The history of the kingdom for the next five years is merely that a long struggle between the king and his disgusted nobility about th Gaveston. The banishment of the favourite being insisted upon by formidable league of the barons, Edward was obliged to yield ; be instead of being ignominiously sent out of the country, Gaveston wr merely appointed to the government of Ireland. In June his roy: master accompanied him as far as Bristol on his way to that county Even from this honourable exile however be returned in Octobe followiug. The barons immediately again remonstrated, and in Marc 1310 the king found himself compelled to sign a commission by whit he resigned the government of the kingdom for the ensuing year int the hands of a committee appointed by the parliament. A sentenc of banishment was soon after passed upon Gaveston, and he retired t France; but by the close of the year 1311 we find him again i England. The Earl of Lancaster, the king's cousin, now placed hie self at the head of the maleeontents : finding petitions and remor shames unattended to, he and his associates at length openly rose i arms. Gaveston was besieged in Scarborough Castle, and having bec forced to surrender, his career was ended by his summary executio, at Warwick on the 19th of June 1312. Having thus attained thei main object, the insurgent barons made their submission to the king and a peace was finally concluded bstwecu the parties in December. In the course of the last two or three years, Robert Bruce, lef unmolested in Scotland, had not only nearly recovered every place o strength in that country, but had been accustomed to make an ennui+ plundering inroad across the borders. It was now determined to tak advantage of the cessation of domestic dissensions to effect the re-eon quest of the northern kingdom ; and in June 1314 Edward set ou for that purpose at the head of the most numerous army that ha: over been raised in England. The issue of this expedition was thi signal defeat sustained at the battle of Bannockburn, fought the 24t1 of June, at which the magnificent host of the Eriglish king was corn pletely scattered, he himself narrowly escaping captivity. After this the few remaining fortresses in Sootland that were still held b; English garrisons speedily fell into the hands of Bruce ; the predator1 and devastating incursions of the Scots into England were renew& with more audacity than ever; and Brace and his brother Edwarc even Made a descent upon Ireland, and for some time contested th: dominion of that island with its English masters. At length, it September 1319, a truce for two years with the Scots was arrangei with difficulty. Nor was it long observed by the party most intereetec in breaking it. The Scots easily found pretences on which to remit their attacks, and Edward's efforts to check them proved as impotent as before.
Meanwhile, a new favourite began to engross him, Hugh 1( Despencer, the son of a nobleman of the same name. Upon him Edward now bestowed another daughter of his sister, the Countess of Gloucester, in marriage, and many large possessions. Another armed insurrection of the barons was the consequence; and in July 1321 the Deepencere, father and eon, were both banished by act of parliament. Before the end of the same year however they were recalled by the king ; and now for a short time the fortune of the contest changed. The Earl of Lancaster was taken and beheaded at Pontefract on the 23rd of March 1322; and the sentence against the Despencers was soon after formally revoked by parliament. About twenty of the leaders of the insurrection in all were put to death ; but the estates of many more were forfeited, and most of the immense amount of plunder thus obtained by the crown was at once bestowed upon the younger Despencer. Edward, imagining that he had now an oppor tunity of which he might take advantage, set out once more for the conquest of Scotland in August 1322; but after advancing as far as Culroes, in Fife, he returned without having accomplished anything more than the destruction of a few religious houses ; and on the 30th of March 1323 ho concluded another truce with the Scots, to last for thirteen years.
. New storms however were already rising against the unhappy king. Charles IV., called the Fair, the youngest brother of Edward's queen, had recently succeeded to the French throne, and had begun his reign by quarrelling on some pretence with his brother-in-law, and seizing Guienue and Edward's other territories in France. After some other
attempts at negociation, it was resolved that Queen Isabella should herself go over to France to endeavour to bring about an arrange ment. The queen had been already excited against the Despeucers; she had long probably despised a husband who was the object of such general contempt, and who besides openly preferred his male favourites to her society. At the French court she found collected many English nobles and other persons of distinction, whom their dissatisfaction with the state of affairs, or the enmity of the Despencers, had driven from their country. All these circumstances considered, it is easy to understand how she might naturally become the centre and head of a combination formed by the discontented exiles among whom she was thrown, and their connections still in England, for the professed object of compelling her husband to change his system of government and of removing the pernicious power that stood between the nation and the throne. Amongst the foremost figures of the association with which she thus became surrounded was the young Roger de Mortimer, a powerful baron, who had made his escape from England after having been condemned, for taking part iu the former confederacy against the Despencers, to imprisonment for life. There is no doubt that the connection between Isabella and Roger de Mortimer became eventually a criminal one. The plot against the king was beguri by the conspirators contriving to get the heir-apparent, Prince Edward, into their power. It was arranged that King Charles should restore Guienue upon receiving from the prince the homage which his father had refused to render. On this Prince Edward, now in his thirteenth year, was sent over to France to his mother. The first use Isabella made of this important aequi sition was to affiance the boy to Philippa, the daughter of the Earl of Hainault, who in return agreed to assist her and the confederates with troops and money. Thus supported, she set sail from Dort with a force of 3000 men, under the command of the earl's brother, and landed at Orwell in Suffolk, the 22nd of September 1326. She was immediately joined by all the most distinguished persons iu the kingdom, including even the Earl of Kent, the king's own brother. Edward, deserted by all except the two Despeucers and a few of their creatures, left London, and took refuge at first in Bristol : he then embarked for Ireland, or, as another account says, with the design of making for the small isle of Lundy, at tho mouth of the Bristol Channel ; but being driven back by contrary winds, he landed again in Wales, and shut himself up in Neatb Abbey, in Glamorganshire. Meanwhile the queen's forces attacked the castle of Bristol, where the alder Despencer, styled Earl of Winchester, had been left governor by tho king. When the siege had lasted only a few days, the garrison rose in mutiny and delivered up the old man ; he was ninety years of hut his grey hairs did not save him ; he was immediately ixecuted with every circumstance of barbarous insult the ingenuity of his captors could devise. The next, day (26th of October) the prelates sod barons in the queen's camp declared Prince Edward guardian of she kingdom. The king was discovered in his place of concealment 'bout three weeks after, and was conducted in custody first to the iastle of Monmouth, and then to that of Kenilworth. The younger Despencer was also taken; he was hanged and quartered at Hereford m the 24th of November. The parliament assembled on the let of Tanuary 1327; and after going through some forms of negociation vith the imprisoned king, it was resolved on the 25th of that mouth, ;hat the crown should be taken from him and conferred upon his son ?rince Edward. A deputation announced this resolution to the leposed monarch. He remained for some months longer at Kenji vorth ; he was then transferred successively to Corfe, Bristol, and 3erkeley Castles. At length when it was found that mere insult vould not kill him, he was, on the night of the 20th of September, nurdercd in the last-mentioned place by his keepers Sir Thomas lournay and Sir John Maltravers.