During his first five years of his reign, Edward II did little more
than lavish wealth and honors on his chief favorite and adviser, Piers
Gaveston, a Frenchman who had been his companion and playfellow from
childhood. While Edward I was living, Parliament had with his
sanction banished Gaveston from the kingdom, as a man of corrupt
practices; but Edward II was no sooner crowned than he recalled him,
and gave him the government of the realm during his absence in France,
on the occasion of his marriage.
On Edward's return, the barons protested against the monopoly of
privileges by a foreigner, and the King was obliged to consent to
Gaveston's banishment. He soon came back, however, and matters went
on from bad to worse. Finally, the indignation of the nobles rose to
such a pitch that at a council held at Westminster the government was
virtually taken from the King's hands and vested in a body of barons
and bishops.
The head of this committee was the King's cousin, the Earl of
Lancaster; and from the Ordinances or Articles of Reform which the
committee drew up for the management of affairs they got the name of
the Lords Ordainers. Gaveston was now sent out of the country for a
third time; but the King persuaded him to return, and gave him the
office of Secretary of State. This last insult--for so the Lords
Ordainers regareded it--was too much for the nobility to bear.
They resolved to exile the hated favorite once more, but this time to
send him to that "undiscovered country" from which "no traveler
returns." Edward, taking alarm, placed Gaveston in Scarborough
Castle, on the coast of Yorkshire, thinking that he would be safe
there. The barons besieged the castle, starved Gaveston into
surrender, and beheaded him forthwith. Thus ended the first favorite.