The Kings' Favourite: The Rise And Fall of Piers Gaveston

In 1307, England had a new king. Edward II was a robust young man in his early twenties. But, from very early on, the prospects of a peaceful reign were slim and, by and large, this was almost entirely Edward’s own fault. One of his first acts as king was to recall his close friend, Piers Gaveston, from exile. Edward’s father, Edward I, had developed a deep mistrust of Piers who he felt, rightly, held too much influence over his son. Edward I banished Piers from his kingdom but, on the old king’s death in July 1307, the new king, Edward II, was free to recall him. On Piers’ return, he was made Earl of Cornwall which had the approval of some of the magnates but went down like a lead balloon with others who clearly hated Piers. Piers, born in Gascony, acted almost like a second king as he knew he held the king’s deep affection. Whatsmore, Piers was tied closer to Edward II when the king married him to his niece, Margaret. Margaret was the daughter of Edward’s sister, Joan of Acre, who had been born whilst Edward I and his Queen ,Eleanor of Castile, had been on Crusade. Margaret’s father was the now long dead Gilbert De Clare, Earl of Gloucester. To add to Piers’ already massive ego, the king held a tournament in his honour at Wallingford on 2nd December 1307. Resentment of this foreign born man from lowly origins continued to grow but Piers could not care less.

For a number of years, long before he became king, Edward had been betrothed to Isabella, daughter of the French king Philip IV. The arrangement had been made when Edward was 15 and Isabella aged 3 or 4. An embassy had been sent to Philip’s court to finalise the arrangements and Edward now prepared to cross the channel to France. Acting as guardian of England in his absence would be Piers Gaveston. Edward and Isabella, who was now aged about 12, married in January 1308 before they returned to England. Attention now turned towards Edward and his new Queen’s coronation which took place on 25th February 1308. At the coronation, Piers, dressed in purple, a colour usually reserved for royalty, made himself the centre of attention. He carried in his “filthy hands”, as one chronicler put it, the crown and help organise the celebration feast and he cast a significant shadow over the young Queen who must have been bewildered enough already with the pomp and ceremony without having to compete for her husband’s attention with the obnoxious Piers. Piers behaviour caused widespread anger and mutterings of mutiny against the king and his favourite gathered apace. Edward was in grave danger of losing the support of his nobility so early into his reign. He maintained the backing of Hugh Despenser who, along with his son, would become increasingly controversial as the reign wore on and the king’s nephew, another Gilbert De Clare, who had succeeded his father as Earl of Gloucester, attempted to remain neutral. But, as tensions rose, this would become more and more difficult. Even Henry De Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, one time friend of Piers, grew to hate him. Naive at times he may be, even Edward had enough sense to realise that he needed to apply caution. He strengthened, repaired and garrisoned his castles whilst his nobles did the same with their strongholds. It seemed Edward II’s England was readying itself for civil war.

But this didn’t need to be the case and the nobles knew it. If only the king would rid himself of this despised Gaveston, then all could be well in the kingdom and Edward, without needless distractions, could turn his focus towards governing the country. He was, eventually, persuaded to banish Piers from England. For the second time, Piers was to be exiled which was arranged for the 24th June 1308. Edward accompanied his favourite to Bristol and watched on as Piers set sail for Ireland. It was clear though that Piers would return and it’s almost certain that Edward had already determined that in his mind. For his part, Piers himself would know that Edward was not ready to abandon him and it was merely a matter of playing the waiting game. 

However, peace did not come. Disharmony and division reigned, particularly amongst the nobility. Much to their annoyance, Piers’ continued to greatly enrich himself in Ireland with revenues that ought to have transferred to the English crown. Edward, for his part, saw an opportunity to divide the nobility with cunning and manipulation. He used bribery and gentle persuasion to win them over to his side. For the king, this was necessary as he had, through his own stupidity, allowed a situation to develop that threatened to pit the entire nobility against him. He needed to put a stop to that immediately. For the time being, he was succeesful. Only Guy De Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, stood steadfast against the king. For Edward, this was good enough.

The following year of 1309 saw the return, in secret, of Piers to England. He landed at Chester where the overjoyed king came to meet him. Edward’s attempts of divide and conquer had worked and there was little dissent from his nobles regarding Piers’ return. The likes of Henry De Lacy and John De Warenne, Earl of Surrey, decided to set aside their differences. The chronicles hint that these men were fickle which is perhaps harsh. For the sake of peace in England, which, as mentioned, had been teetering on the brink of civil war, giving Piers and the king a second chance would be preferable to arming themselves in readiness for battle. Civil war rarely did any good and now it could only be hoped that Edward and Piers, the latter in particular, had been humbled enough to act in a more suitable manner. Unfortunately, any such hopes would be dashed.

