Piers Gaveston (lived circa 1284 to 1312) was a Gascon-born English nobleman, famous as the favorite of King Edward II of England (reign 1307 to 1327). Gaveston's humble origins and undue influence over the king caused jealousy and resentment among the English nobility. His enemies got him exiled from England multiple times, but he was always invited back by the king, and would return haughtier and more overconfident than he had been before. Finally, the earls had had enough; they hunted him down, captured him, and murdered him at Blacklow Hill in 1312. Gaveston would cause a rift between Edward II and his magnates that would eventually lead to the king's own downfall.

Piers Gaveston was born in Gascony, a province in southwestern France, in or around 1284; though the exact year is unknown, he was said to have been around the same age as Edward II, which would place his birth year in the mid-1280s. His father, Arnaud de Gastabon, had been a knight in the service of the Viscount of Béarn until his marriage to the wealthy heiress Claramonde de Marsan brought him large tracts of land in Gascony. As he settled into his new life as a landed knight, things went well for Gastabon, and he spent the next several years tending to his domains and his growing family.

Then, around 1287, Claramonde died, causing several of her relatives and neighbors to crawl out of the woodwork, asserting their claims to her land. Gastabon's attempts to defend his property from these encroachers would result in a series of long and costly legal battles that would drain his funds and last for the rest of his life. In desperate need of money, Gastabon offered his knightly services to his liege lord, King Edward I of England (reign 1272 to 1307).

Gastabon performed several roles for the king. Twice, he served as a hostage, staying at the courts of hostile rulers as a show of Edward I's goodwill. More often, he accompanied the king on his many military campaigns, fighting as far afield as Wales and Scotland. When his sons were old enough, Gastabon brought them along to give them a hands-on military education. Piers Gaveston was still only a teenager when he accompanied his father to Flanders on campaign in 1297. It is unknown exactly what happened next, but Gaveston must have performed quite valiantly, because he attracted the attention of the king himself.

Edward I was worried about his son and heir, Prince Edward of Caernarfon, who did not exhibit the 'manly' traits befitting a future monarch. Rather than mingle with the earls and barons of the realm, the prince preferred the lowly company of actors and jesters. Rather than train in the noble pursuit of arms, the boy preferred more rustic pastimes like swimming and thatching. Edward I hoped that a friendship with a chivalric, martial lad like Gaveston would set Prince Edward down the straight and narrow. Sometime before the death of his father – circa 1302 – Gaveston joined the prince's household.

Already, Gaveston had grown into a tall, handsome, and charming man. One chronicler describes him as "graceful and agile in body, sharp-witted, refined in manners… well versed in military matters" (quoted in Jones, 359). Prince Edward quickly fell under the spell of his charisma, and before long, the two young men were practically inseparable. "When the King's son saw him," writes another chronicler, "he fell so much in love that he entered upon an enduring compact with him and chose to knit an indissoluble bond of affection with him, before all other mortals" (quoted in Weir, 35).

It was not uncommon in medieval England for young men to swear pacts of blood brotherhood to one another. Yet the bond between Gaveston and the prince was so intimate that it drew attention from everyone at court. Naturally, many began to whisper about the exact nature of their relationship; one contemporary writer condemned it as an "illicit and sinful union" while another accused Prince Edward of being "particularly delighted in the vice of sodomy" (ibid). Some modern scholars agree that Edward and Gaveston were lovers, although it is impossible to say for certain.

Whether the two youths were lovers or just close friends, King Edward I soon regretted Gaveston's influence over his son. The Gascon was haughty and insufferably arrogant, traits that began to offend the noblemen at Westminster. In 1305, Edward I banished Gaveston from court – this, however, had little to do with Gaveston himself, but was meant to punish the prince for quarreling with the royal treasurer. Gaveston returned a few months later and was knighted in May 1306. He left to join the king on one of his many campaigns against the Scots, but proved unable to keep out of trouble. He and 21 other knights snuck away from the king's army to participate in a tournament.

Edward I was furious when he found out and demanded the arrests of the deserters, but rescinded the order when his wife convinced him to change his mind. The final straw came in early 1307, when Prince Edward approached his father to ask that Gaveston be granted the county of Ponthieu. This was simply too much; the king flew into a rage, grabbed his son, and tore out clumps of his hair. "You bastard son of a bitch," he screamed, "You want to give lands away? You, who never gained any? As the Lord lives, were it not for fear of breaking up the kingdom, you should never enjoy your inheritance!" (quoted in Jones, 357).

In February 1307, shortly after the fight with his son, Edward I banished Gaveston from the realm. But this exile would not last long. Barely five months later, Edward I fell dangerously sick while leading yet another campaign into Scotland. Realizing that he was dying, he summoned his most powerful magnates, Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, and Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and made them promise to look after his son and to prevent Gaveston's return.

