"Ancestrees"

Edward II KING OF ENGLAND ^{1 2 3 4 5}

  General Notes:

Edward of Caernarvon was the first English Prince of Wales in 1301. He succeeded his father to the throne in 1307. He was not competent as a ruler, losing Scotland to it's own independence in 1314. Parliament forced him to give up the throne in 1327. Edward II was murdered in Berkeley Castle where he was being held prisoner soon after. His murder is dramatically portrayed in Marlowe's play, Edward II. (Wld. Bk., c1988, v. 6, p. 110.)

His biography that follows is from http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page65.asp.

"EDWARD II (r. 1307-1327)

Edward II had few of the qualities that made a successful medieval king. Edward surrounded himself with favorites (the best known being a Gascon, Piers Gaveston), and the barons, feeling excluded from power, rebelled. Throughout his reign, different baronial groups struggled to gain power and control the King.

The nobles' ordinances of 1311, which attempted to limit royal control of finance and appointments, were counteracted by Edward. Large debts (many inherited) and the Scots' victory at Bannockburn by Robert the Bruce in 1314 made Edward more unpopular.

Edward's victory in a civil war (1321-2) and such measures as the 1326 ordinance (a protectionist measure which set up compulsory markets or staples in 14 English, Welsh and Irish towns for the wool trade) did not lead to any compromise between the King and the nobles.

Finally, in 1326, Edward's wife, Isabella of France, led an invasion against her husband. In 1327 Edward was made to renounce the throne in favor of his son Edward (the first time that an anointed king of England had been dethroned since Ethelred in 1013). Edward II was later murdered at Berkeley Castle."

Edward married Isabella DE FRANCE, daughter of Philip IV King of France and Joanna of Navarre, on 1/28/1308. (Isabella DE FRANCE was born in 1292 and died on 8/13/1358 ⁶.)