Piers had not been humbled at all. Instead, he created insulting nicknames for his enemies. He referred to De Lacy as “burstbelly”, the Earl of Warwick as “The Black Dog of Arden”, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster was “The Fiddler” among others. Any chances of reconciliation between the nobles and Piers were literally made impossible because of the latter’s astonishing attitude and arrogance. Enmity grew, particularly with the Earl of Lancaster who, thanks to Piers’ interventions with the king, saw his influence rapidly diminish. However, this had very little impact on Edward who celebrated Christmas with Gaveston in Hertfordshire, with Edward in particularly high spirits. However, once the festive season was over, Edward could not continue to run away from his growing problems. The king called Parliament in January of 1310 but found very few responded. The nobles made it clear to Edward that whilst Piers remained in his presence, then they would abstain from meeting the king. Were it absolutely necessary for them to attend, then they would arrive heavily armed. Realising he couldn’t ignore these warnings, Edward sent Piers away into hiding for a time whilst he held tense discussions with his nobles.

It was put forward to the king that a council of advisers to help him govern should be appointed. These would be known as Ordainers. Unsurprisingly, the proposal was met with reluctance from Edward who tried his best to delay giving a proper answer but when he was threatened with deposition, he found himself with little choice. 21 Ordainers were elected. Among them included the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Earls of Lancaster and Gloucester. Shortly after this, Edward decided to launch a campaign in Scotland and ordered his nobles to meet him at Berwick Upon Tweed. It’s possible that this was a petulant act of defiance on the kings’ part and an attempt to show that he was still the true power in England. If so, many of the nobles were happy to prove otherwise and ignored him. Only the Earls of Gloucester and Surrey, from the most powerful nobles, heeded the call. Another possibility for Edward’s campaign is that he was trying to dodge a summons from his father in law, Philip IV, who wanted him to pay homage for Gascony and Ponthieu. Whatever the cause for Edward’s trip northwards, it was entirely pointless. Robert The Bruce avoided any form of confrontation with the English army and all Edward managed to achieve was to restock his Scottish castles. In the Summer of 1311, the Ordainers arrived in London with a list of demands that would keep in check the power of the English crown. Edward had no choice but to leave Scotland and face the music. The list of demands, known as the Ordinances, included holding Parliament at least once a year, appointments made by the king were to be made only after the approval of Parliament and, in reference to Edward’s recent and dismal campaign up north, the king was not allowed to go to war without the consent of the nobility. The one demand that upset Edward the most, unquestionably, was the one that required Piers Gaveston be sent, permanently, into exile. Edward was even willing to grant all the other Ordinances without delay if the nobles allowed Piers to stay in England. Edward’s pleas eventually turned to threats when he saw that the nobles had remained unmoved. Eventually, Edward saw the game was up and put his seal on the ordinances. Piers was sent into exile in November 1311, travelling to Flanders in secret.

But this third and final exile of Gaveston did not last long. The king’s temper, teetering on the edge, was pushed past it’s limits when it was proposed that all of Piers’ friends and allies be sent away from the royal court lest they suggest to the king the idea of recalling Piers. At this, Edward was irate and he immediately ordered Piers to return to England. But it seems even Piers feared that this may not be sensible. He returned but attempted to keep a low profile. However, the nobles soon became aware that Piers had indeed come back and a meeting between them and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Winchelsey, was held. Winchelsey excommunicated Piers and the nobles, led by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, now made plans to arrest Gaveston. Thomas marched Northwards to Newcastle where he seized weapons and horses that had been given to Gaveston by the king. Thomas then got word that Gaveston was holed up at Scarborough, some distance away from the king’s protection. Thomas positioned himself so that the king could not come to Piers’ rescue whilst the other nobles laid siege to Scarborough. For Gaveston, the fast and loose game that he had been playing since the days of Edward I were nearly up. Piers eventually surrendered to the Earl of Pembroke, Aymer De Valance, who sent him to a little village named Deddington. On hearing this, the Earl of Warwick made straight for Piers, arriving in Deddington on 10th June 1312. Warwick, calling out in the early morning air, ordered Gaveston to arise and meet his fate. The possibility of sending Gaveston to a traitor’s death, I.E having him hanged, drawn and quartered, was discussed but, in the end, a mere beheading was decided upon. Gaveston was handed over to the Earl of Lancaster, pleading desperately for his life. His tears had little impact and he was taken to Black Hill where two Welshmen, in the employ of Lancaster, were ordered to kill him. One ran Piers through with his sword before the other cut off his head. Some local friars gathered Piers’ body and took him to Oxford for burial.

When he heard the news, Edward said of Piers,”By God’s soul, he acted as a fool!” But these were the words of a man trying not to show the tremendous grief he felt. He had loved Piers like a brother and this was a tremendous blow to him. Edward called Parliament and, again, many of the nobles arrived armed and some, including Lancaster, unsurprisingly given his role in Piers’ death, arrived with a small army to back them up. As turbulent as 1312 had proved to be for the king however, there was some good news in November of that year. His young Queen, Isabella, had given birth to a baby boy, named Edward, at Windsor. The birth of an heir was vitally important for Kings in the Middle Ages but for Edward II it was especially important. He had been threatened with deposition before he had barely accomplished anything as king and, as time had gone on, the threat of Edward losing his crown had only increased. Later in the century, In 1399, Henry Bolingbroke deposed his childless cousin Richard II and took the crown for himself. But, with the birth of this little boy that would become Edward III, the throne of Edward II was a little more secure.