Despite their promises, Lincoln and Warwick were powerless to intercede when the prince – now King Edward II – recalled Gaveston from exile almost immediately after his ascension. As if to flaunt his newfound power and independence, Edward II granted Gaveston the earldom of Cornwall, a title that came with an annual income of £4,000. The new king also arranged a marriage between his favorite and Margaret de Clare, sister of the Earl of Gloucester. At a stroke, Gaveston had gone from disgraced exile to one of the most powerful men in England.

The favoritism that Edward II showered on Gaveston disturbed the powerful English barons, who felt threatened by the Gascon's sudden rise to power. Not only was he a foreigner – and a lowborn one, at that – but he seemed to enjoy looking down on the scions of England's most distinguished families. "The magnates hated him," writes the anonymous author of the Vita Edwardi Secundi, "because he alone found favour in Edward II's eyes and lorded it over them like a second king…his name was reviled far and wide" (quoted in Hallam, 167).

In January 1308, the king left England to marry Princess Isabella of France. He appointed Gaveston as regent to rule in his absence; though Gaveston does not seem to have abused the office, his appointment nevertheless appalled the old nobility, since the regency was often given to a senior earl or close member of the royal family. The next month, Gaveston played a central role in Edward II's coronation ceremony. He was dressed in purple finery like "the God Mars" and carried the sacred crown of Edward the Confessor. During the banquet that followed, guests were scandalized to find the hall adorned with the arms of Edward and Gaveston, rather than Edward and Queen Isabella. Indeed, Edward II spent nearly the entire banquet sitting and chatting with Gaveston, ignoring the other attendees, including Isabella.

The barons understood that Gaveston held too much sway over the king and that he must be dealt with, lest his influence grow further. At a meeting of Parliament in April 1308, the Earl of Lincoln – perhaps remembering his promise to the dying Edward I – produced a series of articles, one of which called for Gaveston to be stripped of his titles and banished. Among the charges that Lincoln levied against the king's favorite were that "he disinherits the crown and…impoverishes it…and puts discord between the king and his people" (quoted in Jones, 365). Edward II initially resisted this demand, but Lincoln had the support of the most powerful earls in the realm. Eventually, the king backed down and agreed to send Gaveston into exile.

But Gaveston's banishment was not as complete as his enemies would have liked. Instead, Edward II granted him lands in Gascony and appointed him royal lieutenant of Ireland. After a tearful goodbye, Gaveston went to Ireland, where he bided his time, waging several campaigns against Irish insurgents. Edward II, meanwhile, worked hard to secure his return. His negotiations with Lincoln and the other earls resulted in the Statute of Stamford, in which he granted several political concessions in exchange for an end to Gaveston's exile. In August 1309, Gaveston returned to England and was reinstated as the Earl of Cornwall.

If the earls had been hoping that, during his exile, Gaveston had reflected on his haughty ways and would return a repentant man, they were sorely mistaken. Upon his return, Gaveston proved as arrogant and petty as ever, saddling the earls with insulting nicknames. For instance, he called the portly Earl of Lincoln 'Burst-belly', referred to the Earl of Gloucester as 'the whoreson,' and dubbed the Earl of Warwick 'the Black Dog of Arden'; "Does he call me a dog?" snarled Warwick when he learned of the insult. "Let him take care, lest I bite!" (quoted in Weir, 68).

But Gaveston, intent on taking revenge, went beyond mere mockery. He flagrantly persuaded Edward II to grant offices and favors to his friends and supporters, showing that he still wielded undue influence in the kingdom. Incensed, the earls once again banded together against him. At a meeting of Parliament in February 1310, they declared that "the state of the king and the kingdom had much deteriorated since the death of the elder King Edward" (quoted in Jones, 368). Drawing up a list of complaints, they accused the king of having been guided by evil counsel, leading him to neglect his royal duties.

To save the kingdom from Gaveston, the barons decided they needed to limit the power of the king. They demanded the election of 21 "discreet and powerful men of good reputation" who would be responsible for drafting a list of reforms, meant to restrict royal authority over the earls. Though Edward II was loath to agree to these demands, he was once again opposed by the most powerful lords in England and was forced to back down. On 20 March 1310, these 21 men, known as the Ordainers, were sworn in and got to work compiling their reforms.

Edward II knew that if he wanted to keep his authority, he would have to act fast and win a victory that would render the Ordainers powerless. To do so, he took a page out of his father's playbook and invaded Scotland in September 1310. His army, however, was woefully underprepared. After a fruitless campaign, he returned to England, only to discover the situation had worsened. The Earl of Lincoln, who had been the leader of the Ordainers, had died in February 1311. Though he had often been opposed to Gaveston, Lincoln was a moderate, whose presence on the council promised to rein in the more zealous reformers. His replacement, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, was a dangerous and ambitious man, unlikely to show the same kind of restraint.

