Assassination: The Royal Family's 1000-Year Curse (12 page)

War with France continued for another five years, after which a truce was agreed. One town was transferred to the English, and the 60-year-old Edward married Marguerite, who was now a more acceptable 16 years old. She went on to bear him three children.

However, the Scots would not be subdued for long, and in
1306 they crowned Robert the Bruce as their king. Bruce was a
4 x great-grandson of King David I, and was of similar origin to Edward, being a descendant of Robert de Brus, a Norman knight who had fought at Hastings. Edward marched north to do battle, but he died in 1307 before reaching Scotland. Said to have been one of the greatest of the Plantagenet kings, the failure of the Assassin to murder him enabled Edward and his forces to slaughter thousands of Christians, Muslims, Jews, pagans, Welsh, Scots, French and Arabs either in battle, after battle, or with no battle at all, having already slaughtered thousands of his own countrymen.

Edward I had fifteen children with his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, and three children with his second wife, Marguerite. Yet when Edward died, only three daughters and one son (the fifteenth child) of his first marriage were still alive, and the crown would be inherited by that fifteenth child: Edward Prince of Wales – the new title for the heir.

King Edward II took over a powerful country, albeit in debt and with trouble in Scotland. However, his greatest problem came from the companion selected for him by his father. The companion was Piers Gaveston, the son of a Gascon knight who had ridden with Edward I in battle. Prince Edward showered Gaveston with gifts, giving greater confidence to a man who had no respect for his seniors and was hated by all of them. In time, Edward I became aware of the situation, and when young Edward asked his father to grant Gaveston the title of Count of Ponthieu, the enraged king banished Gaveston from England.

Predictably, Edward II’s first step as king was to recall Gaveston. Edward then created him Earl of Cornwall, a title usually reserved for members of the Royal Family, bringing with it substantial estates and wealth. Next, having arranged for his niece to marry Gaveston, the new king left for France to celebrate his own marriage to Isabella, the daughter of King Philip IV. And it was Isabella who, being the 7 x great-granddaughter of Gytha, daughter of King Harold, introduced more Anglo-Saxon blood to the English royal family.
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At the coronation Gaveston, dressed in a purple outfit embroidered with pearls, carried the crown, and after the ceremony Edward gave Gaveston the best of Queen Isabella’s jewels and wedding presents. So it went on, and with the increased authority and wealth going to his head, Gaveston started to behave almost as a second king, showing total contempt for the barons and treating them as his servants. They would not put up with that for long, and soon they demanded his removal. Facing opposition from the entire nobility, Edward had to give in. He sent Gaveston to Ireland as Lieutenant, at the same time giving him more properties in England and in Aquitaine.

Over time, the solidarity of the barons waned, and with the support of some of them Edward was able to recall Gaveston. He immediately reverted to his old ways, publicly insulting the barons at every opportunity. Once more, the barons demanded that Gaveston be exiled. This time they wanted to ensure that their victory was permanent, so they also insisted on widespread reforms, including the necessity for their consent to the appointment of all high officials and control of finance. Edward resisted, but Gaveston’s increasingly outrageous behaviour led to the barons making it clear that if he was not exiled, the alternative was civil war. Gaveston went – within weeks he was back; and in 1312 the barons declared war on their king.

8 Of course, some had already been introduced by William the Conqueror’s wife Matilda (a descendant of Alfred the Great) and by Henry I’s wife Edith (a greatgranddaughter of Edmund Ironside).

escaped in a boat. Callously leaving the Queen and the royal household behind, they made their way to Scarborough Castle. Edward then headed for York to raise troops.

The barons’ leader was the Lord High Steward, Edward’s cousin, the Earl of Lancaster. He stationed his forces between York and Scarborough so as to prevent Edward and Gaveston from being re-united, while the barons’ main army besieged Scarborough Castle. Gaveston had no stomach for a fight, and he surrendered. He was thrown into a dungeon at Warwick Castle and later beheaded. Having demonstrated their power and dealt with their main target, the barons agreed to withdraw their forces.

Now the King began to deal with his duties. A few months later the first of his four children was born. That was the only good news. To avoid unnecessary bloodshed, the English commander of the besieged Stirling Castle agreed to surrender it to the Scots if an English army did not arrive by Midsummer’s Day, so Edward had to march north. He arrived just in time to save the castle, but was then heavily defeated by Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn. The humiliated Edward returned to England, where he had to face the Earl of Lancaster. Not having been at Bannockburn, Lancaster’s position was greatly strengthened, and he was able to secure the appointment of his nominees to all the principal offices of state in place of the King’s men.

While Lancaster consolidated his position, Edward spent his time indulging in his lifelong priorities: profligacy and pleasure. Inevitably, a new version of Gaveston appeared. Hugh Despenser became the King’s close companion and adviser in much the same way as Gaveston, although at first he was more diplomatic. Naturally, Queen Isabella became his implacable enemy. Yet although she was now a much stronger woman than the young queen who had to stand and watch her husband and Gaveston, she held her fire.

