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EDWARD H

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 994 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EDWARD H . (1284-1327), " of See also:Carnarvon," See also:king of See also:England, the See also:fourth son of Edward I. by his first wife Eleanor of See also:Castile, was See also:born at Carnarvon See also:Castle on the 25th of See also:April 1284. The See also:story that the king presented the new-born See also:child to the Welsh as their future native See also:prince is quite unfounded, for Edward was only made prince of See also:Wales in the See also:Lincoln See also:parliament of 1301. When a few months old, he became by his See also:elder See also:brother's See also:death the See also:heir to the See also:throne, and Edward I. took See also:great pains to See also:train him in warfare and statecraft. He took See also:part in several Scots See also:campaigns, but all his See also:father's efforts could not prevent his acquiring the habits of extravagance and frivolity which he retained all through his See also:life. The old king attributed his son's defects to the See also:bad See also:influence of his friend, the Gascon See also:knight Piers See also:Gaveston, and drove the favourite into See also:exile. When Edward I. died, on the 7th of See also:July 1307, the first See also:act of the prince, now Edward II., was to recall Gaveston. His next was to abandon the Scots See also:campaign on which his father had set his See also:heart. The new king was physically almost as See also:fine a See also:man as Edward I. He was, however, destitute of any serious purpose, and was, as Dr See also:Stubbs says, " the first king after the See also:Conquest who was not a man of business." He cared for nothing but amusing him-self, and found his See also:chief delight in athletics and in the practice of See also:mechanical crafts. He was not so much vicious as foolish, and wanting in all serious interests. He had so little confidence in himself that he was always in the hands of some favourite who possessed a stronger will than his own.

In the See also:

early years of his reign Gaveston held this role, acting as See also:regent when Edward went to France—where, on the 25th of See also:January 1308, he married See also:Isabella, the daughter of See also:Philip the Fair—and receiving the earldom of See also:Cornwall with the See also:hand of the king's niece, See also:Margaret of See also:Gloucester. The barons soon See also:grew indignant at Edward's devotion to his " brother Piers," and twice insisted on his banishment. On each occasion Edward soon recalled his friend, whereupon the barons, headed by the king's See also:cousin See also:Thomas, See also:earl of See also:Lancaster, went to See also:war against king and favourite, and in 1312 treacherously put Gaveston to death. Edward was not strong enough even to avenge his loss. He was forced to stand aside and suffer the See also:realm to be governed by the baronial See also:committee of twenty-one lords ordainers, who, in 1311, had See also:drawn up a See also:series of ordinances, whose effect was to substitute ordainers for the king as the effective See also:government of the See also:country. But in all the ordinances nothing was said about the See also:commons and See also:lower See also:clergy. Parliament meant to the new rulers an See also:assembly of barons just as it had done to the opponents of See also:Henry III. in 1258. The effect of their See also:triumph was to See also:change England from a See also:monarchy to a narrow See also:oligarchy. During the quarrels between Edward and the ordainers, See also:Robert See also:Bruce was steadily conquering See also:Scotland. His progress was so great that he had occupied all the fortresses See also:save See also:Stirling, which he closely besieged. The danger of losing Stirling shamed Edward and the barons into an See also:attempt to retrieve their lostground. In See also:June 1314 Edward led a great See also:army into Scotland in the See also:hope of relieving Stirling.

On the 24th of June his See also:

ill-disciplined and badly led See also:host was completely defeated by Robert Bruce at See also:Bannockburn. Henceforth Bruce was sure of his position as king of Scots, and his pitiless devastation of the See also:northern counties of England was his See also:wild vengeance for the sufferings his See also:land had previously experienced from the See also:English. Edward's disgraceful defeat made him more dependent on his barons than ever. His kinsman, Thomas of Lancaster, had now an opportunity of saving England from the consequences of the king's incompetence. He had shown some capacity as a See also:leader of opposition, but though he had great See also:wealth, and was See also:lord of five earldoms, he had small ability and no constructive See also:power. In his See also:desire to keep the king weak, he was suspected to have made a See also:secret understanding with Robert Bruce. Before See also:long the opposition split up under his incompetent guidance into fiercely contending factions. Under See also:Aymer of See also:Valence, earl of See also:Pembroke, a See also:middle party arose, which hated Lancaster so much that it supported the king to put an end to Lancaster's See also:rule. After 1318 the effect of its influence was to restore Edward to some portion of his authority. However, the king hated Pembroke almost as much as Lancaster. He now found a competent adviser in See also:Hugh le See also:Despenser, a See also:baron of great experience. What was more important to him, he had in Despenser's son, Hugh le Despenser the younger, a See also:personal friend and favourite, who was able in some measure to replace Gaveston.

