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Did Edward II really die so horribly
00:00 Mon 11th Mar 2002 | People & Places
A. So it would seem. Waterwolf wanted to know: Did Edward II really die from a hot poker shoved up his back passage As Answerbank friend Incitatus replied, he died in the dungeons of Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, in 1327.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Q. But why so horrible
A. His enemies wanted him to die without any mark of violence. By tradition, the poker was inserted through a horn - to leave no flesh scorching. This was done as a last resort when other methods failed. Edward was first starved, but this took too long, then confined in a pit full of corpses in the hope that the stench - or 'miasma' - would kill him.
Q. Let's have some background to this unfortunate king.
A. He was born in 1284 and, as Prince of Wales, succeeded his father Edward II in 1308. As a youth, Edward was extravagant and incompetent and kept unsavoury friends. He inherited his father's war with Scotland, but was inept as a soldier.
Q. Which made him unpopular
A. Yes - especially with the barons. Disgruntled, they sought to check his power from the beginning of his reign. He particularly annoyed them by lavishing money and other rewards upon his male favourites.
Soon, it became clear that Edward I's dream of a unified British nation was disintegrating under his weak son. In 1314, Robert the Bruce reconquered much of Scotland, defeating English forces at the battle of Bannockburn. Bruce also incited rebellion in Ireland and reduced English influence drastically.
Q. And what about Edward's favourites
A. The most notable was Piers Gaveston, a young Gascon exiled by Edward I for his undue influence on the Prince of Wales and, most likely, the king's homosexual lover. Gaveston was arrogant and wielded considerable power after being recalled by Edward.
Q. Another cause for unpopularity
A. Oh yes. The barons, in response, rallied in opposition behind the king's cousin, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster; the Parliaments of 1310 and 1311 imposed restrictions on Edward's power and exiled Gaveston. The barons revolted in 1312 and Gaveston was beheaded. Full rebellion was avoided only by Edward's acceptance of further restrictions. Lancaster shared the responsibilities of governing with Edward ... and then the king came under the influence of yet another favourite, Hugh Dispenser.
Q. He didn't learn, did he
A. No. In 1322, Edward showed a rare display of resolution and gathered an army to meet Lancaster at the Battle of Boroughbridge in Yorkshire. Edward won - and Lancaster was executed. He and Dispenser ruled the government but again made many enemies - 28 knights and barons were executed and many exiled. Further trouble lay ahead - but through foreign affairs.
Q. How
A. It also started when he sent his wife to France as an emissary.
Q. Wife He was an, ahem, married man
A. Oh yes, despite his apparent homosexuality, he had married Isabella, daughter of Philip IV, King of France, at Boulogne Cathedral on 25 January, 1308. They had four children - Edward, John, Eleanor and Joan. Isabella went to negotiate with her brother - King of France Charles IV - about Edward's affairs in Gascony.
But she became involved in a romance with Roger Mortimer, one of Edward's disaffected barons, and persuaded Edward to send their young son to France. They then invaded England in 1326 and imprisoned Edward. The king was deposed in 1327, replaced by his son, Edward III, and murdered so horribly at Berkeley Castle in September. He is buried at Gloucester Cathedral.
Q. Epitaph
A. Sir Richard Baker said of Edward's father in A Chronicle of the Kings of England: 'His great unfortunateness was in his greatest blessing; for of four sons which he had by his Queen Eleanor, three of them died in his own lifetime, who were worthy to have outlived him; and the fourth outlived him, who was worthy never to have been born.'
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Steve Cunningham
