing and imprisoning opponents with impunity. He redistributed confiscated possessions and titles, enriching the Crown. Edward and the heavily promoted Despensers ruled ruthlessly in their favor, undermining the basis of kingship: his overlordship no longer benefitted his subjects.

In 1323, Mortimer escaped captivity and fled to France. Rumors circulated of English and continental plots to bring down Edward. France invaded Gascony; Edward feared that going to fight would invite insurrection at home. He sent his wife, Isabella, to negotiate—the new French king Charles was the third of her brothers to reign. His son followed to perform Edward’s duties of homage and officially receive his continental titles. However, Isabella suffered during the dangers of Edward’s reign, and he often treated her poorly. She refused to return. In 1325, she allied herself with Mortimer.

Isabella and Mortimer invaded England in 1326; violence erupted as many rallied against them. When Edward tried to flee, they made his heir king in his absence. They executed the elder Despenser following a show trial that referenced Lancaster’s. They captured Edward and the younger Despenser.

Edward’s followers were executed, but Edward himself represented a dilemma. Throughout the evolving partnership between kings and the political community, the Crown’s authority was still predicated on English governance. A parliament, backed by leading bishops, decided governance should pass to his son. Edward was forced to abdicate; otherwise, the deposition of his whole bloodline was threatened.

Edward III’s lavish coronation in 1327 enforced the idea that the Crown retained power; however, Isabella and particularly Mortimer were in control. Edward II died in captivity, his death later rumored as murder on Mortimer’s orders. Domestic problems abounded. Continental and Scottish policies were failures, relinquishing land and rights, and overlordship, respectively. Edward III’s marriage was diplomatically helpful, and in 1230, his new wife was pregnant. Hostility grew towards Mortimer’s self-aggrandizing, self-interested governance; he summarily executed Edward III’s half-brother in 1230 for his opposition. Edward III began to plan a coup.