The fierce hatred which the barons manifested to the Despensers showed that they could hate a deserter as bitterly as they had hated the Gascon adventurer. They were indignant at the favours which Edward lavished upon the favourite and his father, and were especially alarmed when the younger Despenser strove to procure for himself the earldom of Gloucester in right of his wife, Edward's niece. At last, in 1321, the barons met in parliament, and under Lancaster's guidance procured the banishment of the Despensers. The disasters of his See also:

friends inspired Edward to unwonted activity. In 1322 he recalled them from exile, and waged war against the barons on their behalf. Triumph crowned his exertions. Lancaster, defeated at See also:Boroughbridge, was executed at See also:Pontefract. For the next five years the Despensers ruled England. Unlike the ordainers, they took pains to get the Commons on their See also:side, arid a parliament held at See also:York in 1322 revoked the ordinances because they trenched upon the rights of the See also:crown, and were drawn up by the barons only. From this See also:time no See also:statute was technically valid unless the Commons had agreed to it. This marks the most important step forward in Edward II.'s reign. But the rule of the Despensers soon See also:fell away from this See also:wise beginning.

They thought only of heaping up wealth for themselves, and soon stirred up universal indignation. In particular, they excited the ill-will of the See also:

queen, Isabella of See also:France. Craftily dissembling her indignation, Isabella kept silence until 1325, when she went to France in See also:company with her eldest son, Edward of See also:Windsor, who was sent to do See also:homage for See also:Aquitaine to her brother, the new See also:French king. When her business was over, Isabella declined to return to her See also:husband as long as the Despensers remained his favourites. She formed a criminal connexion with See also:Roger See also:Mortimer of Wigmore, one of the baronial exiles, and in See also:September 1326 landed in See also:Essex accompanied by Mortimer and her son, declaring that she was come to avenge the See also:murder of Lancaster, and to expel the Despensers. Edward's followers deserted him, and on the 2nd of See also:October he fled from See also:London to the See also:west, where he took See also:refuge in the younger Despenser's estates in Glamorgan. His wife followed him, put to death both the Despensers, and, after a futile effort to See also:escape by See also:sea, Edward was captured on the 16th of See also:November. He was imprisoned at See also:Kenilworth Castle, and a parliament met at See also:Westminster in January 1327, which See also:chose his son to be king as Edward III. It was thought prudent to compel the See also:captive king to resign the crown, and on the loth of January Edward was forced to renounce his See also:office before a committee of the estates. The government of Isabella and Mortimer was so weakly established that it dared not leave the deposed king alive. On the 3rd of April he was secretly removed from Kenilworth and entrusted to the custody of two dependants of Mortimer. After various wanderings he was imprisoned at See also:Berkeley Castle in See also:Gloucestershire.

Every indignity was inflicted upon him, and he was systematically ill-treated in the hope that he would See also:

die of disease. When his strong constitution seemed likely to prevail over the ill-treatment of his enemies he was cruelly put to death on the 21 St of September. It was announced that he had died a natural death, and he was buried in St See also:Peter's See also:Abbey at Gloucester, now the See also:cathedral, where his son afterwards erected a magnificent See also:tomb. Edward's wife, Isabella (c. 1292-1358), See also:bore him two sons, Edward III. and See also:John of Eltham, earl of Cornwall (1316-1336), and two daughters, Isabella and See also:Joanna (1321-1362), wife of See also:David II., king of Scotland. After the See also:execution of her paramour, Roger Mortimer, in 1330, Isabella retired from public life; she died at See also:Hertford on the 23rd of See also:August 1358. See R. See also:Pauli, Geschichte von England, iv. pp. 199-306; T. F. Tout, See also:Political See also:History of England, 1216-1307, pp. 236-304, and See also:article in See also:Dictionary of See also:National See also:Biography; W.

Stubbs, Constitutional History, vol. ii. pp. 319-386, and Introductions to See also:

Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I. and Edward II. in Rolls series. (T. F.

End of Article: EDWARD H

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