Elsewhere, others began to cause trouble, and disorder broke out across the country. There were revolts in Wales, in Ireland, in Bristol and elsewhere, accompanied by raids into the north of England by the Scots, feuding between the Welsh and the English, between Edward and Lancaster, and between Lancaster and other barons. Lancaster was the loser. After being taken prisoner, he was beheaded in Edward’s presence.

With his main antagonist dead, Edward had yet another chance to establish his authority. Instead he let Hugh Despenser and his father, also named Hugh Despenser, rule the country. They were descendants of William the Conqueror’s steward,
despenser
being French for ‘steward’.

In 1322, Queen Isabella’s brother was crowned King Charles IV of France. Minor warfare started between England and France, and in an attempt to arrange peace, the Pope suggested that Isabella should travel to France to negotiate with her brother. Surprisingly, Edward agreed. By this time, the Despensers had ensured that Isabella’s estates had been sequestered, her allowance had been reduced and young Despenser’s wife had been appointed to watch over the Queen and examine her correspondence. She was after all French and not to be trusted while a state of war existed with France. If so, why trust her to negotiate? Probably Edward and the Despensers were glad to see her out of the way, and even happier to avoid having to deal with Charles themselves.

Off Isabella went, reaching Paris in 1325. Before long she had negotiated a truce and the return of Gascony and Ponthieu to Edward. With the two territories restored, Edward was required to go to France in order to pay homage, acknowledging that he held the territories under the sovereignty of the King of France. However, the Despensers feared for their lives if Edward should leave the country. They were also afraid of going to France with him, where their host would be Isabella’s brother. As an alternative, in what they probably considered was a brilliant move, the Despensers proposed that the Crown Prince, 12-year-old Prince Edward, should be granted the titles to the two territories and then he would be the one to pay homage. The King foolishly agreed, and young Prince Edward travelled to France. Now Isabella had the heir under her control.

Charles immediately confiscated the two territories. That was only one piece of bad news for Edward. In addition he was told that Prince Edward would remain with Isabella, and that Isabella was now openly living with Roger Mortimer Baron Wigmore. A former supporter of Lancaster, Mortimer had escaped from the Tower when his supporters broke through the wall of his cell on the feast day of the Tower’s patron saint, St Peter-al-Vincula (St Peter in chains), all the garrison being totally drunk at the celebratory banquet. Even worse for Edward than the loss of his wife and son, Isabella and Mortimer were planning to invade England.

It would not be so simple for Isabella. King Charles could not countenance his sister’s adultery, and he expelled her from France. Ever resourceful, Isabella and Mortimer found refuge at the court of the Count of Hainault, Holland and Zeeland, whose wife was Isabella’s cousin. For her next step, Isabella negotiated the marriage of Prince Edward to the Count’s daughter, Philippa. Being a descendant of Gytha the daughter of King Harold, Philippa introduced more Anglo-Saxon blood to the royal line.

More importantly, the Count paid over a dowry, and that enabled Isabella to assemble an army. On 23rd September 1326, Isabella and Mortimer landed on the coast of Suffolk with 700 soldiers. They were joined by many of the barons with their troops. Hatred of the Despensers had made the raising of an army by the King impossible, and Isabella was greeted in town after town, eventually being welcomed into London. Edward and the Despensers fled to the West Country. It brought no safety, and the older Despenser was captured and executed. As Isabella’s troops marched west, King Edward and young Hugh Despenser tried to get to the Despensers’ island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel where the steep cliffs made an attack impossible. They failed, as the wind was against them, and their ship was blown back to the mainland. Within days

Young Despenser
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was tried, convicted and brutally executed, the charge of sodomy lowering Edward’s reputation even further. However, the She-Wolf of France, as the English called Isabella, had not finished.

Mortimer summoned the great lords, and they agreed that the King should be deposed; Parliament soon followed. Edward was informed of the decision and was asked to abdicate in favour of his son. He refused. Then he was told that if he refused again, not only would he be deposed, but his son and his family would be deposed as well. The thought of Mortimer as king was too much for Edward; he abdicated, and on 1st February 1327, Edward III was crowned king.

Edward II was placed in the custody of the Earl of Lancaster, the brother of the executed Earl. Despite their history, Lancaster treated Edward reasonably well. Then Edward was put into the hands of less friendly gaolers: Thomas Lord Berkeley and his brother-in-law, Sir John Maltravers. Berkeley’s father had been imprisoned by Edward and had died in gaol, his estates having been given to Hugh Despenser. Isabella had restored to Berkeley his inheritance, and he had married Mortimer’s daughter. With Edward in Berkeley Castle, there was no doubt where the new gaolers’ sympathies lay.

At first the imprisoned Edward seemed to be no threat at all, but within a short time the popularity of Isabella and Mortimer plummeted. For a start, the deaths of the Despensers diminished much of the hatred of the former king. In addition, Isabella and Mortimer were recognised as adulterers, and now Mortimer was acquiring power and behaving as arrogantly as young Hugh Despenser.