And indeed, Edward II's worst fears were soon realized. In September 1311, Lancaster presented the king with a list of 41 ordinances, most of which placed restrictions on royal power. But for the king, the most egregious ordinance was the one that demanded Gaveston be permanently exiled, on the basis that he had "led the king astray" and "estrang the king's heart from his liege men" (Jones, 372). Defeated, Edward II had no choice but to agree. In November 1311, Gaveston went into exile yet again, this time travelling to Flanders. He was only there a few weeks, however, when Edward II secretly summoned him home; the king had changed his mind, and decided he would not agree to the humiliating Ordinances of 1311 without a fight. Gaveston made his way back to England and joined the king at Yorkshire around Christmastime. He arrived just in time to witness the birth of his daughter, Joan.

Gaveston's enemies were not about to let this defiance go unchallenged. The Archbishop of Canterbury had Gaveston excommunicated, while Lancaster and the other barons began preparing for war. In March 1312, they gathered an army under the pretense of organizing a tournament. Then, the following month, Lancaster led the army north, intent on dealing with Gaveston once and for all. With the baronial army hot on their heels, Edward II and Gaveston decided to split up on 4 May – the king would go to York, while Gaveston fortified the castle of Scarborough.

After learning that the king and Gaveston had parted ways, Lancaster positioned his army between them and sent a small force to besiege Scarborough. As soon as he saw the earls' men outside his window, Gaveston knew that it was all over, for he had neither the food nor the manpower to withstand a protracted siege. He sent a letter to Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, offering to surrender on one condition: that Pembroke swear not to harm him. Pembroke, delighted at the chance to be the one to end the conflict, agreed and gave his solemn oath to ensure Gaveston's safety. With that, Gaveston gave himself up on 19 May. He was placed in bonds and taken south to the village of Deddington in Oxfordshire, where Pembroke stopped to await the coming of Lancaster and the other earls. Gaveston assumed – as did almost everyone else – that he would be used as a pawn to get Edward II to agree to the Ordinances, after which he would be banished to the continent once more.

But then, the situation took a turn. Shortly after arriving in Deddington, Pembroke suddenly and inexplicably announced that he was leaving to visit his wife in Bampton, but that he would be leaving his prisoner behind under a light guard. Early the next morning, 10 June, a large group of men-at-arms marched into the village; at their head was none other than the Earl of Warwick, whom Gaveston had once mocked as the Black Dog of Arden. As his men surrounded the chamber where Gaveston was being kept, Warwick called out in a booming voice: "Arise, traitor! You are a prisoner" (quoted in Hallam, 185).

When he realized that he was surrounded and that his own guards were not interested in fighting back, Gaveston dressed and once again handed himself over to an enemy. The vindictive Warwick paraded him out of Deddington on foot, his men blaring trumpets to advertise their victory. Gaveston was taken to the castle of Warwick, where he was thrown in the dungeon.

Over the course of the following week, the other rebellious earls filtered into Warwick, eager to see what was to be done with the troublesome Gascon. Presently, Lancaster arrived and, as the ranking nobleman on the scene, took responsibility for deciding Gaveston's fate. On 19 June, the prisoner was hauled before a makeshift trial that had been put together by Lancaster and Warwick. Charged with treason, he was convicted and sentenced to die. Upon learning of the sentence, Gaveston apparently fell to his knees before Lancaster and begged for clemency, crying, "Noble earl, have mercy on me!"

Lancaster, however, had no mercy to show, and merely told his guards, "Lift him up, lift him up. In God's name, let him be taken away" (ibid). Two guards seized Gaveston and dragged him to Blacklow Hill, two miles (3 km) north of Warwick Castle. There, he was murdered; one of the guards ran him through the body with a sword, the other hacked off his head. Thus ended the life of the king's favorite, aged around 27 or 28.

The guards took Gaveston's severed head and presented it as a trophy to Lancaster, though his body was left behind on Blacklow Hill to feed the crows. Eventually, his remains were gathered by Dominican friars, who sewed his head back onto his body and brought him to Oxford. He was embalmed, dressed in golden finery, and left to repose in the Dominican house for the next three years; since he was still excommunicated, he could not be buried in holy ground. Finally, in early 1315, the king convinced the pope to absolve Gaveston, who was then buried in an extravagant tomb, which is now lost.

According to the author of the Vita Edwardi Secundi, Edward II "grieved deeply" upon learning of Gaveston's death, bemoaning to his courtiers, "By God's soul, he acted as a fool. If he had taken my advice, he would never have fallen into the hands of the earls" (ibid). But soon, the king's initial grief was replaced by rage, and he swore revenge on the men who had murdered his favorite. Though he would eventually defeat and kill Lancaster at the Battle of Boroughbridge, the damage to his reign had been done. The feud between the king and his barons that had begun with Gaveston would only escalate, contributing to Edward II's eventual downfall.