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been a happier man if he had been born a simple countryman. He enjoyed gardening, basket-making and ditch-digging, preferring them to the noble arts of government, warfare and jousting. His chosen hobbies were of the wrong class, and this made him an object of sheer contempt among his courtiers. When he chose a lover, it was not just the fact that it was a gay lover that drew contempt, but a low-born gay lover. In an age where birth and breeding meant everything, Piers Gaveston was just too low-born to be countenanced at the royal court. That Gaveston could beat any and all of them at jousting only served to make the situation worse. Gaveston was also arrogant and sarcastic.
    In these ways, Edward II antagonized his barons very early in his reign. A group of barons, headed by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, seized Gaveston and executed him in June 1312. Edward adopted two new favourites with the same name, Hugh Le Despenser, father and son. These were very different men from Gaveston. They were administrators, but Edward gave them far too much power, so that they too became objects of hatred among the barons. In 1322, Edward led an army against the rebellious Roger Mortimer, and succeeded in capturing him and imprisoning him in the Tower of London. Then Edward marched against Thomas of Lancaster, defeating, capturing and summarily beheading him.
    The queen meanwhile began to cultivate a relationship with Roger Mortimer while he was imprisoned in the Tower. It was probably with Queen Isabella’s help that Roger Mortimer escaped from the Tower; once free he was able to create new problems for the king.
    In the end, Edward’s most dangerous enemy turned out to be his queen, whom he had married when she was twelve. Even then, French observers at the wedding said that Edward loved Gaveston more than Isabella. Poor Isabella had to put up with Edward’s very public slights and infidelities for many years. The last straw was when the Despensers tried to persuade Edward that Isabella was a bad influence. In 1325, she offered to undertake a diplomatic mission to her brother the king of France. This was really a ruse to escape from the English court.
    Isabella arranged a treaty between the two kings, but indicated that Edward would have to travel to France to sign it. He was persuaded not to go by the Despensers, who were afraid that he might be turned against them if he spent a significant amount of time talking to other people; then they might lose their hold over him. They also feared what might happen to them, the Despensers, without the personal protection of the king. They had seen what happened to Gaveston. So, a compromise was to send the young Prince Edward, which was exactly what the conniving Isabella wanted. She then had her son safely with her and could mount a small invasion without fear of her son being taken as a hostage. In September 1326, with a company of only 700 men, Isabella landed at Harwich and succeeded in pulling off a coup d’état. Edward, her husband, fled to Wales rather than fight against her. The Despensers were hunted down and killed. Then the king himself was captured and imprisoned at Kenilworth Castle.
    The usurpers, Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer, needed to get rid of Edward II so that her son Prince Edward could become king. Isabella approached Parliament with a request to depose her husband. They refused, but indicated that she might persuade him to abdicate in favour of her son. This she succeeded in doing. King Edward II abdicated five days later, on 25 January 1327. The ex-king was then taken to Berkeley Castle.
    It is almost certain that Edward was murdered there. Two key questions remain to be answered: who carried out the murder and on whose orders?
    In 1327, Lord Berkeley, the owner of Berkeley Castle, was commissioned jointly with Sir John Maltravers to guard the royal prisoner. Lord Berkeley was not residing at his castle at the time of the king’s murder, but was ill