Edward II Biography

(born April 25, 1284, Caernarfon, Caernarfonshire, Wales—died September 1327, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, Eng.) King of England (1307–27). He was the son of Edward I. He angered the barons by granting the earldom of Cornwall to his favourite, Piers Gaveston; the barons then drew up the Ordinances (1311), a document limiting the king's power over finances and appointments, and executed the arrogant Gaveston (1312). The English defeat by Robert I at the Battle of Bannockburn (1314) ensured Scottish independence and left Edward at the mercy of powerful barons, notably Thomas of Lancaster. Edward defeated and executed Lancaster in 1322, freeing himself from baronial control and revoking the Ordinances. His queen, Isabella, helped her lover, Roger de Mortimer, invade England with other dissatisfied nobles and depose Edward in favour of his son, Edward III. Edward II was imprisoned and probably murdered.

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